Saturday, June 1, 2019

The Ministry of the Midwife


"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and rescues them from all their distress and troubles." (Psalms 34:17)

It started with a scream, a cry rang out as I was praying early one morning last week.  On the morning of May 29, 2019 at 7:24 am I heard a cry ring out. The cry sounded like someone in desperation, a cry that shook me to my core. I searched the house to see where the noise resounded from. I had only been home for about 36 hours from a trip to Singapore. While in Singapore I had felt stirred that the Lord was about to do something unprecedented. Now I had heard a cry, a cry that caused me to search the house to see where it had come from. After searching, I realized my family was still asleep so I went back to my prayer room. Upon arriving back, I looked up 7:24 and found Matthew 7:24, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

The Lord then spoke to me:
“The cry that you heard is that of birth pains. The birth pains have begun! The water has broken. The bride is in labor. Call forth the midwives to grab the towels and the water. The time has come for deliverers to arrive. Prepare for the sons and daughters to come forth. These will be those that will usher in the greatest harvest the world has ever seen. Tell my midwives their time has come. The birth of the newborn shall come quickly. They must come from their places of normality and be prepared to hold the hand of those that are ushering in this harvest. THEY WILL BE THE PROTECTORS OF THE INNOCENT, THE PROPAGATORS OF NEW LIFE AND GUARDIANS OF THE SACRED TRUST CALLED, “DELIVERY.” For without the midwives, we will not see the revelation of all that is to come. Open the door, for the midwives have arrived!”

God was giving me a prophetic word for this hour! The cry I heard in the morning on May 29th shook me to my core! I understand more now why there was a cry, as I would later learn on this very same day Illinois would pass the most lenient abortion legislation seen yet.  Illinois has been added to the list of States discounting, and in effect eliminating, the life of a child in the womb.  The new law passed by the Illinois House legislature on May 29th, known as the "Reproductive Health Act", is more extreme than the New York law passed earlier in the year.  It allows abortions to be preformed at anytime during the pregnancy; literally allowing an abortion to take place right before birth. WE MUST HEAR THE CRIES OF THE UNBORN!  It is time to protect the innocent! It is time for the midwives to arise! 

Let me share with you about the midwife. The Bible says, in Exodus 1:20-21, "So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own."  But what is a midwife; and what was God speaking to me in "calling for the midwives"?  A Midwife is defined as, "one who brings to birth".  A woman who helps women in childbirth. A midwife has often been an older relative or friend of the family. Part of her duties are described in Ezekiel 16:4, as cutting the umbilical cord, washing the baby with water, rubbing it with salt, and wrapping it in swaddling clothes. The key role of the midwife was to protect the child and mother, to provide encouragement and expertise in the aspect of birthing, to create an environment conducive to birthing, and to be the ones that ensure safe passage for the new child. They were given the joy of naming the child.  The midwife also has two jobs: 1. Dress the child and 2. Whisper to the child (which means provides mouth to mouth resuscitation). 

THERE IS A SPECIAL ANOINTING that has been lost to the church. This special anointing is called, “The Ministry of the Midwife!" This anointing is what has helped to usher in the revivals of the past. It does not bring with it fanfare and popularity. You will not gain followers on social media or even gain access to the elite green rooms. In fact, if this anointing is done right then you will most likely not even be seen; but, oh how heaven will speak of you. In the day and age of celebrity driven Christianity that makes the arrival of the called look more like a movie premier taking selfies on a red carpet that is stained by the martyrs' blood, those who once stood for truth and holiness in generations past. We must hold onto the words of Christ in Matthew 24:8-9, “This is how the first contractions and birth pains of the new age will beginYou can expect to be persecuted, even killed; for you will be hated by all the nations because of your love for me.”

I must warn you that many will read this and dismiss it as a message that does not apply to them and choose to stay silent. They will read and dismiss it as charismatic hype best left to a small prayer gathering of only the most zealous deemed to not have a life outside. I ask that you read and listen closely, for Satan desires to abort all that is birthed of the spirit. He will stop short of nothing except total annihilation of what God desires to do. Satan has his ear to the wind listening for the faintest whisper of hope arising from lips of the saints so that he can interfere, demolish and disrupt the agenda of heaven. Today, we declare that what God will do will be unprecedented. The tectonic plates have shifted.

Agitation is a sign that the birth is upon us!  It says in Romans 8:19-21 (TPT)“The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children.” I realize that many hearing this message are increasingly agitated. You feel a yearning for more. You are unhappy with your present lot in life. You know that you were created for more, but the more seems so far away.  In the distance you hear a knock at the door.  This of course is God’s way of awakening the bride. God suddenly arouses you from your normal. He waits until you are close to nodding off and the knock comes on the door.  Song of Solomon 5:2 (TPT), “After this I let my devotion slumber, but my heart for him stayed awake. I had a dream. I dreamed of my beloved; he was coming to me in the darkness of night. The melody of the man I love awakened me. I heard his knock at my heart’s door as he pleaded with me: Arise, my love. Open your heart, my darling, deeper still to me. Will you receive me this dark night?” The knock you hear at the door of your heart is that of a wounded savior desperately trying to find a bride that is awakened to his presence and ready for him to be the head of the house. The cry I heard was not just a cry of the birthing that is coming, but also the midnight cry. Matthew 25:6, "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!"

Do you not discern the times? If not now…. Then when?! The slumber of the bride has caused a release of the unprecedented plunder of God’s storehouse and harvest by the enemy. He (the enemy) is now unabated by a church that once stood its ground but has now gone underground for fear of being exposed by our lack of purpose. Many times what is taking place in the natural realm is in direct correlation to the spirit realm. Not everyone can perceive this. It will require a spiritual depth that comes from the depth of God’s Word and quiet of the secret place. 1 Cor. 2:14 (TPT) says, “Someone living on an entirely human level rejects the revelations of God’s Spirit, for they make no sense to him. He can’t understand the revelations of the Spirit because they are only discovered by the illumination of the Spirit.” We live in a day where the rights of the unborn end not only at conception, but when they arrive on a cold table of delivery. The attack doesn’t stop there. The very sexual identity assigned to each of us by a God who purposes our DNA is now up for grabs by a culture that declares gender as bigotry unless it fits the narrative of progressive thought. Congress is removing "so help me God" from all swearing ceremoniesCongress passed the new Equality Act, which is really an act against Judeo Christian values. The passage of this bill means that churches and Christian schools no longer have their values protectedAnarchy and unrest fill the streets!   The marching in the streets is no longer that of the “onward Christian Soldiers” bringing a message of hope and redemption, but rather an anarchy in the hearts of wounded sons and daughters screaming for an inheritance. We must have spiritual insight that goes past todays shallow messages of self-help and hyped one scripture sermons. We need righteous warriors that will arise with humility & holiness that discern the times“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Corinthians 2:13, 14 NIV)

Where are the God fearing midwives?  Every time God wants to change a generation someone gives birth! Exodus 1:8-13, Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly.”

It is time to multiply amidst persecution. Exodus 1:15-22, “The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” Who was Shiphrah and Puah? Believed to be mother and daughter,  their act may be the first known incident of civil disobedience in history.  Many Hebrew scholars believe that they were Jochebed and Miriam (the Mother and Sister of Moses)! The names Shiphrah and Puah translated in the Hebrew mean "one who cuts" and "one who whispers".  God is asking those to arise who will cut away at the ties to culture and the world and rise up to hear His whisper. He is drawing those into the secret place.  We were born not of this world nor called to conform to the pattern of the world but to be separate and apart like Shiphrah and Puah. When you are willing to protect the next generation God will allow you to be a part of raising up a deliverer. 

God is looking for midwives!
*These are those that will arise and protect the innocent.
*They guard the room from intruders.
*They will not rest until deliverance comes!
*They are happy watching birth and find satisfaction in seeing others give birth!
*They understand that the next move of God will be enjoyed by those that are willing to simply help push through the labor pains.
*They honor the process and await the arrival with anticipation.
*The midwife understands that their role is to simply be available when the timing is right!
*Without the midwives, the children of God will be still-born!

The next move of God will be led not only by the sons and daughters of revival, but by those who helped them come into the world. God is bringing upon the land a midwife spirit!  A spirit that fights for the birthing of the righteous.  They ignore the law of man when the law of God is at work. If you will become a midwife to the next move of God, you will experience what it is like to give birth yourself.  Exodus 1:20, “So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.” These two women who helped bring forth the babies have their names written in the Hebrew book of names. This is a high honor. They were known as those who delivered Israel. Without the midwives, there would be no deliverer.

There is something about the power of a new birth.  John 3:3, “For the Spirit-wind blows as it chooses. You can hear its sound, but you don’t know where it came from or where it’s going. So it is within the hearts of those who are Spirit-born!”

Are you ready? Birthing time is near! Something new is coming! Can you hear the cry? God is calling midwives to rise up! "...THEY WILL BE THE PROTECTORS OF THE INNOCENT, THE PROPAGATORS OF NEW LIFE AND GUARDIANS OF THE SACRED TRUST CALLED, “DELIVERY.” For without the midwives, we will not see the revelation of all that is to come. Open the door, for the midwives have arrived!”  The time of the ministry of the midwife is here!

Luke 7:31-32, "Jesus went on to say, "To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation?  What are they like?  They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:  "We played the pipe for you and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry."

WE MUST HEAR THE CRIES OF A GENERATION AGAIN!
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Watch Evangelist Pat Schatzline preach this powerful new prophetic Word on "The Ministry of the Midwife" by clicking the link below.