Rain, Rain go away, come again another day!
Well that’s what I want I think?
For you see, it feels restricting…
This month we are doing a different kind of ministry called ATL!
What’s ATL?
It stands for Ask the Lord!
What does it mean exactly?
It means Ask the Lord in prayer and then listen to what he tells you.
Simple right?
Yes and no!
What do you mean?
Ask and the answer will be given to you. Yes this is true, but sometimes it’s hard to hear the voice of the Lord or we are too distracted to listen to his voice. Sometimes he doesn’t tell you clearly in audible words, or even in any words at all. Sometimes he shows you pictures, or people, or gives you feelings, he might even give you a word, or direction, or at times there is no answer…
What do you do with what the Lord has given you?
Well, for me after something is given, I pray for more clarity and guidance about what to do with it. Sometimes the Lord clarifies, sometimes he reaffirms with no clarity, and sometimes I hear nothing…
So now what?
For me, I pray for his will to be done and I try my best to be obedient and follow his will. So if that means I need to walk, I walk; or if I need to sit, I sit; or if I need to go search for something I search for something…
What happens once you are obedient and follow what he tells you to do?
Well a lot of things could happen. You could meet the person he showed you and talk to them, pray over them, share the Hope of Jesus with them, or just simply smile at them. You could just be sent to pray for them from afar, or buy something from them to support their family. It could seem like nothing really, but really it could be anything! The Lord works in so many ways, his thoughts & plans are so complex sometimes that we can’t even begin to understand them.
This reminds of the scripture from Isaiah 55:8-9, that the Lord’s been putting on repeat in my heart recently!
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts
What is the purpose exactly?
The purpose is to pursue the Lord and his will for us. To share his love to all the nations as it says in
Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 12:30-31.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31
So we are sent here to love! We love people where they are at, hoping that they see the Love that is from the Father in us and want to have that love live inside of them.
So what does this have to do with a rainy day?
Well today we had our plans set; we prayed over them, we felt lead to walk through the city in the walk of freedom march (which is a march that is done to raise awareness about human & sex trafficking, and how it’s not ok). As we were leaving to go to the event it started to rain hard. Which made us wonder if they were even meeting up to walk or not. Also, we realized that the start location was a 50 minute walk away, vs. the 20 minutes like we thought…. so what do we do? We talked it over and felt lead to do a shorter prayer walk in the main square, then head back to the apartment where we’re staying in the city to pray some more, but also to get warm and dry!
So we walked in the rain praying silently for the city of Yerevan to open their eyes to what is beneath the surface. We prayed for the government to become more aware of the human trafficking problem and to stand up against it. We prayed for the safety of the people & children of Yerevan. We prayed for freedom for all the captives and that people would be released to their families. We prayed for hope to be restored and for lives to turn to the Lord. We prayed for the Lord to work…
Now here I am sitting, looking out the window into the rain; praying over the city!
And I’m pondering the saying, “Rain, rain go away come again another day!”
Am I bummed that we didn’t get to do the March because of the rain?
A little bit.
Then I ask, what if I look at the rain in a different way?
What if it was used as a tool by the Lord to force us to rest?
To force us to stay inside and sit.
To stay inside and pray.
To stay inside and rest.
To stay inside and be.
How can I use this time wisely as the Lord intends?
How can I say yes to the Lord today in the rain?
How can I say yes to the Lord no matter the weather or circumstances?
