by Kathy Owen-Gifford

Read Part 1 here!

Review: We allow Him to reign in our lives, When He reigns in our lives He rains down blessings, healing, favor, honor, power on our lives because we use our lives to Glorify Him. When people see what He has done in our lives, despite our failings, they too will Glorify Him, and many will choose Him to reign because of the change they see in us. The changes that are part of the rain of blessings, because of Him. He doesn’t withhold good things. All good things come from the Father!

REIN – Rein in and give God the reins to our hearts, minds, mouths, and whole bodies, allowing/asking Him to Reign

REIGN – When we choose His leadership He reigns in our lives. We lean on His understanding not our own. We Glorify Him, we give Him the Glory with our days, and he RAINs

RAIN –  Let’s review more about RAIN – In the Bible we learn how God uses rain! It’s amazing! 

RAIN OF TERROR: AS PUNISHMENT

• Noah – He rained water to destroy the earth with the story of Noah. (Genesis 6)
• Sodom & Gomorrah – He rained down fire and brimstone (Genesis 19)
• Moses – He rained fiery hail on Egypt as the seventh plague punishment for not releasing the Israelite slaves. during the time of Moses (Exodus 9)
• Drought – lack of rain (Deuteronomy 11:17)
• Rain of Powder and Dust (Deuteronomy 28:24)
• Withheld rain because of sin (1 Kings 8:35 &  2 Chronicles 6:26)
• Snares, Fire and brimstone, a horrible tempest (Psalm 11:6)

RAIN OF BLESSING: FOOD, CONFIRMATION, and REWARD

• MANNA – (Exodus 16) 
• Crops (Leviticus 26)
• (Deuteronomy 11)
• Release of rain because of forgiveness of confessed/repented sin (1 Kings 8:35 & 2 Chronicles 6:27  )
• Plentiful rain to confirm His inheritance Psalm 68:9
• He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. (Psalm 72:6)

REST – He made it and gives it to us.

We need PEACE right now in our world and most of all in our hearts. We need to share His peace with our neighbors. What am I doing to share God’s word and work in my life? Am I sharing what I’m learning? Not just on a blog, but one on one… in line at the grocery store? Am I sharing peace and love to those who are difficult to love? I hope so. The answer is Love, His love for us, our love for one another, and our love for our enemy.  Jesus shares and commands in the Sermon on the Mount,  Matthew 5:44-48 (KJV) “44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” 

“If your heart is full of love, it will find vent; you will find or make ways enough to express your love in deeds. When a fountain abounds in water it will send forth streams.” —Jonathan Edwards

We are to be perfect in love. I admit there are those who are hard to love, I have shared with some, and avoided the others… but, Jesus tells me to love the ones who are hard to love. He says that’s how they will know us… by our love. I pray that your love is perfect as our Father in Heaven’s love is perfect. This is one perfectionism I can really get behind, because my Savior, my Jesus says we are to get behind it, get on it, be about it perfectly! 

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I will leave you with a vision of true love… 

and, of Rein, Reign, Rain, and Rest regarding Elisabeth Elliot. 

I read a quote from Elisabeth Elliot this morning,  “If you dwell on your own feelings about things rather than dwelling on the faithfulness, the love, and the mercy of God, then you’re likely to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Our feelings are very fleeting and ephemeral, aren’t they? We can’t depend on them for five minutes at a time. But dwelling on the love, faithfulness, and mercy of God is always safe.”

This quote is so good! It reminded me of what our Dallas pastor used to say, “Feelings are real, but they’re not reliable” … at that time in my life, I needed to hear those words often! We need to acknowledge feelings and then move on… don’t live there! (Don’t even vacation there, or muse there dear self!!)  Dwell only on the Godly!  

Philippians 4:8 (ESV) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” 

So how does “Rein, Reign, Rain, Rest” relate to Elisabeth Elliot? ( https://elisabethelliot.org/resource-library/)  Elisabeth’s husband Jim and four other missionaries were killed by the Auca Indians in a rain of arrows in 1956. Elisabeth persevered through suffering and went on to minister to the Aucas for years. In her writings, she speaks of suffering and the faithfulness of God.  If you are suffering right now, know you’re in good company and focus on the faithfulness of God for the things that are not of this world. Dwell on the Godly things! 

They had reined in their lives, they were joining God’s reign in their lives on a mission in another country, then came a Rain of arrows and a Rain of blessing. It rains on the just and the unjust. What the enemy designed for evil, God used to bless and turn a whole people group to Him. Let Him Reign!

Even with the rain of arrows, He still gives us REST. We can rest in the knowledge that Jesus is Lord of all, we can rest in our relationship with the Father knowing He loves us beyond measure as much now as He did when He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus to die for us… while we were sinners, His enemies, He died and rose for us, He conquered death for us! Oh how He loves us!

My prayer for you dear NACWE sisters is that you get to that rest. That you grab the reins of you life and hand them to the Lord, allow God to Reign in your days so that whether rain of blessing or calamity comes your way, you will rest trusting in Him and the Hope He has given us. For His Glory & Our Good! 

My prayer for you is also my prayer for me.

I pray blessings on your message, mission, and life! I pray that if you don’t know the Savior intimately, you will start today. Engage with Him daily. He loves you like no one else. Invite Him into your moments. Look for His hand on your life. I pray you give yourself permission to humbly submit to Him in your whole life. He wants all the good things for you.

These things I pray for you for your good and for His glory!

I thank God for you, my NACWE sisters! 

NACWE is on mission fields across the United States, Canada, and in Guatemala, and Peru. We are open, Lord! Please let us know if you’d like to serve or partner with us in 2021!

Love,

Kathy