It Doesn’t Rain Inside
Have you ever heard people say how they wish that the Holy Spirit would move in our churches? Have you ever heard folks pine for the days of the original disciples? Maybe you’ve heard the saints speak enviously of how the mission field keeps getting blessed, while the dear old homefront is lagging so far behind. I hear talk like this all the time, and on occasion I’ve even been guilty of saying it myself. Well tonight while participating in a group study on the Great Commission, and specifically about how Jesus promised power to the disciples right as someone was talking about the urgent need to pray for the out pouring of the Holy Spirit I was struck with a thought.
It only rains outside!
It helps that tonight it is raining literally and we were sitting around a nice cozy fireplace, talking amongst one another and having a nice study – but doing nothing to advance the cause of Christ. It made for a really good example – because I asked “is it raining tonight?” Everyone answered yes, it was not only raining, but pouring. Then I asked – but how many of the brothers and sisters were getting wet? None were – and I said “precisely!” As long as we sit around inside the church, we’re never going to experience that latter rain so long desired.
Put another way – did you ever stop to wonder why all the miracle stories came from the mission-field? It’s because God blesses those who carry out his mission with the gifts they need for it.
And therein lies the explanation. You see, the gifts of the spirit are practical gifts, not collectors items nor toys. Now that’s again not to say that God will only bless you if you do his work. Afterall Jesus himself said “He makes the sun rise on both the good and bad people.” But if you want the special blessings God has set aside for his work – then you’ve got to do his work. Those gifts; wisdom, knowledge, healing, prophesy, tongues – they exist to spread the good news of Jesus.
That’s why when Jesus sent those early apostles out he SENT them OUT. His command was not “wait ye therefore until the nations of the earth come unto ye.” He said:
“Go to the people of all nations”.
Church – if we want the blessings of the Holy Spirit we need not wait for the time to come when God will finally pour his spirit out. We need not spend more weeks behind closed doors praying, pleading with God to give us his spirit so that we might go out. We just need to open our eyes, pray with our feet and get beyond the walls which make up the comfort zone we call church. We need to step out into the rain that’s been falling for a long time now.
Then, when we do the work God has given us to do, as we are doing it – he will start blessing. So let’s get off our comfy chairs, leave the warmth of the fireplace and go out into our communities and start making a difference in people’s lives. Let’s be in the world, let’s serve our fellow man and woman, let’s show them that we do believe what we preach and let’s introduce them to a God that is out of this world.
Friends if we want the rain we need to go outside. It doesn’t rain inside!
thehardheadedpreacher 
“…You see, the gifts of the spirit are practical gifts, not collectors items nor toys”. That’s a great image. Never thought of this that way before. Good post.
You get Jerusalem’s communal-property church in Acts… because it’s a community of people who have dedicated themselves and everything they own to spreading the word.
You & I might (or might not; I dunno) disagree significantly about what that word “is”. Except that it is about God’s intention for humanity, as Jesus expressed it.
Maybe another subject for discussion?: What is this “gospel”, anyway? Because Jesus was still on his first life when he first started proclaiming it…
It’s a problem for Quakers like myself, because we’ve largely abandoned the idea that the word/name “Jesus” suffices to lead people into his meaning… while any formulation that leaves him out seems to drift into a sort of bonelessness, or else a sterile clinging to traditions…
and the lack of a clear “message,” while it can keep one from from proclaiming a misunderstood message, comes perilously close to the example of the servant who buried his talent.
So even in our ‘disorganized religion’ we end up in the same kind of difficulty that keeps your congregation inside discussing only with one another. And even too timid about discussing among ourselves. (This is valuable activity; the problem comes when we’re afraid/unable to share with “those people, the ones not like us.”)
“The time when God pours His spirit out” … is of course, now. And always has been, though we don’t so easily notice at first.