One day I was thinking of what God has placed in my heart to do for Him. I have a God-ordained desire to see churches and Bible schools raised up in all nations around the world. I asked the Lord one time, "Father, how is this vision going to ever come into reality?"

He said to me: "Son, you are going to have to bring it forth by intimacy, pregnancy, travail, and birth."

Spiritual birth takes place the same way that natural birth occurs. In order to bring forth in the spiritual realm, we have to get intimate with God. From that intimacy comes pregnancy. From pregnancy will eventually come travail, and then, finally, birth.

We must give birth to the fulfillment of God's will in our lives. The fulfillment of our God-given vision will not drop down on us out of the sky. We must draw nigh to God, and then He will draw nigh to us (James 4:8).

Are You Pastdue?
Some of the most miserable people in this world are women who are pregnant and overdue.

Likewise, some of the most miserable Christians in the world are those who are "pregnant" with a vision from God, and yet have not been able to give birth to that vision. But intimacy with God must come first, before there can ever be a pregnancy.

I believe that today the Holy Spirit is speaking the words of Hosea 10:12 to the Body of Christ: Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

To become intimate with the Lord, we must seek Him with our whole heart.

Once we have developed an intimate relationship with God, we will get pregnant with a dream or a vision which has been planted in us by the Lord. Then we must take that vision which has been supernaturally planted in us by God and begin to nurture it, causing to it to grow and develop.

Sooner or later it will lead to godly travail, without which there can be no birth. That travail is our intercession.

Consider what it says in Isaiah 40:3: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus. He prepared the way for Jesus' first coming. You and I are preparing the way for the Lord's second coming.

One day the Lord revealed Isaiah 40:3 to me in this way: "The voice of him that crieth in Little Rock, Arkansas, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in Little Rock a highway for our God."

Intercession is like building a highway for the Lord. We have to do the work first, and then God will send His glory. If we will be patient and faithful, if we will follow the process of intimacy, pregnancy, travail and birth, we will see the fulfillment of our heavenly dream and vision.

Following God's Predetermined Course
Whether you realize it or not, God has predetermined a course for you to fulfill.

...being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
(Eph. 1:11)

The word translated predestinated in this verse means "predetermined." God has a predetermined, predesigned course for everyone of us. That course was set before we were ever born into this earth.

The Lord has said to each of us: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee..." (Jer. 1:5). God knew you and me before the foundation of the world, and He set an individual course for each of us to follow.

Now it is up to you and me to discover God's course for us and to follow that course so that we may give spiritual birth to the dream and vision He has had in mind for us from before the creation of the world.

I know that, at this time, I am called to be an armorbearer to my pastor. And because I am determined to stay in God's will, every promise in God's Word can be fulfilled in my life.

The Apostle Paul said, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course..." (2 Tim. 4:7). Paul fought to stay on course, and he made it. He finished the course laid out for him by God.

Discover what your course is, and then stay with it and never give up until you have reached your God-ordained destination and goal.

Source: God's Armor Bearer by Terry Nance
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers