The following study is unique and covers an area of our Christian experience that is vastly misunderstood and quite frankly many times completely overlooked. Yet, this is a very important part of our Christian experience. It is our prayer that as you progress through this study that you will receive supernatural revelation that will change your life forever.

 

CONCEIVING IN THE SPIRIT

 

I want to touch on something about conception and incubation or gestation and birthing forth in the natural and how it crosses over into the realm of the spirit in the life of a Christian. There are three aspects of this. We realize that in the natural world that before life comes forth there has to be conception, a gestation period (that is the period of pregnancy) and of course a time when the child comes forth. We realize that there are different principles that are involved. There are different experiences that are involved in each period. There are different signs, different symptoms that are involved. For example, when conception takes place and a lady has conceived, one of the signs that occurs is morning sickness. And it happens differently with each lady. Sometimes it may not be as severe in some as it is in others because of the biological make up of each person’s body. But there are common symptoms. So a lady will know. She will have certain physical changes begin to happen in her body. Her body will immediately know that there is something that is taking place. Before too long she will have that special glow about her countenance. Conception has taken place. During the gestation or pregnancy period which is the longest period, development occurs. Her body begins to change and adjust. And by the time the baby is almost due, she will not look the same as before conception. During the period of pregnancy she experiences a very tough and trying time. When it is time for the baby to be delivered, she will have different symptoms. One of the first signs that a doctor will tell you when there are movements, when there is contraction that begins, you straightaway go to the hospital. So we realize that is important to recognize physical symptoms in order to identify periods of time.

 

In the realm of the spirit especially regarding those things which God wants us to give birth to; God uses the human spirit to give birth to what He wants to do. He chooses to use human spirits as vessels in which He plants a seed, and then conceives what He wants to perform in this earth. You notice this from Genesis to Revelation God could have done it Himself. But in the majority of situations He most always chose man to work through whatever He desired to accomplish. If He did it Himself it would happen quickly. The fact that He has taken nearly six thousand years of human history to carry out His plan and purpose shows us how slow we are to respond to God. If God did it completely Himself, He would have already completed it. Yet He has chosen by His love, the use of the spirit man in human’s to be the womb of the spirit realm. God will work through the human spirit by planting a seed there to conceive what it is that He wants to do. Thereby giving birth to their spirits into the spirit realm and thus transforming the natural realm. Once it has been birthed in the spirit realm, it will shortly begin to affect the natural realm. Yet at the same time we have in I Corinthians the scripture that points out that the natural precedes the supernatural. In essence the way God has created and set up things, it is a win-win situation for us if we will walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh. That is God has created all natural of the natural laws as we know them on the earth, while at the same time there are spiritual laws in existence in the spiritual realm that are just as real. Paul reminds us in Romans that it is by these natural laws and by nature that the Creator has revealed Himself to all men, so that none may have an excuse for not knowing their creator. How much more so, as Spirit-filled Christians should we be walking around with a "spirit-of-look" upon us watching in the natural to see what God is about to do in the supernatural. No, this does not mean we are to rely on the arm of the flesh, nor are we to focus on our circumstances. It simply means we are to be aware of what God is doing around us. The ugly circumstances of this world and difficulties we face in life are often Satan’s attempts to blind us to what God is doing. That is the reason we must walk by the spirit and not in the flesh.

 

Conception

 

We understand that there are three periods in this overall process, conception, pregnancy and birthing of a child. So as we look into Birthing in the Spirit we want to see some of the principles that are involved in each period. The first period is conception in the spirit realm. Some people pray and pray and pray and don’t seem to see anything happening in the spirit realm. They wonder why. There are reasons; there are causes and effects for everything that happens. Nothing happens or remains as it is without a reason, a spiritual reason. So there is a cause for that. Why is it not happening? It is not happening because conception has not really taken place. There will be signs and symptoms when conception has taken place. We have to check at the conception level first.

 

A seed that is given, and not planted into the soil will not germinate at all. You could keep that seed for a thousand years and it will not germinate because it does not have the right conditions. They have been able to take some seeds from the archeological finds in Egypt out of the tombs of the mummies. They planted them and they grew. Can you imagine, it kept for thousand of years. Life was still inside the seed, but it had to be planted first, before fruit could come forth. But it is useless and will not bring forth new life if it does not germinate. So there must be certain conditions met. This thing will not happen accidentally. There are natural laws involved here and when the are met, things happen. Likewise, there are reasons, causes and effect in the spirit world that must be met for things to happen in the spirit world. The spirit world was not designed as a confused world. It is the most systematic world ever designed. In fact the Word of God says the Spirit World or the unseen world is what is real and what we see is only temporal. Why is it that something does not take effect? Number one, check the conception area. What are the signs and symptoms that a true conception has taken hold of the spiritman?

 

See sometimes a thought or a seed may get into our physical ears,but that is as far as it goes. We just hear about it, we just know about it. But there is no conception that takes place. Sometimes it gets into our soul. When that occurs it affects our thinking a little bit. Yet it has no effect until it gets into our spirit. The spirit of man is the womb for birthing the supernatural of God in this world. Our spirit man is where conception takes place.

 

 

 

Right Desire

 

One of the laws of conception is the law of desire. Jesus said in Mark 11:24 What things so ever you desire when you pray believe that you received them and you shall have them. What things so ever you desire. Why should Jesus speak about desire when He talks about prayer? Desire is an important ingredient to the conception period. Without desire there is no conception. There has to be a desire involved in the spirit realm. God will build the desire to the degree where conception can take place. A half-hearted desire is not good enough. It has to be whole-hearted desire. We are going to see some illustrations in the bible.

 

Let’s turn to an incident of prayer and see what are the signs and symptoms that must take place during the conception period. It is about Hannah who was barren.

 

1 Samuel 1: 1-8 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Penninah. Penninah had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophini and Phinehas, the two priests of the Lord, were there. And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Penninah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah although the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat. Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons? So Hannah arose after they have finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting at the seat of the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.

 

Notice here the reason she cried was because she was barren. She wanted a child. Year after year her desire grew more and more. You could not say that she didn’t have desire. She had so much desire it consumed her. Some of the things we pray for, we don’t truly want bad enough to give up what God requires to get it. That’s why we don’t get it. We have a nonchalant attitude. If it comes, well and good. If it doesn’t , oh well. My friend if you are going to pray that way, you will never break through in your prayer life and you will certainly never give birth in the Spirit. One reason why fasting is powerful, your desire for something is strong enough to drive you to give up food, or other items and activities in your life in order to place your focus on God and God alone in order to bring things to pass.

 

As an illustration when you are totally engrossed in work or a project time passes without your knowledge. You may have passed two meals without even knowing it. When I am deeply involved in a project there are times I don’t feel hungry at all. I forget to eat, my stomach also forgets. As we see here sometimes when one is involved in a project or something that involves their attention they forget about food. Why because their desire to complete the project is so intense that they focus all their attention away from every thing else. One reason we don’t receive what we have prayed for is because we don’t pray for it with enough intensity. Granted that what we are praying for or seeking in the spirit must line up with the Word of God, but even then if our desire and intensity is lacking we’ll not see it manifest.

 

I tell you when there are times whenJesuse expected more from his disciples, than what they were giving Him. You should read some the gospel stories. He said how long have I been with you and you have not understood? He tells them like that, just point blank. He expected more from them. And Jesus said that if any man does not love Him more than anything else or anyone else, he is not worthy to be His disciple. That is Jesus’ standard.

 

Right Method

 

Another reason why our prayers are not answered, and the seed we are carrying does not produce its fruit is that our desire for what we are praying for is not intense enough. "Yes that is the key." Our desire must be intense and not half-hearted. Now I am not a woman, and have never given birth. Yet I have seen movies and read in books about the final moments of labor when the doctor urges the expectant mother to PUSH! It is a requirement of these last moments before the birth occurs that there must be intense focus on PUSHING! Without it the birth will never take place.

 

When you say you desire something it means you are willing to give up other things in order to attain what you desire. When a man falls in love and begins to prepare for the marriage, what is he saying to the world? He is saying that he has chosen to give his love, his attention to his bride to be, to this one person whom he loves. And he is also rejecting and saying no to every other woman he would come in contact with. He can still be with friends, but they cannot replace his wife. By saying yes to one he is saying no to all others.

 

Here we see that in Hannah’s desire for a child, even though she was barren. Her desire consumed her. You notice she was in bitterness of soul. Her soul was affected. And her body was affected. So that Elkanah said why don’t you eat. The desire to have a child had consumed her. Now we were talking about how if we really have a desire we will cut out other things, in order to obtain that which we desire. When you desire to be healed and then you don’t do whatever you can to receive that healing, your desire is not strong enough to receive it. It has not consumed you yet. Some things you may receive, even in the spirit realm without this level of desire. However, there will come a time when the only way we receive or birth that seed God has planted in us, is through that intensity of desire! It is a specail realm of desire. Now there are some other things that when you pray it come about very fast in the spirit realm and are made manifest in the natural, but here we are talking about certain things that are needed for conception to occur. A great level of desire! You’ve got to prove it. Prove it to yourself and to God. You’ve got to show forth that intensity and that desire before God in order to see it manifest into your life. Sometimes people are not desperate enough to get it. Whatever you pray for if you are desperate enough to get it and you give up everything to get it and it is in the line of God’s will, you will receive. The seed that was planted, will be carried to term, and in the fullness of time, the birth will occur.

 

Let’s say somebody says that he wants to win one million people to Jesus. Do you know that the person will live and die without winning a single soul to the Lord if that person doesn’t pay the price. It’s one thing to say I am praying and believing God for one million souls. But travail you must, fast you must, pray you must, if you don’t see those one million souls day and night, it will never come about. It’s not just talk. It’s not just saying it although saying it is part of the process. It is not just confession, though confessing is a part of it. But it must consume us until it becomes a part of us. The desire must overwhelm our soul and our body until we want it so badly, that we are desparate enough to be willing to do whatever it takes to get it.

 

You know what I would do in that person’s position? I will probably take a handful of scriptures. Probably the

Roman Road

and John 3:16, the anointing of the Holy Ghost and then with intense desire charge the gates of hell with a water pistol. See you don’t need to memorize the whole Bible to get you healed or to see someone or many someones saved. One verse is good enough, as long as God gives it to you and you have not taken it out of context. If you can get it down into your spirit man. One verse is good enough if you can really utilize it and use it. If I was ill or afflicted by a stroke or heart attack as I was in 1992, I would begin to quote: by His stripes I am healed. In the name of Jesus, body I command my body to function perfectly. And quote all those scriptures on healing that I know concentrating on just two or three until they become a part of me. Rest once in a while. Take a break once in a while. Then the moment you rested, you get it back again and say by his stripes I am healed. In the name of Jesus I take authority over this sickness. Then at night before you sleep you still do the same thing. The next morning as you open your eyes, you keep saying by his stripes I am healed.

 

 

 

You got to hang on long enough and confess God’s word. If you line up with God’s Word, eventually sickness and disease will line up as well. Now I am not suggesting mind over matter. What I am suggesting is putting God’s Word to the test and putting His Word where it belongs, deep inside our spirit. I only illustrate in the area of healing and salvation. If it is in the area of finances, you apply the Word of God in like manner. You are so desperate. That is the only thing in your heart and mind. Day and night you take God’s word. You keep on saying By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ I have been made rich. He was made poor that I might be made rich. Thank you Father God that I have been made rich in Christ. You supply all my needs according the riches in Christ Jesus. Take out your wallet or check book and speak the Word of God to it. But of course the laws of finances work with other sub-laws. You tithe, you give offerings. And as you obey those laws, you give all you’ve got to the Word. It is going to be very fast to turn around. Perhaps it could be your business, or the stock market is going down. We are speaking about the same principle that applies to finance. First thing you open your eyes. You got one stack of bills in front of you. You open your eyes, you say by the grace of Jesus Christ I have been made rich. Thank you angels of God for bringing prosperity. Thank you Father God for sending angels to work on my behalf. Day and night and you speak and speak just one or two verses is sufficient, if they are the verses you know that God has given to you. See we are talking about applying God’s Word to our situation. We must do that. Are we desperate enough to move our situation, to move our problem, whatever it is? Pperhaps you are jobless. Get the scriptures that are involved to change the situation. Don’t sit around and say I am without a job for five months. What have you been doing? You tell me you have been looking through the classifieds on the internet and in the papers. What about the other paper? Which paper? The Good News. God’s Word, confess the supernatural favor and grace of God on your life. The moment you walk into the interview room everybody wants you. It is here in the scriptures you can confess grace.

 

First thing when you get up in the morning, don’t look at the bad news. Just concentrate on that area with God’s Word. First thing when you wake up in the morning you say Father I am blessed. I thank you I have the grace and favor in my life. Thank you Lord that you love me with your great love. You have poured your grace and favor upon me. And as Jesus Christ found favor with God and with man, so I am in Him. I too find favor with God and with man. Say that, from morning till night and see what happens. Things will begin to occur faster. These are practical things. Though they are spiritual friend let me tell you they do cross over into the natural.

 

A Christian brother once shared the following testimony when he first discovered the above principle and started applying it. He said, " ‘One day when we were sitting at a bus stop before it was developed. My wife and I were waiting for the bus. The bus was delayed and we were looking across the street at this man selling fruit. My wife was saying, ‘Poor man. Nobody is buying his fruit. Let’s do something about it." And we said, "Father God we thank you that we are your children. We are the salt of the earth. What we bless is blessed. Father we bless that man. Angels of God go forth and bring customers to that man." And in the next fifteen minutes, people started coming to that fruit stand and beginning to finish off his fruits.

 

When you pray for a job, you got to keep at it. Your confession needs to line up with the Word of God. Keep confessing the Word. You have to be desperate enough to not let go. So we have here desperation. How much do we really want it. If you really want something you’ve got to go for it persistently. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up. You know what most people do. They will work at it for a while and then give up. You never achieve and you never receive that way. You have to go for it continually. How much do you want it? So the first thing we have to have is a high level of desire until it consumes our very being. But of course desire or desperation is only one part. The proof of our desire, our desperation is how much are you willing to give up other things to receive the desire of you heart. For the last 12 years since my release from prison, Faye and I have worked, and fasted and prayed to receive the birthing of full time ministry in our lives, where we can minister together. Part of that desire meant I had to leave my son back home in Georgia. Part of that desire began for Faye two years before she ever met me and the Lord led her to uproot her two sons and move to Douglasville, Georgia. Her friends and family thought she was crazy, a single mom taking two boys to another state to live because she "had heard from God about a seed He had planted in her heart." She boldly made the move. Although she walked in faith, although she had desire, intense whole-hearted desire, it was a full two years before God’s Word was made manifest. She had to guard and protect the seed. She had to water and nurture it with faith, with God’s Word and with prayer.

 

 

 

 

 

Right Relationship

 

Let’s turn to the book of 1 Samuel 4: 1. Now the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamp besides Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamp in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hands of our enemies."

 

What the Israelites did was they brought the ark. They said if we bring the ark, which has brought Israel into the Promised Land we will win. Remember they had lost. Several thousand men had died. So they brought the ark and there was a great celebration. The men of Israel shouted and the Philistines heard it. Then word came out that the Israelites had brought out the ark. All the Philistines were frightened. The Philistines fought and were surprised that they won. The Israelites lost. Poor Eli also was shaking wondering what will happen to the ark. He was the High Priest and as such was responsible for the ark. Suddenly there came a runner and said the ark is gone. When Eli heard that he was shocked and fell from his seat, broke his neck and died. At the same time his daughter-in-law who was expecting delivered the baby when she heard the news. She named the baby Ichabod, meaning the glory has departed. Everyone was in a state of shock.

 

The question is, were the Israelites excited when the ark came. Yes, in verse five the Bible tells us they shouted so loudly that the ground shook. They were excited. Were they desperate? Yes, of course four thousand men had already died. But didn’t Joshua enter the Promised Land with the ark? Joshua plus ark at Jericho equalled success. Therefore we plus the Holy Spirit equals success. It was a formula. But they forgot one thing. You could copy the method but you could not copy the anointing. You could do everything exactly as before but when it comes down to it, if the anointing, the presence and glory and power of God is missing, then it is like plastic with no life. They couldn’t duplicate the anointing that Joshua had. They lost the whole ark. It was the real ark. The ark still had the power , presence and glory of God in it, but they could not access it.

 

In the next chapter you find that the power of God escaping the ark. Dagon was the recipient. The Philistines put the ark in the temple where their idol Dagon was worshipped. Next thing they knew Dagon was worshipping the ark. So the Philistines thought that it was an accident. They pushed Dagon back upright. The next day Dagon was down again. This time his arms were chopped off, then the judgement of God was poured out upon the people of the Philistines. They got boils. They brought the ark to another city. That city was also struck by the power of God. Then they sent it to another city. As the ark was being carried to the other city, the other city didn’t want the ark. I tell you the ark still has the presence and power of God, but today that ark is you. The power and the presence of God is present inside you not some box somewhere, not even this beautiful sanctuary the Lord has provided for us to worship in. The power and presence of God did not manifest for the Israelites because they had lost their relationship with God.

 

It would have been like Acts 19 where the seven sons of Sceva came to the demon possessed person and said, by the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches come out. These seven sons were stripped and beaten by the demon. Why didn’t the method work. They were using the name of Jesus. They were doing it just like Paul did it. Yet it backfired in their face. The demon spoke and said I know Jesus, and I know Paul but I don’t know you. It was the end of Sceva’s exorcist and company. Why, because they had no relationship with Jesus. They had no legal power of attorney to use His name. It is not just the method that matters, but a relationship and an anointing is required. Lest you misunderstand there is a price to be paid to attain relationship and anointing. Israel was disobedient. Israel was not living right with God. The result was loss of anointing and loss of relationship. So it is with us today in the New Testament Church. Desperation is one thing., but you have to have desperation plus the right relationship with God plus His anointing upon your life.

 

For example there are some people in financial need. They are desperate enough but they don’t have a relationship with God. That is why sometimes the healing or the deliverance comes when you worship Him. Worship and obedience are keys to relationship with God. As you spend time in His presence worshipping him, seeking His face we develop a relationship with him, when we have relationship, we have access to His anointing.

 

Desperation must be channeled the right way. Some people are so desperate for healing, they will try anything under the sun, even ungodly and ridiculous things. You should be desperate and then channel it to the right direction. Desperate enough to give up everything to come to God. Desperate enough to cut off everything else and let your desires turn to that only One that matters. Let me assure you God has not let anyone down. Not one man, one woman, one boy, one girl has been let down by God, nor will He let down anyone who gives themselves fully to Him and His methods. God’s Word will not go unfulfilled when all the conditions are met. Scripture tells us His Word will not return void without accomplishing what it was sent to do. Never has God failed to keep His promises. Many of us want something, most are not desperate enough to hold on to receive it. We only have the idea of having whatever it was. Such was my approach with God for so many years. I know now that we need to enter that stage of desperation for whatever we are seeking from God. And there are a lot of things I know that God has heard and answered in my life because I was desperate enough for it. I was willing to follow His plan to receive.

 

You could live and die without realizing everything that God has determined for you to have. God has done everything. How much do we really want it? Paul was not kidding when he said covet earnestly the best gifts. If you really want something you got to get some desperation in your life. We need desperation, we need the right relationship and we need the anointing. You see Hannah had the desperation and she came to the right place. Although Eli was not a man fully right with God yet by the grace of God, God used the anointing of the office he held as a high priest and opened Hannah’s womb. There is an appointed place and time. From the very beginning she had desire, but it was when the fullness of time came God opened her womb. Likewise, we must not grow weary, but we must earnestly contend for what God has said we could have, and in due season, we shall reap if we faint not.

 

Then we see in First Samuel chapter four. They were desperate but they didn’t have the relationship but they used the right method, the ark. You remember the story, David brought the ark in. He wanted God very much. He had great desire, otherwise he wouldn’t have thought of the Ark. He had the right relationship with God but he used the wrong method. God’s order was for man not to touch the ark, but said let the priest carry the ark with wooden staves. This time however they made a cart and they didn’t have success. When David did it again he said we have learned our lesson let the priest carry the ark according to the Word of God. Remember you can never improve on the method God gives. But also remember methodology alone will not accomplish a thing. Relationship and anointing are requirements. If God tells you to do something in a certain way don’t skim around it just do it. He is the author of perfection. You can never improve on whatever He says. If you keep at it in whatever God commands, if He says confess the word by His stripes you are healed, you confess it. Keep at it. You get it. If Jesus said speak to the mountain, you cannot improve any other way to get rid of the mountain. He never said shovel down the mountain. He never said mould down the mountain. He never said bomb the mountain. He said speak to the mountain. You will never improve on any methodology that God has ordained. Just keep at it with the right relationship, with the right desires, and His anointing on your life. In doing so, when you say to the mountain to move, the mountain will move. It may mean continually speaking, continually working at it. But thank God it works.

 

These are some of the elements and principles of conception. We have not covered the gestation period or pregnancy yet. Learn to conceive. A lot of people think they have conceived but they haven’t. How do we know it? If you have conceived you know it. The Lord has planted a seed in your spiritman and you know it is there and you are guarding it with God’s Word, you are watering it with Faith and you are nurturing it with your prayers. There is something growing in you. If a lady comes to you and says she is expecting a baby in a week’s time, yet she looks like a praying mantis, you will think the baby is that small or that she is not really serious . You cannot hide. In the early stages it may be possible to be unnoticeable. When there is conception, your body starts changing. There are symptoms. In some folks life there is no real conception. They think they have conceived, but they haven’t. If you have really conceived,these elements will be there. You will have a breakthrough in desperation. You will have a relationship with God. You will have the anointing of God on your life. You will have the right method. All of these things combined will eventually bring forth the fruit of the seed that God planted in your spirit.

Being pregnant in the Holy Ghost

 

There are three stages in Spiritual Birthing. First there is conceiving in the realm of the spirit, which we covered in the last meeting. Secondly there is the incubation period, the gestation period or the pregnancy if you will. Which we will cover in this meeting. Finally there is the period of labor and birthing forth, which we will cover in the last of these meetings. Just as in the natural so it is in the spiritual. Many times we think that we have conceived but we have not. The vision or the seed of God’s Word has only been spoken and we have only heard it in our soul. It has not taken residence into our spirit yet. Until it is in our spirit it is not full RHEMA. So the effects of conception have not taken place. There must of a necessity be a conception in the spirit before we can enter into the incubation period in the spirit realm. During the period of incubation or pregnancy we guard the seed with the Word of God, we water it with our faith and we nurture it with our prayers. Then there is a final period where we birth forth that vision and it manifests.

 

Just as in the natural so it is in the spiritual, there are different symptoms that will come as we experience the different stages in travailing in prayer and spiritual birth. In conception we see how in the natural that a pregnant woman experiences morning sickness, her body changes shape, her appetites and cravings for weird food combinations go wild. All of which are symptoms and signs that tell her that she had conceived and is now pregnant. So in the same way in the spiritual realm there will be signs and symptoms if there is a conception that has taken place in our spirit. We cannot will ourselves spiritually pregnant any more than a woman call will herself pregnant in the natural sense. A seed must be planted.

 

Then there are also signs and symptoms that are very visible as the pregnancy grows from month to month. As the child grows there are signs of the movement of the child within the woman. She can feel it. There are different signs and experiences at each stage of this process.

 

And finally there is the last stage which is the birthing forth. It is a totally different signal altogether where there is a show of blood. The woman will know that birth is coming soon. So there are different signs and symptoms that a woman needs to recognize in order to flow along with God’s order of conception, pregnancy and birthing forth in the natural. In the spiritual realm there are also different stages and different symptoms that are involved as we birth in the spirit. And we need to recognize them. We need to know what to do in order to maintain or flow along with what God is doing in our lives.

 

The first stage of conception is always the most interesting. That is when it is fresh it is new. And as it gets into our spirit whatever RHEMA God has spoken. There is freshness to it. There is an excitement that comes. The hardest stage however is the middle part where the vision is incubating in you. The vision is going through the normal period of pregnancy for whatever area that you are conceiving. Some things take a long time in this pregnancy period. Some things take a shorter time. It depends on what we are conceiving in the realm of the spirit. But God has His own laws and set times and seasons for each area of things that He wants us to conceive. It is like that in the natural as well. Rabbits have a gestation or pregnancy period of only 31 days, while an elephant has a gestation period of two years, and we obviously know that humans have a gestation period of nine months. So just as we discussed in our previous meeting that the natural precedes the supernatural, we can see that based upon size, we can draw a comparison to the length of the pregnancy or gestation period. Now in the spiritual that can sometimes vary, because we are afterall dealing with the supernatural. Yet we must remind ourselves that the supernatural is guided by laws just as the natural realm is.

 

In the middle section of incubating in the spirit, we talk about maintaining that vision in our life and in prayers. Prayer is not just for the purpose of conception or giving birth, but prayer is the source of maintaining our vision that God has placed in our life so that the vision will not be aborted, so that the vision may be made manifest as God has designed it. There are many visions that are aborted and others that are miscarried. There are many visions that are unfulfilled for various reasons. Just as a baby in its mother’s womb draws nutrition from the mother, the vision in our life during the incubation period needs to draw nutrition and receive protection from the Word. It needs to draw its life force through the mother’s system. It is the same in the incubation or pregnancy period of the vision. We have to maintain God’s vision for our lives week after week, month after month. It is the hardest period. Any woman who has been pregnant will tell you that the most difficult time is during the ninth month. Whatever discomfort she experiences during those nine months, the worst of it all is in that ninth month, especially the last week or so before the actual birth. Whatever comes at the end of giving birth can come forth quite fast. The hardest period for people is not the conception of the vision or the final part, the birthing forth. The hardest part is the in between period when sometimes it looks like nothing is happening. You don’t seem to notice much growth at first. That is the hardest period to continue to maintain the vision, to continue in prayer and faith believing God is going to bring this thing to pass. During the incubation period the vision within us needs to draw nutrition. It needs to continually be fed with God’s Word, our prayers, and our faith.

 

Let’s look at Romans 4: 17-22 ( As it is written I have made you a father of many nations) in the presence of Him whom he believed - God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was already a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness."

 

It tells us here in verse eighteen that Abraham contrary to hope, in hope believed. It says in verse twenty, he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God. Abraham as we notice here experienced one of the longest periods in incubation of a vision given by God. I pray I don’t have to wait as long as Abraham did. For Abraham it meant a promise child. God promised him descendants and God spoke that into his life. And we realize in Genesis chapter twelve, he was about seventy-five years old when he received the promise. Sometime after that God spoke to him about his descendants being like the stars in the heavens and the sands of the sea. That vision was planted in his life. In fact this passage of scripture that tells us that Abraham believed through faith and it was accounted to him for righteousness in verse twenty-two. This is tied back to the book of Genesis chapter fifteen verse six.

 

Let’s look at Gen.15:6, and he believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. According to that passage from that time the vision was conceived, and implanted into his being, faith was sown in his heart and in his life. That is just three chapters after Genesis twelve. The time frame would indicate Abraham was probably in his seventies. Let’s say that it was very soon after that. That is, he is about seventy-five years old when he believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

 

It took a long time for Abraham to see the fruit of God’s promise. In fact when Abraham was ninety-nine years old God changed his name. And that was when the manifestation started coming. And when he was a hundred years old, the child of promise came forth. That gives us a period of twenty-five years of waiting on God. Twenty-five years of being pregnant with purpose, pregnant with promise. Twenty-five years of maintaining it.

 

Let us compare Romans 4: 17 with Romans 4:18. Romans 4: 17 (as it is written, " I have made you a father of many nations.) in the presence of Him whom he believeed- God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Roman 4: 17 is quoted from Genesis 17: 5-6 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you. At this time in Genesis 17 when Abraham’s name was changed, he was already ninety-nine years old and the following year, he will have a child. This points to the end of the time of the conception period.

 

Romans 4: 18 it says contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that the became a father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." Romans 4: 18 is taken from Genesis 15: 5 Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Genesis 15 it points to the beginning of the conception period when the vision was implanted in him.

 

Although there are only two chapters separating the beginning (Genesis 15) and the end of the conception period (Genesis 17), the time frame is about twenty five years. What we don’t realize is that between Romans 4:17 and 4:18 is a period of nearly 25 years. We read it in one go and we think that all Abraham had to do is just to confess it and he possessed it straight away. Some people start confessing the promises of God but their confession can last only three months. Very few people can really hold a vision or a promise from God that is huge and may take upwards of two or three years or even more to manifest.

 

Now there is a slight difference between the spiritual and the physical realm. In the physical realm when a lady is pregnant and expecting there is a normal set period of about 9 months. In the spiritual realm when we do not supply the impregnated vision within us with sufficient nutrition or there is a lot of doubt and unbelief, we may not give birth to that vision in the same time frame as what our Lord intended when he planted the seed in our spirit. It may take a longer time to birth that vision. In other words the time for delivery is affected by how we maintain the vision.

 

Timeframes and Seasons

 

Some of the delays are the result of God’s overall times and seasons. God has a set time and season for certain things to be done. Simeon was faithful to God but he lived in a different time frame. He was old by the time Jesus was born. Because he held to the vision and would not let go God blessed him mightily as He allowed him to hold the baby Jesus in his hands. He never had the privilege of becoming one of Jesus’ disciples. Although he would have probably made a good one, God’s purpose was different. So there are set times and seasons in the reasons why some visions some dreams some answers to prayer do not manifest at once. One of the causes is God’s set time frame and season. For example God had a time frame and season for Jesus to manifest as the Messiah, in Galations we read, "and when the fullness of time was come then the Messiah came."no matter how you pray, no matter how you try to quicken the process, it will not be quickened because there is a time frame. Simeon and Anna the prophetess were people of prayer. In all their prayer God did reward them. God gives them a foretaste for their faithfulness. But God did not speed up the process, the Messiah did not come until the "fullness of time". This is part of the sovereignty of Almighty God.

 

There are time frames and seasons with God. God has difference phases for our lives. There are time frames for us to move in. Moses had a time frame. In Stephen’s account of Moses in Acts 7 the reason why Moses slew the Egyptian was that he wanted the Israelites to know that his hand would be used to deliver them. That tells us that Moses knew that he had a call on his life. Moses had a vision in God. Moses knew and was conscious of a portion of God’s will for and call upon his life, that he was the chosen deliverer to the Israelites. We realize he must have known something about the Hebrews for his own mother brought him up. So Moses in his haste to show that he was the chosen and called one, he was spending time with the Israelites. We realize it was not normal for a prince to spend time among the Israelites.. What Moses may not have known is there was a specific time frame that God has set in the book of Genesis to Abraham as to how long the Israelites would be in Egypt. In Gen.15:13 Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in the land that is not theirs. And will serve them and they will afflict for four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge afterwards. They shall come out with great possessions. It tells us that God has already set a time frame of four hundred years. And God will not allow the season that He has set to be changed. Even if Moses were fully obedient and didn’t kill the Egyptian, he still would not be able to change the time and season that God had established. Even if Moses had been ready to answer the call of God when he was forty years old, he still would have had to face to requirement to wait on God’s timing.

 

There are three views to a God’s timing. One is that God does what He wants, when He wants. There is nothing we can do about it. Second view, is that what God does depends on us. God wants it all the time. But it depends on our readiness. The third view is God has a time and season and He also depends on us. If you examine all the scriptures, the most scriptural view of God’s timing, is the third view because the Bible does talk about the times and seasons of God. If it is the time and season for God and we are not ready, there is a delay. If we are ready and God’s time and season has not come, God rewards us for our readiness, and for our willingness, but we still must wait for the "fullness of time". He has His own time and season that He will still follow. And of course when the time and season is right and we are ready. That’s beautiful, just nice. Of course it is always good to be ever ready on our part. We may sense a time and season but it is always good to be ever ready. Just like people are saying I don’t think Jesus will come yet because there are so many prophecies not fulfilled yet. Does that mean that you prefer not to be ready? Wait till the last minute when it is about to come. Things can happen very fast. World events has been happening in the past months and show us that within a matter of days God could fulfill prophecies if He so chooses. It is better in the long run to be ever ready.

 

And so looking at that we realize that just as in Moses time there exists set time frames and schedules with God. Moses may not have been fully aware of the set time frame of four hundred years way back then. But in other times people like Daniel knew about God’s set time frames, for God had revealed them to Daniel and it was supposed to be time for the Israelites to return from Babylon, where once again they had gone into bondage, similar to Moses day. According to his calculation the time and season has come. Let’s look at Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

 

This verse shows very clearly that the third view of God’s timing is the most scriptural. Sometimes when God’s times and seasons come and the people are not ready, there is a possibility of a delay. So Daniel started praying and giving himself to God for the restoration of Jerusalem. What we are seeing here is that unlike physical pregnancy period where you give a little lack of nutrition it will affect the child. Not so much the time frame. In the spiritual realm when there is not enough nutrition or prayer to build up the vision that God has implanted within us. It does not mean that the vision will be birth forth in the same time frame but defective. God will never allow something defective to be birth forth. Everything the Holy Spirit does is perfect. But what happens is that there will be a longer time frame. And Daniel was thinking possibly the time has come and because the people are not ready, there is a delay coming up. Which is why he is repenting, he is praying, he is fasting. Remember he was taken into captivity when he was a young lad. Now he has grown old and has served so many kings as a top man. And he realizes the seventy years has come to pass. So according to his calculation that prophecy should have come to pass. We realize that prophecy has a dual fulfillment. It was an actual fulfillment of the Jews’ return, and there was a prophecy that points to the Messiah, which the angel explained to him. It turned out to be the seventy weeks of years. So it was dual fulfillment.

 

Delayed Time

 

Sometimes the times and seasons of God are right but because we are not ready, it causes a delay. Of course if the delay is because the fullness of time is not yet, that is a whole other situation. No problem with that, but there is problem if God’s time has come and there is still a delay. In God’s original plan the Israelites should have gone into the Promised Land in a number of days. Because of their disobedience there was a huge delay and they were set back for forty years. Those are called the wasted years. In the incubation period we need to be very sensitive to that. We need to be aware when there is a time and a season for something to come.

 

The life of Abraham is an example. There were twelve years of those twenty-five years we can consider as wasted. Abraham had twelve silent years when he got Ishmael. We say it took 25 years from conception to bearing forth. Don’t forget of the 25 years, you must take away 12 years. He chose an alternative road to try to fulfill God’s vision. Ishmael was about 12 years old when he was circumcised. It was a silent period. During that period when Ishmael was going from one to twelve there is no record of God speaking to Abraham. There is no record of him having a vision. Twelve silent years, I call them wasted years. Why, because during those years all Abraham’s focus was on Ishmael. I can prove to you that he thinks that Ishmael is the one whom he got through what I call a natural method that did not demand any working of God. See in the book of Genesis when God spoke to him in Genesis 17: 18 Abraham said O that Ishmael may live before you. Ishmael in a sense was his own flesh and blood. He still had his hope on him. Descendants would be coming through him. But it was not acceptable to God. Twelve silent years. So you minus 12 years out of the 25 and we find the real conception period becomes just 13. In spite of all these limitations at the back of Abraham’s heart and mind, he was still a sincere person. So what is the delay now? He was gaining strength but was not strong enough. He was gaining in faith but did not have faith enough to bring the promise forth until he really matured in faith in Genesis 17.

 

That’s the same problem the people have when they are praying regarding specific areas in their lives. Many times the spiritual abortion or miscarriage takes place in the middle part. That is during the pregnancy we get tired in the spirit and lose the baby. A lot of babies are lost in this middle period. From the time the baby is conceived to the time the baby is to be delivered is actually the most dangerous period of the babies existence. But most are lost within that period. And a lot of visions and RHEMA that God has spoken is aborted in people’s lives during that same period. This is a very important period because we need to know what to do. There are some important principles and laws to follow.

 

Patience

 

One of these is the law of patience. Patience to work at it God’s way not our own way. One of the words for patience in the Greek is the word hopomone. And the word mone comes from the word mano, which in John 15: 5 is translated as abide. It indirectly points to abiding or resting in God’s word, to allow God to fulfill it His way and not our way. In that middle period when the vision has been conceived, we need tremendous patience to hold fast to it. The devil will throw everything he can in your way to try to make you doubt, to try to make you fearful. He will throw everything he can against you to dislodge that baby in you, to cause an abortion or miscarriage in your life. This is where we need to hold fast, we need to endure, we need patience.

 

How many times in the New Testament, we are told to hold fast, to endure, to not grow weary. We are told to hold fast because there is a snatch thief around. The devil will try to snatch what is sown in our life. In the parable of the Sower, the snatch thief stole the Word after it was conceived. He stole the Word when it had not yet germinated. It was just on the surface on the ground. The birds of the air came ate it all up. There was no conception. But in the other type of ground there was conception. Jesus said they took root. But in time of persecution, they didn’t have roots. Roots are for holding fast, for enduring. Then others fell among the thorns and are choked. Did they germinate? They did. Did you notice right at the end of conception Satan tries his best to steal and destroy. But when it is birthed he is not going to just up and leave. He will cause as much ruckus as he can to try to cause in the Spirit what in the natural we call Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Because when the manifestation comes he is frightened. He is not concerned with where you are at right now or even where you are at when the birthing occurs, he is frightened with what that spiritual baby is going to grow into.

 

When we have conceived a vision, it is implanted in our spirit, we have to be protective of that vision in our lives. Don’t let the devil steal it. The devil will send people to you to try to cause you to doubt what God has said. His whole purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. We need to be very protective. As we said one of the most important forces is patience. Patience is very important because day in day out the vision is with you.

 

Fellowship

 

The other force that is necessary is what we call fellowship. If you fellowship with the wrong kind, you are finished. This is one of the things that causes a lack of productivity in the seed that is sown. Fellowship helps bring forth the vision. If you have a vision of God in a certain area, mix around with the right crowd that will help that vision come to pass. Many foolish Christians mix with the wrong crowd and mess their whole vision up. Imagine, if you have a vision from God, and you start mixing with the wrong crowd. You can readily see what will happen to that vision. The desire for it starts disappearing. Sooner or later you will see the thorns start choking the life out of the vision. But praise God the opposite is wonderful. If God gives you a vision and you get the together and believe in that vision, it gives life to the vision. The vision grows. The more you confess the vision, the more you discuss the vision, the more you share the vision, the more it grows. The more it grows the bigger it becomes. The clearer it becomes. I thank God for the right people in my life at the important points. I thank God for my wife Faye and I thank God for my pastor Lester Cody who are helping to shape and fashion the vision that God has placed in front of us for full time ministry. If not for encircling ourselves with the right people some of us will suffer abortions and miscarriages of visions and promises that God has given us.

 

I want to show the example of the apostle Paul. From the moment Paul was born again on the Damascus Road in Acts chapter nine, he went over to Jerusalem and sought fellowship with the people of God. But the people were frightened of him. In the end Barnabas came and introduced him to the apostles and he fellowship with them. He built relationships. And it is out of those relationships that Paul’s vision materialized and that spiritual seed placed in him by the Holy Ghost was eventually birthed. How do we know? Because later on in Acts 11 it was because of Paul’s relationship with Barnabas that caused Barnabas to bring him over to Antioch when he saw the work of God in Antioch. Barnabas remembered Paul. Why because there was a relationship formed. No one can succeed in the vision of God alone. The old truism is so accurate, "no man is an island". Even if God calls you to do something, your vision is nurtured by other visions before you. It is always down the line. You can check any man of God and you will find that he has traced his ministry to someone else. Kenneth Copeland traced his ministry to Kenneth Hagin. Hagin traces his ministry to Smith Wigglesworth. Smith Wigglesworth traced his ministry to other Pentecostals before his time. Because of the right fellowship, your vision can be nurtured. Because of that the apostle Paul move into his first phrase. He was a teacher in Acts eleven. Together with Barnabas he taught the church of Anticoh for a year. In Acts 13 they were having a prayer fellowship and as they ministered and fasted the outcome was the apostolic ministry.

 

People like John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, who arose at about the same time in that First Great Awakening came from a small little group in a college nicknamed the holy club. If you read about the historical record about that time, England before the great awakening was as evil and immoral as San Francisco is today. It is because of the great awakening that tide of society was turned. If you read it you will see that it was birthed forth because of association and fellowship.

 

Fellowship is important because Paul told Timothy as he wrote to him how the faith of his mother and his grand mother was also in him. So there is an impartation that eventually comes in to these realtionships as they grow. In the wrong fellowship it is harder to reach out to the right thing. You try to get involved with the people of the world and you get close to them. When you get close to them it is hard to get close to God. But we must learn to be like Jesus, that is to be in the world but not of the world.

 

Psalm 1 protects us and says don’t walk in the way of sinners. Don’t sit in the seat of the scornful. Watch your fellowship because during that period of pregnancy it can cause a delay or even an abortion of your whole vision. Fellowship is fellowship in the Word, fellowship in prayer as well as the fellowship in the flesh. When we all come and pray together, there is a kind of fellowship involved. Do you notice you relate differently with someone with whom you can pray together. Why? Because there is a deeper realm of spiritual fellowship. I notice that when we have a business meeting, if we could have a prayer meeting before that, the atmosphere is different. Why? Because there is spiritual fellowship.

 

So number one patience. Number two fellowship. And under fellowship remember it covers an exchange between members of the body of Christ of their lives together. Praying together and not just sharing together.

 

 

 

The Word

 

And of course the next thing to be injected in this period is the Word. The Word is an important force to maintain and feed the vision. And I notice this sometimes when I see the vision of God and know what God has in store. Then I can have all kinds of things and face all kinds of obstacles. When you get into the Word, read the Word, meditate on the Word, you will see Jesus in the Word. You see the man of God in the Word. But if we talk to people who don’t have much of the Word, neither do they exhibit much faith, they will speak doubt and unbelief into our lives and spirit. Impossible they say and they give you a thousand and one reasons why you will never realize your vision. If you don’t get back to the Word and all you keep hearing is the negative, your vision will grow smaller and smaller until at last there is no vision left.

 

But when you get back to the Word. You read the Word. You meditate on the Word. Again you are refreshed and on fire for God. You realize it can be done. You realize God did not lie. Every time I get back to the Word I see that it can be done. You strengthen the voice of God in you by reading the Word. Feeding your vision with the Word. The Word is the nutrition, which feeds the spiritual baby that you are carrying. The wonderful thing about the vision of God is that you can have multiple visions. You could be carrying several visions in you all at the same time. You must feed all of them with the Word. For those of you who may not be spiritually pregnant right now, one day you will be. In the meantime, just as in the natural, help to nourish and protect those that are pregnant. Help them through to the point of birth.

 

 

 

Worship

 

Finally but not least, is Abraham giving glory to God. During the time of pregnancy and incubation is worship. Worship must become stronger. Worship helps to maintain your contact with God for He is the one who gives you the visions. Other things will move in and try to cut off that worship of God. But when you continue to worship and give God the glory, continue to be resourceful in finding ways to worship God. We talked about Mark 11:20-23 before. We see Mark 11:20-24 speaks on two points. From point A to point B. You pray believe you have received, point A. Then you will reach point B you shall have them. One is in the past perfect tense. One is in the future tense. Future tense is in B and you shall have them. See Jesus plays with two tenses here. Now what happen is from point A to point B, what do we do? Give glory to God between the time of conception and the time of birthing forth. What do we do? When you done everything you need to do, what else do you do? Praise, worship and giving glory to God. Paul exhorted us that when we have done all we can do, to stand therefore. So stand in faith believing and trusting God to do His part. That is the best position to be in waiting on God. The word wait implies a sense of worship. In fact in the Hebrew, the word kava translated as wait in Isaiah 40:31, "They that wait upon the Lord…" means to be braided together. What a beautiful description of worship, being braided together with the Holy Spirit. Since there is a timing of God, what do you do when you are perfectly ready and the time has not come? Worship God. Weave and braid yourself together with His Holy Spirit and the anointing will increase as you wait upon the Lord.

BIRTHING IN THE SPIRIT

 

There is a period for conception, a period for pregnancy, that is the process of carrying the seed which we have already discussed. Now we come to the process of birthing in the spirit.

 

We need to know something of the birthing process. This spiritual process is largely unknown and even misunderstood within the church where it is known about. There are totally different laws that operate in the birthing process. The realm where people give up most easily is the later part of this pregnancy period, that time of spiritual pregnancy where it is not obvious to the natural eye, that the vision is taking shape. Despite that fact day by day it is growing. Sometimes there is a long wait before what you visualize deep in your spirit-man and pray for, manifests in the natural. Understanding the area of spiritual birthing is important in order for us to realize all that God has prepared for us, not just in the world to come, but right now in this present world.

 

So let’s look at Luke 1: 11-13 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zechariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John. Now he said your prayer is heard.

 

Now Zechariah was an old man. The scripture tells us he was well advanced in age. I don’t think he had been praying for a child the last year or two before. Like most men of his day, Zechariah probably married around the age of 30. Perhaps after the second or third year of their marriage, he and Elizabeth realized something was wrong. They found that they were not having any children. And from that time on they must have prayed for a child very badly. In those days the custom was after you married, the firstborn should arrive the following year. So from that time on, when Elizabeth did not become pregnant, they would be seeking God. They were very devout, righteous, religious people. They would be seeking God. And if the Bible says they were well advanced in years, it means they were in the seventies at least. That gives us a period of approximately thirty-five years for the wait they endured. The couple had been praying and waiting on God for thirty-five years. Can you understand why I say most likely, Zechariah and Elizabeth had not been praying for a while. They were just like us. When we have received a promise and nothing has manifest in a great number of years, unfortunately most times we push it aside. Now you may ask why I make the assumption about Zechariah and Elizabeth, well, what happened during the conversation with the angel. Didn’t Zechariah express his doubt and unbelief?

 

Finally the angel appeared on the right side of the altar. We are talking about prayer, we are talking about vision, we are talking about spiritual seed. We are talking about some things that we pray for that seem to take forever to manifest in the natural. And the angel came and said to Zechariah, "I have good news for you. "Your prayer is heard." Apparently he must have prayed and prayed for years and years until likely giving up all hope, just as we do many times. They had grown old and were past the age of childbearing. They would need supernatural intervention from God if the prayer were to be answered. Here the angel spoke those words. "Your prayer has been heard." and what follows was Zechariah’s response: in Luke 1: 18 "How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years."

 

Reading between the lines he was saying, "Why did you take so long?" Here is the time a thirty-five old prayer, dream, vision is going to be answered and manifest in the natural and we have Zechariah asking, "How will I know?" He has been waiting for thirty-five years. Why does God answer now, after so many years. Primarily, at this point, should Elizabeth bear a child, it could be nothing else but a miracle from God. This way God gets all the glory. Remember scripture tells us that God will share His glory with no man. The balance to this statement is the fact that God is not a capricious God. God has times and season for certain things and it is important to remember this when we begin to seek after God and the things of God.

 

The excitement doesn’t seem to be there. There is a time when you pray and the answer comes, it is very exciting. But there are times when you have prayed for so long and you have gotten yourself excited a hundred times over all in vain. The excitement is lost. Sometimes we just cannot hold on to our initial excitement. Sometimes our faith becomes smothered in doubt and unbelief.

 

One thing is said about Katherine Kuhlman that no matter how many times she saw a miracle, even when they became common in her ministry, she was just as excited the fortieth time as the first time she saw one. Remember the Israelites. The first time the manna came, they were excited. And after forty years of eating manna, they were not that excited any more. I remember the first Big Mac I had years ago. I had never seen a double-decker hamburger before, and oh it tasted so good. Now, 30-40 years later, my reaction is big deal. Unfortunately we handle and consider the things of God and of the Spirit the same way at times.

 

So here is Zechariah waiting for thirty-five odd years for his prayers to be heard. His expectations fluctuate between high and low. Every year he is saying, "This could be the year, this could be the year." Repeatedly he probably encourages Elizabeth that "the best is yet to come." Finally this was the year. He had become so pessimistic that he said, "how could it be since I am so old." He experienced some inconveniences that to him were not necessary. Why? Because he did not flow fully along with the birthing process. Murmuring, complaining, doubt and unbelief are all too frequently whitewashed over in the modern church. We must guard our "seed"!

 

The angel said because you didn’t believe, you will not be able to speak until the child comes forth. True to the message from the angel, Zechariah was speechless for nine month. Then, when the child was born he got his speech back. Now why did God answer when it looked like Zechariah was filled with unbelief? To the natural man it for all the world seemed that Zechariah had given up. God moved because even in Zechariah’s unbelief and doubt, God’s breakthrough miracle brought glory to God. God has His mercy side too. It is important to remember out of all of this that the delay here, of 35 years, was not due to anything that Elizabeth and Zechariah were doing or not doing. Despite their encroaching doubt, this was one of those specific instances where regardless of their level of faith, the "birthing" would not have been speeded up because this instance was a fulfillment of prophecy and "due season", "the fullness of time" had not yet come. There are some times regardless of the amount of our fasting and praying, regardless of our depth of faith, we cannot speed up the process.

 

No, we are informed by scripture that the child she was to birth, was to be the forerunner of the Messiah, so the child could not be birthed until the "fullness of time" had come. This was once again one of those instances where God had a set time and a set season when something was to take place. It was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. God had spoken it, and though they had to wait many years, God is not a man that He should lie. The baby was born. John the Baptist fulfilled his role in prophecy, he was the forerunner of the Messiah.

 

Now there is another man in Luke chapter two. When the time of his manifestation came, he had a very positive response. In verse 25, and behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Now this man is a faithful man. He has been waiting for years. Again he is another old man. And he has been waiting for the Messiah. Never give up hope. The words of Winston Churchill from WWII come to mind, when at a college graduation as guest speaker he spoke these words, the shortest commencement address in all of history, "NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE UP!" In the early days of his faithfulness God told Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he died. Just like Jesus would have told you that you would live to see Him come again. Isn’t that a tremendous promise? Perhaps Simeon was told that forty years ago that he would see the Messiah. Imagine all those years he was waiting to see the Messiah. Wondering what the Messiah would be like. Then one day when he was old, finally the Lord says now is the time. Today is the day. Let’s say that when he was thirty the Lord told him you will see the Messiah. Like all human beings he would have expected the Messiah to come the next week, the next month or maybe the next year. Then when that doesn’t happen, he thinks perhaps I did not hear from God at all. Some people may give up if He doesn’t come to bear in their time frame, completely leaving God out of the equation. No Simeon was faithful. Although it became very faint as the years passed by, it was still like a little light that kept shining. Hope was still there. He would see the Messiah. He may have in the natural made a few mistakes. Nevertheless he held onto his hope.

 

Maybe he may have thought that the Messiah is now a young man. And during his days there were a lot of people who claimed to be the Messiah. Do you know that before Jesus came there were several people who came to Jerusalem and claimed to be the Messiah? The Bible records it. In the book of Acts, the story was told by Gamaliel. And he was talking about the historical things that happened just before Jesus came on the scene. Acts 5: 34 Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. And he said to them: "Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding this man. For sometime ago Theudas rose up claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him was scattered and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. Now that tells you that Jesus was born in the days of the census. And Simeon was alive to see Jesus after the days of the census. So Simeon saw all those things. So in the days of the Bible there were at least two men who claimed to be the Messiah. Simeon was there and Simeon heard all these things. Simeon could have thought, could this be the Messiah but of course the Holy Spirit would tell him it was not. He more than likely endured quite a few disappointments. But now he is old and the Spirit says you are going to see the Messiah today! Hallelujah, whatever you are holding on to hope for, whatever you are spiritually pregnant with, aren’t you looking forward to that morning when you get out of bed, look at the bright sunshine and hear the Holy Ghost speak to your heart and say TODAY, THIS IS THE DAY!

 

 

 

Leading By The Spirit

 

There are certain laws that operate during this birthing period. Number one you have to be willing to be led by the Spirit. Simeon was led by the Spirit. The Lord told him this is the day you are going to see the Messiah. So Simeon came to the temple led by the Spirit, in a state of high expectation. If he had gone on the wrong day, nothing. If he had gone at the wrong time, nothing. He would have missed the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the arrangement the angel made. Jesus’ parents were coming to present Him at the temple that day. Imagine the timing for them to be there on just the right day, at a just the right time. Remember now, these folks were traveling via foot and donkey. They were not traveling by SUV, equipped with On Star from General Motors. Joseph was not wearing a Rolex Chronometer Watch and Mary did not have a laptop wireless hookup to the internet. Yet God divinely arranged for all to arrive at the appointed place at the appointed time. I think that is pretty special in and of itself. Simeon who was possibly living around Jerusalem had to go there at the precise time. This was Jerusalem’s headquarters. Everything in Jerusalem revolved around activity at the temple. Every day there were children being dedicated. Even if he is there at the right day, at the right hour, and the right minute, how was Simeon to know which baby was the Messiah. He had to find out which one. Mind you there was no way to recognize the Messiah in the natural. Jesus was only eight days old. Do you think an eight day old baby can say, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Simeon had to be there and discern which was the right baby. There is no natural way he could have recognized baby Jesus. He had to be led by the Holy Spirit. Being led by the Spirit he got to the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing. Being led by the Spirit, filled with discernment, sensitive to the wooing of the Holy Spirit we can find ourselves in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. We must remember always that doing a good thing is OK but doing a God thing releases the anointing, doing a God thing is operating in God’s order, the power and the glory available to us is unfathomable. It is in this realm of the Spirit that’s where birthing takes place.

 

Sometimes God takes you out of a place and sets you up in another in order to let you birth. And if you don’t obey and delay there, then the actual act of spiritual birthing will be delayed even further. There are times when for all the world it seems in the natural that God could not do for us, we could not possibly birth the promise in the location we are in. I have a surprise for you, if you have not already figured it out, many times God’s spiritural delivery room is not the same one we would choose for ourselves givent he opportunity. For whatever reason, sometimes God chooses to speak to you at a certain time and at a certain place. Whether you want to be there or not. Moses was forty years on the back side of the desert when from a long ways off he saw the fire of God, the burning bush. Although the Bible did not give the time span, it may have burned for sometime before Moses paid close attention. Look very carefully in the book of Exodus 3: 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses! And he said, "Here I am."

 

There could have been a time period. See Moses didn’t go near because he saw an angel standing there. He went there because he was as curious as any cat. Moses must have been observing it for sometime and said to himself, I saw it a while ago, by now it should be a black spot. This was an unusual fire. He went there the Bible says, thinking and wondering why the bush was not consumed by the fire. Surely he must have measured the time. Finally he says I must go and check out why the bush is not consumed but yet it burns. And only when he came near did the Lord call to him. Yet another divine appointment. Let me tell you there are a lot of people who have been praying for something, knowing that God had deposited a seed in our spiritman, given us a vision, placed a call upon our lives and we missed it because of fear.

 

Why must God bring Elijah all the way to the mountain and then tell him something? I don’t know. These are the ways of God. Why did God have to have Moses go all the way to the wilderness and meet him there in the burning bush? Why did God have to choose all these strange types of appointments? Maybe it is because He is seeking a personal date with you. He names the time and the place but it is up to you to show up or not. God loves us so much that He places a time for everything. Our response is yes or no. Many times God will move or speak in a place or area that we would never expect. That is the way God speaks. Sometimes when God speaks we have to flow along with it. Even when that places us in locations and places we had rather not be. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. My God, whatever we do, we must not, I repeat we must not put God in a box and say that if God does not do such and such it can’t be God. Endure, see what the Lord is trying to do. Hear what the Spirit of the Lord would say to you. Doing so just might shorten the period of labor and the vision, the dream the call will be birthed in an instant.

 

Now sometimes when a birth is imminent, we may need to fast, pray and keep quiet and separate ourselves from others, even members of our family. We need times like that. I sometimes sense that God wants to be alone with me. Before William Branham started his ministry, he sensed this thing that God was trying to communicate with him but he could not understand fully what it was that was going on in the spirit realm. He took a cup of water and he told his wife, "I don’t know what it is, but this has been bugging me for years all through my ministry. There is something that God is trying to tell me. For whatever the reason I cannot get to it. Why are things happening this way? Is it that I am so unique and different?" Those special manifestations had not yet appeared in his ministry yet. Something unusual was working in his life. The Lord through the unction of the Holy Spirit was stirring up something in his spiritman. When he was a child he tried to sneak a smoke and the wind came and spoke to him, "You must not smoke, you must not drink. You must keep yourself for Me. When you are old I will use you."

 

Anyone who has a call to the ministry will notice that there is this special thing. You cannot quite put your finger on it. You try to describe it to others to no avail. Oh some who have the call of God on their life understand what it is you are going through but many others look at you with a blank stare as if you had just landed on earth from Mars or someplace. Even those who understand and have experienced this cannot really be of assistance to you because this is something you must do for yourself. This is a lot like the mother giving birth in the labor room of the hospital with her husband present. He can look on, he can hold her hand, he can wipe the perspiration from her forehead, he can kiss her cheek, he can speak words of comfort and encouragement, but she has to birth the baby herself.

 

Back to William Branham… God had His hand on William all the time. So William took his cup of water told his wife, "I am going into the forest. If I don’t come back, that’s it. If God does not speak to me, I die." He couldn’t take the strange things going on in his life anymore. So he fasted and waited, fasted and waited in a log cabin way out in the middle of the forrest. He was not willing to return home to his loving bride and and the rest of his family to continue living until he received and understood clearly what this thing was, that God was trying to do in him. While he was waiting an angel of the Lord came into the room and told him exactly what his call was. He was to be a prophet. Exactly what he was already doing. The signs that were on his life were the explanation for his strange childhood. From that day forward he was a different man. He moved with a power and an anointing that was awesome.

 

Many healing ministries can be traced back to him. T.L. Osborn’s ministry started when he saw this man operating under the power of the Holy Ghost. Oral Roberts and Kenneth Hagin have sat under this man’s ministry. There is no better place to birth than in the presence of the anointing.

 

Welcome to the labor ward. There are times when your labor has to come in the privacy of your own life. I know I have spent nights without sleep alone, and I know that Faye has spent countless nights with no sleep from 2 or 3 AM on. There are times when God calls you aside and you know you are birthing something. Many times we know exactly what it is that we are birthing. Other times God may be doing a new thing and will make it known to you in the birthing process. He is simply looking to us for obedience to his call. You must become ultra-sensitive to Him and His leading. Faye knows and is far more sensitive to the Holy Spirit than I am when God is about to birth something in us. As an example we already have a call to ministry upon our lives and God is about to birth it into a full time endeavor in the weeks ahead. God has had Faye and I both up at three in the morning at various times throughout the past fifteen months. We have entered His presence and we know what has to be done. What would happen if we did not respond? The birth would be postponed, it could even be aborted if we fail to walk in obedience and submission to the Holy Ghost. There is a time for birthing. We must be sensitive to it. We must be sensitive to what God wants us to do. It will require nutrition, it will require patience, it will require commitment, it will require our all, but when the vision is birthed and we are walking in it, it will have been worth it all.

 

Now after all three of these teachings, if you are not pregnant in the Spirit, and not everyone is,you may be curious as to what is all the hoopla. Just wait on the Lord. Be sensitive to the Holy Ghost. My friend, if you will do just that you too will be looking to give birth very soon…