Judges 13 speaks
about the birth of Samson. This was about a barren woman who was unable to give
birth and whose husband was named Manoah. Manoah’s wife was barren. And barrenness in those days was a curse. There were a lot of things we could learn
from this story of barrenness. The one thing we see in this beautiful story is
the beautiful word “ownership”.
God owns everything
in our life and in this universe. God moved man and woman today and exposing
them to what we call our “selfish attitude of ownership”. Today, we see the power of grace in this
story. Manoah’s wife was childless and God just came in through an
angel of the Lord spoke to her about giving birth to a son. And that son was named Samson. These people in the Old Testament are all
vessels of grace God used. Manoah’s wife
cried out daily in her heart saying to God “God if you break the curse of my
barrenness, I will give you my child and you can use him and take ownership of
him.”
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah,
from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give
birth. 3 The angel of the Lord
appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to
become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that
you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything
unclean. 5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head
is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, to God from the womb. He will take the lead in
delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
Judges 13:24 - The woman gave birth to a boy and
named him Samson. He grew and the Lord
blessed him, v. 25 and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in
Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
We learn that in barrenness we allow God
blessings, miracles and purposes to flow into us and through us. A dead person in fact does not own
anything. When Manoah’s wife gave up something that is costly and
valuable, God Grace flows into
her empty vessel. Vessel that emptied themselves. God the wine maker emptied our vessels into
another. And our wine in the end will become pure and rich. We will become
useful like Samson.
God used Samson and he became the deliverer.
Samson came to deliver the Israelites from the Philistine suppression for 40
years. Samson was a miracle boy, his mother a barren woman who hope was in the
grace and mercy of God. She emptied herself to allow God’s grace to flow
through her and deliver a miracle baby boy.
Samson’s name means in Hebrew “Shimshown”
meaning “the strength of the sun” – his strength was tied to the strength and
power of God. Yet he was tempted as we are and yet God used him. As the church cries out
today for God’s power, God is going to release His strength and His Exceeding Grace
to deliver many broken and empty people.
Barrenness breaks the church into another
level of New Grace and Anointing – a New Anointing Power of God –
supernaturally. As God breaks the curse
of barrenness in churches today, we will move into another level of
fruitfulness and blessings. His Gracious Grace will do it.
God will provide the grace of enlargement, the
grace of influence and the grace of success and blessings for the church to
reign in life. But we must keep our
hunger focused on the God of power rather than the power of God. Love the God of Power not the Power of God. Love the Giver not the gift. When a church is small nobody bother and
question but when it is big and had big money and finance everybody bothers and
asks. Many wanted to control and had a say sometimes to their selfish ends.
The questions we ask today, why are we serving
God for? Most people serve God because
of His gifts and power and blessings.
They love the gift and power more than the Giver or Power Giver. They love His presents more than they love
His Presence or Face. The carnal mind craves
comfort and loves money. The natural man
is a fighter and taker. The mind of
Christ is a lover and a giver. The
carnal mind is centered in self-rule.
The spiritual mind is centered in God rule.
Job lost many things in life. But God restored back Job’s losses which I
called “barrenness”. He was barren. When
he started to pray for his friends (that accuse him) the Lord gave twice as
much as he had before. Job took his
focus off himself and let go and turn to others instead of his sorrows and pain. God was able to move on his behalf. As long as Job was trying to solve his own
problems (or justify himself) God could not move towards him.
Today God’s principles are still the
same. When love doesn’t seek its own, it
allows faith to operate powerfully from within our lives. When our focus is on God and others we become
a vessel to His Kingdom. It is a vessel
for faith and love to flow and not a dam for it to become stagnate or barren.
Our faith works through love. Our hearts are purified by faith and also by God
love.
Matthew 16:25 says, “whosoever loses his life shall find it back”. Someone say this, “things that we are so
desperate to obtain are only received by giving them selflessly away.” Yes, we learn that unconditional love is the
most costly love. Jesus love cost Him
and his life to us. Likewise, marriage is not a 50-50% partnership love. It should be 100% and we will never come to
lack. If we give only 50% then we come into lack. Likewise as I say a dead person does not have
any life. He gave all 100% to God. For you are dead in Christ, as the scripture
say.
My prayers: As in Acts 1:8 –
“you shall receive power” - “I release the Holy Spirit gift and the power
to you according to Acts 1:8. Receive
the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you – you shall be my witnesses of grace. I release the power to heal, to minister, to give,
to witness, to preach, to get wealth, to restore, to plant and destroy all the enemy’s stronghold! I release power for miracles and breakthrough
in your life! I release the power to break
all doubts and spiritual and physical barrenness in your life and your family. May the Good
Gracious God bless you! Amen!
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