Pick up any Christian magazine and you'll find tons of ads for upcoming conferences and meetings. Turn on Christian tv and you'll see camp meetings, revival services, etc. They claim to be on the cutting edge of what the Lord is doing in our day. If you want a fresh anointing, a touch from God, or to connect with other men of God you need to attend. I honestly have nothing against conferences as I myself have traveled to attend them. However I've noticed that many Believers have depended on meetings and leaders to get a fresh word from the Lord instead of learning how to hear the voice of the Lord themselves. Instead of maturing the Saints this has many times led to a weakening of the Saints.
Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord God, "when I will send a famine on the land — not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it." - Amos 8:11,12 ESV
The rain of the Spirit IS being poured out all across the earth. As Amos says this isn't a famine of bread or water. It's a famine of hearing the voice of the Lord. His sound is going forth through the earth. The bread and water are fresh and God wants you to partake of it. Do you hear it?
All Believers have the right and privilege of hearing the word of the Lord for themselves. From the baby Christian to the mature in Christ God wants to speak to you. Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice." That doesn't mean we don't need others in the Body. We do! We all prophesy in part and know in part. We need each other! I need what God is speaking to you. You need what God is speaking to me. To have one without the other produces stagnant streams, no growth, and a sick body.
RIGHT NOW Christ is in you. Ephesians 2:18 declares that because of Christ's finished work we all have access by one Spirit to the Father. You don't need to go chasing after the rain or look to someone to get a word from the Lord for you. There's a word inside you!
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" - John 7:37,38 NASB
Do you hear His voice? He's calling you to come. Are you thirsty? Then come and drink from the Master. This water has life in it. There's no death here. No condemnation is in this water. If ANYONE is thirsty COME. The only requirement here is thirst. Out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. This promise isn't only for a select few but for all who believe in Him.
The Bible teaches us in Genesis 2:5 that at the time of creation before plants were on the earth that God had not caused it to rain. Instead there was a mist that came up from the ground and watered the whole face of the ground. This word mist can also be translated vapor, stream, spring. One translation calls this mist an underground spring. Just like this garden there is inside of you a underground spring of fresh water, a stream of living water that God wants to use to water the whole earth. You don't have to go somewhere to be in the move of God. You can say like William Booth, " I'm not looking for a move of God, I am a move of God!" Don't worry any more about missing the rain.
I've heard it said in Church that God is always moving where you're not. It shouldn't be this way. Where you go, God goes! You are the house of the Lord. Ephesians 2:18 says that we are being built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. God lives in you!
Many are prophesying dark clouds of judgement and war. I see the clouds too. Except that they are filled with an abundance of rain. Times of refreshing are here. An outpouring like we've never seen before is coming as believers around the world realize that the work is finished and that there is a "vapor" of the Holy Ghost inside of them. As we looked at already all Believers have access to the Father's presence. However there is something special when two or three gather together in His name. Job 36:27 says, "He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain." When you worship together with other believers and you send up that "vapor" inside you get ready... The rain will come where you are! You won't need to go looking for it. It will come to you. You won't have to run off to every conference or meeting. The conference will come to where you are. Your Church, your house, and your business will become a place of life giving abundant rain to those around you.
In Elijah's day there was a great famine in the land much like the spiritual condition of today. 1 Kings 18:41-46 tells the story of Elijah and the sound of the abundance of rain. Here Elijah just finished the slaughter of the prophets of Baal and the rain was ready to return to the land. He goes to the top of Mount Carmel with his servant and falls on his face and prays. He then tells his servant to go towards the sea and check for clouds. He sees nothing. Elijah tells him to return seven times and the seventh time he saw a cloud the size of a man's hand.
Don't be discouraged though you see a famine in the land. Don't be discouraged that you're in a dry wilderness. The rain is coming. I see a cloud the size of a man's hand. Don't despise the day of small things. Even though it's the size of a man's hand when you get up and run with it like Elijah it will become a cloud full of rain. Elijah's posture went from being on his face to girding up his loins and running. Do you hear the sound of the abundance of rain?
As a Believer you have streams of living water flowing out of you. This isn't for a select few but for all in the Body. We used to teach "touch not mine anointed" and reserved that passage for a those over us in the Lord. The problem with that teaching is that in the New Covenant all of God's people are anointed. They all have access to the Father and to His voice. It doesn't mean we don't need the five fold ministry. We desperately need it. We need good teaching. We need the local Church. But most importantly we need to learn to get a hold of God for ourselves. Get in the posture of Elijah. Get on your face, pray, and get ready to run. I hear the sound of the abundance of rain. Blessings.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. Isaiah 35:5-7 ESV
