Let’s Pray for Showers of Blessing and Revival 

As I was out in my garage, I saw the darkening afternoon sky and could hear the low rumbling of distant thunder. I knew that there were showers in the vicinity. It seemed like we had been receiving more than our share of those summer downpours recently. Would we get another one on this occasion? At one point I heard the loud plopping noise as several large raindrops fell on our driveway. There weren’t many of them, but they were big. Sometimes those widely scattered drops are the prelude to a greater deluge that is about to come. Other times I have witnessed those large drops come and go without any other precipitation falling. On this occasion, those large raindrops ceased and there was silence for a few minutes. I wondered if that was the extent of it – if the storm had passed us by. However, a few minutes later, here came the heavier shower.

That experience reminded me of a song we used to frequently sing. Maybe you remember it. It referred to needed showers of blessing, seasons of refreshing, and the hope for revival. The chorus stated, “Mercy-drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.” Do we have a longing in our heart for God to pour out His showers of blessing and revival on us?

Certainly, God is still working in our world today. His drops of mercy and blessing are falling. No matter who we are and whether or not we recognize it, we are blessed each and every day. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Jesus reminded us that God extends His blessings to all people – “for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). God’s drops of mercy, grace, love, and blessing are falling all around us and touching our lives. However, it does seem that although some of those drops are quite large and significant in our lives, they are generally very scattered, just falling here and there on individuals or small groups. As that song suggests, we recognize those drops of mercy with grateful hearts, yet we also long for a greater and more widespread outpouring from the Lord.

Let’s pray for those showers of blessing from the Lord to fall on us, our families, our churches, our communities, and our world. Some individuals, congregations, and nations seem to be experiencing a measure of refreshing and revival in these days. However, we are also witnessing a “falling away” as described in scripture as a sign of the last days. Can both be taking place at the same time? Even if the world in general is pulling further away from God and even if much of the Christian church is forsaking the clear teaching of God’s Word, we can still experience times of refreshing and revival if we will seek the Lord, put Him first in our lives, submit to His Word, and yield ourselves completely to Him. No matter what happens around us, we can experience revival in our own souls. But let’s pray that it won’t just be us who experience a few drops of personal revival, but that it will be showers of blessings that will fall on others too.

May the longing expressed in that song be the desire of our heart today – “There shall be showers of blessing; O that today they might fall, now as to God we’re confessing, now as on Jesus we call!” Thank God for His daily drops of blessing. But let’s pray for the outpouring too.

 

Something Is Wrong with This Picture 

I see it over and over. The latest example I witnessed was when a celebrity had been released from prison. He thanks God for his newfound freedom and shares what sounds like an evangelical testimony of someone who has been saved through faith in Jesus. However, shortly afterwards I hear the same person cursing while exhibiting other actions and attitudes that don’t seem to harmonize with being a follower of Christ. Such contradictory behavior is not unusual. We see high-profile people, whether politicians, athletes, or entertainers verbally express their faith in the Lord. Nevertheless, they turn around and use filthy language or otherwise behave in a manner that doesn’t coincide with their previous words. I hear other believers lift up these individuals as being good examples, praising them for their boldness to be a witness for Jesus when in the spotlight. But are they being a good witness for Jesus? A person’s testimony isn’t simply about the words they say but also about the kind of life they live. If their subsequent words and actions contradict their claim to faith in Jesus, isn’t that a sign that something isn’t right? In some ways, doesn’t that do more harm than good for the cause of Christ and His kingdom? Doesn’t that give the world reason to think of them as hypocrites or to dismiss their professed faith because “they are no different from anybody else.”

 When people deliver such mixed messages by their words or actions, it isn’t right. That isn’t just my personal opinion. The Bible declares it to be so. In talking about the tongue or our words, James declares, “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so (James 3:9-10). That is the first truth we must realize and admit. It ought not to be that way. Something is wrong when people are praising Jesus one minute and either spewing out curse words or hateful speech in the next. This isn’t behavior to be praised. These aren’t examples for us to emulate. It simply isn’t right, godly, or Christlike.

However, even after recognizing that it isn’t good, we still need to be careful about making excuses for the person involved. It may be true that the person could be a believer, but immature in his or her faith. Likewise, we know that we all fall short of godliness at times. Nevertheless, if our words and behavior are consistently at odds with the godliness that should accompany salvation, it suggests an issue in the heart that needs to be addressed. It could even indicate that a person may only be outwardly professing something which they don’t really possess. In that passage in the book of James it continues, “Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh” (James 3:11-12).

The fruit we bear in our lives is evident of what is in our heart. And it is not just the fruit of what we say when put on camera. It is the fruit of what we say and do every day, when the pressure is on, and when rough times come. Our witness for Jesus isn’t just about giving Him praise when we win or when we are in the spotlight. It is about honoring Him through our words, spirit, attitudes, and actions under all circumstances.

Blessing and cursing, godliness and ungodliness, springing from the same source just isn’t right, whether it is coming from us or from others. It is a heart issue that God needs to deal with.  

 

Our Detour May Be God’s Chosen Path 

Last week I visited one of our church members who was recovering from surgery at a rehabilitation facility. As I was preparing to leave, I debated in my mind whether or not I should use this opportunity to go and check on my elderly parents. I talk to my mom each day and had visited them just a few days before. However, since this trip had taken me in their general vicinity, I thought it might be nice to surprise them by stopping by to say a quick hello. But as I considered other duties and activities calling my name, I decided to head back toward home instead. Being in a neighborhood I wasn’t very familiar with, I was relying on GPS to guide me. Nevertheless, at some point it either misdirected me or I took a wrong turn and ended up traveling the opposite direction from what I had intended on a major interstate highway. I realized that by the time I could turn around, I would be very near my parents’ house. So I made the quick decision to go ahead and visit them after all.

As soon as I arrived, I knew there was a reason for my being there. They were dealing with an issue I had been unaware of and needed my help. I was thankful that in spite of what I had initially thought was the better choice, God led me in another direction. What I had considered a detour or a mistake had turned out to be the path He knew I needed to take.

I am grateful for God’s guidance in our lives. A favorite passage of scripture for many followers of Jesus is the one that says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). We naturally gravitate to that promise about the Lord directing our paths. However, there are conditions to be met in order for us to be able claim that truth for ourselves. We need to acknowledge Him for who He is and put our trust in Him. And we need to rely on Him rather than depending on our own understanding of the situation.

On that day I mentioned, I felt a definite tug in my heart leading me to go see my parents. However, as I reasoned it out in my own mind, weighing the fact that I had just visited them and that I had other duties I could attend to, I decided to ignore that inner inkling. More often than not, when we make choices like that, God lets us go our own way and face the consequences of those decisions. I am thankful on this occasion that He intervened to give me another chance. Even after I made the wrong turn, I still could have stubbornly chosen to follow my plan. But I sensed that maybe God was trying to tell me something, and I am glad I listened.

Does it seem like you have taken a wrong turn in life? Are your circumstances such that you feel like you are on a detour rather than the main road you had intended to follow? Maybe you should consider if this detour may actually be God’s chosen path for you, at least for this particular moment. There may be a reason He has sent you that direction. Look for His purpose in it or for the person along that way who may need your help. If you are seeking the Lord, trusting Him, and relying on Him, be assured that He is doing exactly what He promised – He is directing your paths.