Over the past couple of weekends, we remember that we were showered with much-needed rain. Thunder and some lightning accompanied the rain. Not having gotten much rain, our counties in both North and South Carolina were going through a dry period; no water and no rain. Everything was drying up. Crops were drying out, gardens were drying up, grass around the house turned brown and didn’t need to be cut as regularly.
As I observed the corn being parched all over the county and not producing any corn, and the corn that was visible was dried up, I said, “If it don’t rain soon, or if we don’t get some fresh rain, this year’s harvest will not be.”
Farmers no doubt are crying, “Woe is me,” as they realize that this year’s crop is all but gone. With the exception of some fresh produce, this year’s harvest has bit the dust.
Community, we need rain. We can’t survive without it. We would all simply dry up. But the thing about rain is, once it falls, it doesn’t last always. It may meet the need for the moment; it may feel good for the moment, but it soon dries up. If there is not a continuous torrential rain most of the time, the need of the land is not met. Like anything, if there is not a fresh supply on a regular basis, that need will soon arise again.
Community, in anything we need a fresh supply of it if we are to continue or to function as we should. Look at our grocery stores. Since I’m the one that does the grocery shopping in our house, I am aware of how you can see something one week in the fruit and vegetable section, and the very next week there is a fresh supply. You can’t keep vegetables and fruit around but for so long.
Friends, we can be thirsty and drink plenty of water, but the very next day we will be thirsty again. We need more water if our bodies are to function properly. And there are some things that, if they are not replenished on a regular basis, can become very destructive.
For example, if you don’t keep fresh oil in your car, it will blow up your motor. If you don’t change that old oil out and put fresh oil in, the life of your motor will not last too long. If you don’t keep coolant in your radiator, it will cause your car to run hot and damage the motor. If we don’t keep a fresh supply of gas in our cars, we’ll be beside the road.
Some folks don’t like to eat leftovers because they have been left over from a previous meal. Some people like fresh meals every day.
There’s something about freshness. Fresh air in the morning and the evening does wonders for our lungs. So it is with fresh rain. We need it sometimes, especially when there has not been rain for a period of time.
Personally, I like fresh rain sometimes. I enjoy it when it has not rained for a while and we get a torrential rain. I enjoy sitting on the inside looking out the window when the rain is falling.
What would the world be like without rain? How would we make it without rain? Like it or not, we need rain both in the world and spiritually, we need it in our lives and in the church. For when there is no rain, things die. Flowers wither away.
At the church I serve as pastor, we had Homecoming and revival. We prayed for an outpouring, a fresh outpouring of the Spirit; that God would send fresh rain, spiritual rain.
God’s church needs revival. Revival is a returning, a resuscitation to our calling as light in the world. It is that which causes us to come back to life again because we do know that flowers wither and crops die when there is no fresh rain.
Perhaps that’s the way some of us are this morning. We need revival.
See, over the past year, things have happened: trials, bereavement, sickness or just the pull of the world. And if we are not careful, it can knock us spiritually unconscious. We leave our first love. Like the prodigal son, we wander away from God (Luke 15:11-32).
But when it comes to rain, God deals with rain, too.
He told the nation of Israel, “If you listen to me and keep my commandments, to love the Lord your God, and serve him, with all your heart and all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season” (Deuteronomy 11:13-14).
This also applies to the church. If the church will come back home to the Lord and be obedient, serve the Lord with gladness, then God will send down fresh rain.
Fresh rain means resuscitation. We start using the Word against the enemy. Like Jesus, when the devil confronts us, we use the Word to put him to flight.
Fresh rain means we will draw near to God, and God will draw near to us (James 4:8). Healing could take place. It means yokes being destroyed and favor will come again.
My Christian friends, if there is a dry period in your life; if things are just not clicking the way they should; if the well is dry and things are falling apart; if we feel at a distance from God; if our prayer life is dead, then maybe you need to pray, “Lord, send down fresh rain!”