Wasted Rain – Pastor Steven Furtick – Elevation Church

Today’s Word: Isaiah 55:8-11 

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:    It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

God’s Word over your thoughts 

Rain has many meanings in the bible. In Isaiah, rain is a sign of revival. Before the rain, repentance comes. 

Let’s go back to Isaiah 55:6-7:

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

First, there has to be a forsaking before there is a filling. 

God wants to speak to you, but sometimes you don’t have room to receive it. 

We need God’s word. For direction! 

In order to receive God’s word, we have to forsake some of our own thoughts. 

God’s word will cost you your will, your thoughts, and your preferences. 

The Los Angeles Times & Wasted Water

Pastor Furtick references an article written in The LA Times back in February 2019 that talks about drought. According to this article, “California’s wet winter has dumped an estimated 18 trillion gallons of rain in February alone […] much of it is simply going down the drain […] when you look at the LA river, being between 50%-70% full during a storm, you realize that more water is running down the river into the ocean than what LA would use in close to a year. It is a waste of water supply […] So much water in a land so concerned about drought is going down the drain. […] Until they can get the supply to the place where it needs to be, there can be 18 trillion gallons of downpour and still be a drought”. 

Some of us have 18 trillion gallons of notes, of truth….but what are you doing with it?! 

God can be giving you 18 trillion gallons of truth this week and still be wasted because you didn’t receive it. Down the drain! Down the pessimistic ocean! Down the pessimistic of emotions! 

ALL. THAT. WATER! 

This is how he supplies our needs!! With His Word! There is no shortage of God’s word. 

God’s Word is like…

God’s word is like honey  (Psalm 19:10 NIV & Psalm 119:103 NIV).

Fun fact:  Honey is mentioned 56 times in the bible! 

The word of God cannot do want is meant to do if you have a jacked-up thought process. You will only hear God’s Word as if it’s meant for somebody else. You will come to the Scriptures thinking pessimistically. Thinking you have life, but you will not know Him.  

You need God’s Word to get into your thought process: MEDITATION.  

The Word of God is like a sword: it is your weapon, but it also pierces YOU! The bible is at its best when it is dividing the bone and marrow and the soul and the spirit (Hebrews 4:12). It cuts through all the clutter and the cynicism.  

The Word is a lamp onto my feet (Psalm 119:105). 

The Word of God is like a fire (Jeremiah 20:9) and a hammer (Jeremiah 23:29).  

The Word of God is like the rain. But the rain is inconvenient. So can the Word of God speaking over my life be the most inconvenient thing? Do we associate God’s Word is just for comfort? Does it not bring forth into our lives? 

God’s word is so powerful. He is always speaking to your life. Through your challenges, through people staying with you in your life. Are you wasting the rain? If your thought process is programmed by the World, you cannot receive his Word. 

Every time God speaks, it comes with a purpose. 

DONT WASTE THE RAIN!

Water your Thoughts vs What are your Thoughts 

Pastor Furtick mistook a conversation when someone asked him “What are your thoughts” but he heard “water your thoughts”. Because what your water is what grows. When you water the wrong thoughts and the wrong suggestions, they take over your life. You waste the rain when your emotions are overrun with fear, and doubt, and anxiety. 

In Isaiah 55:11 God’s word is not empty, it will accomplish what He desires and achieve His purpose. 

When God says a word, it comes with a purpose. He doesn’t waste His Word. Every vowel, every single jot, and every tittle (Matthew 5:18). Every one of them has a reason and an assignment! 

God uses ALL things! Every drop has a destiny. 

God didn’t send everything into your life to leave it now. 

The destiny of the seed is dependent on the rain. 

God’s word is like a mirror (James 1:23-25): It is relational and dependent on your response and how powerful it becomes in your life. This is why some people can come to church and look at their watch, while others come and cry during a sermon. 

The rain and its purpose 

How are you letting the Word affect you, and how are you using it in your life? 

When that rain hits your life, because its been a dry week, then PRAISE HIM when you receive a revelation! When God speaks to you, and you feel something on the inside, you know its power because its personal and God has spoken things to you. So praise Him! 

Thank God for all the things He did for you this week. 

God’s Word serves a purpose because You have a purpose 

God doesn’t waste words. He doesn’t waste the rain. 

LET YOURSELF BE WATERED. RAIN BRINGS REVELATION. 

God’s word shows what’s already there, what’s inside of you. So I can forsake my thoughts and receive his. 

Sometimes we don’t receive God’s word because we are too full of our own thoughts about ourselves. We start limiting our opportunities to the level of our insecurities. God has been speaking to you but you are wasting the rain. 

The rain won’t work if there’s no grown to come forth. The rain reveals what was already there. Have you been wasting the rain?  God has been trying to water HIS thoughts in your life. 

Trials vs Truth  

This is a different perspective of the rain, but it is sending a similar message from that of Isaiah 55. In Matthew 7, Jesus is using the rain as a symbol of trails, while the prophet Isaiah uses rain as the Word of God.  

Matthew 7:24-28 (NIV):24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,

Both trails and truth are represented by the rain! 

In Matthew 7, Jesus is saying the rain is the trails in your life. 

The rain came to your life this year: as an inconvenience, as truth, or as trials. 

The same rain that comes from His mouth, reveals what was in the dirt to begin with. The rain that comes from the trials in your life reveals what was in the surface the whole time. 

RAIN brings REVELATION. Don’t waste it. 

Is the rain revealing your heart? 

The revelation requires a response. Put God’s Word into practice.  If you do nothing with His word, you are wasting the rain, you are being foolish and you will fall apart  (Matthew 7:27). 

God is using the rain not just to reveal you, but to be a steward of every storm. 

The rain came to reveal what your house is really built on. When you hit the storm, become the student. Because the rain will always bring you revelation. There are things that you only learn in the storm. Isn’t it always we are running from the storm? 

Don’t waste the storm that is here to serve you, to show you how strong your foundation is. 

DONT. WASTE. THE. RAIN.

Rain. Reveal. Revelation. 

If you are already in the rain, stick through it. Why go back to the same way you were? If you are in the rain, don’t waste it. God is already revealing you. If you are in the rain, let Him reveal to you to give you revelation. If you are in the rain, don’t be foolish by going back to your old ways. If you are in the rain, let God be your foundation. 

God will allow certain things to be taken away so that you build back on the rock! 

In Matthew 7, the rain revealed the rock. Your life needs to be built on something solid. God wants you stable! 

In James 5, Elijah prays for rain to stop, then prays for rain to come down.

In 1 King 18,  Elijah had faith during a famine. The one who was given to prophesy in the rain. He prayed for rain and was able to tell Ahab to stop wasting his Reign.

• Don’t let one negative word (a Jezebel) get you off track from God–the maker of rain! 
• Isn’t amazing how one little negative thought can waste your rain? 
• Isn’t it amazing how Ahab wasted his reign because Jezebel spoke? He wasted God’s rain! 
• Elija almost wasted his rain because of Jezebel. 

What words have been sent into your soul to get you running from the very thing you prayed for? 

If the Lord is with you, don’t run for what you prayed for! Don’t waste what God gave you. 

You survived too much to NOT steward this storm. 

Ending Prayer

If the enemy has through you down left and dright lately and you are in a storm, tell him he has wasted his weapons because all it did was show you who you rock is and you are still standing! 

Jesus is your rock! 

Don’t waste your rain! What you do with it is up to you! 

Let the rain be your favor! Don’t waste the rain! 

Lord, we receive your rain!