CALL TO OBEDIENCE #438

Rain brings us water. There can be no life on earth without water. Therefore God made plenty of it. Two thirds of the earth is covered with water. Your body is approximately 60% water. Every cell of your body is bathed in water. Throughout the ages man has heavily depended on God sending water out of the sky. There is nothing you can do on your own to make this happen. It is always at the mercy of God. But what you cannot do in the physical to make it rain on you, you can do in the spiritual: you can make it rain. Every man has the capacity to be his own rainmaker, allowing the waters of life to flow from the throne of God into his heart. And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 22:1).

That water of life is there for you, my friend. You are invited to drink from it. Here is your invitation straight from the word of God: Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters... (Is. 55:1). Yes, that water is the life of Jesus.

Once you drink of it, your whole life will be changed. Remember the Samaritan woman. Her life was a shambles after 5 marriages. Jesus told her of this water and she immediately thirsted for it. Because she did, she drank of it and not only was her life changed but her whole village with her. But thirst for it you must. And you must thirst for it so much that you are willing to abandon every other well you have ever drunk from, so much that you give up everything to live entirely for God.

To strengthen this point, let us go to the Old Testament. Of the 600,000 men over 20, that crossed the Red Sea, that had the blood of the lamb on their doorposts, only two got to drink of the wells of Canaan: Joshua and Caleb (Moses is a special case). Except for Joshua and Caleb, all of those 600,000 were thirsty in an earthly way; they were after the loaves and fishes. They were not thirsty in a spiritual way. Therefore they were buried on the wrong side of the Jordan. Which side will you be buried on? Millions in our churches today are thirsty for heaven’s blessings in an earthly way, but they are not thirsty spiritually, for God Himself: to want God and God alone so that God can be glorified in their lives. Therefore despite all of their religious activity, their bones are dry and their souls are parched. But if you thirst for God as Joshua, Caleb and the Samaritan did, you will make it rain and the rain will bring these blessings:

1. You will experience life to the full. Since you have crucified the old life, the new life can flow into you unabated. Now as you live by the word of God, out of your innermost being ...shall flow rivers of living waters (John 7:38). Please notice that it says rivers, that is like the Amazon, the Ganges, the Mississippi and the Nile all rolled into one.

2. You will begin to have spiritual discernment. You can read all kinds of religious books and go to all kinds of Bible studies, but until you actually begin to walk with God, you will lack this discernment. In other words, discernment does not come by study but by following. The Pharisees became expert students of the word of God, but they had no spiritual discernment and because of that, they killed Jesus, taking Him to be a criminal. Until we have spiritual discernment, we will be killers of everything God is in. In the words of Apostle Paul, the Pharisees were: Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth

(2 Tim. 3:7). By this discernment, you will know whether something you will do, read or engage in will bring leanness to your soul or spiritual enrichment. You will have the sensitivity to know what burdens are yours to carry and which ones are not. You will begin to have checks and leadings of the Holy Spirit. It will be like having little red and green lights going off in your heart. Your conscience, your moral compass will become ever more sensitive as you walk with your Master. You will embrace what He embraces and despise what He despises. This is an absolute you can count on because the Bible says: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27).

3. Because you can make it rain, ...the love of God will be shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost... (Rom. 5:5). Human love has its limits. You can try, but you will have a difficult time overriding resentments, anger and bitterness residing deep in your heart. Human love does not flow like a river, but at best, it is a trickle of human effort. But if you have divine love, it will flow like a mountain torrent to all friends and enemies alike. This love will bring spiritual healing to you and it will also result in healing your long-standing psychological or emotional problems. It will take resentments, bitterness and anger out of you. Indeed God is not only a healer but also a psychiatrist.

4. You will be able to receive the revelations of God. God will usher you into chambers of sacred truth that have been hidden to you before. He did this for Cyrus King of Persia, to whom He said: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel (Is. 45:3).

5. You will learn to be in the right place at the right time, speaking the right words with the right spirit as you continue to pursue doing God’s perfect will. God did this for people in the Old Testament who were perfectly given to Him. Look at this astounding passage of God leading Samuel the prophet as he instructed Saul who was looking for his father’s lost asses: Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine: And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands (1 Sam. 10:3-4).

Is the God of the New Testament a lesser God than the One of the Old Testament? Again, Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice... and they follow me. Apostle Paul wrote: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Rom 8:14). Did not God also lead those born of the Spirit of God after Pentecost? The Holy Spirit led Peter to Cornelius’s house (Acts 10) and in like manner led Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch: Then the Spirit said unto Philip, go near, and join thyself to this chariot (Acts 8:29). He revealed His plans for Apostle Paul to go to Rome and an angel told him that the ship he was on would sink, but none of its passengers would be lost at sea (Acts 27:22-27).

6. God will be able to trust you with everything as you draw showers of blessings from heaven. He knows now that you take Him seriously, that you do exactly everything He wants you to do. He knows that you have forsaken your opinions and preferences to do whatever pleases Him. He knows that you have long ago made your last excuse, that you have sacrificed to your last god, whether it be the sports god, the entertainment god or the family first god. Now it is not just that God is your only absolute, it is also true that you have become one of God’s absolutes, entirely trustworthy. Therefore He can say to you: Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over 10 cities (Luke 19:17). Because Abraham had learned to live in God’s will, even to the giving up of his own son, he had credentials. Therefore God could share with him His plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. In like manner, God could trust Joseph with the Egyptian Empire and Daniel with the Babylonian Empire. Yes, having connected with God as your all in all, God can now trust you with everything.

7. You will finally begin to bring forth much fruit. Jesus said, ...He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit... (John 15:5). Now that you are grounded in the right soil, fruit comes automatically. The church is so much engaged in bringing forth fruit. She strains and strains and devises all kinds of means and methods and machinery to bring forth fruit. Perhaps you too have strained yourself all these years to bring forth fruit, only to have practically nothing to show after all your efforts and sacrifice. My friend, perhaps all these years you have been working at the wrong end of the plant! You may have been overly occupied with fruit-bearing instead of occupying yourself with the root, being firmly grounded in Christ. Our forefathers have looked well after the roots and that is why their influence has spanned generations. I suggest you do likewise: thirsting after Him and being rooted in Him. With that and only with that will life be as it was meant to be.