The Rain Is Returning, the Drought is ended

THE RAIN IS RETURNING A Cloud the Size of a Man’s Hand Is Rising Over the Elijah Company A Shavuot Word — First Lady Karen Kendrick Vaughn OPEN HOT I didn’t come to teach you this morning. I came to PROPHESY to you. The drought is breaking. Did you hear me? The DROUGHT — is BREAKING. For nearly seventy years the church has been standing under a closed-up sky. Seventy years — since the last time the real healing rain fell on this land. I’m talking about the tent crusades of the 1950s, when the sick rose up off the cots, the blind saw, the deaf heard, and this whole country knew the power of Yahweh was REAL. That was the last great outpouring of the miraculous the church has seen. And when it lifted — the sky shut. Seventy years of dry ground ever since. Seventy years of preaching ABOUT power instead of walking IN it. Seventy years of remembering what the old folks USED to see — and settling for the memory. But I came to tell somebody this morning — the memory is about to become a MOVEMENT again. THE FAMINE NOBODY NAMED Amos saw it coming. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh.” — Amos 8:11 A famine. Not of bread. Not of water. A famine of the WORD — and where the true Word dries up, the WORKS dry up right behind it. Listen to me, Zion. Somewhere back in the 1950s the rain was FALLING. There was a VOICE in the land — an Elijah- voice crying “COME OUT of her, come OUT of Babylon!” — and wherever that voice went, the rain went with it. The sick got up off the cots. The deaf heard. The lame walked. The tents were full and the glory was real. And then — the heavens shut up. And church, hear me — when the heavens shut, they don’t shut by accident. They shut by a WORD. “As Yahweh, the God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” — 1 Kings 17:1 The same Elijah who SHUT the sky is the one Yahweh appointed to OPEN it again. The drought came by the word of Elijah — and the RAIN comes by the word of Elijah. So if you want to know when the rain is coming back, stop watching the weather — and start LISTENING FOR THE VOICE OF ELIJAH. And church — this house knows that voice. The same voice that opened the last rain — and the scholars themselves tell us it was Brother William Branham who began that healing revival — the voice that cried “come out of Babylon” — is the very voice that called the man of God who stands in this pulpit years ago. That was the FIRST crack of light. The door cracked open. But hear me: Yahweh never meant for that voice to stop at a door. The seed it planted had to survive the summer. And now — after the long drought — that same voice is rising AGAIN. Same Spirit. Same Elijah cry. Same hand lifting out of the sea. Only this time it’s not coming for a TENT — it’s coming for a TABERNACLE. The teachers turned into entertainers. The altars turned into stages. The fire turned into fireworks — a flash, a bang, and then COLD. And a whole generation grew up in the DROUGHT and called it NORMAL. But it was never normal. It was a FAMINE. And famines — END. ELIJAH ON THE MOUNTAIN Now watch where the rain starts. It doesn’t start in the crowd. It doesn’t start in the palace. It starts on a MOUNTAIN — with a MAN — on his FACE. “And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.” — 1 Kings 18:42 Ahab is going to EAT. Ahab is going to DRINK. Ahab is going to celebrate a rain he never prayed for. But Elijah — Elijah is bowed down. Elijah is travailing. Elijah is calling heaven down on his KNEES while the king fills his BELLY. And I came to tell the household of faith this morning: the rain does not answer the APPETITE of Ahab. The rain answers the TRAVAIL of Elijah. The famine of miracles will not break over the comfortable. It will break over the COMPANY that’s still on the mountain — still hungry, still bowed, still believing — while everybody else went to lunch. SEVEN TIMES Now here’s the part I came to preach. Elijah hears it before he sees it. He told Ahab, “there is the sound of abundance of rain” — but there’s not a cloud in the sky. So he sends his servant to LOOK. “Go up now, look toward the sea.” The servant looks — NOTHING. Six times the sky is empty. Six times the report comes back dry. And church, that SEVEN is no accident. Yahweh works in sevens. Six days of labor — and a SEVENTH day of rest and glory. Six moves of His Spirit across this church age. Every awakening. Every outpouring. Every wave that stood up and cried “THIS IS IT!” — and every one of them came back like that servant walking up from the sea: a little water, and then dry ground again. Six times the church looked. Six times the FULL rain held back. Because the abundance of rain was never promised on the sixth. It was promised on the SEVENTH. The cloud rises at the dawn of the SEVENTH DAY — the Kingdom age. And that seventh day does not belong to a denomination. It does not belong to a crowd. It belongs to the MINISTRY OF ELIJAH and his SCHOOL OF PROPHETS — the sons of the prophets gathered under the mantle, trained, watching the sea, waiting for the cloud. THAT is when the rain returns. Not to a man striving by himself — to a COMPANY. To a school. To the firstfruits taught by Elijah. But Elijah didn’t quit at six. James knew something about that kind of waiting: “Be patient therefore, brethren... Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.” — James 5:7 Long patience. Precious fruit. The farmer doesn’t dig up the seed because it’s taking too long — he WAITS for the rain. And so does the remnant. “Go AGAIN — seven times.” And on the SEVENTH time — “Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.” — 1 Kings 18:44 Don’t despise it because it’s SMALL. It’s not a storm. It’s not thunder. It’s not the whole sky lit up. It’s a cloud — the size of a man’s HAND. But that HAND — that hand is the HAND OF YAHWEH rising up out of the sea. That hand is DOMINION. That hand is the KINGDOM breaking through. That little cloud is the whole drought — about to be DROWNED. THE RAIN THAT TEACHES Now somebody asks me — Sister Karen, what KIND of rain is coming? I’m glad you asked. When Joel prophesied the rain, the word he used for rain is moreh — and moreh doesn’t just mean RAIN. It means TEACHER. “Be glad then, ye children of Zion... for he hath given you the former rain... and he will cause to come down... the latter rain.” — Joel 2:23 So the rain that’s coming is not just an emotion. It’s not just a goosebump. It’s not just one more conference. The rain that’s coming is a TEACHER. It is the SPIRIT OF TRUTH — coming down to bring the Bride to MATURITY. And Hosea already told us the rain and the KNOWING come together: “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know Yahweh: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” — Hosea 6:3 Did you catch it? He doesn’t just SEND the rain — He COMES as the rain. The latter rain is not a THING He gives. The latter rain is HIM. And He comes to the ones who “follow on to KNOW” — the ones who keep pressing into the truth. And here is the key the church has missed for seventy years: the church wanted the POWER without the TEACHING. They wanted the signs without the Sonship. They wanted the rain without the RESTORED WORD. But Yahshua said the signs would FOLLOW. Follow WHO? Follow them that BELIEVE — believe the TRUTH that’s being restored in this hour. So the miracles are returning — but they’re returning under the TEACHINGS OF ELIJAH. They’re coming back to the people who got the doctrine RIGHT first. The healing follows the TRUTH. The wonders follow the WORD. You restore the teaching of Elijah — and the rain of Elijah comes right behind it. IT FALLS ON THE FIRST And don’t you miss WHERE it falls. “I will pour out my Spirit upon ALL flesh...” — Joel 2:28 All flesh — eventually. That’s the wide promise. That’s the harvest. But it doesn’t start with all flesh. It starts on ZION. It starts on the FIRSTFRUITS. It starts on the OVERCOMERS — the company that didn’t leave the mountain. The Spirit is not falling on the crowd this morning. It’s falling on the FIRST. The fire is not resting on PERFORMANCE. It’s resting on PREPARATION. So I’m not preaching to everybody this morning. I’m preaching to the ELIJAH COMPANY. I’m preaching to the prophets who’ve been hidden in the cave during the famine, eating bread and waiting. I’m preaching to the remnant that watched the sky go dry and KEPT PRAYING. The miracles are coming back — and they’re coming back to YOU FIRST. FINAL CALL — LET IT RAIN So I came to give an altar call to the heavens this morning. Peter stood up at the FIRST rain and told them how to get ready for the LAST one: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of Yahweh; and he shall send Yahshua... whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things.” — Acts 3:19–21 The refreshing comes AFTER the repenting. The rain comes AFTER the bowing. And it comes to usher in the RESTORATION of all things — that’s where this whole story is going. The rain doesn’t fall on spectators. It falls on the HUNGRY. So if you want the drought to break over your life — you’ve got to ASK. “Ask ye of Yahweh rain in the time of the latter rain.” — Zechariah 10:1 The seventh time has come. The cloud has appeared. The hand is rising out of the sea. The famine of miracles is BREAKING — right here — right now — over a people who refused to quit at six. So let the prophets come out of the cave. Let the overcomers rise. Let the virgins trim their lamps. Let the sick stop apologizing for believing. Let this house lift up ONE voice and call it down — The drought is OVER. The cloud is HERE. The Teacher is COMING. And the signs — the wonders — the healing — they are RETURNING to the Elijah Company. So shout it with me, Zion — LET. IT. RAIN. First Harvest Ministries International · Shavuot