A Call to Repentance
Five Signs
Joel concludes his first chapter with four things that he strongly suggests that should be done if the nation wanted to see recovery. The same is true in our culture today. We need to see a major recovery and yes a genuine Spirit-led revival. Joel’s thoughts are exactly what needs to happen in today’s world. If these things were to happen then a revival would follow.
Mourning Ministry
The first half of verse 13 tells the priests to put on sackcloth and mourn and wail before the altar. This is a call for humility. It calls for the clergy to spend time before the altar until the Spirit of the Lord comes to them. Implied is a time of repentance. It would be repentance for personal sin. It is also repentance for the lack of passion for God. Also it is repentance for the sin of thinking one church or denomination can bring the land back to the Lord. It would be repentance for focusing on the external things and not the internal Spirit-led things. It would be repentance that puts program over purity, method over mission, personal preferences over passionate prayer and possessions over people. This mourning would lead to humility. Without humility there is no revival.
Sacrificing Saints
In the second half of verse 13 he tells the saints (priests) to spend the night in sackcloth. The offering that used to be given to the Lord were gone because of the locust invasion. The only thing left for the priests to give was themselves. There it is if our culture is to recover it will take a large group of people giving themselves to the Father for His purpose. This is sacrifice of personal goals, ideas and direction and taking up what He wants to give. Sacrifice involves allowing God to own all of your material possessions and to use them for what he would like to use them for. Sacrifice will likely involve suffering. Without sacrifice there is no remission for sin or any recovery.
Sacred Summoning
Joel makes it very clear that the nation is to call a holy fast. Fasting has all but lost in the modern culture. Fasting is too difficult. It takes too much time (huh). You mean I can’t eat or eat a restricted diet. What part of what Jesus, said, when He said when you fast. (Matthew 6:16, 17)
Ladies and Gentlemen, if we are serious about our culture recovering then we will have to in droves begin to fast as a regular spiritual discipline and while we are at in sit (symbolical sacrifice of self) in sackcloth and ashes and mourn for the country.
Not only are we to begin a holy fast (which could last from 3-21 days*) but we are to summon those who are mature in the faith to a Sacred Assembly. A Sacred Assembly is a daylong affair centered on knowing who God is. I believe that now is the time for the nation to call for this event to take place. To those who dare to, gather your friends together on a day and spend it in prayer, fasting, reading scripture and learning who God is on an intimate level. # This is a sign of obedience.
Prepare for the Power
In verse 15 Joel says that the day of the Lord is near and it will come with destruction from the Almighty God. In Joel’s case the destruction had already come in the form of locusts destroying their way of life. In the first blog post of this series it was spelled clearly that Joel’s locusts have come back. The locusts have returned to America and we have been warned that they are here. (It can be found on this page by scrolling down. It is called An Invasion of Locusts) Do we really want to wait for the total destruction of our way of life like Joel’s day experienced before God judges us as well? It is coming with swiftness and power. Personally I would rather sacrifice now and get on my face before the Lord and pray for a change. This is the sign of judgment. We can either have the words of Joel 1:16, 17 as our fate or seek God desperately.
Finally
I really want to talk about this, but in prayer, the Lord showed me to post the verses and let the reader draw their own conclusion.
To you, O LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures. Joel 1:19, 20 NIV
That is very clear, don’t you think?
* You can ask for a paper on fasting in my message box and I will send it to you.
# You can google Sacred Assembly for a suggested format.
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