It's been three years since it has rained in Namanga, and it is so dry that the air is full of dust.  We are in the south of Kenya with the Masaai, a tribe of strange dress and stranger customs.  They are known for the way they mutilate their ear lobes and for their fearlessness in fighting lions.  They are also very clannish, and rarely get saved.

But here we are ministering in a Masaai church, to which they have walked for hours to come to.  Some of the Masaai that are here walked almost 30 miles from Tanzania just to hear the Gospel delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit. These are serious people with a serious desire for Truth.

The Maasai are one of the most despised people in Africa.  Because of their uncivilized customs, other tribes look upon them as slightly sub-human, little better than animals.  Their lives are buried in darkness.  Generation upon generation of curses have been heaped upon this people to the extent that they cannot deliver themselves from them.  They cut their bodies, wear bizarre decorations, inflict intense personal pain and mutilations in their initiation rites, and give themselves over to a demonic blood lust and satanic worship.  These are not cute tourist attractions - these are the curses of God.  The demonic hold upon these people is so strong that few Maasai ever become Christians.

Last year, however, the Lord gave me a word of hope for the Maasai people.  Coming out of Isaiah chapter 40 was a promise of hope that their curses had been broken as they sought God through His Word.  The Lord was very specific - they must seek Him through His Word.  Well, guess what?  If you try and find some Bibles in the Maasai language, even in Kenya, they cannot be found.  Backordered for months.  Nice trick.  Reminds me of Balaam.  If the devil can cut them off from Bibles, he can cut off the deliverance.  But God always makes a way, even in the storm, and we have seen the beginning flickerings of a move of God amongst the Maasai.

This year, the Lord gave me a word concerning the drought.  It hasn't rained in their area for 3 years, and you can imagine how dry it is.  The morning I was about to leave, the Lord revealed to me that the physical conditions of the drought only reflected their spiritual drought.  They are so dry that they are languishing spiritually and slowly dying, hoping for something from God to deliver them. 

Three years is the same amount of time that Elijah had called for a drought upon Israel.  Now was time to build the altar, stack the wood, and place the sacrifice upon the altar.  But before the fire of God was ever going to fall from Heaven, the sacrifice had to be drenched with water.

Water is a picture of the cleansing power of the Word, not only in Ephesians 5:26, but in several other places.  The most notable one is the Laver of Brass in the Tabernacle.  Before going in to minister, the priests had to wash in that laver of brass or they would die on the way in.  The brass for the laver was made from the lookinglasses of the women (Exodus 38:8).  In other words, you would look into the Word of God and see a reflection of your heart and wash with the water of the Word before going into minister unto God.  God is holy, and without holiness, no man shall see the Lord, and it is the Word that cleanses you.

The barrels of water that Elijah poured upon the sacrifice on top of Mt. Carmel were also a picture of the Word of God.  No revival will come without the people drenched in the Word of God.  Prayer, deep prevailing prayer, will not come without it.  Repentance and broken hearts will not come without it.  Desire for holiness and a love of God will not come without it.  A burden for lost souls, the driving engine for revival, will not come without it.  The fire of God will not fall unless the sacrifice is drenched with the Word of God.

This lines up with the word that I had gotten the year before that the curses would be broken as they sought Him "...through His Word."  

If that applies to the Maasai, does it not also apply to us?  And yet we snack on a few verses here and there, follow some lame excuse to read the Bible in a year, lean upon the pastor to tell us what the Word says, and spend all our time and money on stupid Christian self-help books.  And we expect God to pour out a revival upon us?  You have got to be kidding!

When we begin to cry out to God like Rachael, "Give me souls lest I die!", when we break upon that cornerstone and seek Him with all our strength and yield to the brokenness of the Cross, when we are so desperate for revival that we are willing to die, then perhaps God will hear.

Until then, we are just a tinkling cymbal.