The Gift of Barrenness

Table of Contents 2004

The Gift of Barrenness

The gift of barrenness is not given to everyone, only to those who have a special destiny from the Lord.

Here we are at 9/26/2004. The burden is the 54th chapter of the Book of Isaiah.

I began Sunday morning with a brief review of the subject of holiness, picking up from last week. I had said that the current movies are not acceptable for Christian people because of the foul language and the sexual innuendos. Refusing to join with the world in its hopeless confusion, gambling casinos, horse races, and so forth are battles fought on this side of Jordan. Abstaining from these is not entrance into the land of promise but battles we fight as we are approaching Canaan. The New Testament does allude to external holiness, although holiness of behavior has become a bad word among many Christians.

But the sixty-six items of genuine heart holiness that I have identified (we will send you a copy free of charge, or you can read Perfecting Holiness at the main library on our site) have to do with our entrance into our inheritance.

Now back to The Gift of Barrenness.

If you have been Divinely chosen to be a part of the holy city you are going to go through a season of suffering. These are the sufferings of Christ and are the source of resurrection life. You will suffer every sort of injustice, perversity, frustration, the delay of your most fervent desires. God may seem far off. It indeed is a severe test, a dark night of the soul. You will be barren for a season.

If you are to be a deliverer, as was Joseph, your are going to be rejected; tempted; and then thrown into prison for resisting the temptation. But never permit your imprisonment to make you a prisoner in heart. Be like Joseph. One moment in prison. The next moment governing the land of Egypt.

Joseph did not demur, as did the beggar in the story by Shalom Aleichem who asked only for a hot roll and butter. Joseph said: "Where is my chariot and horses. Let’s get the program rolling." (Or something like that.)

With God all things are possible. Do not permit life to beat the idealism out of you. Give thanks to God for all things and then pray for the deepest desires of your heart. Whatever you ask in the name of Christ He will do for you.

Time is not the issue. The substance will come when you have been prepared.

Read the entire 54th chapter of the Book of Isaiah and claim every promise in this most marvelous of texts.

God said it. We believe it. That settles it. Amen.