Embrace the Rain

Originally from: Chris Christensen <pastorc@bigsky.net>

Originally dated: 20 Feb. 1998

With all the discussion about storms I though it appropriate to include this recent word I received from the Lord.....

There is a storm coming, says the Lord. As suddenly as thunder roars across stormy summer skies, so also will I soon come upon my church. I will smite the shepherds and scatter the sheep. For many of you have esteemed the servant above the master. Therefore, I will shake my church and cause you to seek my face above the face of man, says the Lord. The heart of man is deceitfully wicked and is not to be trusted. But I am faithful, and pure, and holy. I will cause your heart to turn from man and seek after me. For your trust must be in me alone, says the Lord. As in a storm, after my power and my glory are seen, and my voice thunders out from Heaven, then the wind of my Spirit will blow upon my church. You will run to and fro and begin to put away all those things that are not anchored in me so they will not be blown away. But I will cause my wind to blow so suddenly that you will be unable to hold onto any program or plan that is not of me, says the Lord. Nothing born of man is worthy for my kingdom. Your best ideas, your greatest efforts, your deepest compassion, your demonstrated mercy, your grandest plans are not enough. Apart from me they are puny and ineffective, says the Lord. When the wind blows in a storm, those branches that have become dead or dry are blown from the highest levels of the tree to the ground. So also will my wind prune my church. I will remove the dead, and dry, and the unproductive from my church. My wind will blow open new doors and shut old doors. I will change the face of my church. Those who withstand my wind will grow stronger, says the Lord. After my wind blows through the church, I will send the rain. At times it will rain so hard you will not be able to see where you are going as I drench you in my Spirit. At other times you will be gently refreshed in the mist of my Spirit. From time to time I will send the wind and rain together, says the Lord. As in a storm you will want to seek shelter and hide. But you must turn your face into the wind and allow me to remove those unproductive things from your life even while I soak you in my Spirit. My rain will wash away the cares of this world from you in the same way it washes the dust from trees and plants. So embrace the rain until you are completely soaked by it, says the Lord. And after the rain is the run off. Streams become rivers, and rivers become lakes. Living water will flow out from my church, and new streams will be formed in places that were formerly dry. Where there was no water before, I will now send my Spirit. Where there was water before, I will increase the flow of my Spirit, says the Lord. And you will become like a tree planted by the river whose roots grow deep and strong, and whose branches are nourished by the living water of life.

Pastor Chris Christensen