Here in southern Indiana, where I live, it has been raining a lot! I was thinking about how much I love rain and thunderstorms. To me, it makes perfect napping or sleeping weather. I love the relaxing sound of the rain falling and I like to watch as the buckets of rain pour over the vehicles and soak into the ground. We can get encouraged about the rain! Remember when Elijah had caused it to not rain on the earth for 3 1/2 years? JAMES 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. Imagine how much the people on the earth at that time wanted rain! Their crops could not grow, water holes dried up, and just think of the impact of a three and a half year drought.
When there was no rain in sight, ground dry and dusty, Elijah said he heard the abundance of rain. In his spirit, he could sense the rain was coming. 1 KINGS 18:41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. Elijah is a prophet and Ahab is a wicked king. He knew what God had done through Elijah and so he obeyed. He got up to eat and drink. Elijah went to the top of Mount Caramel and he prayed. Just like it took earnest prayer to stop the rain, it was going to take a fervent prayer to bring the rain!
JAMES 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
He told his servant to look toward the sea and the servant said, "Nothing is there." He told him, "Go, look again!" seven times. Six times there was no sign of a cloud in the sky, a drop of rain in the air, or even the darkening of the sky. Elijah knew what he heard and he did not give up.
1 KINGS 18:44-46 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, and say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
The seventh time the servant saw a cloud so tiny coming from the horizon. It looked like the size of a man's hand. That was all it took. Elijah said, "Go tell the king to prepare his chariot and get out because the rains are coming." Elijah was not expecting a sprinkle or tiny rain shower. He was expecting abundant rain! Once the man of God spoke it out of his mouth, then it was materializing in the natural. All of a sudden the sky turned dark with clouds and the wind started to pick up, and the Bible says there was a great rain! Not a little rain storm, not just enough to wet the ground, but a great rain! And God was with Elijah so much that he literally outran the chariot taking Ahab to Jezreel. This is the king's ride. It would have been pulled by the fastest horses they could find. Yet, God has His hand on Elijah and he outruns the king's best attempt to get back to the city before the rains washed out roads and made travel impossible.
What are you praying for? What are you expecting God to do for you? Do not ask for a rain shower, ask for the abundance of rain. Speak it out of your mouth that it is coming and the abundance of rain is here! Even when the circumstances do not seem like it. Six times the servant came back with a negative report. "There is nothing!" Sometimes we look at our situation and we say, "There is nothing there!" But we must not give up or lose heart. Let's remember the God we serve is more than enough to meet any need we have! He can answer any prayer we pray. We must believe it and speak it out. If friends say they don't see a change and begin doubting, just say to them, "Go look again!" God is up to something and He wants to move for those who will not stop believing even when it looks like there is still a drought, remember the abundance of rain is on the way! In fact, it is here! Let's start speaking it into the here and now. The great rain is here and soon friends, we will see it to be so!
God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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