“This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:8 NLT)

No Christmas or New Year’s letter was planned for 2022, but I just have to share a present we received on Christmas Day!

I woke up early, as usual. I turned to my laptop and without much effort found myself engrossed in an old message on the Internet from Dennis Kinlaw at The Cove in NC. (To find the message just go to YouTube). This message was a Christmas present from the Lord.

Dennis’ title was “Are you Pregnant?”

The message was not a Christmas sermon, but hearing it on December 25 and knowing that God Himself had impregnated a young girl named Mary, it sure seemed like one. God was reminding me that I too should be pregnant… “through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:8, NLT). In these crazy times when some politicians and so-called smart people insist that a man can be pregnant, I realize I need to explain myself!!

The message was about Intercessory Prayer. God wants us to be spiritually pregnant - carrying the burden (like a mother carries a baby) for people we love. Physical birth always starts with two other people. Likewise, every person’s spiritual birth always starts in the heart of another. Our life in Christ started in the womb of another person whose prayers were heard in the heavens.

This is proven by Paul in the New Testament and Moses in the Old Testament.

Paul complained that his Galatian spiritual children had deserted his Gospel of grace in exchange for the works of dead religion, “Oh, dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again…” (Gal, 4:19, NLT). The old King James Version puts it more poetically, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” Paul had carried them in his heart, like a pregnant mother, bringing his children in Galatia into abundant life. And now he was distressed because the babies he had birthed had forgotten his gospel.

And likewise, Moses complained to the Lord about his children of Israel, “What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby?” (Numbers 11:11-12, NLT). Like Paul with the Galatians, Moses had been called to be ‘like a mother’ carrying his Israeli children. It was his burden to bear.

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And so……… the question for this season is simple: Are you pregnant? Has the Lord asked you to carry any person in your heart? Is there a spiritual fetus in your life?

We should carry a burden for someone. Perhaps at least one person comes immediately to mind. Maybe you even have room for twins, or more?? How many can you handle? It is even possible that you were spiritually pregnant at one time but there has been a miscarriage or spiritual abortion? Have you abandoned a burden that once was yours to bear? In fact, maybe, like Moses, the burden is just too much. It can actually paralyze you if the load is too heavy.

Imagine carrying triplets. Then imagine Paul’s burden for a whole church or Moses’ burden for a whole nation. Giving up makes perfect sense at times.

So here is our odd Christmas message for 2022. Just as the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary with the burden and honor of bringing Jesus into this world, now this same Jesus has given you the burden and honor to carry your friends and family in the womb of your heart!! Your prayers make a difference in eternity.

So, the question remains— can a man be pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit? Looks like the answer is a resounding Yes... Merry Christmas 2022 & Happy New Year 2023!