September 16                                   Ps 7 - 9

ANOTHER TRAVAIL

MEMORISE: 'My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.' (Gal 4;19)
READ: Galatians 4:13-19

'My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you' (Gal 4: 19). Conception of a baby and its delivery is not something achieved in a short period of time. Usually it takes nine months of conception before one is set to deliver. But it does not end there. That is only the beginning of years of nursing, weaning, training and growth through different stages such as babyhood, toddler, childhood, teenage, adolescence and adulthood. These post delivery challenges could be termed 'another travail'.

If a woman, having successfully delivered a baby, says she is tired and cannot go through the rig ours of raising that child, everybody will call her a wicked woman. They will ask her who forced her to conceive the child in the first place. As in the physical, so in the spiritual. Have you labouredly over a soul until that soul received Jesus? Praise God! The first travail is over. You are just about to begin the second travail. Paul in our reading said, having travailed to give birth to his converts, he had to face an even greater travail - helping Jesus Christ to be formed in them. Paul was a great spiritual father. Are you like? Some of us feel that having led a soul to Christ, our work is done. We wash our hands off him. We are wicked parents, like the woman who, after delivery, went to dump her baby by a dustbin and fled.

In John 15:16, Jesus says that after you bear fruit, it should remain. Any soul that is saved but cannot make it to heaven will bring no reward to the one who fathered that soul. There is a link between you and your children in Christ. As soon as that soul is saved, God releases some milk of grace into you to feed the convert. You can teach him the basic knowledge of God's word, prayer and fasting, how to live victoriously above sin; how to deal with enemies and handle life's problems. Also ensure he keeps growing in the Lord and registers in the young converts' class. Your work continues until your convert eventually becomes a minister of God and is he giving birth to others for the Lord. It is a joyful thing indeed to be a spiritual father! Prayerfully launch out today!

ACTION POINT
Earn the title of father over your converts by giving them the milk of God's word, Building them up, praying and caring for them.