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In our previous teaching, we firmly established this vital truth: spiritual preparation precedes divine visitation.
We were also guided by this foundational principle: “The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:46, NIV).
God opened His treasury—the heavens—and gave His covenant people, the Israelites, rain in its season whenever they walked in obedience to His Word.
Under the Old Covenant, God’s blessing and favour—signs of the rain—had to be earned through obedience.
However, under the New Covenant of Grace, Christ’s perfect obedience has earned for us all spiritual blessings and divine favour.
Moreover, in Christ, the heavens that opened over Him at the beginning of His public ministry remain open over us who are in Him. At the new birth, one of the greatest miracles we experienced was the miracle of the open heaven. The heavens are now open to us, granting us continual access to all the resources of heaven (John 1:45–51; Hebrews 12:22–24).
Therefore, in Christ Jesus, the key to receiving the double portion outpouring of His Spirit—the former and the latter rain—is to walk in love and cultivate a sincere, unwavering faith built on these pillars:
1. God’s promises concerning the outpouring of the rain (Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:23, 28).
2. God’s faithfulness to fulfil His promise regarding the rain (Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 10:23).
3. God’s ability to release the double portion outpouring (Genesis 18:14; Matthew 19:26; Romans 4:21).
4. God’s willingness to give us the rain as He has promised. God has asked us to pray for the rain in Zechariah 10:1. Understand this: God would not ask us to pray for what He is not willing to do or provide.
To keep our faith alive, we must continually confess the rain, declare it over our lives, and thank God in advance for it as we earnestly pray for its outpouring.
Sooner or later, we will surely witness the first drops—the early showers—a foretaste of the greater outpouring to come.
GOD’S servant: Peter Collins Obeng
GRACE COVENANT GLORY
