INTRODUCTION
‘And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’
(Gen 2:20-23)
When Adam named all the animals God made, it was discovered that there was not found a helper comparable (suitable, meet) for him. God made Adam to sleep and with the rib made a woman and brought her to him. Adam recognized her as ‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ named her woman simply because she came out of the man. Woman was made as ‘Helper’ suitable for the man by God. The name ‘Woman’ has, been interpreted by some to mean a man with a ‘Womb’ that is a womb – man.
IMPORTANCE OF THE WOMB
Physical womb is one of the female reproductive organs. Its functions are for conception, implantation, incubation to maturity of life and also by contraction of its muscles during labour expels life at delivery. In normal natural birth, labour is inevitable. Labour to bring to birth by the womb is synonymous with travail. Unless there is a travail, life will not be born naturally without physical womb a woman cannot produce natural life.
TRAVAIL
Dictionary Meaning: It implies toil, suffering, pain, stress, labour with pain, severe toil or exertion.
For the purpose of physical birth of a child, travail means labour with pain. It begins every delivery from the womb. The Scripture says ‘A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world’ (John 16:21).
This is God’s wisdom for sustenance of pro-creation otherwise after a woman experiences the travail of child birth, she will never agree to a second conception in her life time. Those of you that have witnessed birth in hospitals and maternities must have heard some unspeakable words that come out of mothers in labour and if they were to be recorded, ears who hear them will tingle. But immediately the baby comes, joy overtakes the previous travail.
There are rare medical cases where serious travail of the womb may give disastrous results; cases of still birth where at the end, a woman gives birth to a dead child in the womb and also uncommon cases of pseudocysis (false pregnancy) where at the end of travail a woman brings forth air. These are very painful situations otherwise every travail should end with birth of a life.
Spiritual Travail:
‘My little children, for whom I labour in birth again until Christ is formed in you’.
Paul the apostle shared his experience in his labour among the Galatian brethren. He travailed in prayer as a woman labours in birth again and again until Christ was formed in them. It was clear from his experience that Christ was formed in those brethren as a result of his travail. Travailing in prayer forms the life of Christ in men. The heart is the ‘womb’ for the spiritual travail. Divine burden is conceived and implanted in the heart which if incubated in the place of prayer stirs travail that produces lives who are Christ-like in character.
Without the heart conceiving and being implanted with divine burden, travailing prayer will be an illusion. This is why you must break your fallow grounds so as not to sow among thorns. The Heart is so important in Spiritual travail and must be guarded with all diligence. (Prov. 4:23) Only hearts burdened by God can travail genuinely in prayer.
The Role of the woman in Spiritual Travail
God uses physical things to teach the Spiritual (Rom 1:20). You also learn that ‘for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal’. (2 Corinth 4:18b) God made woman with an obvious physical organ of travail-the womb to conceive, have implantation, incubate and bring forth physical lives, so also is His expectations that the woman should be in the fore front of spiritual travail for the birth of souls who resemble Christ.
The Scripture says, ‘Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? … Isaiah 49:15. You may ask, why a woman? Why not a man? It is right because the woman was made to have the organ of physical travail – the womb and having experienced physical travail will be able also to sustain the spiritual travail in the place of prayer. It is unnatural for any mother not to engage heaven on behalf of every child born from her womb. It is inexcusable as a mother to allow the child of your womb to perish or go astray in life. Mothers like King Lemuel’s mother knew this matter. His son referred to her teaching to him. She addressed him thus, ‘what, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? The details of her counsel were written in Prov. 31:1-9. Those were mothers with understanding.
In every generation God recognizes the indispensable role women play in the place of prayer. Women are precursors for the travails that give birth to revival. God asked the Old Testament prophets to charge the daughters of Zion to pray at critical stages in the history of their nation if their nation would be redeemed. Listen to the Word of God to Isaiah to the daughters of Zion. ‘Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come… (Isaiah 32:9-15)
God insisted that women must travail until the Spirit be poured upon their nation from on high and the wilderness be a fruitful field and the fruitful field remain counted for a forest. This is your time as a woman.
There is an until that attends a correct travail. For the physical birth, travail continues until baby is expelled from the womb and the womb begins to relax. In the spiritual birth of a soul, you continue in travail until Christ is formed in a life. In the revival labours, you travail until the Spirit is poured from on high and one sees fruitfulness abounding for Kingdom’s sake. Even after that, prayer must continue to sustain the revival.
The Requirements/Qualifications for a Travailing Life
Firstly you must have experienced the new birth in Christ Jesus and have been baptized by immersion in water. (Mk 16:16). You must seek to be baptized in the Holy Spirit who empowers and helps you in the place of prayer. (Acts 1:8; Rom 8:26). There is a need to begin to live a consecrated life unto the Lord as you willingly present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto Him daily as a life style (Rom 12:1). You will need a growing devotional life where you maintain a deliberate regular, communion with God daily through the study of His word and prayer (11 Corinth 3:18; Isaiah 50:4). You must also live a life that wins souls for the kingdom for this is the reason for which you were saved. (Eph 2:10, Prov. 11:30). These practices make the travailing praying possible. In as much as the physical travail comes naturally at the ripe time of maturity of the body in the womb, the travail to bring forth spiritual life is learnt by practice with the help of the Holy Spirit and knowledge of God’s Word.
CONCLUSION:
He that is in honour and knowest it not is like the beast that perisheth. (Psalm 49:20). It is a great privilege for God to make you a vessel of travail with a ‘womb’. The greatest gift God has given to a woman is the organ of travail – the ‘womb’. It has helped to define an important role every woman must prepare her life to play throughout life in her home, in the Church and in the nations in every generation. The womb travails to bring forth life. It is a great privilege for women to have the monopoly of conception, implantation, incubation and bringing forth of natural lives through travail but it is disastrous to function only in bringing forth natural lives. The weightier matter lies in the ability to travail to bring forth lives that are for eternity, children who don’t have only natural physical lives but who are made heavenly candidates through your heart travail in the place of prayer. Such women are in high demand by heaven. Can you enroll as one of them? God bless you.