Turbulence in the atmosphere. Winds of unrest and instability. Air quality poor. Vision limited.

Prophetic word: "Holy Spirit rain is falling in limited locations but is going to expand and sweep throughout our nation. Our God is gracious and generous with His abundant rain."

When you study the personality of prophets, they speak of judgment and they want fire. While prophets want fire, people yearn for rain to break the natural and spiritual droughts in their lives. Prophets tend to want to be involved in quality control, but when I listen to people pray and intercede, they are asking God for Holy Spirit rain. Only Holy Spirit rain can purify, turn unrepentant faces and hearts to God and renew their spirits at the same time—and that is what our nation needs.

In 1 Kings 18, we read about how God used the prophet Elijah to start a chain of events that led to the end of a three-year drought in Israel. Even though exposing his location to the wicked king, Ahab, could have cost him his life, Elijah publicly impeached the king's favored prophets of Baal and declared the sovereignty of the only true God. He brazenly exposed their falsehood by challenging them to accomplish something Elijah knew only his God could do.

After they failed, God used Elijah's faithful obedience to accomplish an incredible miracle that conclusively demonstrated the sovereignty and faithfulness of God to a people consumed with witchcraft and idolatry. The people were humbled with reverence and cried out in worship to their God, and God opened the heavens so that the rain would fall.

There is a lot to talk about in this chapter, but I want to distill the story down to three actions that directly resulted in God sending rain to heal the land:

—Elijah publicly proclaimed God was the only true God.

—God was glorified through Elijah's faithful action.

—Everyone fell on their faces and worshipped Him.

Elijah openly challenged the falsehood of Baal and declared the faithfulness of the God of Israel. He spoke with his mouth and backed up his bold assertion with even bolder action. He was obedient to the Lord and unwaveringly confident that what God promised to do, He would fulfill.

As a result of his proclamations and God's action, the people recognized the sovereignty of God and responded with repentance and faith. Their actions helped to move the hand of God to heal their hearts and nation.

We must proclaim God in America with this same boldness and cry out for His rain. We must have Elijah's unwavering faith when it comes to the Holy Spirit bringing His outpouring upon us.

Elijah heard the rain before there was a cloud the size of a man's hand forming above the water. Will we do the same in America? Will we be so confident in God's faithfulness that we will declare His goodness, demonstrate our faith and lead others into praise and worship over the miracle of revival, even before it falls?

Through our faithfulness to His name, He will be glorified, and people will turn to Him. I believe there is a deep heart of God that not only wants to pour out fresh rain from the Holy Spirit but also wants to open up the foundations of the deep, the rivers of living water in us, to flood this nation with His presence.

For God to do this, though, we must act first. If we look at Elijah's prayer in 1 Kings 18:36-37, we can see how this relates to our own nation, and our own lives: "The Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, so that this people may know that You are the Lord God and that You have turned their hearts back again."

Elijah knew that he was a servant of the Lord and that what he did, he did not do to elevate himself or the ministry of the prophet, but glorified God so that people's hearts may be turned back to Him.

It's time to get on your face before God to proclaim His everlasting goodness, acknowledge that you are His servant and step out in bold obedience to glorify His name as Elijah did. Then get ready for the outpouring.

You're beautiful. I see Jesus in you.

Have a great week!

Mikel French has challenged spiritual awakening all across America, where many celebrations extended into multiple weeks, and has conducted celebrations in France, Sweden, Russia, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Germany, South Africa, Malawi, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Haiti, Japan, Singapore, India and Thailand. He conducted an outreach celebration in Manila, Philippines, reaching 200,000 teenagers with the Book of Hope. Through the generous support of partners, he has presented the message of Jesus Christ to millions of people in the nation of Russia through televised citywide soul-winning celebrations. Mikel considers it an honor to assist in conducting the annual pastor's conference, where thousands of pastors from Russia's 11 time zones come for training, teaching and equipping. Mikel and his wife, Marsha, reside in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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