Some of you are currently pregnant – and I’m not just talking to the women out there.

Before you want to get all upset because you think I’m writing about some sort of new “trend” on the left or whatever other type of abomination you might be thinking of, let me assure you that I’m right there with you!

I am not talking about a natural pregnancy, but a spiritual one. Allow me to explain:

During worship a few Sundays ago, I heard the Holy Spirit say “You’re pregnant!” and my first reaction was “I better not be!” That may seem a little harsh but being that we already have two children and the last pregnancy was a high risk pregnancy which put my life and our daughter’s life in danger, unless God is working a miracle, there is no way that I could be pregnant.

So after the first few seconds of being in shock, the Holy Spirit continued to speak to me and explain more of what He was talking about.

Some of you, me included, are currently pregnant with a promise from God. If you are anything like me, you might be getting impatient because God promised you something years ago, and you have been waiting and waiting but nothing seems to be happening.

If you have been waiting to see a promise from God come to live, being birthed so to speak, then this word is for you.

Think about a natural pregnancy for a minute. There is a time when the seed is planted, then we go through a lengthy period of time during which that seed grows and develops into a baby and finally this child is born into the world.

So what does that mean in regards to a spiritual pregnancy?

Sometimes God gives a promise, He plants a seed, but it is nothing that we can see overnight. It takes time, in some cases years, before we finally see that promised being birthed into the world.

But just as life begins at the time of conception, so does the life of the promise God planted in us at some point. We just can’t see it yet.

During a natural pregnancy the first trimester is considered to be a risky one. Once we make it past the 12 weeks, we feel better about it and don’t worry as much about losing the baby. And in most cases a lot of the problems like morning sickness and the total fatigue that comes with the first trimester, are starting to ease and we get to enjoy the pregnancy a bit more.Think about the time right after God gave you a promise seed? Did the enemy attack you?

In my case it was only seconds after God spoke to me about something, making me a promise, when Satan started to speak lies to me, telling me that it would never happen, that I wasn’t good enough, that I was too young and that I should just give that stupid thought up.

He was trying to make me abort this spiritual pregnancy. Don’t let him!

So after we make it past the first trimester, we start to feel more confident in the promise, right? Maybe we struggled with it a bit in the beginning but we are starting to make peace with it and even look forward to it. We are getting excited about what the promise is and we start to make preparations.

In the natural, we might start to think about names, pick out colors for the nursery, start buying items we know (or think) we will need, read books to prepare ourselves and maybe even take some birthing classes or something along those lines.

When we look at a spiritual pregnancy however, do we really prepare for the promise God gave us?

For example, when God told me about the ministry I was to have and that it included writing and teaching about Him, I more or less expected somebody to just offer me a book contract. Crazy, I know, but then again, nothing is impossible with God (see Luke 18:27), so why not?

I pretty much wanted the result without the preparation. Comparing my behavior to a natural pregnancy, I would’ve been very unprepared, had I done nothing at all to prepare to welcome my children into the world. I would’ve been in a full-out panic mode, completely overwhelmed and probably would’ve felt like a huge failure.

But in my mind, going into ministry was going to work without me having to work for it or prepare for it, simply because God could do whatever He wanted.

Thank God He is a good, good Father and knew better than to let me go right ahead. He knew of course that I needed time not just to study but also to grow in my faith, learn a few things (or a lot) and let go of bad habits.

By nature I am a very blunt person. If you do something that makes me angry, I will let you know in no uncertain terms! I also tend to take things very personal which means I get my feelings hurt very easily.

Think about being in ministry for a second and then think about having a temper and getting your feelings hurt over everything. That does not sound like a winning combination to me. So those are things that I had to work on over the years – old ways I had to get rid of.

So there are things happening inside of you that nobody else can really see – yet. People might talk about how you changed but can’t quite put their finger on what is different about you. But you know. You can feel that promise seed growing and growing and you know that soon everybody will be able to see on the outside what has been happening on the inside.

Once you’re finally in your last trimester it feels like you have been pregnant forever. At least for me it did. Neither one of my pregnancies was easy so I didn’t really enjoy that time and was just looking forward to the end of my pregnancies and to meet my babies. I was very impatient.

And many of you are the same way with your spiritual pregnancies. It feels like God’s promise is never going to be fulfilled because  you’ve already been waiting for it for so long and maybe you’ve even had to fight one spiritual battle after another to hold on to that promise seed and you’re just tired and ready to give up.

I am right there with you!

But guess what? We are almost there!

So when it is time for your baby to be born – for your promise seed to be birthed – you have one last struggle ahead of you: The birthing process itself.

For some people this is very easy and smooth, for others it is a battle.

A lot of times the enemy will attack right before your breakthrough and throw everything he has at you in an attempt to make you give up so close to the end because you just can’t see how close you actually are. All you see is the warfare going on all around you and you’re tired and running on empty and you just want to be done.

Don’t. Give. Up. Now!

You are so close!

You know the saying “the night is darkest before the morning” and all the other cute little things we like to tell each other to keep each other motivated?

You are right there! Right at that spot.

There comes a point of no return when no matter what the devil throws at you, he can’t stop the promise of God being birthed into your life.

Remember that when you feel like nothing is happening and you’re frustrated because you have been waiting a long time already, God has not forgotten about you. The promise seed He gave you is growing on the inside of you and He will bring it to pass.

And just like soon-to-be-parents, use the time to prepare. Learn. Study. Get ready. Draw close to Him. Use that quiet time with God and let Him continue to grow that promise seed until He brings it to fruition.

Be blessed.