The Paradigm Shift

Lk. 11:13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

Ac. 1:4-5
4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
5 For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’

The way of receiving the early rain of the Holy Spirit is by praying for it, in the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus is like the staff of Moses in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20.

In the early rain, the recipients are servants of God. In the latter rain, the recipients are sons of God. There is a difference between praying to be included in God's household and receiving what is rightly yours as a son of God.

Hence, in the drinking of water from the rock by the Israelites in Exodus 17, Moses and the Israelites were not yet full members of God's household and the use of the staff that Moses used in Egypt was necessary. In the latter drinking of water from the rock in Numbers 10, Moses and the Israelites were already sons of God. Moses should just speak to the rock to release water for them to drink and become more like God, which was their right as sons of God. Unfortunately, Moses did not understand that their status changed after the earlier drinking of water from the rock. The status change warrants a paradigm shift.

In the past few days, I began to declare as follows:

In the mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Let the latter rain of the Holy Spirit fall upon me and every member of my family and fill us up with living water to overflowing, so that out of our hearts shall flow streams (or rivers) of living water—Jn. 7:38

Jn. 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’
39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The festival of Jn. 7:37 is representative of the Church age. During the closing days of the Church age, rivers of living water will be flowing out of the believers in Jesus Christ. By this time, the believers will come to full realization of their rights as sons of God.