Excerpt from Extreme LIFE Makeover - October 7, 2009
I found myself thinking back on the days when my wife gave birth to our first son. The memories are still strong of the pressure packed minutes of coaching her through the birth.
The Lord reminded me how I had to be stern and gentle at the same time. I still recall the mind altering moment when I realized that I had to do this because her life was on the line. The baby was coming and I had to help her get through this. I could not cuddle her. I could not sugar-coat the moment. I had to help her get through this.
Once labor begins, and the process of child birth has initiated, the only thing that matters is getting that baby born safely, and for the mother to come through it without losing her life as well.
I don’t know how to fully explain it, but that’s what I sense about this season for Urban Life and the Fruitful Life Network. The labor pains have begun and I can’t focus on our bills, deadlines and problems. Our prophetic promises are being birthed from the Spirit and into the visible realm, and I have to coach us through it.
Someone may ask: If a vision is from God, why is there pain? If it’s from God shouldn't it come without pain?
Our answer is this: Spiritual birth is painful to our flesh. The vision itself is not the pain. The pain comes in the process of our flesh having to give way to the will of God.
Now I see it so clearly, that this is one of the reasons so many visions have been aborted, miscarried or still born. When it’s time for a Body of Believers to give birth, the pastor has to stand up and be stern and forthright, while gentling leading the people in prayer, worship, repentance and preparation. I have learned that in this community and in cities all over America, that when believers don't understand and discern why leaders do this, they resist it. Some even leave the church.
Have your leaders and pastors been pushing you lately? A pregnant Body of Believers can receive hurt and offense because the leaders seem to be insensitive to what they’re going through. But the reality is that just like when a woman is in child birth, she can’t focus on the problems in her life while she’s trying to give birth. She has to focus on the child that is coming. She can’t focus on her bills, that no good absent boy friend, her selfish siblings, her other children, her interfering mother in law, her nosy co-workers, or her irritating neighbors. All that matter is the birth of this child.
I think I understand why so many prayers, ministries and visions have never come forth. Many believers want to be cuddled through child birth, stroked through child birth, danced through child birth, or emotionally carried through child birth. But every mother can tell you, that there is only one way to get through child birth. There is a life and death determination that she has to make within herself.
After our children were born, I reached a whole new level of respect for my wife. Did I mention that she gave birth to the twins with no anesthesia at all? By the time we got to the hospital, she was fully dilated and it was time to push. She didn’t have time to get ready for it. There was no time for me to prepare her for this like I did with our first child. There was no pep talk, and no gentle hugs and kisses to assure her that everything is going to be okay. Suddenly, we were in the delivery room and she had to find it within herself to just do it. She had to deliver, not once, but twice. Imagine having to give birth to one baby, and instead of being able to finely relax and take a pain killer, you have to do it all over again.
That’s why she’s such a warrior to this day. That's why Carol doesn’t have much tolerance for us feeling sorry for ourselves or being sad and down about what we have to go through. I didn’t say she has no understanding or compassion. She just doesn’t let us settle there. She doesn’t let ME settle there. She will push you and push you, until you believe what God says about you.
So we have discovered that we are assigned to be, sort of like, birthing coaches in your life. We have to do this! Your life is on the line! The answer to your prayer is on the line! We have to help our own sons, our church, our staff, our web viewers, and our facebook friends to deal with this aspect of the way God does things.
