Have you ever seen the rain?
As I was praying and order cialis alabama doing chores the other morning, a wisp of a song arose within me:
“I wanna know have you ever seen the rain?” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
The words stirred something deep inside me, and as I sang them quietly, I felt the need to search out the rest of the lyrics.
This song had played during an era in my life when I was a camp counselor, living outside, sleeping under the stars, and swimming in Ozark lakes, creeks, and rivers. I wondered if the emotion I felt as I heard it was merely the stirring of the sleeping flower child still camping out somewhere inside of me.
And I remembered it was my older siblings who had introduced me to this music. Was the pull I felt just a reminder of how much I still loved and looked up to my big brother and sister?
Or was there something more primal, deeper than soul, drawing me? I had to know. This song touched something within me that day, so I googled it to see if the lyrics had anything to say to me.
In my search I found what others had written about the lyrics. To many of them, the song was sad and beautiful, simple and touching.
To me, however, it spoke of the rains of God. God’s rains often follow the tumultuous storms of discord, trial, and dismay in society. The storms erupt after periods of calm and complacency and spiraling hedonism. And as folks feel the very foundations of their lives shaken—those false values and ou puis-je commander levitra en toute securite structures in which they had so trusted—they start looking elsewhere—often Heavenward—for comfort and direction. And God sends the rains, raining a sunny day, raining a day of help, raining a day of salvation.
“Someone told me long ago there’s a calm before the storm
I know, it’s been coming for some time
When it’s over, so they say, it’ll rain a sunny day
I know, shinin’ down like water.”
Not everyone gets to see one of God’s rains. However, blessed is the generation that is so privileged to experience the outpouring. Strangely enough, Creedence Clearwater Revival wrote and sang during one of God’s downpours. I wonder if they realized it at the time.
The sixties and seventies witnessed the last bona fide widespread outpouring of God—at least in North America. I got in on the final days of that sweet time. The things I saw and experienced in the first four or five years of my walk with Jesus still elicit a deep longing for the rains to return.
“I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
Coming down on a sunny day?”
When you meet someone who has seen the rain, lived in the rain, danced in the rain, they seem like anyone else. But if you scratch a bit, dig a bit below the dry surface, the flood waters still run within them, longing to be joined again by the rains from Heaven.
And then they will ask you:
“I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?”
Read MoreWhy I pray for America
I have been fortunate in my life to be surrounded by believers who take the call to pray very seriously. When I got saved in college, my first church was a Tuesday and Thursday night dorm Bible study led by young Christians who had a deep relationship with Jesus. These brands of fire freely and openly spilled out their hearts in prayer and discount au lasix worship to God every time we gathered together.
The church I attended as a young career woman was birthed in prayer and even held regular 10 pm to 3 am prayer meetings on Friday nights for a while. Those meetings added gas to the fire that burned within me, and nothing less than seeking God fully satisfied me.
After I left that church, I attended another church while I sought God for direction. I even traveled to the Soviet Union with 6 other folks from that church to preach and win souls. What a time we had, praying in Red Square the words of Psalm 2, “Why are the nations in an uproar? Why do the peoples devise a vain thing?” Little did we know, on the Saturday we flew out of Moscow to return to America, that Monday morning the tanks would roll into Red Square and the Soviet Union would quickly become the former Soviet Union, within days. Indeed, the nations were in an uproar, and we were in on the secret before it hit the press.
Then God planted me in my current church, one that was also birthed in prayer. The leadership and lay people surrounding me in this church value prayer, pray readily and regularly, and have amazing testimonies bearing witness to the effectiveness of prayer.
Therefore, as I look at my nation, I must pray. It’s in my DNA; it is built into the very fabric of my relationship with God. When I see obstacles in my nation, I am challenged by my rich heritage to stand my ground and trust God. I feel I owe it to the Founders who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to guard, nurture, protect, and defend the fledgling nation. I owe it to Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, William J. Seymour, Billy Sunday, Aimee Semple McPherson, and all the rest, both known and unknown, who took advantage of their American liberty to pour out their lives for the cause of Christ. I owe it to my dad, who although he never claimed to know God intimately, was willing as a young man to risk his life in the service of a country which guaranteed that his daughter, yet to be born, would bear the sacred right to lead her own life, speak openly, and worship God freely without fear.
I must pray. I must pray the Word of God over my nation. I must seek her deliverance when evil threatens her. I must stand my ground even if it takes the rest of my life. I can do no less, so help me God.
Read MorePutting off ’til later what you could do today
I am blessed to own a hot tub. Every year in May, I empty it, and then I scrub it out and cialis sans ordonnance italie refill it the next day. This year, I emptied it but waited a couple of weeks to clean and refill it. Big mistake.
Yesterday I armed myself with rags, wipes, sponges, bleach water, buckets, a hose, and filter cleaner. I was a bit nervous to view beneath the lid as I knew that I would see puddles of old, standing water in the various floor compartments. I was also afraid of what else I might find.
Warning: Gross Alert—what follows may disgust more squeamish readers.
Yep; half a dozen roaches and—EWWW—a dozen or more garden slugs lounged in placid contentment within the empty tub. I had to face off with each individual, nasty critter, and in my plastic gloves, I defeated the disgust-oids and rid the hot tub of its alien invaders.
Then the painstakingly tough work began. I had to carefully sanitize each square inch of the tub and under the cover. What normally takes much less than an hour took several hours.
The good news is that it is clean and free of creepy crawlies and contaminants. The lesson learned here is that I should have cleaned the tub as soon as it was emptied.
This raises the question about spiritual maintenance. When God directs you to deal with an issue in your life, do you procrastinate? Do you engage in a quick “good confession”, figuring that will hold it until you can deal with it later…and later…and later? I have, and unfortunately, these things can snowball, even to the point of—like my empty hot tub—attracting unwanted “roaches” and “slugs”.
In Chapter 6 of First of All, Pray, I wrote about the importance of dealing immediately with those things that God is targeting in your life—those things that only serve to hinder your effectiveness in prayer. If you put it off, the “contaminants” multiply. Here’s the excerpt:
“Could it be that the Lord has been speaking to you about an indiscretion, attitude, comment, or even a seemingly minor behavior in your life that you just haven’t gotten around to correcting? Don’t postpone dealing with the area which God is targeting. Why spend one more night, as Pharaoh chose to do so long ago, with the “frogs” taking up residence in your life? (See Exodus 8:8-10.) The Holy Spirit, who is kind enough to reveal these things to you (see Romans 2:4) is also powerful enough, with your cooperation, to free you from all of them as well! You repent; He provides the power to change!” (Excerpt taken from page 88; First of All, Pray: Prescription for a Nation in Crisis; © 2013–Dorothy Frick)
Such quick-to-act, tenderness of conscience has a huge impact on your prayer-effectiveness. May you be a better steward of your spiritual life than I was of my hot tub; it will surely spare you both headaches and heartbreak—and the ewww-factor!
Dorothy
Read MoreAntidote to Spiritual Staleness
I’ve had some wild dreams, most of which were the result of a colorful imagination or unusual culinary concoctions right before bed.
However, at the end of December, 2004, I had a vivid three-part dream I’d like to share. It came during a time of disappointment in myself due to spiritual staleness in my life.
Part One: I was dead (but very aware), lying on my back on a cold slab in a dark, eerie room. Across the room from me, three or so demons hopped and danced about, paying no attention to me because I was dead. Although the room was creepy and I was terribly uncomfortable, I realized I was unafraid and very safe, knowing that the demons could not touch me because I was dead. I felt a strong connection to Christ and said to myself, “Well, anyways, I’ll rise up again!”
Part Two: As I was looking out my back door, I noticed a cave off to the right. A large bear emerged, and I thought, “I didn’t know there were bears in these parts.”
Then I saw a huge Galapagos tortoise walking through the yard from the left side, and I worried that the bear would devour him. However, the bear paid no attention to the turtle. Strolling to join the Galapagos was another one—a female (I could tell by her long eyelashes. Stop laughing—it was a dream!) and the two of them walked through my yard slowly but surely, without a care in the world.
Part Three: I looked out the same door again and saw a filthy white and red tabby cat named Rowe. I knew the bear would get him, so despite the fact that my resident cats would throw hissy fits, I let him in.
I noticed problems with Rowe’s mouth right away. He had blackish blisters on his lips, and his lower right incisor was missing. I opened his mouth and saw that he had a blackish tumor the size of half a grape on the back of his tongue. My thought was to get him veterinary attention as soon as possible.
Upon awakening I realized that God was giving me insight into the staleness of my spiritual walk and was revealing steps to recapture the fire.
First, He showed me to reckon myself as dead. Dead people don’t get offended. Dead people (in Christ) cannot be touched by the enemy. “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11); “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
Secondly, He directed me to put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6). The Galapagos tortoises could saunter without a care in the presence of a prowling bear because of their shell-armor. I, too, could gain confidence and move without fear in the purposes of God if I was clothed in the armor He provided.
And third was the mouth. The cat in my dream was diseased in his mouth. God revealed to me that to live effectively involved maintaining a healthy mouth. I had grown lazy with my words, complaining, backbiting, and spewing bitter words without restraint. I had pity on the sick dream cat; I needed to be equally as diligent to obtain spiritual medicine for my own mouth.
So take it from an unusual dream: Reckon yourself as dead in Christ, put on the full armor of God, and acquire spiritual medicine to heal your mouth of diseased words! These are surefire antidotes to spiritual staleness.
Read MoreWeekend
I realize how frequently all the recent bad news keeps smacking us in the face, and because of that, I want to focus my weekends on the mighty works of God, whether in the Bible, in history, in my life, or in the lives of some of you. What God has done for others, He is more than capable of doing for you. What God has done for me, He is able to do for you. What God has accomplished for you, He is willing to do again.
In 2 Chronicles 20, the nation of Judah was on the verge of being invaded by the armies of several kingdoms. In his alarm, King Jehoshaphat cried out to God and reminded Him of His promise to deliver them. He ended his prayer with these sobering but stirring words, “… we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You” (2 Chron. 20:12b).
God responded through a prophet named Jahaziel. God’s plan was revealed; God would deliver the people of Judah. The following strategies were outlined:
- Do not fear or be dismayed because of the great multitude—the battle is not yours, but God’s.
- Tomorrow go down against them. Yes, they will come up and you’ll find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel.
- You don’t need to fight in this battle, but station yourselves, stand, and see the salvation of God on your behalf.
And then God reminded them again:
- Do not fear or be dismayed—tomorrow go out to face them for the Lord is with you.
Upon hearing these words, Jehoshaphat and all of Judah and Jerusalem fell down before the Lord in worship. The praise was thunderous.
The next day they arose early in the morning and Jehoshaphat said, “Put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and you will succeed” (2 Chronicles 20:20b).
Then he appointed the singers to go out before the army, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
When the singers began to sing and praise God, the Lord set ambushes against the armies coming against them and they were routed. In fact, the enemies rose up against each other, destroying one another.
Judah approached the wilderness and looked at corpses littering the ground; none of their attackers had escaped.
Take some time this weekend to get quiet before God. You don’t have to know the answers. He is all you need right now, and as you put your eyes on Him and praise Him, you can trust that He will come through for you–and the nation.
Dorothy
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