Ask rain from the LORD in the season of the spring rain

It is a valid principle of interpretation to take things in the physical in the Old Testament, and apply them to their spiritual counterpart in the New. So in this quote from Zechariah 10:1, we can apply the picture of literal rain to the spiritual rain of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In addition “The Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7, but it is also a principle that things appear in the natural before they appear in the spiritual. And part, but only apart, of this is that this year has been a year of fire and flood in North America. In fact independently, and across various streams, the Lord has been showing His prophets that there is a wave coming that is greater than any previous wave of the spirit. So what we need to see here, is that we are in a "season of rain,"so what is our part?

Now the Lord is Sovereign, and He will do what He will do, we cannot thwart his plan, but we can hasten it (2 Peter 3:12). The Lord has a plan for a great end time harvest, but He has to do something first with his church. And we can hasten in this in this season, by "asking the Lord for rain." And there is an element of this, that works a little bit like what happens when we pray for our enemy. And that is that first and foremost our prayer for our enemy changes us. Likewise our corporate prayer for rain for that wider body of Christ changes our local corporate bodies.

At the end of his life, Paul talked about the crown of righteousness that the Lord will give to all who have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 3:8). And part of loving His appearance is to hasten the day by choosing not to lose heart. We have need of perseverance, so we need to remind ourselves that the Lord is not slack concerning his promises, but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Since the king’s heart is in the Lord’s hand, and He is able to direct it wherever He chooses (Proverbs 21:1), we need to cooperate with Him in praying for our loved ones (the kings and queens) who do not know Him, that He will direct their hearts to be part of the coming harvest.

Father, we do so pray. Lord our heartfelt prayers are powerful, because we are righteous in You (James 5:16). While there is so much going on in this wicked and hurting world that is not of You, nevertheless our eyes are on You (Chronicles 20:12). Lord it is encouraging to know both that Your plans cannot be thwarted, but also that we can hasten them as we partner together with You. I pray this morning Lord that You will strengthen us and encourage us, and pour out Your rain on me, on all those reading this blog, on Your church, on the nation and on the world. And we will give You all the honour glory and praise. Let is rain Lord, in Jesus Name Amen