Dry Season
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
The struggle is real.
You may have the same struggle. The struggle of wanting a nice green yard versus the lack of rain that happens this time of year. The struggle of a pristine yard versus the price of water. The desire to keep up with the neighbors in yard care versus the desire to conserve natural resources. Most summers the struggle is lost as my yard looks more brown than green. The neighbors will not be selecting us as best yard in the neighborhood any time soon.
Deuteronomy 11:13-15 talks about the promise of rain to the Israelites. Moses was talking to all the people about what God wants in their lives.
And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.
The application in our lives is a promise regarding our walk with God.
God promises that if we continue to walk with Him while there are struggles in our lives—even struggles that cause brown spots in our relationship with Him—we can rely on the Holy Spirit to fall on those spots. Greener times are coming.
The church as a whole needs to lean into and pray for the latter rain of the Holy Spirit to fall on the entire church.
This year, the North American Division has asked each church to consider praying for Pentecost 2025 and to seek the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on us individually and as a church. Each church and person can be involved in seeking God and asking for the Holy Spirit to green up those brown spots in our lives, fill us and our churches, and see people accepting Jesus as their personal Savior.