Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things! Do not be afraid, you beast of the field; for the open pastures are springing up, and the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their strength. Be glad you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God. For He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you- the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors will be full of wheat and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. So, I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.
You shall have plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you, and My people shall never be put to shame. The you will know that I am in the midst of Israel; I am the Lord your God and there is no other. Joel 2:21-27
November 5, 2024 will go down in history and in the hearts of the American people, as a night of great victory. The battle for the victory was very costly, with many people serving unfair jail time, being blocked and even banned on several media platforms, and the many of our basic freedoms suffered and were diminished. The battle was an information war, a war between righteousness and iniquity, the bend to rebel against God and His laws. I heard the prophets say that if this battle was lost, it would take seventy years for the opportunity to win back our country. God warned the Israelites in Exodus 20:5 not to bow down to any graven image, “For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations to those who hate me.” Those in government who tried to push iniquity on our beloved United States of America did not take into account the sleeping giant that they provoked with their outlandish legislation. The church came out of their slumber they did as Isaiah 60:1 prophesied, “Arise, shine, for the light has come upon you. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people, but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” The Church awoke and began to engage in the battle for the righteousness of our nation. We stood on the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” God is faithful and He keeps His promises, “ So shall My word be that foes forth from My mouth, it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing in which I have sent it.” Isaiah 55:11. God’s promises that He gave to the Prophets came to pass! Our nation was spared and righteousness is being restored. President Trump said in a speech, “In America we don’t turn to government to restore our souls- we out our faith in Almighty God.” President Trump would be the first to tell you that He is not the source of our hope, he is just a vessel in the hands of the Almighty God. The Almighty God, the God of heaven and earth heard and answered our prayer. The day after the election, it began to rain all over the South Plains. The morning meteorologist from KLBK came in this week to interviews J.D. for a news segment and he told us that the Lubbock area received almost 3 inches of rain on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing the total for the year to almost 18”, a 4’ increase over the yearly average. Not only did the rain those two days take us over the top for the annual rainfall, there was a refreshing in the air. It seemed like the air was clearer and the skies brighter. It is almost like God gave us a shower to wash the doom and gloom we have been battling. Rain has always had a significant implication in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 28, God set clear consequences and blessings for those who chose to obey the Him. He said those who refuse to obey God, will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country because of their wickedness. God even told them one of the consequences of wickedness is that the rain would stop. King Ahab in the bible boldly told Elijah He was not honoring God and it was still raining. That is when Elijah called for a three-and-a-half-year drought. Sadly, the elites are not concerned about God stopping the rain, because they have the technology to make it rain. There are ways to manipulate the weather, it is called Geoengineering, and one tactic used is to seed the clouds and make it rain. News Flash, (God is still bigger than man’s technology!) As a nation, I believe we have been reaping the consequences of an unrighteous “President” and his policies that has done everything in its power to shake their fist at God, from abortion, to gender reassignment, open borders, (yes God clearly set borders in the bible for the nations) and the crazy manmade doctrine like DEI and critical Race Theory that are in opposite of God’s word. They thought they could get away with leading the United States of America, a country dedicated to God, into iniquity. They forgot that “God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7. During President Trump’s first inauguration, it started to rain, and the day after the Trump won the election, it rained again. Rain symbolizing God’s blessing. It is one of the blessings promised to those who love and obey God. For the righteousness, there are blessings promised for every part of their life. Deuteronomy 28:12-13, “The Lord will open up His food treasure, the heavens, to give the rain for your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, you shall be above and not beneath, if you heed the voice of the Lord your God, which I have commanded you today and are careful to observe them.” We are in for a season of blessing and refreshing. Perhaps the season has gone on too long and the devastation has been too great for you to believe that “You will live to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13. My parents lost everything in the Lubbock Tornado of 1970. They did all they could and noting seemed to help get them back on their feet with five children, so my dad took a job in Colorado laying concrete for my uncle. My parents worked so hard to make ends meet for us, at many times they both worked two jobs just to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. My Dad told the story of pulling over on the side of the road and watching farmers drive up and down the fields planting and wistfully dreaming of being able to farm again. No matter how hard things were, my dad never gave up on the faithfulness of God. My parents raised us to love God and keep His statutes, we were taught religiously to pay our tithes. After my dad read his Bible every morning, he would lay it opened to where he was reading on the end table next to his chair. During one of his daily readings, he came across Joel 2 and God promised him that He would “restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the chewing locust.” God’s word got so deep into my dad that he knew we would move back to Texas and he would get to farm again. One of my uncles told me recently, he remembered my dad chasing him down to tell him about the promise God had given him. It was not an overnight change and it took my dad holding on the promise and doing his part to make the dream come to pass. Afte living in Colorado for seven ears, my mom’s brother-in-law called with some land for my dad to rent and my dad’s brother loaned him a tractor to farm the and with. I am so thankful my dad did not let the daunting task of starting over keep him from walking in the blessing of God. When my dad did, the land that no one else wanted to rent was one of the best farms in Cochran County. Maybe you are wondering what that has to do with you. God can promise us blessings and restoration and unbelief will keep us from walking in them. In 2 Kings 6- 7 Syria had besieged and taken hostage the city of Samaria. For protection, the gates were closed to keep the Syrian army out, but the closed gates also kept food and water supplies from coming into the city. The devastation was so great that people were eating dove’s dung and donkey head. Two women were so hungry they agreed to take turns and boil their sons so they could eat their flesh. They boiled and ate one of the boys, but the mother refused to kill her son for food. The King of Samaria sent word for Elisha looking for some relief from God. Elisha gave them a promise from God, ““Tomorrow about this time, a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” So, an officer of whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look even if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And he (Elisha) said, “In fact you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” The Bible goes on to talk about the four leprous men who decided not to sit there until they died, but went into the enemies’ camp and found where God had frightened the army and they fled for their lives leaving all the spoils. The lepers went back to Samaria and told them what they found and the King sent men to the camp to verify their story. When the officer on shoes the king’s hand leaned heard the good report, the king charged him to have charge of the gate and he got trampled to death by the mob and never got to enjoy the blessing God gave to Samaria that day. God is not only our Salvation; He is our Restorer. He is Jehovah, El-Ashiyb, the Lord who restores. There is nothing too hard for God. We have to have the self-discipline and faith needed to believe that God will do what He promises. We have one a great victory in this election, but the battle between good and evil is not over. Do not allow the devil to get you to sin with speaking unbelief and complaining. It was prophesied four years ago that we would have a December to remember, a January of Justice, a February of Fury and a March of celebration. I do not know what the next few months look like and what things the enemy has planned to sabotage our nation, but I know who holds all things in His hand. As a little girl, my parents told me if I could not say anything nice, to keep my mouth shut. I think that would be a word for this season. You have the power of life and death in your tongue. Choose your words wisely because you will eat the fruit of your words. Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good, to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” So, if life does not look good, rest in the fact that God is not done, it will be good when the work is accomplished. It will not just be good; it will be amazing. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly above all we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Ephesians 3:20.
Cathy Nesmith