YAHWEH'S MOUTHPIECE

We receive the showers of blessing
We receive the abundance of rain
Let it pour as you have promised
We receive the showers of love.

God’s promise to Israel was “After that seventy years be accomplished in Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you…” So is His promise to us at this time. It is a promise of a visitation.

In simple words, we can say that revival is God’s arrival. The absence of revival is the absence of God, His presence, life and power. And usually, it is possible to have exciting activities and astonishing things without the presence of God, just as Elijah prepared saw the wind, earthquake and fire, but God was not in it. Yes, we can have every other thing but God.

There was a famine in the land of Israel that made a family move to Moab. Surprisingly, the man whose name was Ehielech was of Bethlehemjudah. And Bethlehem means “house of bread”. But in the house of bread, there was no bread. Is that not how is it with us that the places that are paraded as life zones offer no life but rather death? And people for fear of death leave for a foreign nation. It is the kind of famine that made Abraham sojourn in Egypt. Isaac attempted to but was restrained by God. And Jacob and his entire household moved there and became captives for four hundred and thirty years.

This man who went to Moab lost his life and his sons, and only his wife and the wives of his sons were left. And the end, the tale of Naomi was “I went out full and the LORD brought me home again empty.” This instructs us that when we get out of the place God domiciled us, we will lose much more than we intended to gain.

News came to Naomi while she was in the land of Moab and had lost everything that God “had visited his people in giving them bread”. When the Lord visits “bread is restored into the house of bread.” While this was a famine of food in the days of Eli, there was a famine of the word of God. “The word of God was precious in those days and there was no open vision.” Even the one appointed to be the eye for the nation could not any more see, and the light of God in the house of God was dying out.

By mercy, God does not leave His people in such a pitiable and unpalatable state. He promises a visitation. Because what we need is Him. When we lose Him, we lose every other thing. Just like in Eden, it was a constant and consistent thing for the Lord to visit in the cool of the day, but sin came in and the man lost God. Every other thing we see today is a result of the sin that came in.

When God visits, there is a restoration of everything back to how it was designed to be from the beginning. He is the breath that causes dead things to come alive.

He comes as fire to purify. “Who may abide the day of his coming or who shall stand when he appeareth: for he is like a refiners fire and like fuller’s soap. He shall sit like a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purge the sons of Levi that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the of Judah and Jerusalem be acceptable as in the former years.” So much corruption and desecration have pervaded the sanctuary of God. His first point of contact, when He visits, is to come to His temple and cleanse it, just as Jesus did while on earth. He will overthrow the tables of the traders and money changers and restore His house to being a place of prayer for all people.

He comes as rain – the former and latter rain upon His people. Hosea 6:3 “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Then the earth shall yield her increase, the wilderness shall become a fruitful field and the fruitful field shall be counted for a forest. (Psalm 67:6; Isaiah 32:15)

When He visits, He turns again the captivity of His people. A land that has been destroyed and ruined will yet be built up again and salvation wrought for such a nation.

Beyond His visitation, God intends to make His habitation with and in us. It is not enough to have occasional touches of God’s presence.

His visit is secured by the prayers and intercession of His people. If there are people to pray, there is a God to show up.

God intends to visit, but are we able to host Him? He comes on the platform of worship and intercession, where hearts have been rendered to Him as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto Him. His visitation is individual, congregational, ekklesial, national and even global. For the earth indeed shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Lord, we need a visitation from you. Only then will we experience a transformation of our lives and lands from what we are into what you want us to be. Purify us that our offering unto you may be acceptable and in yesteryears. Visit us with your rain that our land may yield her increase and barrenness may give way to fruitfulness and famine to the fullness of bread. Amen!