End The Drought

1st Kings 18: 42 - 46, '...and Elijah went up to the to of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, 'God up now, look toward the sea.' So he went up and looked and said, there is nothing...and 7 times he said, 'Go again.'  Then it came to pass on the seventh time, that he said, There is a cloud as small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea! So he said, Go up and say to Ahab, prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.  Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.  So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.  The the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.'

What a powerful picture of prayer!  You see the prophet get down on his knees and believe God for rain after at least 3 years of drought!  I wonder how many of God's children are in a drought, spiritually?  During a drought, nothing grows, there isn't a life source to be found...what is alive rapidly begins to die...it's famine time, it's drought. How many have ever been there?

I know there are at least 2 main reasons why we as believers suffer through drought - time.  One, unrepentant sin!  Perfect example of this was King Saul...the bible said that when he prayed, God wouldn't answer him or heed him at all; it got so bad, he had to disguise himself and consult a witch...the very people he cast out of his dominion.  Another example is when the children of Israel were under siege by Syria...the daily counsel consisted of 2 ladies arguing over eating their own sons!!

During the time of drought, desperate times call for desperate actions!  If you're not careful, you'll consume people, make plans of wicked compromise like never before...God help us in our time of drought.  Another reason is simply...LIFE. Ever have life happen to you?

Listen, there are seasons in life that we all go through:  Summer is a time of vacation, sunshine, and fun...Fall is a time of discipline, quiet, cooler climate...Winter is a time of solitude, freezing climate, no growth, life is at a standstill...Spring is a time of new life, blossom, warmer temperatures and expectation!

Where are you now?  What season are you in?  You might wanna ask yourself, how did you get there?  What are your plans of getting out?  Can you hold on to Jesus and allow Him to call the rain back into your life and deliver you from the drought?

What I love about the scripture is, the moment the servant said there was a sliver of rain...Elijah moved like it was a tsunami coming!!  He didn't wait for the cloud to get bigger!!  The answer he received from God was big enough!  Is the answer from heaven big enough for you?  Does God have to present more proof in order to get you to start moving on His behalf?

Your faith and patience will give God the right to end the drought - let God be God in your drought, so that He can end it!

- Pastor Melrose