I have always been fascinated by the stories of the great women of faith whose biographies are included in the Bible. The Holy Spirit, who is an expert on every imaginable topic, selectively chose particular women whose lives were worthy of mention in the greatest Book ever written.
One of the women whose life holds great interest to me is the woman by the name of "Sarah" in the Old Testament. I even believe that Sarah and I just might be kindred spirits.
Sarah was nearly 90 years old and she had never held a baby in her elderly arms. She never had stretch marks, never had lost sleep due to a colicky baby and never had felt the quickening of new life within her womb.
Sarah's hands were spotted with age and her cheeks were wrinkled by the hands of time. There was no youthful glow about this woman, Sarah.
Month after month ... year after year ... decade after decade ... Sarah's hopes were dashed and her prayers went unanswered.
I believe that there are Sarahs in the church and that there are Sarahs in ministry today who have waited month after month ... year after year ... and decade after decade ... for God to answer their prayers and fulfill their hopes. Perhaps you are one of the Sarahs of whom I speak.
You have begged God to open doors of ministry for you and have quietly nurtured hopes and aspirations within your heart. You have believed that God would use you and your voice to impact a generation ... or a nation ... or a group of people. You have longed for the opportunity to leave a legacy beyond yourself in being a spiritual mother to spiritual sons and spiritual daughters.
"By faith Sarah herself also received the ability to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised" (Heb. 11:11, MEV).
The word "conceive" in this verse is the Hebrew word "yacham" and it means to "get hot." Because of faith, Sarah received the strength to conceive and defied the limitations of her physical body.
Sarah "got hot" with the passion that refuses to walk by sight and determined that if God had made a declaration then His Words were eternal and promised truth.
Faith inflamed a passion inside of Sarah that circumstances and time could not quench. When Sarah pondered the Person and the promises of God, she resolved that God was faithful. Sarah's faith assured her that God keeps every promise that He makes.
It is time for the women who have been waiting for prayers to be answered to be enflamed with the passion of faith. It is time for the women of this generation not to be limited by age or by unfilled hopes but to give birth to dreams and visions that will impact a generation.
Are you a Sarah? Are you willing to walk by faith when circumstances remain unchanged? Have you determined that faith will ignite in you an unquenchable fervor that will touch nations and history?
Now is the hour for women to "get hot" due to the power of their faith and then to travail in the birthing room of prayer. Now is the hour.
Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. She has written five books: No More Ordinary, Holy Estrogen!, The Rooms of a Woman's Heart and Defiant Joy! Her most recent book, Refined: Finding Joy in the Midst of the Fire, will be released on Aug. 1. Her teaching DVD The Rooms of a Woman's Heart won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming.
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