Luke 5:4-6 says, “When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered Him, ‘Master, we have worked all night and have caught nothing. But at Your word I will let down the net.’ When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was tearing.”
Have you ever had one of those mornings where you are irritable but not sure why? Yeah, that was how I was this morning. No reason for it, just agitated. I brought this to the Lord and was literally crying before the Lord, asking Him what was wrong with me. His answer caught me off guard, but it brought life to me and on my feet. I went down to my Bible to study out what He said. The Lord instructed me to look up all the barren women in the Bible, I found there were seven stated barren women in the Bible: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah’s wife, Hannah, Michal and Elizabeth. Six out of the seven of these women were barren because the Lord had shut their womb, but one was barren because she cursed herself (Michal, David’s wife) and she never bore children. As I looked into the lives of these six women, the Lord began to speak to me about what happens when the barren one gives birth.
- Sarah gave birth to Isaac and she was called the mother of nations, from whom kings would come from. Isaac is in the lineage of Jesus and is one the three stated as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- Rebekah gave birth to Jacob, who was later named Israel, who is of the lineage of Jesus and is one of the three stated as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
- Rachel gave birth to Joseph, who was the one who saved his family, the nation of Israel, and the world from a famine, because of his administrative skills.
- Manoah’s wife gave birth to Samson, who became the one who would deliver the Israelites from the Philistines.
- Hannah gave birth to Samuel, who was a prophet of whom none of his words fell to the ground. He anointed Saul and David as kings of Israel.
- Elizabeth gave birth to John the baptizer, who was the forerunner for Jesus the Christ.
People who have never been barren do not know the pain of barrenness, but those of us who have been barren know the pain, the provoking and the pressure that comes with being barren. But one thing is for sure, regarding ministry barrenness, no matter what you do, you cannot make yourself bear fruit if God does not open your womb. Your condition will not change. This is not a reason to blame God or yourself; rather it is the mystery that we must wrestle out in prayer until we hear from God on the issue.
Today I heard God speak and He said, “The barren are about to give birth!” The wait is over, the kingdom of God is at hand, and the manifestation of the waiting is about to be revealed. For others, they can go and do whatever they feel God telling them to do, but for us, we have been held back by God Himself for such a time as this. What we are about to give birth to is going to change the world forever. It is going to bring glory to God in an unprecedented way, because we could not have done this on our own; our barrenness proves that. Those who provoked you will praise Him, those who pressured you will see the reward of patience, those who were with you in the pain, will rejoice with you.
“Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD. “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. “Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband– the LORD Almighty is his name– the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth” (Is. 54:1-5).
Lisa Great, author of Divine Principles of Success, pastored a church in Malaysia. She is a minister and blogger at Mouthpiece Ministries.
