The Little Foxes - E-Books

“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” (Song of Solomon 2:15)

Why are wombs shut?

What could be the cause?

I’ll walk you through some causes for barrenness in this chapter. Then, I pray that God will open your eyes to locate the source of those long years of delay in Jesus name.

Sin Against the Anointing and the Anointed

For the Lord had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah. (Genesis 20:18 NLT)

“for God had stricken all the women with barrenness to punish Abimelech for taking Abraham's wife.” Genesis 20:18 (TLB)

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children. (Genesis 20:17 NLT)

It is possible that God can close up the womb of a woman and also make a man infertile. In the scriptures above, Abimelech’s ability to impregnate his wife was taken away. He was only healed after the prayer of Abraham. The prayer of Abraham also healed the womb of Abimelech’s wife, and his maidservants. The prayer divinely opened up their womb, and they bore children.

Barrenness was used as punishment against Abimelech, because he touched God’s anointed by taking Abraham’s wife.

“Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” (Psalm 105:15)

God jealously guards His anointed, and any attack on them can lead to barrenness, misfortune, or death. From Abimelech’s case, it is clear that barrenness can be a divine punishment for touching the anointed or for trampling on holy things.

Let’s look at another case of barrenness that was linked to the anointing and the anointed.

²⁰Then David returned to bless his household. And [his wife] Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who stripped himself of his kingly robes and uncovered himself in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the worthless fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!

²¹David said to Michal, It was before the Lord, Who chose me above your father and all his house to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord. Therefore will I make merry [in pure enjoyment] before the Lord.

²²I will be still more lightly esteemed than this, and will humble and lower myself in my own sight [and yours]. But by the maids you mentioned, I will be held in honour.

²³And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death. (2 Samuel 6:20-23 Amplified)

Michal never had children from David till her death because she sinned against the anointing and the anointed. God is not a respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34). The conversation was between husband and wife (David and Michal), but before God, the conversation happened between Him and them – literally in His Presence.

I always warn people to be careful how they talk to their family members, especially if they are servants of God. The person may be the last born in the family or someone lower to you in the family, but you need to be careful of the person once you notice the call of God over the person. God treats the person with preference, and any insult on the person will be personally handled by Him. He will not allow you to rubbish His anointed servant.

Having said that, you need to prayerfully enquire from Holy Spirit to know what might be the cause of your long delay in childbearing. The root must be dealt with before a change will happen. Remember that Abraham had to pray for Abimelech before his state of barrenness could be reversed. Once you prayerfully engage in soul-searching prayers. The Holy Spirit will reveal the root cause that is affecting your fruitfulness. He will also open your eyes to what you must do.

If it is sin against the anointed and if the person is within your reach, try to find a way so that the person can pray for you. You may go along with gifts and believe God for a change of story after the prayers. If the person is far away or already dead due to old age etc., you will have to totally depend on Holy Spirit to visit your foundation, the past, and address the issues. There is nothing too hard for God to do, He can visit the past and the future, so believe in Him and pray fervently.

Divine Agenda

God’s prophetic agenda can also be the cause why the womb can be shut. You need to be diligent enough to know the move of God and the move of the devil. Else, you may be suffering as a result of the devil’s attack and be accepting it as God’s prophetic agenda. Also, you could be under God’s prophetic agenda and be interpreting it as the devil’s attack. You will need discernment, wisdom, and spiritual maturity in this area. Job was heavily attacked by the devil but he was ignorantly seeing it as divine. He could have resisted the attack in the place of prayer, but he was accepting it with no form of resistance. I believe, if Job had persisted in earnest prayer, the attack would have stopped after the devil’s first attempt. (James 5:16)

Hannah

“…but Hannah had no children.

but the LORD had shut up her womb.

And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb.” (1 Samuel 1:2,5,6)

God’s prophetic agenda was to send a prophet to Israel that would replace the sons of Eli. Eli’s sons had failed God, and the priesthood seat was spiritually vacant. God had to shut the womb of Hannah. He wanted Hannah to make a vow and to be a channel that He could use in giving Israel her next prophet. Hannah was a slow learner, and that was the cause for her delay in childbearing.

God through you may want to send a child that will change the world, but you have to discern His will and be ready to align with His plan and purpose. The barrenness that you are facing may be a sign that you are not aligning with the plans and purposes of God. If you are faithful and truly saved, long years of delay in childbearing may be an indirect communication from heaven to you. You need to tune in and respond to heaven’s call.

After the heartfelt prayer of Hannah and the vow she made, God opened her womb. The right prayer will produce the right results. Put aside your personal interest, and switch to God’s interests.

Make a vow, a covenant with God as you seek His face for a child. Hannah is a good example. You can follow that path and also vow to the Lord. Don’t make a rash vow. God wants the dedication of the child, not money. Don’ vow to God that you will give him money, give Him the child. In some cases, the vow can be monetary; you have to fully discern what you must do. Don’t just jump to a conclusion, I strongly believe that since Hannah was praying from her spirit, the Holy Spirit would have dropped the idea of making a vow by returning the child to God in her heart. When you pray from your heart, you will decode divine signals. Once you pick the signal, do as you are led, and your barrenness shall be turned into fruitfulness in Jesus name.

Elizabeth

⁵In the days when Herod was king of Judea there was a certain priest whose name was Zachariah, of the daily service (the division) of Abia; and his wife was also a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

⁶And they both were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

⁷But they had no child, for Elizabeth was barren; and both were far advanced in years. (Luke 1:5-7 Amplified)

Zacharias and Elizabeth had the testimony of being “righteous” and “blameless,” but they had no child, the wife was barren, and now they were very old. Did they take offence against God? No. Did they allow their barrenness to affect their service, commitment, and love towards God and His work? No. Do you think that they did not go through pain, tears, reproach from friends and family? Do you think that they did not pray all the prayers they knew how to pray for God to bless them with a child? There is so much to learn from this couple that will change your perspective and keep you committed and faithful to God. Their delay in childbearing was also divine; God wanted to send a forerunner before Christ.

Barren Thoughts

The book of 1 Thessalonians 5:23 reveals that we are made up of spirit, soul, and body. Our body is just a container. Your spirit and your soul are the two most important entities that you ought to focus on and build right now.

Defeat or victory starts from the mind, battles are won or lost in the mind. The spirit interacts with the spiritual realm, the soul interacts with the mental realm while the body interacts with the physical world.

The soul is where emotion, will, and the intellect (mind) reside. The soul is where your thoughts are formed, and it is a very strong region where the devil defeats many people. The physical world is where you see the results of whatever has been concluded in the spiritual and mental realm. If you don’t like the result you see in the physical, it can be changed from the spiritual and the soul realm.

One of the subtle ways the devil has kept you barren is through your mind, he has programmed “barren thoughts” into your mind. You wish to have children but you think more of your inability to give birth, the medical complications, and the impossibilities surrounding your tendency to have children. As long as you remain barren in your thoughts, no miracle can happen.

If anything must change, it must start with your thoughts; those barren thoughts must be discarded. The little foxes spoiling your vine are operating through your mind. You have prayed down fire, and you are so sure that God has answered you, but after leaving the place of prayer, you slip back to “barren thoughts,” those thoughts will neutralize the effect of your prayers.

“Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious — the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. (Philippians 4:8-9 MSG)

Your thought process must be worked upon by the words of God, not the words of men. Fruitfulness must start from your mind. Your imagination, thoughts, and reason must align with what the word says. You have to get that little fox out of your mind so that you can be fruitful in the physical.

Let’s look at some key scriptures that address this issue:

Abraham practised fruitfulness in his mind. He was not accommodating barren thoughts..

“When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said He would do...” (Romans 4:18 MSG)

The heart and the soul were in alignment with the word of God. With the heart man believeth, (See Romans 10:10) so Abraham believed with His heart. Also, the scripture said “deciding…to live not on the basis of what he saw…” the keyword there is “deciding,” Decisions are taken by the soul, the “will power” is in the soul, that is where decisions are made. Abraham believed in his spirit and decided with his soul. After many years of waiting, the physical responded to the spiritual, and Sarah conceived and gave birth.

Let’s see another testimony about Abraham:

“Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up. He didn't tiptoe around God's promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God.” (Romans 4:19-20 MSG)

Most times we claim the faith of Abraham by mouth and we wonder why we are not seeing any results in our lives, it’s simply because we are not doing what he did.

The battle is in your mind. You have to discard those barren thoughts that are dominating your mind, and consciously replace them with scriptural thoughts. Anytime you are tempted to think of your current situation, you have to quickly switch to the scriptures that you are holding on to for your fruitfulness.

The reality of your fruitfulness must start from your imagination, from your mind before you will see it physically. No man is permitted to handle what his mind cannot handle. If the battle is won in your mind, the results will change physically.

Are you barren? Are you thinking about what the medical professionals said? Are you thinking about the medical report? Are you thinking about the impossibilities surrounding your conception? As long as you think about it, you will be defeated by the devil.

“Now glory be to God, who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of-infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” Ephesians 3:20-21 (TLB)

Thinking is as powerful as praying, what you prayed for can be nullified by your thoughts. There are times that I have been blessed by God just by thinking. I only thought about it, and He granted it.

God sees your thoughts. Your thoughts are visible and audible before Him, so if you are thinking barrenness, He cannot come to your aid. The devil your accuser, is standing beside those thoughts and he is reminding God that He cannot act contrary to His words. Change your thoughts; fruitfulness starts from the unseen and manifests in the seen.

Get that little fox out of your mind.