The Travailing Women (Lois and Eunice)

Key Text: 2 Timothy 1:1-5

Let us look at the Bible definition of travailing found in John 16:20-22

“Verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembered no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you”

According to our Lord’s explanation on the travailing period, the Lord compared the period or process of bearing pain to bring forth, but the joy of bear forth surpassed the pain process. In other words, means, Endurable Pain for an end result of Joy; Travailing is a manifestation of the grief of the heart for the Joy of the Lord.

This morning let us look at the seed that was in the lives of these two women that travailed and also explore on their end product to lead us to pray for our own lives.  Brother Timothy’s grandmother (Lois) and his mother (Eunice) they were both Jewesses.

The Grandmother (Lois) first believed in Jesus Christ in her own time. Let us examine the time of Mama Lois in Israel, was such a hostile time for Jew to believe in Jesus. The bible says in John 1:11 “He came unto his own, and his own received him not”.

Mama Lois travailed to believe in Resurrection Jesus. Possibly, she singled herself out in her community to follow the way of the Lord. Let us imagine what her experience could be when every other person in her local temples/communities/families rejected our Lord Jesus Christ. Mama Lois travailed and held on to her faith in Christ even when she was the only one. Possibly, she narrowly escaped the hands of our Bro Saul when he was persecuting the believers.

In the face of death and strong persecution Mama Lois travailed to held-on to her faith in Christ Jesus and not allowed fear to take it away from her. She did not allow anything to separate her love for the Lord.  She also laboured to pass on her faith and love to Christ unto her daughter Eunice. Praise thy Lord Hallelujah!

Mama Eunice grew into the faith in Christ Jesus as she followed the footstep of her mother. She gladly personally received and believed without any shadow of doubt hence she also passed it on to her Son (Timothy). She also laboured to teach Timothy the Holy Scripture from the childhood stage according to the record in the (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

Mama Eunice also faced her own challenge in raising Timothy in the way of the Lord. Mama Eunice married a Greek Man and he was an unbeliever as stated in the book of (Act 16:1-3). I don’t think we can imagine the situation and the challenges that Mama Eunice faced to raise Timothy, we cannot.

However, one thing was sure is that she travailed not given up to these challenges in her household to an extend that when Brother Paul met Timothy and heard of the travailing history of his grandmother (Lois), mother (Eunice) and in Timothy, how this family have responded to the love of Christ he named their faith as “Unfeigned-Faith” for those of us at the Sanctuary Church on Sunday 26/3/17 when we looked at other bible versions called their faiths as: Sincere-faith/Honest faith/True faith/Endurable faith/Authentic faith (2 Timothy: 5).  They remained focus and unshakeable in any situations they faced or found themselves.

As I was pondering on this scripture, the Holy Spirit called their faith to me as a “Living-Faith” and I asked how someone could have a living-faith. Then it was explained to me that they believed on Living-God that changes’ not in any situations He ever remains faithful.

They believed in the Person of Jesus Christ that lives forever more and they laboured to build a living stone as they passed on this faith to their generations hence their faith lives after them for evermore. They stood firmly on who they believed. Unlike many of us that our faith based on testimonies of what God does for us and how the Lord has helped us in the past. Sometimes we are like our Father Jacob with “unconditional-faith” seeking God for our selfish interest, not mindful things of God (Gen 28:10-22). Faith is the vision of the heart; it sees God in the dark as well as in the day.

Prayers

• Let personally examine the state of your faith in Christ Jesus, how is your faith: ‘living-transferable faith’ or ‘dying-shaking faith’/unconditional faith. Let pray for God to help us as it’s not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God said the Lord of hosts (Zach 4:6). Christian faith is based on the fact of RESURRECTION and is not based upon opinions.
• (1 Cor 15:12-19) Let ask the Holy-Spirit to rekindle the fire of this kind of unfeigned-faith in us for without it the bible says no one can please God (Heb 11:6). It takes a Supernatural faith given by God to travail through (2 Peter 1:1).
• Let us pray to the Lord to help us to spend time studying the word of God as is the only means that we can obtained a such faith like our Mama Lois and Eunice ( Roman 10:17). Let pray to God to deliver us from the mass destruction weapon of busyness in our own time and help us to settle at His feet like Mary.
• These women that we examined Mama Lois and Mama Eunice have active working Faith as they travailed in the life of their children. They were deliberate in their action to pass on their faith which brought a result that we are reading about today in the book of Timothy.
• Characteristic of the travailed woman, they did not major on the minor as we read about Mama Eunice; as a Jew person and according to the law of circumcision she supposed to do on Timothy, but the bible says he was Paul took Timothy and circumcised him (Acts 16:3). I wander why the mother Eunice did not follow the law of circumcision on Timothy, possibly because her husband was a Greek man and maybe he did not allow the mother. However, this woman did not leave the major to focus on the minor issue of circumcision rather she travailed on the major circumcision of the heart of her son Timothy.
• Let us pray that Holy Spirit to help us to travail on the major issue of the circumcision of our hearts and of our seeds till Christ is form in us together, deeply rooted in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ not to major on the minor issues: what we eat/clothes to wear/bills to pay/house to build, but to seek the Kingdom of God first with all his righteousness. Amen!
• The book of (James 2:14-26) talked about our faith and works. Let us pray for power of Holy Spirit to inspire us and gives us burden over our family/church/nation of the world for the kingdom of God (Isaiah 66:8) promised us that we shall bring forth when we travail in prayer.
• Let us pray for Grace to patiently travail till Christ is born in the lives of our young ones/in our churches/nations of the world in Jesus mighty name we pray Amen!.