“I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.” – Ezekiel 34:26 New King James Version.
“Nevertheless, He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” – Acts 14:17 New King James Version.
How thirsty are you for the SHOWERS OF BLESSING? How willing are you to get drenched? Dr. Mike Murdock said, “Pursuit is the only true proof of desire.” This is why God`s Spirit urges us through Zechariah the prophet to ASK: “Ask for rain from the Lord at the time of the spring rain. It is the Lord who makes the thunder clouds; And He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field to everyone.” [Zechariah 10:1 Amplified Bible].
The question is, “Why ask when God already promised to send the showers?” This is God`s mode of operation as evident by His dealings with people in the past and in agreement with His Word. First King 18:1 Amplified Bible says, “Now it happened after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.” God made the promise to Elijah that He would send rain on the face of the earth after more than three years of drought and Elijah even perceived the sound of the abundance of rain [see 1 King 18:41] but for the rain to fall, Elijah must ask for it! [see 1 King 18:41-45].
Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the roar of an abundance of rain.” So, Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down to the earth and put his face between his knees, and he said to his servant, “Go up, look toward the sea.” So, he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” Elijah said, “Go back” seven times. And at the seventh time, the servant said, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And Elijah said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the rain shower does not stop you.’” In a little while the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there were heavy showers. And Ahab mounted and rode [his chariot] and went [inland] to Jezreel. [1 Kings 18:41-45 Amplified Bible].
About two weeks ago when I took my car for the mandatory annual inspection and emission with oil change for regular maintenance. The car passed the emission test but for the inspection, it was required for me to fix some things in the car for it to pass the state`s approved inspection. This was unbudgeted for, and I needed to make an urgent decision which I did and got everything in shape by the grace of God with the car passing inspection which really dipped into my finances.
I began to ask for the showers of blessing in my finances even though God has already promised according to this monthly focus. Matthew 7:7-8 Amplified Bible says, “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.” God did intervene and supernaturally provided the showers that made an enormous difference in my finances but not until I ASKED for the showers of blessing! [see Zechariah 10:1 and Acts 10:34-35].
Then Elijah prayed again, and the rain came down from the sky, and the land produced crops again. [James 5:18 New Century Version]. We don’t just wish for showers; we must ask for them!
God`s Word says in James 4:2 Amplified Bible, “…You do not have because you do not ask [it of God].” Remember the parable of the prodigal son and his elder brother. His elder brother never asks for what rightly belongs to him while the younger brother did ask, that was a stark difference [see Luke 15:11-32] and we will explore this in detail next week by the grace of God. [To be concluded next week].
