In Bible times, childbearing was on of the most important purposes a woman had in life. Children carried on the family name and where viewed as evidence of God’s blessing. A woman who could not have children may have felt worthless and possibly unloved by God and others. Not only did a barren women have to deal with internal turmoil, she also most likely faced ridicule from others because people considered barrenness as a punishment for wrong living.
There are many instances of barrenness in the Bible. These women’s infertility seemed like an impossible problem and a huge road block for their futures. Whether we are experiencing barrenness or something else like joblessness, fear, sickness, or other situations, we can learn from their stories and apply it to our own seemingly impossible struggles.

THE IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS:
Sarah: God promised Abraham and Sarah as many descendants as there were stars in the sky. Yet Sarah was childless, and it seemed impossible that she would be able to conceive in her old age. (Genesis 12, 15-18, 21)
Rachel: Rachel’s and her sister, Leah’s, husband loved Rachel more. God saw this and allowed Leah to have children while Rachel remained childless. Rachel became jealous and discouraged by this situation. (Genesis 29-30)
Hannah: Hannah could not have children, while her husband’s other wife had many. She was very upset by this, and promised God that if He gave her a son, she would commit him to the Lord. (1 Samuel 1)

Here is a few Do and a Don’t learned from Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah- a few barren women in the Bible…

-> DO: Pray
Genesis 30:22, “Then God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children.”

Rachel was very discouraged by her infertility. Although she did let her frustrations overcome her for a moment (Genesis 30:1), she did the right thing by taking her struggle to God.

1 Samuel 1:15, “…I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the LORD.”

Hannah took her heart- broken from being childless and harassed- to God. She pleaded with the Lord to give her the desires of her heart.

The right response to difficult situations is to ALWAYS go to God first. He is the one who made us and can do anything, why would we want to go anywhere else?!
He hears our prayers and answers them, “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for” (1 John 5:14-15).

-> DON’T: Interfere
Genesis 16:2, “So Sarai said to Abram, ‘The LORD has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.’”
Although God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, Sarah didn’t think she could make God’s plan happen, so she took matters into her own hands. Eventually, God did give Sarah a son- 25 years after He first made His promise to Abraham.

Genesis 30:3, “Then Rachel told him, ‘Take my maid, Bilhah, and sleep with her. She will bear children for me, and through her I can have a family, too.’”

Like Sarah, Rachel didn’t think God would allow her to have children, so she decided to make things happen on her own.

God didn’t need Sarah or Rachel to make His will happen. And He doesn’t need us to interfere and try to provide for our own needs/ make His plans happen in our situations either. We must trust that His timing is absolutely perfect, because it is!

In all of these women’s cases, God used their infertility to demostrate His power. And He is wanting to use our impossible-barren sitiuations to demonstrate His power, too!

So, let’s take what we’ve learned from these women and apply them to our own “barrenness,”
by PRAYING and BELIEVING.

What lesson relates to your life the most?
-Maybe you have a struggle in your life that you need to come to God with.

-Maybe you have already brought your needs to God, but then got tired of waiting and interfered.
If this is the case, you should ask for forgiveness and start believing!

Wherever you’re at right now, nothing is impossible for God, and He wants to do the impossible in our lives!

Anyone who knows even a little bit about building houses, knows that in order to build it you need a strong foundation or the building will collapse.  The same thing is true when it comes to a person’s faith.  If you are not sure about what you believe, then you will crumble and fall like a building on a shaky foundation.  Jesus told his disciples a story at the end of his sermon on the Mount about two men who built themselves each a house.

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock….But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.”  Matthew 7:24 & 26 (NLT).

After they built their houses, a great storm and flood waters came. The house that was built on solid rock withstood the storm.  However, the house that was built on sand fell and was washed away by the flood.

There are people all around us who are dying without the hope and saving grace of Jesus.  We have the tools and materials they need for a firm foundation in Christ.  It is important to have a strong doctrine to believe in when it comes to your faith.  The Assemblies of God have four foundational truths or doctrines that stand out the most.  According to Introduction to Pentecostal Doctrine, they are:  Salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit and His dynamic work in Spirit-filled Christians, Divine healing as part of the atonement, and The Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

In order to way to be a difference and to make a difference is to know exactly what you believe in and to always stand by it.

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” – Unknown

Doctrine at its’ simplest, would be considered teaching. For Pentecostals, it is important that doctrine is sound, or correct, because it is called for in the bible. From my studies, that was the first thing that was slammed into my head that quickly turned from knowledge to heart belief of how important such doctrine can be. In order to determine doctrine, there has to be a basis, that is the Holy Spirit. There are a quite a few doctrines; there are sixteen doctrines, four of which are considered foundational. All of them should not be overlooked.

The first foundation is “Salvation of Man.” Salvation comes through faith in God who sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus is the only cure for our fall and he was the perfect sacrifice. Because of his shed blood, we have the opportunity to be renewed, vindicated, and seek repentance. But this is opportunity is the only one that is of salvation, all other ‘opportunities’ lead to death. Thus, we must be careful of false doctrine and test it by appealing it to the Spirit.

The second foundation is “Baptism in the Holy Spirit.” It is available to all believers, no matter the age, race, class or gender. Through the Spirit, there is radical change in the life of a believer. That change is evident with the fruits one bears and how he or she applies the gifts that God has given him or her. But with all these fruits and gifts, there must be humility for nothing a believer does is to be for his or her glory, but for God. And all efforts should be focused on the mindset that God can do anything, that there would be no reliance on their own two feet.

The third foundation is “Divine Healing.” Divine healing goes far beyond physical health concerns such as death, cancer, STDS and etc. It deals with fears as well as mental and emotional distress. However, healing does not just come out of simple acts of faith. Instead, God determines how he will heal and when. So the believer must take faith and trust in God to make all things good.

The fourth foundation concerns “Great Hope.” This great hope is that Jesus is coming back for us, his second coming will be his last in which we can finally rest. Thus, the current time we live in is regarded as the last days. There are signs regarding to it, but there are false prophets that stir fear. So Christ tells us how to live in the last days, so we won’t be deceived. But going on beyond the second coming, Christ tells us of how believers will be taken into heaven and into eternal life. He also says how there will be one final fight and Christ will then reign over a kingdom that overtakes this world.

What is gentleness?

I have always found gentleness as a word I would associate with babies and animals. Hearing it makes me think of parents telling older siblings to be gentle to the new baby or telling a child to be gentle to the kitty by not pulling its tail. The word gentleness has many other words for its definition: such as gentle, yielding, kind, forbearing, and lenient. In Chapter 13 of Prison Epistles: Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, and Philippians, the author, LeRoy Bartel, found and shared a word that he thought would be a good definition for the word gentleness. The word was magnanimity which means the quality of liberality in bestowing gifts, or being extremely liberal and generous of spirit. In Philippians 4:5 it says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” This means we are not supposed to just be gentle with certain people, in one form or another, all people should be able to see and feel our gentleness that we receive from the Lord. It should be shown to all people, those who it is easy to show gentleness to and those who are a little more challenging.

Why be gentle?

The author of Prison Epistles states from Philippians 4:5 that “the Lord is near”. We should always act as if the Lord is right next us, because he is. Gentleness is a trait from God and so if God is in our life we should have the trait of gentleness. We are to strive to be like Christ; therefore, we should act like Jesus because soon he will return. Having gentleness for others will show Christ to them and help us minister to them more effectively. This doesn’t mean that we cannot correct them, it just means we have to do it in a godly manner that is helpful not hurtful to the other person. Gentleness is not simply something that we should hold babies with, but it should be a trait that is used on others and non-believers to help win them to Christ.

An Appeal Supported by Paul’s Personal Testimony (3:4–16; 3:20–4:1)

What impressed me the most was in Philippians 3:7-9.  In verse 7 and 8 Paul was saying in all simplicity that if you truly know what Christ has done for us everything is garbage.  Paul was the top Pharisee of his day.  He was a true pure-blooded member of the tribe of Benjamin (v.5).  He knew the religious law in every aspect, but when he found out what Jesus did on the Cross for us.  He threw all the laws and everything that he was in life and as a Pharisee away, and said it was worthless and garbage to him.  And in verse 9, Paul found out that all he needs to do is have faith in Christ, and not his religious mumbo jumbo.

Paul impresses me so much, because he was the “top dog” of the Pharisees and in the Jewish community.  But he lays all his titles and his own righteousness down, and he follows the Cross.  He had it all except one thing, and that was the Messiah.  If we compare this to people of today’s world.  It just shows me that any person can know Christ.  People think that sex, drugs, money, fame, and all the earthly desires you can think of will satisfy you.  But if they don’t have Jesus in their lives.  They are truly empty and without the Messiah.  Those people will keep on filling in the hole with something else.  But instead of filling it,  they just make deeper holes in their lives, and try more things to replace Him.  But Paul found out that the earthly things weren’t worth it, and all you need is Jesus.  Wow it is that simply.  Only if people truly realized how simple it truly is.

Philippians 3:13-15 I want to challenge myself to live out daily.  The thing that tugs on me most out of this is that we need to forget about the past and looking forward to what lies ahead (v.13).  That hits me in the gut so hard that I want to fall to the floor every time I read it.  Because I do need to forget about my past and move forward in Christ Jesus.  Like it says in the bible to put your old nature away and put your new nature in Christ on.  I shouldn’t worry about my past, because Jesus took care of me in the midst, and now I truly want and need to give him my whole heart.  God is the one I have to answer to in the end, so I need to become more like Christ daily and walk with him.  To reflect his image, just like the moon reflects the sun.  Christ called us to live a life for him, and it is our choice to accept our destiny in Him, or flee from it.  Now may I live it out to the max, and do everything to exemplify His excellence.  For I trust in the Lord with all my heart and I will not lean on my own understandings and in all his ways I will acknowledge Him for He will make my paths straight (bits and parts of  Proverbs 3:5).

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
Romans 8:28 is a very common verse in the church. It makes sense that such an encouraging verse would be so iconic in the church, but like anything, it can tend to lose its depth the more we hear it. It is helpful sometimes to take something we consider to be common and truly study it. We have heard it a hundred times, and it is relatively easy to understand, but what are we missing from Romans 8:28? For a moment, I encourage you to dig a little deeper with me, let’s take this verse step by step and see how far down we can go.
Five Certainties about God and His Faithfulness from Romans 8:28:
1 God works in the lives of His people.
One of the most humbling aspects of our relationship with God is the effort he is willing to put in. Even when we are unfaithful, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).
2 God works for the good of His people.
Even when we go through hardships, God is working for our good. In the midst of what is going on, we may not see it, but God is there, working for our good. We must remember though, that our ways are not His ways (Isaiah 55:8), therefore, our definition of good may not always line up with His. That is when we must trust that He knows best.
3 God works for the good of His people in all things.
God is both capable and committed to working for good in everything. The word all here excludes not one circumstance or situation; in all things, God is working for good. That means even when we are hurting, even when we are down, God has plans for good. It is like Joseph said to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
4 God works for the good of those who love Him.
James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” God is closest to those who make it a point to be close to Him.
5 God works for the good of those who have been called according to His purpose.
“For many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). It is God’s desire that every one of us answers His invitation, but it is our choice whether we will or not. It takes commitment on our part to be counted as His.

Something that stuck out to me while reading through Romans was when Paul encourages them to rejoice when “we run into problems and trials” (Romans 5:3). This first caught my eye because I always pay attention to where the Bible talks about taking joy in trails or persecution. It seems so unusual that I unconsciously take notice. The series that Paul lists in the next couple of verses then grabbed my attention.

Paul talks about endurance coming from the trials and problems (verse 3). As we overcome these difficulties, it causes us to become stronger and depend more on God for strength.

Then Paul says, “And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” Endurance strengthens our character because of how we are relying more on God. He is supplying the strength and ideas we need to make it through the hardship(s). He then instructs us in different ways that improve our character. With the change of character comes a change in behavior since it was our old behavior that got us into trouble in the first place. If we had acted right before, we would not have need the change. Our new behavior only confirms in our heart that God is real and that He has saved us.

Paul concludes the list by saying that the hope of salvation “will not lead to disappointment.” A sign that we will not be disappointed is that God loves us and has proven it by sending the Holy Spirit. This is a great gift that will help strengthen us spiritually and aid us in future trials. So the circle begins again and we keep coming out stronger and stronger.

In the end, the series Paul wrote here goes back to the heart of what Paul believes. It is about the believer growing closer to God and letting grace and mercy change their life.