BREAKING A SPIRIT OF BARRENNESS Kay Keith Peebles 02/14/2020 20.04
A group from our church prayed over my husband and I two days before we left for our latest ministry trip to India. Many words from the Lord were given to us to encourage us and empower us for our journey. We knew we were leading a three-day women’s conference and two one-day Pastor’s conferences. We had prepared our hearts for the Lord to be in full control but we had no idea what the Lord was going to do.
A few days after we arrived in India we left for the women’s conference. I was draped in a lovely saree which is the traditional dress for the women in India. We were escorted into an SUV for a three to four hour drive. The bumpy roads were highly congested with small Indian taxis stuffed with people, trucks swelling with goods that overflowed the top and sides, while herds of goats and sheep blocked the road at times. The horn beeped incessantly as we passed fields of rice and corn where people worked bent at the waist planting by hand all day long. We frequently saw Hindu temples which were decorated with strange austere figures and passed small villages literally coated with the white dust emitted from hundreds of furnaces producing cement. The farther we drove the more oppressive the area appeared to be.
We finally reached the village where the conference was held. Suddenly our driver pulled off the main road and weaved through narrow crooked streets around houses and small buildings, past cows and goats rummaging through piles of garbage for something to eat. As we rounded a corner we saw a tall open tower in front of a large church building. We had arrived to our destination.
We dropped our shoes at the door and entered the church which was filled with 300 women dressed in bright, colorful sarees. Some were holding babies and young children. Excitement filled our hearts to see the hunger in their eyes and to know that the Lord would meet with us there.
After each of our preaching sessions we prayed for every woman who wanted prayer. It was amazing how many women were barren and asked for prayer to conceive. By the third day we realized there was an unusually large number of women who were barren.
At the end of the conference we wanted to celebrate and allow testimony of how the Lord had touched the women. We called up a few women who were willing to testify what the Lord had done for them during the meetings. Several talked about receiving healings in the body and one reported that one of her eyes had been blind but now she could see! A man testified his heart was healed. Someone else reported teeth and back were healed. One woman said she was barren but during the preaching of the Word of God the Lord had given her a vision. He was handing her the baby she was going to have. It was a sign He was breaking her barrenness!
We laid hands on her and prayed agreeing with the Word of the Lord. I turned to go back to my seat when the Lord spoke very clearly and succinctly to me. He said “Go back to the front and prophesy that I am breaking the spirit of barrenness off this area! He said tell them there is not only barrenness of the womb but the church is barren and has neither grown or multiplied, their cattle and fields have been barren unable to produce in abundance. He said He was breaking the barrenness in marriages and families, businesses and everything that pertains to their lives.” I couldn’t help but wonder what had caused their spiritual and physical barrenness but I trusted that the Lord had broken that stronghold off His people that day.
We loaded into the SUV to return to our hotel. During our drive our host Bishop’s wife enlightened me regarding the root cause of the barrenness in that area! She told me that there were many gypsy Hindus living there who still practiced child sacrifice. She continued to explain that a man would come through the village collecting baby girls in a large bag to take them up to the surrounding mountains and throw them off the cliff as a sacrifice to their false god. My heart was broken as I thought of hundreds of years of child sacrifice that had been practiced there. They were like the pagan nations in the Bible which God abhorred. The toll on the people was evident. The entire area was a wasteland. It was dusty, poor and cursed while the people tried to eke out their livelihood under impossible conditions. All were affected by the choices of some because the blessing and favor of the Lord was withheld.
The Lord had seen the condition of the people and had mercy on the area affected by such evil. He sent us half way around the world to encourage them and minister the truth to them. Their hearts were drawn to Him and they were not only hungry to hear the Gospel they received willingly. His presence brought light in a dark area. His living water was poured out so that the church could be a wellspring of life to that region. The healing of barrenness will be a sign that there is a God who loves them, heals them and provides everything they need pertaining to life and godliness.
This testimony is a confirmation that the God of the Bible is still the same today. He still seeks to save the lost and help those in need. He still heals the sick, raises the dead (both physically and spiritually) and restores broken lives. He goes into the darkest places and shines the light of Salvation so that they may choose a better way of life through the forgiveness of sin.
Barrenness is the opposite of fruitfulness. The commandment the Lord gave Adam and Eve was to “Be fruitful and multiply.” It has always been His plan for His people to bear fruit, multiply and thrive in His presence. The devil, however, has been very active in the destruction of the godly family unit including the slaughter of children. Pharaoh in Egypt killed all the Israelite babies prior to the Exodus of the slaves in order to keep their deliverer (Moses) from being born. The Lord gave Jocabeth, Moses’ mother, wisdom on how to protect her newborn son despite the decree to kill all the babies. Thus the deliverer was spared and Israel was freed from the bondage of slavery.
When Jesus was born, King Herod ordered the murder of all the Hebrew (Israelite) babies up to two years of age in order to destroy the prophesied birth of the King of the Jews. When the wise men came to him looking for His birthplace, Herod sought to kill Him. The Lord gave Joseph direction through a dream, showing him to escape to Egypt until Herod was dead. Joseph, Mary and Jesus returned and settled in Nazareth so that Jesus could grow and mature. The Savior of the world still delivers all who believe in Him from the slavery and bondage to sin and death.
Since 1973 there has been a demonic war on children world-wide, which has increased and multiplied beyond abortion to sex-trafficking. These children are the generation of the end-time champions of God. They will be the carriers of His Kingdom without compromise or fear! As the spirit of antichrist rises because his days are short, the signs of the end times are everywhere. Today’s battle is over those who will bring the Gospel of the Kingdom to every nation on earth reaching those who are destroyed by sin. Because it is His will that none perish, He offers mercy and grace where judgement and condemnation are due. In order to redeem the people and the nations, He sends His disciples to spread the Gospel all over the world.
He is looking for a people who are willing to stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ wherever they are. The Great Commission was for Jerusalem, their home city. It was for Judea, their home state and/or the uttermost parts of the world. We cannot turn a blind eye to the evil practices around us nor can we compromise the Gospel of Holiness and Truth.
Our nation is gradually becoming pagan like India, causing people to be broken, in despair, bound by sin and spiritually bankrupt. We are carriers of the Light of Christ. There is no greater joy than becoming free ourselves and then helping a person broken and bound become free. It is greatly fulfilling to witness one’s mourning turn to joy and their heaviness be transformed into praise! The Lord called us to bring His Light into someone’s darkness, His Hope into someone’s despair, and His Truth where there is spiritual blindness. We the church will flourish and multiply as we make disciples for His Kingdom.
