Incubation
Friend, do you know what season you are in? Is there a word that comes to you? I’m asking because I feel like something is shifting. There’s a change in the atmosphere. Do you feel it too? As I have been sensing this, I could not quite put my finger on it. I kept leaning in, asking, listening then I heard the word incubation.
To incubate is “to sit on (eggs) so as to hatch by the warmth of the body; to maintain (something, such as an embryo or a chemically active system) under conditions favorable for hatching development, or reaction; to cause or aid the development of.”1
As I read the definition it begged the question, what needs to be incubated?
I’ve been feeling this pull. A pull to go deeper into the secret place. A pull to press into an even smaller space which would require removing even more. Perhaps shedding a layer of dead skin depending on how narrow the doorway is. This pull was an invitation to incubation. I need incubation.
As mentioned above, one the definitions of incubate is to be “under favorable conditions for hatching development”. Accepting Jesus’ invitation to go deeper into the secret place is entering into “favorable conditions for development”.
Today is August 1st, and I wondered what God wanted me to focus on this month. When I asked, I felt a gentle lifting of my chin, as He directed my gaze to Him. My focus must be on the Lord this month, which means removing anything else that may get in the way of that. Even the “good” things. I love learning new information, whether it’s via podcasts or books, but even these “good” things I sense to put on pause for the month of August and focus on spending time with God and primarily in His word. I have to put down the “good” things to focus on the God things.
While I could not find the word “incubation” in the Bible, I found a couple of scriptural examples of incubation. The first one is in the Gospel of Luke. Before Jesus selected the twelve apostles, He first went into incubation;
“During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. When daylight came, he summoned his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:” – Luke 6:12-13 CSB
Even Jesus, who while on earth was fully God and fully man, went deep into the secret place before selecting the apostles. Another example we see is Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians, where he shares the source from which he received the gospel he preached.
“For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus.
Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days. But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.”
– Galatians 1:11-20 CSB
Paul went into incubation after his Road to Damascus experience, which undoubtedly marked the impact of his ministry. In both examples, they each received wisdom and revelation from God in their time of incubation. During that time, not only were they developed, but God also hatched His plans in them. As they emerged into the world, they executed God’s plans, not human plans.
Friend, I ask you again. What season are you in? What word has the Lord given you? Perhaps like me, it’s incubation. Maybe it’s something else, but whatever it is, what does God want you to know about it?
Until next week …
Miracles + Blessings!
Brenda
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