P.O. Box 640109

El Paso, TX 79904

31 May, 1998

Dear Children,

All right! So here we are starting off another week with another opportunity to learn more about the written Word of God (Holy Bible). And of course it’s this very important understanding of the written Word of God that allows us to know the one Who was the Word of God (Jesus). And without a shadow of a doubt, the reason why we should all want to know more about the both of Them is so that we won’t get sidetracked and railroaded by Old Splitfoot himself (Satan). Because the fact of the matter is that he’s mighty good at getting Christians to lose their faith. And as we should all know by now, a Christian without faith can turn into a Christian with unbelief who can likewise very easily turn into no Christian at all. So in order not to make a great big mess of our salvation we must continually fight this battle against Satan who continually tries to put unbelief into our lives. And it’s this battle that we must all fight that can only be fought through his Word.

Now in case you haven’t figured it out yet that’s exactly what we try to do every week. And it was only last week that we began our counter attack on Satan’s attack against two of my very close Christian friends. You see they want children, but so far they haven’t been able to have children, and Satan’s doing a pretty good job of rubbing it in their face. And of course he’s telling them to give it all up, throw in the towel and consider themselves born losers, and most of all forget about ever asking God the Father for anything else. That’s what Satan says! But seeing how I totally detest all of his dirty stinking lies, we are going to do our best to prove him to be the liar that he is. And likewise that’s why we are continuing on with the message of Why It’s Difficult For Some Women To Have Children part II.

And since last week was such a long time ago, let’s bring everybody back up to speed through a little memory jogger: It is the desire of God the Father for married couples (man and wife) to have children. This fact has been around since Adam and Eve and it hasn’t changed yet. And the reason why Father God wants man and wife to have children is so that these children can become His children. Understand? Because every child that becomes God’s child becomes an enemy of Satan. And that in a nutshell is what this very serious game of life is all about; making babies for God or Satan.

So for this week we are going to continue digging through the Scriptures by looking at the lives of five very important women who couldn’t have children. And just in case you have forgotten, we left off last week in Genesis chapter 9 with God the Father telling Noah and his sons "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth". And with all of that having been said we’re off to investigating the first of the five barren women (without child).

Reading from Genesis chapters 10 and 11, "Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood... These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child."

Now keep it in mind that what we are reading is the continuation of God’s plan that started way back in the Garden of Eden. In the beginning God the Father wanted Adam and Eve to raise their children for His glory, but Satan butted in and from that point on all did not go as planned. Because not only did Adam and Eve get snookered by Satan but so did "most" of their children. In fact at the time of Noah the "most" was actually "all" (with the exception of Noah’s wife, his sons, and his son’s wives). They were the only ones who survived the flood, so logically thinking it was up to them to carry out God’s plan. And it was in this plan of repopulating the earth that there was also included the birth of one very special person. You see because of the sin of Adam and Eve everyone being born into the world really (legally) belonged to Satan. They were all doomed to everlasting death if the birth of that very special person didn’t take place. And just in case you didn’t know it the very special person was the Savior of the World. And this Savior would be born into a very special family (the Jewish family), and His very special name was Jesus.

And it was this Jesus Who would be born through the family of Abram and Sarai. But how could that happen if she was barren and couldn’t have children? Well as we continue on into Genesis 12:1-7, we find out that: "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came... And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him."

So God made a promise to both Abram and Sarai that their children would be the great Jewish nation... but just how could that be if Sarai couldn’t have children? Well speeding right along into Genesis chapter 17, "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee."

OK, so the important thing that I want you to see is that God allowed Abraham and Sarah to wait 25 years before they actually got what God had told them they would get. For some unknown? reason it took that long for it to finally happen, and believe you me for 25 years Satan had himself a field day. You see during their waiting period Abraham and Sarah heard all of Satan’s excuses as to why they weren’t going to get their promised child... who wouldn’t become the promised nation... and at times they both believed him... and because of their unbelief both them and their future generations suffered much pain."

But regardless of what Splitfoot said, it was just as predicted that we find by reading from Genesis 21:1-8, "And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah would have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned."

So as you can see Sarah named her son "laughter" (Isaac) for a very good reason. I mean after all how many women do you see having children at the age of 90? But anyway, God wanted them to have a child because their child would be responsible for eventually bringing the Christ Child into the world. So if it was that hard for Abraham and Sarah to have Isaac then how hard do you suppose it was for Isaac to have Jacob? Well let’s see.

Well the story of Isaac can be found by flipping on ahead just a few more chapters. So reading from Genesis 24, "And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house... go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac... And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. And he said O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham... And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher and came up."

So Abraham, being the concerned father that he was, wanted to find a good wife for his son Isaac (the birth of Jesus depended on it). And that’s about the time he sent his God fearing servant to find this very special lady for his son. And through a combination of faith in God and prayer, this very dedicated servant of Abraham was led by God to Isaac’s perfect match. Because reading on we find, "And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel... And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death."

What a love story! You might say that Isaac was very pleased with God’s choice of wives. But even though she was chosen by God to "be thou the mother of thousands of millions" there were still just a few minor problems. You see she was unable to have children. But all was not lost because Isaac was a God fearing, God believing child of God, and no devil from Hell was about to stop him. So the rest of the story goes like this: "And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac: And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her... And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them."

So once again the plan of God did finally come about in the lives of Isaac and Rebekah, but not without a struggle. Because it was a full twenty years after their marriage that the promise of God was finally realized. And now that baby Jacob finally made it into the world, how hard do you think it would be for him to have children? Well what a beautiful opportunity to read about Jacob’s wife Rachel.

So picking up the story in Genesis 28, 29, and 30, "And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham... Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east... And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we... And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept."

Look’s like another one of them love stories huh? I think you might even say that it’s already getting pretty mushy. But anyway, this story gets a little deeper than I’ve got time to deal with so we’ll just hit on the high spots. You see even though Jacob found his God chosen match, as always, things didn’t go without an interference run by Satan. Because reading on into chapter 30 we find, "And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel enviede her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?"

Once again the plan of God for the family of Jesus didn’t go smoothly without problems. Because it was 14 years after the marriage of Jacob and Rachel that verses 22-24 finally came into being: "And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son."

You see there were quite a few very important couples who couldn’t be parents but who needed to be parents so that God’s intended plan could be carried out. Satan had his plan to stop God’s plan but because of the married couple’s faith in God and prayer Satan did not succeed. And that brings us up to the very next story of another child who Satan didn’t want to be... but who finally did become... and his name was Samson.

So reading it from Judges 13, starting with verse 1, "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death."

You see all of these very special children had to have very special parents so that they could do the very special job that God had intended for them to do. And likewise this couple who couldn’t have children but who did have Samson had a tremendous responsibility on their hands. Because in order for Samson to be who God had intended for him to be his parents had to absolutely obey God’s rules. And because these rules were very strict rules of living, the Manoah couple had to be very dedicated to God in order to follow His rules... and they were... and that’s how Samson came about.

Because, "Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my LORD, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe... And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Yes sir, Samson’s parents were definitely dedicated to following God... but so were Samuel’s. Because as we will see very shortly, this great man Samuel (a prophet, a priest, and a judge over Israel) was just another one who was, but who never should have been.

And reading it from I Samuel chapter 1, "Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elikanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of host in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb."

You see Hannah wanted a child and she wanted a child bad. So once again through faith in God and prayer she did what she needed to do: "And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD... And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of host, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head... Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD."

And boy what a prophet Samuel was! He was born into the world to become a mighty man of God and it all happened even though Satan told Hannah that it wouldn’t. She didn’t give up! She sought God for a miracle and his name was Samuel. And that brings us to the fifth and final baby that shouldn’t have been, and his name was John the Baptist.

Reading from the book of Luke, chapter 1, and beginning with the 5th verse, "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the LORD blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God... And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine or strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Don’t you just love it when everything looks impossible but God says it ain’t. I mean here we go again with a married couple who couldn’t have children, and even if they could they still couldn’t because they were over the hill (too old to cut the mustard). But God said He could make it happen and He didn’t want to hear even one word of unbelief from the soon to be father Zacharias. But as we will see old Zacharias slipped up: "And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the Angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season... And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men."

And picking it back up with verse 57, "Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eight day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God."

Well I’ve run out of time, and I’ve run out of paper, but the facts on Why It’s Difficult For Some Women To Have Children should be pretty obvious by now: God desires godly parents to have godly children who will not only repopulate His earth but also worship Him and fight the good fight of faith against His #1 enemy Satan. That’s what God wants, and since Satan wants the exact opposite of what God wants he’s going to do everything in his power to stop it. And since Satan’s power is no match for God’s power the only hope of any victory that he might have will only be through his scheme called "unbelief".

So regardless of what the circumstances might be don’t give up. Give your heart to God desiring only to please Him, pray without ceasing that His will be done, and look out for the results. Our God is a Great and Loving God but we must keep the faith!!! in order to please Him.

Love,

Dad (Bruce Hallman)