“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the
presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive
until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world
began.” Acts 3:19-21
God’s method of bringing forth His purpose in the earth is to move like a contractor building a house. God is in fact building
a house—the House of the Lord. He is moving in each generation to lead that generation closer to His original purpose and
goal.
He does this by bringing a word to each generation to which they are challenged to respond.
It is the “now” word, the “today” word, the “coming upon” word that will bring life and meaning to their existence.
As God brings present truth to each generation His Spirit goes before that word with special times and seasons of
refreshing that are meant to prepare the spiritual soil in the hearts of His people for the seed of truth that is to be planted.

I. There are times or seasons of refreshing that God inspires that are consistent with God’s overall plan for His people.
A. These times and seasons are times where God provides special grace to enter into His purposes.
B. These times and seasons are described in ten different ways in the Bible.

1. Times of Refreshing (Acts 3:19)
2. Times of Restoration (Acts 3:21)
3. Set Times (Ps. 102:13)
   You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come.
4. Fullness of Times (Gal. 4:4)
   But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those
   who were under the law…
5. Times and Seasons (I Th. 5:1)
   But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.
6. Day of Visitation (I Pet. 2:12)
   …having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your
   good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
7. Appointed time (Acts 17:26)
   And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their
   preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings…
8. Time of Reformation (Heb. 9:10)
   …concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
9. Time of Visitation (Lk. 19:44b)
   …because you did not know the time of your visitation.
10. Time of Latter Rain (Zech. 10:1)
    In more recent history, these times and seasons are often referred to as “revivals” or “renewals.” These revivals or renewal
    seasons are not intended to be an end in themselves, but they are meant to accomplish a specific purpose and make God’s
    people more suited to His purpose.

C. These times and seasons are often associated prophetically with the pouring out of water. They are seen as:

1. Rain from heaven (Joel 2:23; Zech. 10:1)
2. Rivers of living water (Jn. 7:38)
3. Fountains of life (Ps. 36:5-9; Jer. 2:13; 17:13; Rev. 21:6)
4. Springs of joy (Ps. 87:7; Num. 21:17)
5. Showers of blessing (Ezek. 34:26; Mi. 5:7)
   I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there
   shall be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 34:26

D. These times and seasons must be discerned (Mt. 16:3; Luke 12:56).
We must have spiritual eyes and ears to discern what God is doing. Unfortunately, not everyone will perceive that God is
doing anything. Jesus represented one of the greatest visitations of all time, but not everyone discerned the times.
“Then He also said to the multitudes, “When you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is
coming’; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ’There will be hot weather’; and there is. Hypocrites!
You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?” Luke 12:56 “Hypocrites! You
know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Matthew 16:3

E. These times and seasons demand a response (I Chr. 12:32).
The children of Issachar were commended in the Old Testament because they were able to discern the day in which they
lived and along with that they knew how they were to respond.
“The children of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…” I Chronicles 12:32
F. These times and seasons have a special purpose in God’s mind (Eccl. 3:1; 8:6).
Everything God does, He does with purpose in mind. God wants to accomplish something special in His special prophetic
times and seasons.

II. These times or seasons of refreshing will usually include four principle ingredients (Acts 3:19-21).
It should be noted that these elements will be present or apply whether a believer is in God’s special time of visitation in
their personal life with the Lord, whether a local church is experiencing a special time of visitation in its journey with the
Lord or whether the entire church worldwide is experiencing a fresh moving of the Holy Spirit.
Re-read: Acts 3:19-21
Each one of these elements lays the foundation for and paves the way for the next one.

A. Repentance
When we are confronted with new insight and illumination from the Lord, the first response must always be repentance.
Repentance precedes revival (John the Baptist must precede Jesus).
Our repentance is for:

1. Drifting way from God’s intended purpose.
2. Lack of responsiveness to the moving of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
3. Doing our own thing in our own way.
4. Neglecting the “now” or the revealed word of God.

B. Conversion
Repentance must to lead to conversion.

1. Conversion involves turning around or changing what we are presently doing or the direction we are presently going.
   We must be willing to change and do things differently than we did them before if we are going to enter into the “now”
   word of the Lord.
2. Conversion involves adopting a new lifestyle, methodology or emphasis.
   C. Healing
   As we respond to the Lord in genuine repentance and manifest a true willingness to change, God comes in and brings
   healing to us. This healing is manifest in:
3. Receiving the forgiveness of sins.
4. Being delivered from former bondages.
5. Experiencing new grace for change.
6. Enjoying new found freedom in Christ.
   D. Refreshing
   The repentance, conversion and healing were to position us for God’s refreshing. Peter’s words make it clear that we
   position ourselves so that “times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). God desires to blow
   fresh air on His people as they respond to His moving.
   The Amplified Bible says it this way, “That the times of refreshing, or recovering from the effects of the heat, of reviving
   with fresh air—may come from the presence of the Lord.”
7. The word “refreshing” from the Greek means “a cooling off or refreshing, recovery of breath, refreshment of one’s spirit,
   revive” (Thayer).
8. In God’s method, this is our time to absorb and accommodate ourselves to the “now” word that God has spoken.
   Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great
   mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O
   God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the
   fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in
   Your light we see light. Psalm 36:5-9

III. These times and seasons can only be fully experienced when we have the right heart attitude toward receiving.
A. There are attitudes that will promote refreshing for the believer or the church.

1. We will be blessed if we are “poor in spirit” (Mt. 5:3). When we are poor in spirit, it simply means that we acknowledge
   that we have a need. We are not self-satisfied. Believing that we have it all closes the door to further blessing.
2. We will be blessed if we hunger and thirst (Mt. 5:6). Hungering and thirsting are described in several ways.
   a. Panting after (Ps. 42:1; Ps. 38:10).
   As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm
   42:1-2a
   b. Longing for (Ps. 63:1; 84:2; 107:9; 119:20)
   O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where
   there is no water. Psalm 63:1
   My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Psalm 84:2
   c. Thirsting after (Ps. 42:2; 63:1; 143:6; Neh. 9:15-20; Is. 55:1)
   I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Psalm 143:6
   d. Hungering for (Ps. 107:9; Luke 1:53).
   For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:9
   B. There are things that will hinder refreshing for the believer or the church.
3. Forsaking the Lord (Deut. 11:16-17; Jer. 2:13; Amos 4:7)
   Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the
   LORD’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produces,
   and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you. Deuteronomy 11:16-17
   For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves
   cisterns–broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13
4. Disobedience (Lev. 26:12-24; I Kgs. 17:1; Jer. 3:3; 14:4)
   Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; you refuse
   to be ashamed. Jeremiah 3:3
5. Pride (Rev. 3:17)
   You say, “I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!” And you don’t realize that you are wretched and
   miserable and poor and blind and naked.
6. Unrepentant Sin (II Chr. 6:26-27; 7:13-14; Is. 5:6)
   If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this
   Temple and confess your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, then hear from heaven and
   forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to do what is right, and send rain on your land that you
   have given to your people as their special possession. II Chronicles 6:26-27
   At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or I might command locusts to devour your crops, or I might send
   plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and
   turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. II Chronicles 7:13-14

IV. These times or seasons of refreshing will prepare the way for the restoration of the Church and the Second Coming of
Christ.

Peter says that these times and seasons must come before Christ returns a second time (Acts 3:21).
A. From a prophetic standpoint there are two special or primary “times of refreshing” which are referred to as the early or
“former rain” and the “latter rain” (Jam. 5:7).

1. The former or early rain
   Prophetically this refers to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Early Church at Pentecost (Acts 2).
2. The latter rain
   Prophetically this refers to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit or the season of refreshing at the end of the Church Age
   immediately preceding the Second Coming of Christ.
   Even though these terms have been abused and misused in recent history and they have a certain stigma attached to them,
   they are biblical terms and concepts. So rather than avoid them we really need to redefine them.
   B. The natural concept that serves as a basis for our understanding of this is the natural cycle of rains in Israel around which
   all of their agricultural and feast times were built (Deut. 11:10-17).
   For the land you are about to enter and occupy is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you planted your
   seed and dug out irrigation ditches with your foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 It is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of
   rain–12 a land that the LORD your God cares for. He watches over it day after day throughout the year! 13 “If you carefully
   obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul, and if you
   worship him, 14 then he will send the rains in their proper seasons so you can harvest crops of grain, grapes for wine, and
   olives for oil. 15 He will give you lush pastureland for your cattle to graze in, and you yourselves will have plenty to eat. 16
   “But do not let your heart turn away from the LORD to worship other gods. 17 If you do, the LORD’s anger will burn against
   you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and your harvests will fail. Then you will quickly die in that good land the
   LORD is now giving you.”
3. The early rain came in around the time of planting and was instrumental in softening the ground and germinating the
   seed for the coming harvest.
4. The latter rain came in toward the days of harvest and was instrumental in ripening the grain just prior to actual
   harvesting.
5. In between these two major rains, there was a long dry spell. There may have been periodic sprinkles of rain but nothing
   of major consequence.
   C. The Old Testament prophets used these agricultural cycles to apply to the moving of God’s Spirit among His people.
   Several prophets (including Joel, Hosea, Zechariah) used this terminology that was later picked up in the New Testament.
   Each of these prophets expanded the prophetic implications of the EARLY and LATTER rain.
6. Joel in his prophecy connects the concept of “latter rain” with restoration and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit prior to
   the Second Coming of Christ (Joel 2:21-27 especially vs. 23).
   It should be noted that even though the early church used Joel’s prophecy and applied it to what happened on the Day of
   Pentecost (i.e. the early rain), the more specific words of Joel’s prophecy make it clear that he was actually speaking of an
   the outpouring that was to occur just prior to the return of the Lord (i.e. the latter rain, See Acts 2:17-21).
   “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your
   daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and
   on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above
   and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
   blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the
   name of the LORD shall be saved.” Acts 2:17-21
7. Hosea indicated that Christ would come like the former and the latter rain (Hosea 6:1-3 especially vs. 3).
   “Come, and let us return to the LORD; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two
   days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the
   knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and
   former rain to the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3
8. Zechariah indicated that we need to be discerning about the times and so that we can know when it is time to ask for the
   latter rain. At that time we need to seek the Lord for the fulfillment of His word (Zech. 10:1).
   D. James, the brother of the Lord, picked up on the theme and again applied the agricultural concept to the spiritual
   purpose of God (Jam. 5:7).
   Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
   waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
   James indicated that God as the heavenly husbandman or farmer is waiting for the earth to bring forth spiritually what He
   has been waiting for through the ages. He further indicated that it will happen in response to the coming of the early and
   the latter rains.
   E. The spiritual or prophetic fulfillment of the EARLY and LATTER rain speaks of two primary seasons of refreshing in God’s
   timetable.
9. The former rain speaks of the outpouring of rain (the Holy Spirit) on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21).
   This rainfall of the Holy Spirit accomplished exactly what the early rain accomplished in the natural agricultural cycle in
   Palestine. It softened the ground to receive the seed sown by the sower (the Son of Man). It was instrumental in the
   germination of that seed and the initial sprouting of that seed.
10. The latter rain refers to an outpouring that God will bring to ripen the grain to prepare for the harvest, which is at the
    end of the age (Mt. 13:39; Rev. 14:15).
11. The latter rains were always considered the most precious and they were of double intensity (Jer. 5:23-25).
    But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, “Let us
    now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed
    weeks of the harvest.”
    The exciting thing here is that as wonderful as the experience was associated with the early rain in the history of the
    church, the experience of the end time church will be even greater. The season of the harvest will be a time of great
    rejoicing as God brings His purposes to completion.
    V. We are instructed to ask for the rain (Zech. 10:1).

God is going to be faithful to bring the rain of refreshing in its season. As believers in our day, we can believe three things.
We can believe that God is going to give us rain in due season. We can believe that we are going to experience our
appointed time. We can believe that as we fear the Lord and remain responsive to the present dealings of God we will not
miss our day of visitation.
“Ask the LORD for rain In the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain,
Grass in the field for everyone.”