class 6 · Antioch Institute ST

class 6

CLASS 6

WOMBS AND TRAVAIL

SECTION 1

Wombs Under Attack

Throughout scripture some of the most significant wombs were barren before they ever produced what God intended. Sarah, Rebekah, Samson's mother, and Elizabeth all experienced barrenness. This is not accidental. The enemy often attacks the womb before he attacks the promise because he fears what will eventually be born. Wombs become prophetic pictures of intercession. Just as a natural womb carries life until the appointed time of birth, intercessors carry burdens, assignments, and purposes until they are manifested in the earth. Whether male or female, every intercessor carries a spiritual womb.

Sarah's womb remained barren until old age and then the Lord spoke.

Genesis 18:10–11 (NKJV)

“And He said, ‘I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ Now Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.”

Sarah also becomes a picture of intercessors attempting to pass their burden to someone who does not have the capacity to carry it. When the promise delayed, she attempted to take Abraham's seed and give it to Hagar.

Genesis 16:2 (NKJV)

“So Sarai said to Abram, ‘See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.’”

God gives certain burdens to certain people because He has determined who has the capacity to birth them. One of the frustrations of intercession is realizing that others around you do not always carry the same burden you carry. Sometimes this can manifest as an unholy zeal to get everyone praying the thing God called you to pray. Isaac belonged in Sarah's womb. The burden belonged to her.

Rebekah presents another picture of intercession. Like Sarah, her womb was barren until prayer was made.

Genesis 25:21 (NKJV)

“Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.”

After conception came turbulence.

Genesis 25:22–23 (NKJV)

“But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If all is well, why am I like this?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her: ‘Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.’”

Rebekah felt turmoil because of what she was carrying. Some intercessors experience pressure because of the burden they carry before God. The struggle was connected to the significance of what was in her womb.

The Lord also gave Rebekah revelation concerning Jacob before the blessing was ever released. Later she became involved in positioning Jacob to receive what God had already declared. Some intercessors eventually steward the thing they first carried in prayer. God entrusted the revelation to Rebekah because she would play a role in its fulfillment. Who better to steward it than the one who carried it before God?

Samson's mother provides another picture.

Judges 13:2–3 (NKJV)

“Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.’”

She is never given a name in scripture, yet she carried one of Israel's greatest deliverers. The Angel of the Lord immediately connected the child to a life of consecration.

Judges 13:4–5 (NKJV)

“Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb.”

Because of what she was carrying, there was a particular way she had to live. Sometimes consecration becomes a form of intercession. Certain burdens require a particular lifestyle. Samson was called to be a Nazarite from the womb, therefore his mother had to match the nature of what she was carrying.

After she informed Manoah, he prayed for the messenger to return.

Judges 13:8–9 (NKJV)

“Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, ‘O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.’ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field.”

The angel returned to the woman. The visitation was attracted to the carrier. Because of what she was carrying, Heaven continued speaking to her.

The burden began with her, but she brought Manoah into the encounter. Some burdens become team efforts. One person may carry the primary burden while others are brought into the stewardship of that assignment.

Judges 13:19–20 (NKJV)

“So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on—it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar.”

The angel ascended in the sacrifice. Altars are places of transport. Sacrifice creates movement. The altar became the meeting place between Heaven and Earth.

Elizabeth provides another picture of a womb under attack. Like Sarah, she had reached old age without producing a child.

Luke 1:7 (NKJV)

“But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.”

For years Elizabeth carried the reproach of barrenness. Yet her barrenness was connected to the significance of what she would eventually produce. She was not carrying an ordinary child. She would carry John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

Luke 1:13–17 (NKJV)

“Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John... And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah... to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

John's assignment was to prepare the way for Christ. Before the promise arrived, God sent a forerunner.

Luke 1:36 (NKJV)

“Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age...”

The womb of Elizabeth carried the forerunner. The womb of Mary carried the promise itself. Their assignments were different, but they were connected.

There appears to be a family connection to the burden. These two women were relatives and both were carrying significant assignments connected to the plan of God. There is a reason certain people are close to you. There is a reason some people are related to you. Sometimes God connects people because their assignments are connected.

Luke 1:41 (NKJV)

“And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

John leaped because the promise had entered the room. The forerunner recognized what he was connected to.

Many times when you hear the voice of someone whose assignment is connected to yours, something within you begins to show signs of life. Something begins to leap. The speech of Mary caused movement in the womb of Elizabeth because the assignments were connected long before either child entered public ministry.

SECTION 2

Travail Before Birth

Isaiah 66:8 (NKJV)

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”

Isaiah connects birth to travail. Before the children came forth, Zion travailed. The Hebrew word translated as travailed is chul. According to Strong's Concordance the word means to whirl, twist, writhe, tremble, wait, be in labor, and bring forth. What is interesting is that the word contains both the idea of waiting and birthing.

Many believers hear the word travail and immediately think of labor. Yet embedded within the word is also the idea of waiting. Travail is not always a push. Sometimes travail is a wait.

This same Hebrew word is used in Genesis when Noah waited before sending the dove from the ark. The flood had ended, yet Noah waited. He did not move simply because he wanted movement. He waited for the proper moment. This is what many believers have called tarrying. Waiting before the Lord with expectation.

The disciples were told to do the same thing before Pentecost.

Acts 1:4 (NKJV)

“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, 'which,' He said, 'you have heard from Me;'”

They were told to wait in the upper room. They were waiting for what God had promised. They were waiting with expectation. This is one of the dimensions of travail. Waiting on the Lord is not inactivity. Waiting is often part of the birthing process.

There is also a laborious side to travail. There are moments in prayer where waiting gives way to burden.

Hebrews 5:7 (NKJV)

“Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.”

Jesus entered a place of prayer marked by cries and tears. There comes a point in prayer where words in the understanding and even words in the Spirit seem insufficient. Prayer moves into groaning.

Hannah gives us a picture of this.

1 Samuel 1:13 (NKJV)

“Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.”

Her lips were moving but no words were being heard. Hannah had moved beyond ordinary speech. The burden had become deeper than language.

Paul uses the same language in Romans.

Romans 8:22–23 (NKJV)

“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves...”

Creation groans.

Believers groan.

The language Paul uses is the language of childbirth.

Romans 8:26 (NKJV)

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

Sometimes intercession becomes groaning. There are moments where an intercessor begins to feel the burden of the thing being prayed for. At times it is the sorrow connected to the need. At other times it is the weight of what God desires to bring forth. This is often one of the final stages before manifestation.

Paul describes this same reality in leadership.

Galatians 4:19 (NKJV)

“My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,”

Paul was an apostle, yet he describes his ministry using the language of labor and birth. He was carrying the Galatians in prayer until Christ was formed in them.

This is apostolic intercession.

Leaders should not only preach to people. Leaders should carry people before God. Paul was not groaning for a sermon. He was groaning for formation. He was carrying a burden until Christ was formed in those he led.

As leaders, we should pray more than we preach.

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class 6