Destiny within, Dragon without

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” Revelation 12:1-6 Kings James Version

“A great Sign appeared in Heaven: a Woman dressed all in sunlight, standing on the moon, and crowned with Twelve Stars. She was giving birth to a Child and cried out in the pain of childbirth. And then another Sign alongside the first: a huge and fiery Dragon! It had seven heads and ten horns, a crown on each of the seven heads. With one flick of its tail it knocked a third of the Stars from the sky and dumped them on earth. The Dragon crouched before the Woman in childbirth, poised to eat up the Child when it came. The Woman gave birth to a Son who will shepherd all nations with an iron rod. Her Son was seized and placed safely before God on his Throne. The Woman herself escaped to the desert to a place of safety prepared by God, all comforts provided her for 1,260 days.” Revelation 12:1-6 Message Bible

The book of Revelations is an intriguing one, above you read an except from Revelations 12:1-6. I have read it a few times and can’t help but wonder, does this woman represent many of us today. We have our destiny, dreams or purpose within us, yet we are looking right in the face of adversity, disappointments, bad breaks. There is nothing to suggest that our dreams will survive even if we attempt to go against the odds. Before giving up, lets work through the passage.

The woman was just a regular lady, there was nothing exceptional about her as she was merely referred to as “a woman”, our English lessons would have us learn that to the crowd, or society, this woman is an average woman. She’s not from a wealthy family or has much influence. What the passage points out, however, is that this nameless woman is guided by light. She is dressed in sunlight, stands on the moon and is crowned with not one or two stars, but all of twelve! This leads me to think that though she may not sit at the aristocrats table, she is connected to her source, her divine maker.

Another important point is that she was pregnant, in labour and in pain. A woman can be pregnant and not be in labour or in pain. She can be pregnant, in pain but not in labour. She can also be pregnant, in labour and not in pain. But this woman, this nameless woman is pregnant, in labour and in pain. Despite all her vulnerabilities, she was alone. Can you imagine how she was feeling to be pregnant, in labour and in pain yet alone? This could not be easy for her.

As if that weren’t enough, a huge and fiery dragon crouched before her! Now this, adds salt to the wound. The dragon had all of seven heads, ten horns and a crown on each head. Close your eyes and make the visualization, being pregnant, in labour and in pain with a huge fiery dragon crouched in front of you to snatch your baby. How would you feel and what would you do?

Fortunately, for this nameless woman her source of light never failed her, her baby was seized and placed safely before God. What we see here is the script being flipped on the dragon. It seems he wasn’t aware that when a baby is born a pair of hands are always ready to catch the baby, even if the woman has to do it herself.

I am of the opinion that many of us, fit the description of that nameless woman. Many of us face similar challenges when we are to give birth to our purpose. We have destiny within and a huge fiery dragon without. I submit to you today, that once we stay connected to our source as this nameless woman did, our purpose will be seized and placed in a place of safety by God.

Let us not get disheartened by the dragon steering us down. Whether that dragon is the lack of expertise or resources, a series of unfortunate events or even a discouraged soul. Let us stay true to ourselves and our purpose, let us delivery our babies, let us give life to our purpose!

Maybe we have some work to do to prepare ourselves, remember, to go through pregnancy it is wise to prepare. Let us act in wisdom and in faith. So, if there is a skill we know we need to learn, let us do so. If we are discouraged, look not to the left or right, all the courage we need is within, let us encourage ourselves.

Look at what God did for this nameless woman, after she gave birth, he seized the baby to a place of safety and he cared for her in the desert. Let us not forget that the desert is a hot, dry and inhospitable place in and of its own. Yet God cared for her there. Let us trust our maker with the purpose he placed within us and watch him care for us, even in the desert.

For though our destiny is within and the dragon without, being guided by our source of light, we will not only give birth to our purpose. But our source will seize our purpose to a place of safety and care for us in inhospitable places.