I had a dream recently in which I was on the platform with Pastor Rod Parsley (my friend and the leader of City Harvest Network, of which my church is a part). In this dream, Parsley was preaching, and my church members were in the congregation. Suddenly, Parsley turned to me and said, “What has happened in your life?”
In that moment, the dream shifted from Parsley preaching to my standing up and telling an actual testimony from my past.
In this dream, I stood up and told the story of how, about 20 years ago, I had been saving money for a pickup truck. After a year of saving, I had $9,000. However, instead of letting me purchase a truck with that money, the Lord told me to sow it into the evangelism efforts of a church where we were the visiting ministers.
Only days later, someone I didn’t know gave me a brand-new gold Ford Ranger—the exact kind of truck I wanted. I still have it to this day.
Still in the dream, after I told this story on the platform with Parsley, he looked at me and said, “You still have the truck—and its color represents the next outpouring.” At that, I woke up—and the Lord spoke to me and said, “Get ready for rain. Get ready for gold”—and He said that this word is for everyone who will take it.
As I began to study this word, the Lord took me to a passage in 1 Kings and showed me several things:
- Elijah understood that, in order for a spiritual manifestation to happen in the natural, there had to be consecration. The prophet Elijah could do a lot of things under the anointing, but he recognized that certain things wouldn’t happen without in-depth prayer. Elijah knew the condition of Israel. Israel was a mess. It had turned away from God and was worshipping idols. Nevertheless, God never lost His desire to pour out His blessing.
Similarly, we’re in a position right now as the body of Christ where we have to make a very, very important decision. That decision is this: Are we OK with the status quo? Do we want dry religion? Or are we going to pray for rain? Are we willing to put our head between our knees and intercede?
If you haven’t already, I urge you to sanctify yourself and enter a season of consecration, fasting and prayer. The spiritual season we are in is laden with promise, but none of God’s promises will come forth without consecration, fasting and prayer.
- Elijah dared his servant over and over again to go look for that cloud. Seven times, Elijah told his servant to go look for rain. Elijah was a prophet in the land, and he felt the urgency of his prayers. He knew, “If I don’t pray, rain’s not coming” … and that’s the way we have to be as the body of Christ. If we’re not praying, rain is not coming.
The only thing that makes rain is consecration. The thing that brings those rain clouds is getting before the Lord and saying, “God, it doesn’t matter what happens. It doesn’t matter who’s doing what. We want rain.” Even if we have to go look for the rain seven times, we still have to stay in that position of dependence on God. We can’t say that we’ve been planting seed for six months, six years or six days and then get tired and think that’s good enough. No, six is the number of man—but breakthrough came at seven, the number of God. Breakthrough did not come at six!
God is not going to show up with your miracle on the sixth time. Men would try to get credit for it if He did. But the word of the Lord for you today is that you must endure until the seventh time comes! If you can endure until the seventh time comes, then you know God will do it, and He’ll get all the credit.
- When the seventh time comes, you’ll see something you’ve never seen before. On his seventh time of checking for rain, the servant ran back to the prophet and said, “I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand.” That servant didn’t see much; he only saw a tiny cloud. But you know what? You don’t need to see a monstrous hurricane. You just need to see that God is about to step in. You only need to know that one thing is rising up and something else is falling down.
I speak this prophetically over you right now: Your last season is falling down, and your rain is rising up. And in this new season, you’re going to need buckets and an umbrella! You’re going to need something to protect you from the sheer force of this mighty outpouring, and you’re going to need something to catch it with at the same time.
- God is on the move, and His work is not a man’s idea. There are two types of rain coming: rain on the earth and rain for people individually. Rain and gold are going to fall into your life if you will consecrate yourself. But, even more importantly than that, fire will fall also.
On the day when Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal, it wasn’t the rain that defeated them. It was the fire of God that caused Israel to cry out, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:39b). I don’t know about you, but I want fire that burns the altars of Baal. I want fire that destroys the agenda of Baal. Do you?
- When revival fire hits, rain and gold always fall. When the Lord sends revival fire, He sends plenty of everything:
—Salvation for your lost family members.
—Restoration for your marriage.
—Plenty of money.
—Plenty of opportunity.
—Plenty of jobs for people who need them, and more.
- When revival hits, everything comes into alignment with the move of God. Some people want to be millionaires or billionaires, and there’s nothing wrong with that if God has called you to it. But we need to want fire. We need to put our head between our knees and cry out to the Lord, asking Him to make us Holy Ghost-filled, fire-baptized, dead-raising, tongue-talking, miracle-working men and women who are blazing lights for God.
Do you want the fire of the Holy Spirit? Do you want the great outpouring? You may only be one person, but you can have the rain and the gold. Hear me well: The size of your cloud will never determine the abundance of your rain.
- The size of your cloud doesn’t determine the abundance of rain. You may feel all alone or like you can’t make much of a difference. But I’m telling you today that “Little is much when God is in it.” Elijah’s servant said, “I saw a cloud coming up from the depths of the sea. It’s the size of a man’s hand.” And at that, the prophet had heard enough. He got up; the king got in his chariot and the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah and he ran all the way to Jezreel. All he needed to know was that the Lord was on the way.
It’s time for us to put our head between our knees and consecrate ourselves until we see the cloud. Can you draw nigh to Him right now? Rain and gold are coming. The Lord told me that 2020 is the year of plenty in which you will have the best of both worlds—the spiritual world and the practical world. You will have plenty of revelation and plenty of revenue.
But, if you want to participate, you have to prepare for rain. Put your buckets out. Get your umbrella ready. The rain and the gold are going to come down on everybody who wants them.
Elijah said to Ahab, “Get up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of a heavy rainfall.” So Ahab got up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he threw himself down on the ground and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, “Go up now, and look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. On the seventh time, he said, “A small cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising out of the sea.” And he said, “Go up and say to Ahab, ‘Mount your chariot and get down, so that the rain does not stop you.'” In the meantime, the sky turned black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel (1 Kings 18:41-45). {eoa}
Pastor Jamie Tuttle serves as lead pastor of Dwelling Place Church International. In addition to leading Dwelling Place Church International, Pastor Jamie also serves as CEO of HSM, which includes his wife’s ministry, Judy Jacobs International, His Song Music Group, Dwelling Room Studios and the International Institute of Mentoring. Pastors Jamie and Judy have two daughters, Kaylee and Erica. Read his power words and subscribe to his free email mini-course, Commissioned to Advance, at JamieTuttle.org.