After years of drought in California, the rain is beginning to fall. The drought has broken. They are forecasting so much rain that it could do damage.
We need spiritual rain strong and powerful enough to do damage the the strongholds of thought and belief the enemy has been beginning to build in our land. The enemy has been seeming to take ground, but we desire to see the Holy Spirit come in like a flood and completely overpower and demolish the strongholds and lies that have been built.
It is a natural season for rain. But it is also time for spiritual rain to fall upon our area and upon our nation. We are told in many places to pray for rain. We don’t get rain because we deserve it; we get rain because of the mercy of God. He pours His rains upon the just and the unjust.
We get spiritual rain because of God’s longing for the fruit of the earth, the salvation of mankind – but it only comes in response to prayer, whole-hearted, continued, hungry prayer.
Isaiah 44:3-4 – For I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit upon your offspring, and My blessing upon your descendants. And they shall spring up among the grass like willows or poplars by the watercourses.
Who gets the rain? The thirsty. But it not only falls upon them but also upon the parched and dry ground around them, on their offspring and descendants, on all those near their world. His rain falls in response to thirst to the thirsty and hungry first, but it spreads from there to all men whether they deserve it or not.
Earnest, Heartfelt Prayer
It is not a half-hearted prayer for the rains of revival that God will answer. He will pour water on the thirsty. It is earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer that makes tremendous power available. If prayer isn’t from the heart, it lacks power and effectiveness.
James 5:7 – Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.
The farmer is waiting patiently for the precious produce of the soil. What is He waiting for? He is waiting for the early and late rains.
2 Peter 3:4, 9 – Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation …The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
These scriptures seem to imply the the time of His coming is dependent upon the readiness of the harvest, and the full harvest is dependent upon the rain. And the rain is dependent upon our prayers.
How do we get rain?
James 5:16-18 – The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.
Elijah prayed for rain and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. The earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available.
Zechariah 10:1 – Ask rain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain — The Lord who makes the storm clouds; and He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.
God wants us to pray for rain. The earth and world is parched for the knowledge of God. He desires us to pray with great desire for rain with earnest, heartfelt continued prayer. And until we do, the spiritual rains we need won’t come, and the full harvest won’t be ready to harvest. God is long-suffering, waiting….
God desires a harvest. He desires a crop of human beings from planet earth. And He has had looooooong patience for it. There is coming a time when the angels are going to put in the sickle and reap.
It takes the rain for the land to yield its produce and the trees of the field to bear their fruit. Without rain, there is no fruit.
The way rain falls and what rain does is exactly how the rain of the Spirit does. It can fall lightly, like a sprinkle, like a steady rain, like a downpour. At this time we don’t need light rain; we need a downpour! We need to see the hearts of men melted by the rains of God. We need to see the strongholds of thought that keep people from God dissolved by deluges of the presence of God falling like rain!
Isaiah 55:9-11 – For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Leviticus 26:4 – Then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.
Joel 2:23-24 – So rejoice, O sons of Zion, and be glad in the Lord your God; for He has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has poured down for you the rain, the early and latter rain as before. The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.
Hosea 10:12 – Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
It is time to seek the Lord. How long? Until He comes and rains righteousness salvation upon you and on the world around you.
It is time to get busy and pray for rain as we have been told. The harvest is waiting for rain. God will give the rain, but we must pray for it with heartfelt prayer from a hungry and thirsty heart – until it comes!
Thankyou Emily . This is really helpful. Holy Spirit told me to pray for rain for Inverness, Scotland and I wasn’ T sure how to begin but this is giving me inspiration. Bless you!
Glad it helped and inspired.