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Gen. 25:21 “because she was barren;”  

If you are looking to start a ministry or movement, begin first to find the barren ground.  God loves to move among the unreached, hardened, dry, and forsaken sectors of society.  When Isaac looked at Rebecca, there was not natural hope that she would conceive, but in this place of desperation and dryness, the Lord poured out an answer to prayer.

The church of Jesus Christ is called to the dry places of the earth.  “The gates of hell” are her target, which shall not prevail against the Gospel message covering the earth as the waters cover the sea. In order to birth and bring to pass what God plans in these last days, we must be willing to step into the most forgotten and forsaken places to see life come forth.

The history of the church has been to go to the unreached.  Paul said his aim was not to “build upon another man’s foundation” (Romans 15:20) but to “to preach the gospel in regions beyond you. (2 Cor. 10:15) Jesus was compelled to go from city to city to the lost sheep of Israel and ventured to find other places that had not yet heard the message.  “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but the sick.” (Matt. 9:12)

Martyrdom, persecution, and rejection have forever produced the most fertile soil for the Gospel, but we want to plant churches where life is rich, easy, and comfortable.  Perhaps the impotency and apathy of our modern church planting movement stems from our lack of desperation and realization of the barren state of affairs without God’s intervention.

A barren situation is the most fruitful scene for the supernatural to manifest.  We have seen in early works of God that our desperation turned into the manifestation of God’s power.  He opens and shuts the womb, I have said, but mainly opens.

If you desire to see harvest, do not find an already plowed field where a seed can easily sprout and grow.  That would be a natural pattern.  Instead, our faith and the faith of our Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob calls us to find the most unlikely, impoverished, hard, and barren land and begin tilling with hope that God will break up the fallow ground.  “For more are the children of the desolate and barren than the children of the married woman.”  (Isaiah 54:1)

Gen. 35:18 Benjamin, “as her soul was departing, he called his name.”

Fast-forward to the final chapter of Rachel’s life.  She is on her deathbed and gives birth to the last child of Jacob.  Her name for the child is Ben-Oni which means “son of my pain.”  The father, Jacob, renames the child Benjamin, “son of my right hand.”

Watching his beloved wife depart surely impacted Jacob.  His name for Benjamin, however is a prophetic picture of the culmination of the ages.  The 11 earlier sons, Reuben (a son), Levi (loved), Simeon (heard), Judah (praise), Dan (judge), Naphtali (wrestling), Gad (troop), Asher (happy), Issachar (reward), Zebulon (gift), and Joseph (add) all are types of prayer and levels of maturity in the church.  What begins as simple love for the Son, matures to praise, endures through wrestling, receives the gifts of God’s joy, and then replicates again and again in the lives of others.  You will see each of these seasons come and go again as you walk with God into your destiny and the life stages of a ministry.

Recognizing the seasons helps us better respond to challenges either with laughter and praise, or maybe with wrestling and warfare.  Prayer encompasses all these rich emotions.  Asking for God’s vindication on the wicked, receiving help from the troop around us, expecting a reward and addition to are labors are all themes of prayer.

The final episode of the saga however is postponed several chapters later when Benjamin is born.  Benjamin is the last stage of the church, the son of my pain who is transformed into the son of my right hand.  God’s ultimate desire in history is to bring all things in subjection to Himself.  “He must reign until He has put all things under His feet.” (1 Cor. 15:27, Ps. 8:6) “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (v. 26)

Once the Father has subdued all of creation under His command, the “Son of His right hand,” Jesus will be the ruler and heir of all redeemed creation.  This redemption will encompass the souls of men, the physical creation, and all spiritual beings who will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father. (Phil. 2:11) Seeing this Son of God’s right hand exalted over all creation is the end goal of our prayers.  Rather than a home in heaven or some earthly blessing, our petitions are ultimately asking that “His Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.”

When the Son of Man subdues every enemy under His feet, the end is here which is really the beginning of His glorious Kingdom come on earth.  Our prayers ought to agree with that ending, and when we come to a point of declaring this Kingdom come with authority and power, we have entered in the intercessions of Jesus.