Let It Rain. Let It Pour. Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Let It Rain. Let It Pour.

Steve Martin

“After this, I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions;” (Joel 3:1, Complete Jewish Bible)

We all love it when the richly colored blue sky is splattered with those puffy white, voluminous clouds; when the golden sun rises faithfully in the morning, bringing forth its warmth and brilliance, and many hours later leaving a most beautiful trail across the painted canvas, at its daily setting in the west.

But then…

It pours rain. Seemingly never-ending rain lately. Day in and day out in many areas. (Or snow, if the temperature is low enough for the precipitation to be changed to that form.)

And what should we be proclaiming?

Let it rain Lord!

Amongst the complainers, and in some cases those who curse, my heart is proclaiming, “Let it rain oh Lord! Let Your Spirit pour down upon us, even as You promised in these last days through Your Jewish prophet Joel centuries ago. Let it rain!”

I want to sing it repeatedly, even as Michael W. Smith did, beginning in 2001. Remember?

Let It Rain Michael W. Smith

Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the floodgates of heaven
Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the floodgates of heaven

Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the floodgates of heaven
Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the floodgates of heaven

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad
Let the distance shores rejoice
Clouds and thick darkness surround Him
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne

A fire goes before Him and consumes His foes on every side
His lightning lights up the world
The earth sees and trembles
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord

Before the Lord of all the earth
The heavens proclaim His righteousness
And all peoples will see His glory

We want to see Your glory, God!
Do you want to see His glory?

Lift your voices, lift your hands!

Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the floodgates of heaven
Let it rain, let it rain.
Open the floodgates of heaven

Songwriters: Smith

Let It Rain lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Reservoir Media Management Inc

Listen again. Be encouraged. Let this be your prayer, rising from deep within your spirit.

Listen to that powerful song here (LET IT RAIN) and let your spirit rejoice. Be glad that rain is coming. Give thanks that He is sending the rain.

We welcome Your reign, Oh Lord!

And even as the Lord’s prophet Joel so rightly prophesied, that as the Lord’s prophetic promises are being brought to fruition, even in His Promised Land, we know that we can trust Him, for He is forever Faithful and True.

“Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,

For the Lord has done great things.

Do not fear, beasts of the field,

For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green,

For the tree has borne its fruit,

The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.

So rejoice, O sons of Zion,

And be glad in the Lord your God;

For He has given you the early rain for your vindication.

And He has poured down for you the rain,

The early and latter rain as before.

The threshing floors will be full of grain,

And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.

"Then I will make up to you for the years

That the swarming locust has eaten,

The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,

My great army which I sent among you.

"You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied

And praise the name of the Lord your God,

Who has dealt wondrously with you;

Then My people will never be put to shame.

"Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,

And that I am the Lord your God,

And there is no other;

And My people will never be put to shame.

After rain in Jerusalem. (Photo by Steve Martin 2016.)

It will come about after this

That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and daughters will prophesy,

Your old men will dream dreams,

Your young men will see visions.

"Even on the male and female servants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

"I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,

Blood, fire and columns of smoke.

"The sun will be turned into darkness

And the moon into blood

Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

"And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord

Will be delivered;

For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

There will be those who escape,

As the Lord has said,

Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

(Joel 2:21-32, NASU)

  

It is coming! He is coming! He is coming back and preparing the way for us and all the nations that will turn to Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, the One and Only Savior of the world.

Do not complain. Do not give in to soulish proclamations that exist among the naysayers.

Be the one who welcomes the rain. Be the one who says even now, “So let it rain, Lord. We need Your reign!”

In all His Glory and Majestic rule, He is the One sending the rain.

For He will reign! Reign, Lord!

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$120 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Please donate online safely through our website. Click here: DONATE  

(or use the DONATE  buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

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P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Also, my latest book (#20) was just released last week. You can get it on Amazon here, in paperback or Kindle version: All Together Now - For His Plans & Purposes 

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'This is Not Mythology': Archaeologists Dig Up the Bible at Ancient City of Shiloh - CBN News Chris Mitchell

This is Not Mythology': Archaeologists Dig Up the Bible at Ancient City of Shiloh

01-10-2019

CBN News Chris Mitchell

Help CBN News reach more people with the Christian Perspective on today's headlines – please share this story with your friends.

JERUSALEM, Israel – Driving along the route known as the Way of the Patriarchs in Samaria, the heart of biblical Israel, you'll come to ancient Shiloh.

Aerial view of ancient Shiloh, Photo, CBN News, Jonathan Goff

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The Bible says this is the place where Joshua parceled out the Promised Land to the 12 tribes of Israel. It's also where the Tabernacle of the Lord stood for more than 300 years.

Dr. Scott Stripling directs the excavations at Shiloh. Along with dozens of volunteers, he and his crew are digging into history.

Excavation Director Dr. Scott Stripling, Photo, CBN News, Jonathan Goff

"Welcome to ancient Shiloh," Stripling greeted us. "This is the first capital of ancient Israel and it's a sacred spot because the Mishkan was here, the Tabernacle, where people came to connect with God."

Photo, CBN News, Jonathan Goff

"We're dealing with real people, real places, real events," he continued. "This is not mythology. The coins that we excavated today – we're talking about coins of Herod the Great, Pontius Pilate, Thestos, Felix, Agrippa the First, Agrippa the Second. The Bible talks about these people. We've got the image right here."

That 'image' includes a fortified wall built by the Canaanites. The team finds a treasure trove of artifacts there, which includes ancient coins and some 2,000 pieces of pottery a day.

Photo, CBN News, Jonathan Goff

"Now, this one was from yesterday," he said. "It's been washed already so you see the same form right out of the ground in yesterday and those are those handles from the stone vessels. Remember, Jesus' first miracle in Cana? There were stone jars full of water. That's that ritual purity culture of the first century."

An archaeologist like Dr. Stripling looks at these shards as a fine time piece. 

"Just like your great grandmother's pottery is different from your pottery that you're using today…once we learn the pottery, then we can use it as our primary means of dating."

Unearthing ancient pottery, Photo, CBN News, Jonathan Goff

Stripling says literally digging into the Bible can change your life."

"You can read the Bible, you can walk the Bible, but the ultimate is to dig the Bible," he said. "You know, when we actually get into the swill, like these students from Lea University. They're literally – it's under their fingernails and in their nose and in their mouth and their ears and they're exposing this ancient culture. It becomes one with you. It's sort of like we came out of the soil and as we dig into the soil, we connect with God and with each other, I think, in a very important way," he said.

Photo, CBN News, Jonathan Goff

Abigail Leavitt, a student at the University of Pikesville, serves as object registrar.
"I love getting my hands dirty. I love digging in the dirt. It's my favorite thing," she told CBN News.  

While people of all age volunteer at the dig, the main drivers are students like Abigail.

"It's tiring and exhausting, but it's really rewarding," she said. "It's exciting to find ancient things – things that have been just waiting for us for thousands of years."

Abigail Leavitt, Photo, CBN News, Jonathan Goff

Leavitt says the Bible comes alive in the dirt.

"I read the Bible totally differently than I did before I came here, and I can see when I read the Bible I know the places, I know what's going on. I understand it more deeply, especially where previous archaeologists have claimed the archaeology disproves the Bible. But when we dig here, we find that everything matches. You read it in the Bible. You dig in the dirt and there it is," she said.

Stripling said, "Archaeology doesn't set out to prove or disprove the Bible. What we want to do is to illuminate the biblical text, the background of the text, so to set it in a real world culture to what we call verisimilitude," he explained.

"So, we get an ancient literary description. Now, we have a material culture that matches that," he continued. "Chris, you're sitting where Samuel and Eli and Hannah and these people that we have read about, they came just like us, needing answers, needing to connect with God, needing forgiveness."

Stripling says they dig into the past and find lessons for the present.

"One of the faith lessons for us is that God is the potter and we are the clay. And even if our lives are broken like these vessels are, God told Jeremiah after He had told him to go to Shiloh and see what He had done, He told him to go to the potter's house and look at a flawed vessel and see how the potter puts it back on the wheel and works out the imperfections. So my faith lesson is this: Yes we're imperfect, but if we will allow God, He wants to put us [on] His potter's wheel and make us a vessel of honor."

Stripling often cites Psalm 102.

"O Zion, your servants take delight in its stones and favor its dust." (Ps. 102:14)

"For me this is sacred soil. This is where the Mishkan was that answers the most basic of all human questions: 'How do I connect with God?' And I think that's their most basic question," he said.

"I know I messed up. I know that God is holy. How do I bridge that gap when I sin against other people, when I sin against God. Ultimately, Chris, if the Bible is true, then the God of the Bible has a moral claim on our lives. And as we establish the veracity of the biblical text, I hope that everyone watching would just think about that – that God loves us and He has a moral claim on our lives."

WATCH VIDEO HERE: Bible at Shiloh in Israel

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Prayer Spot. Got One? - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Prayer Spot. Got One?

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“However, he (Yeshua/Jesus) made a practice of withdrawing to remote places in order to pray.” (Luke 5:16, Complete Jewish Bible)

Do you have a prayer spot, a prayer place, and space where you can go to be alone with the Lord? Yeshua (Jesus) made it a habit to withdraw to “remote places in order to pray.” To me, that says a lot. It also demonstrates a real example to each of us, that if Yeshua, the Son of God, felt it was important enough to find a quiet place, in order to talk with His Father, alone, on a regular basis, then we ought to do the same.

But do we? Or do we get the One-Minute Bible, say a one-minute prayer, and do a one-minute devotional each day as we rush to the daily job, take the kids to the next event, or plop down for a two-hour movie to “relax” and let nothing else come our way until bedtime?

Do we then expect and trust that all will be just great (hunky dory for you old-timers like me) being we have dutifully given Him a one-minute time slot out of the 24 hours we each have, every single day, and then call this “living the Christian life?”

Ever try not talking to your spouse for over a day or two while being in the same house? Or have you tried ignoring your kids when they get home from school for more than a few hours, and then send them to bed, and expect that this will suffice in showing them that you care, and love them?

I am not looking to pass judgment, nor accuse anyone of not getting your priorities straight, but heh, if we want to know the Lord, and claim to believe that He is the Loving, Living Father Whom He says He is, shouldn’t, couldn’t we give Him the proper respect and time in our “busy” lives to allow Him to guide and direct our steps? By spending time alone, in quiet communication with Him, we will find out more than what we expected, and receive more than previously known of Him. Knowing God as a father touches His heart.

He would really appreciate you being with Him so He can show you more of His love, protection, provision and shalom. Each and every day hopefully.

We all know we live in a turbulent, stressed out world. Because of that, we each need real physical, mental and spiritual breaks, to get recharged, energized and ready to stand and do what is right each and every day.

“Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the crowd away. After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.” (Mark 6:45-46, NASU)

My prayer chair in front room corner

Jesus got recharged, after a very busy day, by getting away for a needed time to spend in prayer with the Father. He could have easily chosen to get in the boat along with His disciples, sleep on the Sea of Galilee crossover, and let it go at that. But He knew where He got His inspiration, His strength, and His motivation to do all that He was sent to do. We must learn from Him, for He is our teacher, in all things.

As for me, if I don’t set aside time each day to be with our Lord, I feel it later in the day. My preference is the early morning hours. Yours may be in the evening. So do what is necessary to be faithful and committed to having time with the Father.

I really do personally appreciate the time and location I have set aside to pray, read His Word the Bible, and listen for that which He does tell me. 

I hope you do too.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

  

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$50 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

  

Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc. 

P.O. Box 414   

Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.

Now Think On This #359 - in the year of our Lord 10.27.18 – “Prayer Spot. Got One?”, Saturday, 3:37 pm

 Other items of interest in my "prayer corner".