Divine Babies

3. Labor and Delivery - The Divine Baby is Born

At last the baby comes forth and is born. However, this does not happen without both you and the baby going through the painful process of labor and delivery.

What God Does:

1. God makes your life intensely uncomfortable. You know that it is time for your divine baby to be delivered because it is during this time that God makes your life intensely uncomfortable. At first, you could hide it. At first, you could deny it. At first, the baby was so small that you could neither see it nor feel it. But, when it is time for the baby to be born, labor comes upon you and your life gets so uncomfortable that you feel like you must either deliver this baby or die.

2. God sends assistants into your life to help the baby come forth. At the point of delivery, you often need help. You have carried the baby and nurtured the baby alone, but you cannot birth it without the assistance of others. In the natural there are doctors, nurses, coaches, anesthesiologists, family and friends who help to get this baby into the world. So too, when your divine baby is delivered, God will send preachers, teachers, intercessors, and other specialists to help you make it happen.

3. God causes your water to break. The water breaks when the pressure of the baby inside of you is so great that the amniotic sack in which it has grown bursts and the fluid which it has been living in gushing out. In the case of your divine baby, the water which breaks at delivery are, on the one hand, sweat and, on the other hand, tears. You sweat because bringing God's baby to life is hard work. You shed tears because bringing God's baby to life causes both the depth of pain and the height of joy.

4. God sends labor. In the labor process, your body and the baby work together to get the baby outside of you. Here again, it is not called labor because it is easy. It is called labor because it is work. Labor is when you discover that what has been growing inside of you has gown so large that it cannot even come out of you without it hurting you. It hurts to tell others what's inside of you. It hurts to describe what happened to you. It hurts to explain what God wants to do with you. For a long time this baby has been growing inside of you but you really haven't had to show it to anyone. Now, in labor, it is truly coming out and it hurts!

5. God, by means of the Holy Spirit, coaches you through the process. Among your helpers at delivery is the Holy Spirit. He coaches you. He helps you to breathe. He calms you down. He eases your pain. He encourages you. He sits by your bedside. He stays with you when others abandon you. He keeps on assuring you that you are about to give birth to something great.

What the Baby Does:

1. The baby presses against you. What really makes delivery happen is that the baby gets tired of being inside. You can no longer hide it or deny it. It creates so much pressure that it pushes against you from the inside. At first, you said you would never preach, but now that delivery is nigh, the baby is creating so much pressure inside of you that you have to preach. At first, you said you wouldn't go. Now, at the point of delivery, the pressure is so great that you can't stay!

2. The baby earnestly desires to come out because it can no longer stay hidden. During gestation, your body changes, your lifestyle changes and you change. However, what is happening to the baby is completely outside of the public eye. Everyone knows that there is something in there, but no one knows what it is or what it looks like. In this case, as the carrier of the divine baby, you still could where baggy clothes and try to camouflage the existence of this blessing inside of you. But, when it is delivery time, the baby decides that whether you like it or not, whether you are ready or not, whether you are prepared or not, I'm coming out! This is when you can no longer cover it up. You have got to get out of the way and let it go!

3. You see and touch the baby in the flesh for the first time. When the baby is born, not only do others get to see it, but so do you. You have known that it was there all the time, but it is at delivery that you can see it, touch it, handle it and hold it. This is when the first copy of your book comes off the press. Or you hear the play back of your first CD. Or, the doors of your business open for the first time. Now, this baby is visible for all to see.

4. You hear the baby's voice. Up to now, you may have heard God's voice when He told you that you would carry such a divine baby. You may have heard the critic's voice who told you that you were crazy. However, you have never heard the voice of your divine baby. At delivery, the baby cries and you know that it is alive!

What You Do:

1. Put your life on the line for the baby's life. As we have mentioned before, the birth process is a matter of life and death. Every time a mother goes into the delivery room, her life is at stake. Yet, because she knows what is inside of her, she is willing to take that risk. When your divine baby is about to come forth, protect it with your life. After all, now you risk your life to bring it into the world, but later it just may save your life and bless your life in the world. What are you willing to sacrifice for the birth of this child? Does its birth really put your life in jeopardy? Will the coming of this divine baby change your life forever? Are you ready for this radical change? Is the birth of this divine baby being delayed because of your unwillingness to sacrifice for it?

2. Push and push some more! The baby usually initiates the labor, but you have to cooperate by pushing and pushing some more. In other words, the baby has to be pushed out by you. It is hard, but push. It is painful, but push. You feel like you are going to die, but push. In conception, God puts the divine baby in, but during delivery, you must push the baby out.
What seems to be holding up the coming forth of your divine baby? If you have to push to get it to come forth, where should you be pushing? What should you be focusing on the most? Who should you be talking to about it? How much more time should you be spending developing it?

3. Cut the chord. Once the divine baby is born, cut the umbilical chord.
This is the physical link between you and it. This is the means by which you fed the baby before it became public. Now, you must feed it another way and you must be willing to start the process of giving your divine baby a life of its own. When the chord is cut, you acknowledge that even though you bore this divine baby, it is not yours and you cannot keep it to yourself. Do you think that you will be able to let the divine baby go in order to let it grow? Do you understand that this baby does not belong to you? How does this make you feel? How can you cut the chord between you and your divine baby without cutting off all relationship between you and your divine baby?

4. Celebrate. Delivering a divine baby is not the end of the process, but it is something to celebrate. Finally, the baby is here. Finally, it can be seen.