“Let me make it quite clear: You will weep and be overcome with grief over what happens to me. The unbelieving world will be happy, while you will be filled with sorrow. But know this, your sadness will turn into joy when you see me again! Just like a woman giving birth experiences intense labor pains in delivering her baby, yet after the child is born she quickly forgets what she went through because of the overwhelming joy of knowing that a new baby has been born into the world.” John 16:2–21 TPT

Don’t you wish Jesus was here today ‘making it quite clear’ just what we’re in for? Even when he spoke these words to his disciples, they hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.  It’s not that they were stupid, they just imagined it was going to happen differently or that Jesus was once again talking in a parable.

I mean really, everyone loved Jesus, right? He healed everyone, who wouldn’t like him? He fed them all, who wouldn’t like him? But those same people who followed him from town to town, from healing to healing, those same people when offered money by the religious leaders of that day, turned on him and yelled, “Crucify him!”

It’s always been about an unbelieving world, hasn’t it? He gave his life for an unbelieving world in hopes that someday, they would turn to him, acknowledge him and understand that he did it all for love. Yet even today, an unbelieving world would crucify him yet again. They don’t want anything to do with him. How very sad!

I can’t help but think that as we cry out in our labor, as we sense the pain of what we’re about to deliver is coming to an end, we will too rejoice in the birth that takes place. The birth of so many who enter the Kingdom and find the faithful love of God. This world that is so ripe for harvest. May we have ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart to obey through the painful contractions until we hold in our arms the reward of our birthing.

As the contractions grow close together, don’t be distracted by what you see in the natural. Don’t forget that those who endure to the end, those same will be saved. The time to bear down is coming. Keep your eyes on Him.

Until Tomorrow,

Sandy G