31 Day Daily Devotional SERIES for the Garden of the Heart: DAY 25

 DAY 25

That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, 

the first rain and the latter rain, 

that thou mayest gather in thy corn, 

and thy wine, 

and thine oil..... 

Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, 
Deuteronomy 11:14/Zechariah 10:1

 

1) (Repent/Justification) -Repent ye therefore,
2) (Sanctification/Obedience) -and be converted,
3) (The Judgement) -that your sins may be blotted out,
4) (The Latter Rain) -when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
5) (2nd Advent) - And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Acts 3:19,20

 

DAILY REMINDER

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 

and have not LOVE, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, 

and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, 

and have not LOVE, I am nothing. 

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not LOVE, it profiteth me nothing.

LOVE suffereth long, and is kind; 

LOVE envieth not; 

LOVE vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, 

is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 

And now abideth faith, hope, LOVE, these three; 

but the greatest of these is LOVE.

 And from Jesus Christ, ....Unto him that loved us, 

and washed us from our sins in his own blood,...

1 Corinthians 13:1-5,13/Revelation 1:5

 

 And straightway coming up out of the water,

 he saw the heavens opened, 

and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 

Mark 1:10

""When the four angels let go, ..... None receive the latter rain but those who are doing all they can.

All could be overcomers by the grace of God, 

through the blood of Jesus. 

 

The Lord employs these operations of nature to represent the work of the Holy Spirit.  

---As the dew and the rain are given first to cause the seed to germinate, 

---and then to ripen the harvest, 

so the Holy Spirit is given to carry forward, from one stage to another, the process of spiritual growth. 

 

*The ripening of the grain represents the completion of the work of

God’s grace in the soul. 

*By the power of the Holy Spirit the moral image of God is to be perfected in the character. 

*We are to be wholly transformed into the likeness of Christ.

The latter rain, ripening earth’s harvest, represents the spiritual grace that prepares the church for the coming of the Son of man. 

But sinless the former rain has fallen, there will be no life; the green blade will not spring up. Unless the early showers have done their work, the latter rain can bring no seed to perfection." E.G.W.

Closing Thought for the Day 

Be patient therefore, brethren, 

unto the coming of the Lord. 

Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, 

and floods upon the dry ground:  

James 5:7/Isaiah 44:3