Spiritual Birthing Process of Starting a Ministry

By Ray Watson

Have you been trying to birth something new in prayer? Are you trying to start a ministry? There is often a time of waiting on God and a spiritual birthing process that preceeds this. It is like waiting for a child to be born. Using the analogy of giving birth to a child helps us understand this process more...

A child is conceived. A prayer is prayed. Then comes the season when the child develops in the womb. The Holy Spirit moves things on our behalf. Closer to the time of delivery, the mother becomes uncomfortable physically and can get impatient for her child to be born. When we don’t see things happening in our idea of time, it gets uncomfortable and we too can get impatient waiting for the realization of our prayers.

In this time of waiting, like mothers in labour, most of us find ourselves feeling stretched and stressed – mentally, physically and emotionally. This is normal when birthing something new. The Holy Spirit (like a mid-wife) is right with us, reminding us to keep our focus on Him and trust that God will answer our prayers.

This process of having a baby is the process of bringing forth life. And where there is life, there is God. The joy and delight that comes when a child is born is something a parent longs to experience. But even this bundle of joy can be challenging. We have to get used to the needs and demands of this new person. We have to prioritise our time so we can give our baby the right amount of attention for it to survive and do well. We haven’t been in this situation before but God knows and wants to partner with us in raising this child.

For some of us, the breakthrough we have been praying for relates to the ministry God has for us. At a time when life seems dull and stuck in a rut, we may find ourselves praying “Father what is next for me? I’ve been praying for years for the desires You’ve put in my heart to come to pass but yet my prayers are not answered.”

Recently, I have been seeing a lot of 1:11s or 111 and as I asked God what that meant for me, He directed me to Mark 1:11. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God speaks this of Jesus, His son, who (upto that point) had done nothing to deserve any applause or acclaim. He hadn’t even begun his ministry! Before he had healed anyone or fed the multitudes – before any miracle or teaching - God His Father was proud of Him. And I feel that God has been saying this to us. “You are my beloved daughter / son, in whom I am well pleased. I have good things in store for you, great plans for your future! You have hope and you need to believe this. I am already proud of you.”

So as we pray into this season, rest assured that God has seen our works, heard our prayers and all the work that we need to do is to believe and pray for the new life that is coming. I am not talking about the rapture (if it does come, fine) but I think this refers to the new season we are about to enter into. A season when we will walk in our true identities as sons and daughters of the most high God, and where we will see His Kingdom come in a mighty and powerful way. A season where every day we will see His glory manifest as we reach out and help our fellowmen. They may be in darkness now, but they will experience the light when we let Christ shine through us. And this is what we are called to be - salt and light to the earth. This is our purpose. And its time to pray into this and pray for strategies and ideas to do this new season well. With continuous prayer in the season of waiting, God will bring it forth at the right time.