ABOUT THE BOOK The aim of this book is to share our experience and also encourage all couples who are still faithfully waiting on God for the gift of the fruit of the womb by encouraging them to continue to rely completely on God who is able to give joy and bring them (children), at a time when His name alone will be glorified. The author expresses the uneasiness and seriousness of childlessness, especially when you have given your life and your all to and have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. There is no way there would not be some kind of decline from faith to doubt; and, from doubt to giving up completely. The encouragement that this book gives is that God is able, and abundantly able to do exceedingly above our imagination and thinking. This is the crux of the matter, especially to those who are believers in Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is the ultimate as touching our expectation and contemplation. In Genesis Chapter One, God created the earth and all the things thereof [including human beings] and He was delighted in the work of His hands. Consequently, He pronounced the blessing of fruitfulness. However, despite this God people like Abraham and Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth at one time or the other experiences delay in having children. However, history has shown that God allowed their delays for different reasons. We knew, for example, that in the Book of 1st Samuel, God allowed Hannah to pass through a period of delay before giving her baby Samuel. In fact, He allowed her to be subjected to ridicule by her mate Peninnah. But what we often fail to understand was the fact that while Hannah was passing through her childless period, God was at the same time giving the family of Prophet Eli time to amend their ways and repent and at the same time He was also watching to see whether Hannah will continue to be faithful in her coming for the yearly pilgrim to Shiloh to offer sacrifice despite her unanswered prayers and humiliations from her rival. He was observing whether because she had not seen any result from her previous comings to Shiloh, she will be discouraged and refuse to attend. In addition to the above, may be in Gods judgment, the Israelites were not yet ready to receive another prophet that would change the course of their nation. But when the time for all these came and the cup of the family of Eli was full, He sent Samuel to Hannah. One can, therefore, infer that Hannahs period of delay serves as a way of filling a vacuum that existed as a result of God giving room for Eli and his sons to repent from their sinful activities. Also in a reverse of fortune, when Samuel was eventually released to Hannah and he became the prophet at Shiloh, in place of Eli and his children; part of the people who might have been coming to him at Shiloh with their sacrifices and for consultations were Elikanah, Peninnah and her children. Maybe this door of opportunity might not have open for Hannah and her son if Samuel had been born earlier. In the New Testaments, God allowed Elizabeth to experience delay and shame before He gave her John the Baptist. God must have looked at the continued faithful service of Zachariah, Elizabeths husband, as priests despite the fact that his wife was not only barren but she had one with trumpet. The fact that the angel of God met Zachariah while he was performing his priestly duty is an indication that he did not allow his personal family challenge to hinder his services to God. The fact that the angel of God linked the birth of John the Baptist with the coming of Jesus Christ [see Luke 1: 17] can be taken as a pointer to the fact that God allowed the delay of childbearing in the life of Zachariah and Elizabeth because He knew that the time was not yet ripe for the birth and manifestation of Jesus Christ on earth. But at
As Christians when we are faced with challenges of life, we have two options or approaches to discuss the issue with God in prayer. First, we can pray that The Will of God be done on the issue. What we are saying by this is that we accept Gods decision on the issue whether it favour us or not. However, friends this is not an easy prayer to pray because most often deeply within we are afraid Gods will may be totally different from ours or that His will may not be what we would like. To pray that Gods Will be done over an issue requires a strong faith in the Lord and trust that God has our interest at heart and that He will never do anything inimical to our interest. For example, a couple waiting on God for the fruit of the womb might find it difficult to pray this kind of prayer of absolute surrender to divine will. This is may be because, deep within them, they would want children and they may be afraid that, should they ask God to do His will in the matter, they will not want Him to declare to them that His will is that they should not have children in life. After all, Psalm 127: 3 says that, Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him, hence, the person that is giving out the reward [God] has the prerogative of deciding who He will like to give the reward to. Moreover, the couple may find it difficult to entrust God with this decision because they do not know: 1. the criteria He uses to determine those he will give children to 2. whether they are qualified for the reward or not 3. if He will decide to reward them with another gift that is different from what they desire. I remember that my wife and I had to face this struggle too when we wanted to pray the prayer of surrender over a major challenge in our marital life. We had been married for about 14 years and were still waiting for Gods gift of the fruit of the womb. Because my wife and I were nearing the age of 50, we were advised to use donor materials in one of our medical consultations. In as much as we did not have anything against couples who prefer this option to solve their barrenness, however, it became a struggle for us. The reason being that as deliverance minister, over the years, God had used me to build the faith of and counsel many couples who were having challenges in the area of child-bearing. They had patiently waited and God had answered them. Hence, if we took the medical option, who then would we say gave us the children when we are sharing the testimony? Would we say it is God or science? If we explain to these people that the donated sperm of another man was used to fertilize the egg from my wife or that my sperm was used to fertilize the egg from another woman after which the fertilize egg was transplanted into my wifes womb, would that not send a wrong signal? In addition to the above, we remembered the various promises and messages of God to us through many of His servants [You can read our testimony on this in our book Faithful Waiters] that He will give us our own biological children that will carry on our name as many as we wanted. We also remembered that when father Abraham tried to help God to fulfill His promise by listening to the counsel of his wife Sarah to go unto their slave girl, Hagar [see Gen. 16], the whole arrangement backfired [Gen. 21] and God even did not allow His promise to Abraham to be fulfilled through the son Ishmael that was born to him by Hagar[Gen. 21: 12]. In fact, the Bible refers to Ishmael as a product of the flesh [Rom. 9: 8, Gal. 4: 22 - 25]. Consequently, we were faced with the choice of either having to wait for the physical manifestation of Gods promised to us at a time we did not know, or used the donor materials. We eventually decided to wait for God and accepted His will for us. Friends, it took every inch of faith in us to do this especially when it came to the point when we were the only ones within
The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes says that everything in life has a beginning and an ending. There is time to every purpose under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to uproot, etc. What he was saying is that everything in life has a foundation on which they are built. Therefore, there is nothing in the World that does not have one form of foundation or the other, including marriages. In this book, the author takes a critical look at various issues that do have negative effects on marriages while their foundations are being laid and before the knot is finally tied. It reveals various issues in the areas of courtship and traditional marriage ceremonies that may affect marriages in the future and at the same time highlighted what can be done by couples whose marriage is currently submerged in the troubled ocean by showing the way out of such quagmire.
As Christians when we are faced with challenges of life, we have two options or approaches to discuss the issue with God in prayer. First, we can pray that The Will of God be done on the issue. What we are saying by this is that we accept Gods decision on the issue whether it favour us or not. However, friends this is not an easy prayer to pray because most often deeply within we are afraid Gods will may be totally different from ours or that His will may not be what we would like. To pray that Gods Will be done over an issue requires a strong faith in the Lord and trust that God has our interest at heart and that He will never do anything inimical to our interest. For example, a couple waiting on God for the fruit of the womb might find it difficult to pray this kind of prayer of absolute surrender to divine will. This is may be because, deep within them, they would want children and they may be afraid that, should they ask God to do His will in the matter, they will not want Him to declare to them that His will is that they should not have children in life. After all, Psalm 127: 3 says that, Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him, hence, the person that is giving out the reward [God] has the prerogative of deciding who He will like to give the reward to. Moreover, the couple may find it difficult to entrust God with this decision because they do not know: 1. the criteria He uses to determine those he will give children to 2. whether they are qualified for the reward or not 3. if He will decide to reward them with another gift that is different from what they desire. I remember that my wife and I had to face this struggle too when we wanted to pray the prayer of surrender over a major challenge in our marital life. We had been married for about 14 years and were still waiting for Gods gift of the fruit of the womb. Because my wife and I were nearing the age of 50, we were advised to use donor materials in one of our medical consultations. In as much as we did not have anything against couples who prefer this option to solve their barrenness, however, it became a struggle for us. The reason being that as deliverance minister, over the years, God had used me to build the faith of and counsel many couples who were having challenges in the area of child-bearing. They had patiently waited and God had answered them. Hence, if we took the medical option, who then would we say gave us the children when we are sharing the testimony? Would we say it is God or science? If we explain to these people that the donated sperm of another man was used to fertilize the egg from my wife or that my sperm was used to fertilize the egg from another woman after which the fertilize egg was transplanted into my wifes womb, would that not send a wrong signal? In addition to the above, we remembered the various promises and messages of God to us through many of His servants [You can read our testimony on this in our book Faithful Waiters] that He will give us our own biological children that will carry on our name as many as we wanted. We also remembered that when father Abraham tried to help God to fulfill His promise by listening to the counsel of his wife Sarah to go unto their slave girl, Hagar [see Gen. 16], the whole arrangement backfired [Gen. 21] and God even did not allow His promise to Abraham to be fulfilled through the son Ishmael that was born to him by Hagar[Gen. 21: 12]. In fact, the Bible refers to Ishmael as a product of the flesh [Rom. 9: 8, Gal. 4: 22 - 25]. Consequently, we were faced with the choice of either having to wait for the physical manifestation of Gods promised to us at a time we did not know, or used the donor materials. We eventually decided to wait for God and accepted His will for us. Friends, it took every inch of faith in us to do this especially when it came to the point when we were the only ones within
ABOUT THE BOOK The aim of this book is to share our experience and also encourage all couples who are still faithfully waiting on God for the gift of the fruit of the womb by encouraging them to continue to rely completely on God who is able to give joy and bring them (children), at a time when His name alone will be glorified. The author expresses the uneasiness and seriousness of childlessness, especially when you have given your life and your all to and have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. There is no way there would not be some kind of decline from faith to doubt; and, from doubt to giving up completely. The encouragement that this book gives is that God is able, and abundantly able to do exceedingly above our imagination and thinking. This is the crux of the matter, especially to those who are believers in Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is the ultimate as touching our expectation and contemplation. In Genesis Chapter One, God created the earth and all the things thereof [including human beings] and He was delighted in the work of His hands. Consequently, He pronounced the blessing of fruitfulness. However, despite this God people like Abraham and Sarah, Hannah and Elizabeth at one time or the other experiences delay in having children. However, history has shown that God allowed their delays for different reasons. We knew, for example, that in the Book of 1st Samuel, God allowed Hannah to pass through a period of delay before giving her baby Samuel. In fact, He allowed her to be subjected to ridicule by her mate Peninnah. But what we often fail to understand was the fact that while Hannah was passing through her childless period, God was at the same time giving the family of Prophet Eli time to amend their ways and repent and at the same time He was also watching to see whether Hannah will continue to be faithful in her coming for the yearly pilgrim to Shiloh to offer sacrifice despite her unanswered prayers and humiliations from her rival. He was observing whether because she had not seen any result from her previous comings to Shiloh, she will be discouraged and refuse to attend. In addition to the above, may be in Gods judgment, the Israelites were not yet ready to receive another prophet that would change the course of their nation. But when the time for all these came and the cup of the family of Eli was full, He sent Samuel to Hannah. One can, therefore, infer that Hannahs period of delay serves as a way of filling a vacuum that existed as a result of God giving room for Eli and his sons to repent from their sinful activities. Also in a reverse of fortune, when Samuel was eventually released to Hannah and he became the prophet at Shiloh, in place of Eli and his children; part of the people who might have been coming to him at Shiloh with their sacrifices and for consultations were Elikanah, Peninnah and her children. Maybe this door of opportunity might not have open for Hannah and her son if Samuel had been born earlier. In the New Testaments, God allowed Elizabeth to experience delay and shame before He gave her John the Baptist. God must have looked at the continued faithful service of Zachariah, Elizabeths husband, as priests despite the fact that his wife was not only barren but she had one with trumpet. The fact that the angel of God met Zachariah while he was performing his priestly duty is an indication that he did not allow his personal family challenge to hinder his services to God. The fact that the angel of God linked the birth of John the Baptist with the coming of Jesus Christ [see Luke 1: 17] can be taken as a pointer to the fact that God allowed the delay of childbearing in the life of Zachariah and Elizabeth because He knew that the time was not yet ripe for the birth and manifestation of Jesus Christ on earth. But at
The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes says that everything in life has a beginning and an ending. There is time to every purpose under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to uproot, etc. What he was saying is that everything in life has a foundation on which they are built. Therefore, there is nothing in the World that does not have one form of foundation or the other, including marriages. In this book, the author takes a critical look at various issues that do have negative effects on marriages while their foundations are being laid and before the knot is finally tied. It reveals various issues in the areas of courtship and traditional marriage ceremonies that may affect marriages in the future and at the same time highlighted what can be done by couples whose marriage is currently submerged in the troubled ocean by showing the way out of such quagmire.
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