This morning I felt led to read from the fifth chapter of James. I had to reread the chapter a couple of times to see what was resonating with my spirit. My reading is often like that - I read and wait and ask the Lord to highlight or begin to speak about a particular subject. It is like I am sitting at the feet of Him as if He is a teacher, waiting for Him to speak about the verses and bring enlightenment.
This morning He highlighted the following verses - James 5:7-11 NIV:
[7] "Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. [8] You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. [9] Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
[10] Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. [11] As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."
My thoughts upon reading these verses were a bit all over the place. I know several farmers, and have family that are farmers, and the first thing I thought was that no farmer I know just waits patiently for the rains, they are working every day, constantly working to make things ready for either planting or harvesting, depending on the season. If they have planted then they are out working the field to minimize the weeds, working on the harvesting equipment, preparing storage facilities or agreements to sell the harvest, etc. If they have harvested, they begin preparation for the next season of planting, in a never ending cycle of preparation and daily work.
My second thought was that many farmers, even in Jesus' day figured out that they could irrigate the land and water the crops, even if there wasn't any rain. I have seen the giant irrigation systems of the Midwest USA, read about the irrigation systems of the Kibbutz's in Israel that allow rich harvests from the dry lands there. In ancient days, they devised systems to flood fields, and these same type of systems are used today in many places.
So what's my point? Its not that man can accomplish the same thing through hard work and irrigation, but rather that James is speaking about something that we cannot work up, or bring about, he is speaking of the return of the Lord! Secondly, as I was reading this I felt like the autumn and spring rains represented waves of revival, poured out on the earth through the Holy Spirit. This is where I felt my spirit start to jump! We have been praying for many years for the Lord to pour forth revival, and have recently been pressing in more and more praying that a wave of revival would pour over our land! Regardless of how much we pray, the revivals of the Lord are sovereign acts of God. Our job is preparation.
As I engaged with this idea, I realized that all the thinking about the farmers work, was related to the church's ability to prepare for and benefit from the rain of revival. The farmer spends much of his time thinking about and working to bring the soil to its proper preparation to receive the seed and then to absorb the rains when they come. In hilly country the farmers terrace their farms so the rain that comes doesn't run off, but instead is absorbed into the soil. They break up fallow ground, they plow and disk and prepare the soil. They plant and then work the soil to best support the growing plants. All of this is support work, for its the rains of the Lord that bring life!
In today's farming, it is amazing how large of a farm a single farmer can work and prepare, sometimes thousands of acres. In the same way, some of the recent revivals were prepared for by relatively small groups of people. The New Hebrides Revival (started in 1949 in the New Hebrides Islands off Scotland) seemed to have been prepared for by a couple of old sisters who had been praying for a sovereign move of God. The Azusa Street Revival (started in 1906 in Los Angeles) was largely prepared for by a small group of believers.
The preparations these two small groups made were done through prayer. They prayed and prayed, seeking the Lord of the Harvest to send forth rain upon their lands. There were churches in both locations and those churches were doing the best they could to plant and water, but they produced nothing like the rain of revival! With local irrigation the only that beenfits is the local farm, but with the rains the whole regiuon benefits. The thing about the rain of revival is that it produces abundant fruit, even on soil that was seemingly never touched or prepared, other than general prayer over a the region. What I mean is that there were massive outpourings of salvation, of people who had never heard the Word or darkened the door of a church, coming to Jesus. There are great stories of the presence of God overwhelming people as they walked by, completely unaware of what was happening in the nearest church. Revival is not the result of well oiled ministry programs, excited singing, or powerful preaching, it is birthed only out of the sovereign move of the Holy Spirit.
Our job, in preparing for revival rains, is to pray, first and foremost. Secondly, we need to have hearts and minds prepared to recognize the move of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, we need to be ready to jump in with both feet, for when the rains of revival fall, the harvest is immediate! Next, we need to wait patiently, but expectingly! The farmer doesn't just sit and wait, they are actively preparing for the expected rains. Patiently waiting does not mean doing nothing.
Finally, we need to cultivate our love for one another. I think its so interesting that James adds that encouragement against grumbling against one another. The Greek word is "stenazo", and it means to groan or sigh, and the root is "stenos" which means the narrows or straits in a river. In other words, it is the result of the sides pressing in, or circumstances pressing in, or just pressure. When there isn't any rain, and things get dry, people start to complain. When pressure mounts, we start looking around and comparing our situation to others and complaining about how much better someone else has it... (At least that is how I operate). One wonders if James is commenting on the fact that there was a competitive spirit in the churches he saw, where they were constantly comparing themselves to one another, bad-mouthing others for things they didn't agree with??
I recently watched a sermon where a preacher was explaining why he was directing his church to stop using worship songs from different well known churches, because they taught things that he didn't agree with, and he didn't want to support anything that might have the slightest deviation from what he held to be the truth. Rather than looking at and celebrating the good that was coming out of them, he could only look at the one little difference and warn his people to have nothing to do with them. One wonders if there wasn't a bit of jealousy over the success of these other ministries. I don't know anything about his ministry, so I am not saying anything about his motivation, only that he spent much of the sermon grumbling against his brother and sisters.
We are not going to agree with everything that is being taught by every other church, but we are in the same Body of Christ, as there is only ONE. We need to get over ourselves, our pride, and our opinions and learn to love one another! When revival hits, it affects the whole region, regardless of denomination and/or affiliation!
In summary, let us press into the Lord, preparing for the autumn and spring rains, the rain of revival. Let us not stop patiently waiting by actively engaging in prayer and preparation of our hearts for the coming of the Lord! Let us lay down our opinions and bitter disagreements and let us chose to love one another and be for one another!
Amen, come quickly Holy Spirit, we need Your rain!
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