Its' Not All Over
Taken from "FIRE UPON THE ALTAR" Chapter Twenty
by Gene Easley
Rain comes for the primary purpose of watering the earth that in turn the
earth might bring forth its fruit. The outpouring of God's Spirit is as a
spiritual rain from heaven. It is the rain of the Holy Spirit that will
bring forth the harvest of souls.
It was on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost as recorded in Acts chapter
two that the rain of God's Spirit began to be poured out in these last
days. In the Old Testament the Feast of Pentecost was referred to as the
Feast of the Harvest. Therefore Pentecost speaks not only of the Spirit
being given to us, but also of the harvest of souls being reaped.
James spoke of a former and a latter rain of God's Spirit being
poured out upon the earth to bring forth its precious fruit (James 5:7).
We are living in that latter rain. It will not be over until the harvest
of these last days is in.
Therefore, it is not the plan of God that any individual Christian
or church body lose that burning fire of the power of God's Holy Spirit.
In fact, we will need it more than ever if we intend to work in this great
harvest! The outpouring of the Spirit is still for us today. All we need
is an empty vessel to receive it!
As a young man of nineteen, I had my first encounter with the Lord
Jesus Christ in the experience of salvation. What a wonderful experience
when He saved me! My salvation was real. The new joy was more than I could
explain. But it was nearly three years later before I experienced the
fulness of the power of the Holy Spirit.
Two years after my experience of salvation, I entered the United
States Air Force. Immediately, I began to realize the need for a deeper
walk with God. My Christian witness was weak. I seemed to lack the ability
to stand for Christ the way I knew I should.
After eight months in the military, I was transferred to a new
base. There my life would be totally changed. On arriving at this new
base, I realized more than ever that I must have more of God in my life. I
could not continue in my spiritual weakness. So I made a decision to do
something about my situation. There was a beautiful mountain range near
the city where I was stationed. I decided that that would be the ideal
place to go and find God and receive the help that I needed.
I resolved that I would go up one of those mountains and find a
place where I could be completely alone with God. There I would cry out to
God until He came and met my need and filled my life with power.
Since I did not own a car in which to travel to the mountains, my
first step was to buy one. It so happened that a man in the shop where I
worked had one for sale in my price range. I went to the credit union on
base and made an application to borrow the money for the car. I was told
that it would be two weeks before the loan would be approved.
Two weeks later the loan went through, and I bought the car. But I
didn't have to go to the mountains to have that experience with God that I
so desired! The day before I bought the car, the Spirit of God moved in a
mighty way in the church I attended. I met God down at the altar and so
had no need to look anywhere else.
It began like any other Sunday morning. But it didn't stay that way
long. After the pastor preached his message that morning, a heavy
conviction seemed to fall upon the congregation. One by one people began
to fill the altars of prayer. Amazingly enough, it was the youth of the
church who were most drawn by God's Spirit. They were the ones who had
always seemed to have so little interest in spiritual things. You would
find many of them on the back rows entertaining themselves as the pastor
poured out his heart in the services. But they were the ones God was
dealing with in a special way. Their parents had been praying for revival
and a move of God and now the fruit was coming forth.
I answered that altar call with the others. But I seemed to receive
little from God. Many around me were being saved and filled with the
Spirit. It was about one in the afternoon when I arose from that altar of
prayer. Others were rejoicing, but I felt left out. I left church with a
dry and empty feeling.
I rode back to the air base with a family from the church. It was a
restless afternoon. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. It was impossible to
relax. I did not understand what I was experiencing in my heart and soul.
I couldn't concentrate on anything. Finally, about an hour earlier than
usual, I began getting dressed for the evening service. Then to my
surprise, just as I had put on my suit and tie, the lady that I always
rode to church with pulled up in front of the barracks. Up to that day, I
had always walked to the main gate of the base, and there she and her
family would pick me up along with another young man. So I did not
understand why she had come to my barracks. And why so early?
When I went out to her car, she asked, "Gene, would you like
to go to church early tonight?" I said, "Sure," After I got
my Bible, we were on our way, but I still didn't understand what was
happening. She seemed so excited and so eager to get to the service.
En route to the church she told me why she was so excited.
"There have been people in the church all afternoon praying,"
she said with heart overflowing. "People have been getting saved and
baptized in the Holy Spirit throughout the afternoon. Many of the young
people who had gone home were called back to the church," she
continued. She went on to tell me that some of those teen-agers, those who
had seemed so rebellious before, were among those finding cleansing from
sin and being empowered with God's Spirit.
I could not wait to get to church. That same desire that had made
me want to go to the mountains and pray was again rising in my heart. That
dear sister in the Lord and I were almost running by the time we arrived
at the church. As I entered the sanctuary, there were some still gathered
around the altars of prayer. The Spirit was moving, and I was hungry. I
could not wait to join those on their knees before God. I wanted what God
was pouring out that day more than anything else in this world!
But as I was about half way down the aisle of the church, everyone
who had been praying suddenly got up. They greeted one another and
rejoiced with one another, and the praying was over. I had wanted so
desperately to join them at those altars and to receive what they were
receiving! But now I was too late! I sat down on about the third row of
seats from the front, and I thought to myself, "Well, it's all over,
and I've missed it." How wrong we can be sometimes! But I was feeling
discouraged and more than a little despondent.
We always had a youth service at 6 p.m. before the 7 p.m. evening
worship service. As I sat there feeling sorry for myself, our youth leader
stood and said, "I think we will cancel our regular youth service
tonight, and, instead, we will have those who have received something from
God today stand and give their testimonies." I know that she was
hearing from God when she made that decision, because it was a decision
that directly affected my life and changed me forever.
