No More Barrenness!
Nothing can be as disheartening as to get married and believe that in the next one year or so, you would hold your own baby in your arms, only to find yourself waiting 5, 10, 15 years or more for the day your dream of having children is fulfilled. Waiting to have children can cause couples a lot of heartbreak, embarrassment and frustration. Hannah went through years of humiliation from her rival Peninnah because she had no children. The ridicule and disgrace was so much that Hannah was reduced to tears and had no appetite (1 Samuel 1:1-7). Thank God that despite the sadness, insults and negative labels, Hannah still had the resolve to pray. God heard Hannah’s prayers, remembered her, turned her captivity around and made her a joyful mother of children (1 Samuel 1:10-20, 2 Samuel 2:21). For as many in our midst and families believing God for children, God will be gracious to them. He will destroy every yoke of barrenness in their lives, wipe away their tears, and give them double for all their troubles. The God that completely wiped out and eradicated barrenness from Hannah will visit all such couples and put laughter in their mouths in Jesus mighty name, amen.
Another distressing kind of barrenness is where there’s no marital progress and joy. You desire and long to settle down but you are still single even after years of praying, attending marriage seminars and following different tips on how to know and find your life-partner. It’s like an invisible remote control has placed your marital life on slow motion or stop and nothing seems to be working or happening. If this is your story, a change is coming your way in Jesus mighty name, amen! You will no longer be ignored, rejected, turned down or dumped; the Lord will remove every veil hiding your beauty and potentials and you will be sought after (Isaiah 62:4, Isaiah 60:18). God will cover you with His glory and favour, settle you in your own family and put an end to loneliness in your life for the Lord your God is with you and He is mighty to save from marital barrenness (Psalm 68:6, Zephaniah 3:17).
For some other people, their struggle is with another form of barrenness. Their land bears no crops; their career or business is dry, moving slowly, unproductive and unprofitable. A situation that brings about financial hardship, stress and reproach. In 2 Kings 2:19, the men of Jericho told Elisha that their city’s location was very good, but the land was unfruitful and unproductive. Many businesses, companies and organizations are strategically located; their products are wonderful and have been placed in a good spot. They are in a place that customers should be trooping to them, but no one seems to notice them or their products. Unemployment, which is rife in our times, is a form of barrenness that has penetrated deep into our nation. You see people whose ‘location is good’; who have good results, great potentials and skills but they can’t get a job, a situation that has dragged on for years for many graduates.
Barrenness can also be of the mind. A person can be mentally dull and slow which can lead to a cycle of failure; writing exams over and over again. Indeed, it can be very devastating to watch your mates’ graduate, get jobs and move forward in life, while you are still trying to pass GCE, WAEC or JAMB. Mental barrenness can tie a person down to the same spot for years.
Even after being a Christian for years, some people haven’t made any significant progress in their walk and work with God. Hebrews 5:11-14 talks about Christians who ought to be teachers by now, but are still depending on others to teach and spoon-feed them. We shouldn’t be like the fig tree Jesus cursed. Jesus was expecting to find fruit on it but found nothing but leaves (Mark 11:12-14). The tree was all leaves but no fruit. We shouldn’t be believers who are all leaves but no fruit; who are all activities, programs, religious routines and cliches, ‘how to’ formulas and techniques, but the fruits of righteousness are lacking in our lives. We must resist all forms of barrenness in our lives. God created us to be fruitful, to multiply and replenish the earth (Genesis 1:28). This applies to not only having children but to mental, financial, professional, spiritual and ministerial fruitfulness. Fruitfulness is God’s mandate for us; it is God’s plan and purpose for our lives. God did not plant barrenness in us and so it must be uprooted and pulled down (Matthew 15:13). With the keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:19), with a firm union and connection with Jesus Christ (John 15:1-5), with prayer (John 15:7-8), with the Word of God (Job 22:28, Isaiah 55:11), with faith in God (Romans 4:20-21), by thinking big against all odds (Romans 4:18, Isaiah 54:1-3), we can unlock every door of barrenness we have found ourselves in whether as a result of sin, laziness and carelessness on our part, health challenges, or from curses and demonic activities.
As God used Elisha to terminate barrenness from the land in 2 Kings 2:19-22, this season, God will bring an end to all forms of barrenness in our lives. The Living Water of God will flow into us, heal us, and our lives, spouses, children, church and ministries shall be fruitful vines that bear fruit in season and out of season (Psalm 1:2-3). God will turn every financial, career, business, mental and spiritual barrenness or wilderness situation to pools of increase, progress and prosperity (Isaiah 41:18). God will send down the rain of His favour on every barren, dry land and there will be divine provision to eat, live and be established (Deuteronomy 11:11-15). God will go before us and level every mountain of stagnation that has been limiting our progress in life (Isaiah 45:2). Businesses and careers that have been stagnant will break forth and expand (Isaiah 54:1-3). God will put an end to working hard but having little or nothing to show for it. All fruitless efforts are over in our lives, family and church because Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of barrenness (Galatians 3:13), and whoever Jesus sets free, is free indeed from all forms of barrenness (John 8:36). On the cross Jesus declared that it is finished (John 19:30)! The curse, siege, embargo and evil pronouncement of barrenness, no result, no progress is finished in Jesus mighty name, amen.
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God remember me.
In the name of Jesus, God will remember you, visit you and fill your mouth with laughter. AMEN!