No Latter Rain
“There hath been no latter rain.” Jeremiah 3:3
Spiritual drought makes a wasteland where once there was a Canaan. It reduces a land flowing with milk and honey to poverty and want. It produces spiritual famine, powerlessness, and despondency.
No generation knows this better than ours. We are living through a prolonged and terrible drought. Gone are the days of great awakenings when the preaching of the old evangel caused a deep fear of God to fall upon multitudes and led them to faith in Christ. Where once there were floods of blessing, we have only dried-up river beds that testify to what used to be and mock our present deadness.
The lack of spiritual fulness is evident on an individual level, too. Do you not lament that in your own experience, you have lacked the latter rain? The latter rain is the rain shortly before harvest. Without it, the harvest is scorched. Ah! where are the fulness and fruitfulness we know we should experience? Where is the freshness we should have in prayer? Where is the power we should have in witness? Where are the results we should see for our preaching? Alas! ‘There hath been no latter rain.’
This drought is not accidental. Jeremiah says, ‘Therefore the showers have been withholden.’ When the heavens are as brass, it is because God has shut them up in response to our sin (II Chron. 7:13). The worldliness so prevalent among God’s people today is the direct cause of our spiritual drought.
The answer to our needs is clearly the opening of heaven and the outpouring of the latter rain. II Chronicles 7:14 tells us how to obtain this blessing. It can come only by self-humbling, prayer, and repentance. Can we endure another day of drought? May God drive us to our knees and keep us there till we hear the ‘sound of abundance of rain’ (I Kings 18:41).
Quote for the day:
It is an alarming condition for a Christian man . . . when there is more knowledge of the truth than the experience of its power.
– Octavius Winslow
The Lord's Day Services
Sunday, August 1, 2021
11:00 a.m. Morning Worship – Rev. Reginald Cranston
Communion service following the morning service
5:50 p.m. Pre-service Prayer
6:30 p.m. Evening Worship – Mr. Frank D’Addurno
Weekly Announcements
Wednesday, August 4th
7:30 p.m. Bible Study and Prayer – Mr. James Fraser
Advanced Announcements
Sunday, August 8th
11:00 a.m. Morning Worship – Rev. Ian Goligher
5:50 p.m. Pre-Service Prayer
6:30 p.m. Evening Worship – Rev. Ian Goligher
Wednesday, August 11th
7:30 p.m. Bible Study and Prayer – Mr. Alex Newell
Orlando Construction Mission Team
Let us pray for the Orlando Construction Mission Team as they are going to the Orlando FP church to help with needed renovations. The team plans to be there from July 31 to August 7. Pastor Derrick Bowman, who is the assistant pastor in Winston Salem, NC, is heading up the team and is asking for prayer for the following:
- For the building permits to be granted in time
- For each team member’s cooperation as we work
- Safety in travel
- Safety while working
- That hurricane Elsa, who is currently bearing down on Flordia, will not cause any setbacks.
Behind the Wall
Behind the Wall is a ministry of the Toronto Free Presbyterian Church. We aim to assist parents by reinforcing the Gospel message being taught at home to their children. Each episode contains a Bible story, scripture memorization, and a children’s song. Please pray for this ministry, that God will use it for His glory.
A ten-week mini-series on the 10 Commandments will be available each week during the summer. A new lesson will be uploaded at 2:00 p.m. each Sunday. You can view new and archived episodes by clicking here.
The Shorter Catechism
A: The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing any thing against, the honour and duty which belongeth to every one in their several places and relations.1
1. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. (Romans 13:7-8a).
The Children's Catechism - History
Q20: Were any other creatures saved from the flood?
A: Yes, some of all living creatures on earth.
