Attentive to Serve What God is Birthing

So to part three of the conversation I had with God earlier this week…

It started with God saying that we were still missing something, and feeling constrained not to try to leave the wilderness prematurely while He still had beautiful purpose for us here in this season. And when I asked what it was that we were missing, He showed me He was labouring to bring His New Thing to birth among us, that even though our circumstances seemed dark and destructive, He was actually bringing something new and glorious to pass.

I’ll be honest, the imagery blew my mind somewhat…
God, in labour! Imagine the power involved; the focus; the New Thing being released! As I paused to digest the weight of what He was saying, I felt there were a few points of caution that He wanted us to note.

You see, as I was meditating on it all, He took me to a couple more verses.
Firstly, John 16:13 – “when the truth-giving Spirit comes, He will unveil the reality of every truth within you. he won’t speak His own message, but only what He hears from the Father, and will reveal prophetically to you what is to come” (TPT)
Then Romans 8:14 – “the mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit (TPT) – or as the Amplified version puts it, “all who are allowing themselves to be led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”

And as God has been repeatedly saying all year, and again this week, the key to stepping in to the New is relationship with Him. If we want to move into the New we have to be able to see what He is revealing prophetically – we need to allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, and that only comes from relationship

And He reminded me of a word He gave me last week (here) about those He calls His handmaidens – the Greek word ‘doule’, the same word that means doula.
At the time the focus was mostly on supporting each other in birthing what each of us carries.
But after God spoke the word from Isaiah 42:14 that I shared yesterday, I felt the focus this time was on what God Himself is birthing. And I felt a strong call for us to be good handmaiden-doulas, attentive to Him and what He is bringing to pass – He IS birthing something new! And I felt there were a few words of caution:
• We need to stay focused on God and what He is birthing, not get distracted by the mess and trying to ‘tidy up’ prematurely and pointlessly – we mustn’t try to bring our own order to the chaos – we need to stay in the ‘formless and void’ for a bit longer in order for the Holy Spirit to be able to brood, ready to release (Gen 1:2)
• We need to be alert and attentive, not get bored by the delay and mistake it for nothing happening, causing us to wander off in search of something with more action, and thus miss (possibly put at risk) the birthing of the New.
• We need to be patient (aka long-suffering), not complain at how long it is taking for the New to appear. My sister’s a midwife, and I know a good midwife wouldn’t let frustration show, but would quietly check the vital signs of mum and baby to ensure all is progressing healthily. Let’s not complain but just keep checking in with God that all is well and progressing.
• We need to be watchful & responsive, but not interfering. A good natural (or in this case supernatural) childbirth involves just responding to the Mum and how she is labouring. No interference, no artificial inducing – just following God’s lead and letting the process take its course, making sure that the way is prepared for what He is bringing to pass, with no hindrances.
• We need to stay humble, not try to make it about us and what we are doing. A good doula/midwife might receive a card/ gift of thanks for her help, just as God always rewards those who faithfully serve Him. But the starring role – the whole point – of this process is the mum and baby: it’s ALL about God and what HE is doing. So we must keep our focus off ourselves and just on Him only, that we may serve Him according only to what is required of us, and let Him receive all the glory.

So I just want to encourage all of us that in this season have been called as God’s prophetic handmaidens (the ones attentive to serving what is happening in the Spirit). We have been called to serve in a position of high trust – what an honour! Let’s not be distracted in the felt delay, but just keep focused on God and what He requires of us right now, because something amazing is about to be released!