Hello everyone. I hope your week has been good?
We'll be going on a journey through the book of Joel. I hope to expose certain things about God's pattern of doing things. You would have to pick up your bible to follow closely. God's ways are not the ways of man at all and the book of Joel paints that picture of how things go with God. I mean, the ways of God. I've come to discover that the ways of God remain the same from generation to generation. Though the situations may be different but God's patterns are the same yesterday, today and forever.
For this reason, the people of the land of Judah in the book of Joel were told to make known the ways of God from generation to generation.
Joel 1:3 - "Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation."
Things had gone in disarray on the land and it's a reflection somehow of how things happen in our individual lives. A time came in Judah when it seemed like their productivity was diminishing. The harvest from the seeds they had sown was not encouraging . The increase from their labor and the beauty from the life of consistently working hard was not apparent.
Joel describes it in Joel. 1:4-
"What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
10-The field is wasted,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails."
The 'drying up of the vine' in Vs 12 may present the end of relationships that are very dear to you, relationships that turn sour;'the withering of the gutter' may be breakdown of something you have been trying to build: A business, a career, a dream. 'All the trees of the field are withered', may be an indication of nothing around you making any sense. And joy just seems to be far away from you.
Vs 13,14,19 talks about throwing yourself before God to really say the things that bother you... Stuff like "God Howfar? " "what's going on here". This probably sounds unconventional,but truth is that God wants us to be that open to him, he desires an intimate relationship with you and I.
Vs18-paints a picture of how other things or people in our lives that tend to "suffer" on account of the things that are not making sense in our lives.
Vs19,20- the writer literally spills out everything that's going on. Now, I want to point out here that as much as God knows all that's going on in our lives, there are certain times when we really need to spill out our guts before him just the way it's so painful to us. You know, just like there are times when our friends may offend us and we can overlook it and there are other times when we literally don't let it pass because we feel really hurt about their actions and just speak out our minds:not for any harmful reason but just so they understand how deeply they hurt us.... Yeah, that kinda thing. Truth is, we have an highpriest that feels what we feel(Heb.4:15- For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses)
Davids relationship with God was something like this---(PS. 79,80,83,etc);A transparency before God.
It's the kind of relationship that God the Father would like us to have with him. One in which we can be very open and he can answer the questions of our heart.
In vs12-13, God was expressing his heart to the people : that they should turn to him with all their heart.
The last line of vs13 says that 'He relents from doing harm'. Meaning, God was the factor involved in the disarray of the land. They began having issues when they turned their hearts from God. That means, order is only possible when our hearts, all our hearts is turned to God. This is not to say we should not take any actions but for God to be the center of it all...
The moment other things begin to get in the way, things start to get disordered.
We see the result of turning to God(in the things we have been called or gifted to do) in Vs 18-32.
Let's talk a bit about fasting : it's like 'separation' from the things or environment or activities that point less of your attention to God. It's a repositioning or relocation to a state in our hearts where God is the center and you live every moment in or from the presence of God(Joel chapter2 verse 15)
Chapter 2:21-32 spells out the blessings attached to returning to God. I'll share some more about this in the next post.
In chapter 3,God now arises, by himself, haven blessed his own to now fight for them.
God in his awesomeness has a way of reshapening and rebuilding our lives in such a way that even we ourselves attest to it, that He did it. Where in we don't have to struggle with anyone but the only fight we've got to do is the one for him to remain the custodian of "ALL our hearts "
How can we do this:
~ Release the matter/situation/struggles to God. Turn your heart to God through Jesus.
~ Listen for His voice
~ Ask for help that you will remain in him-we are humans
~ Speak to a trusted elder or person if you have to,in order to stand with you (Joel was an elder)
God has the best in stock for us but we have to position our hearts right to receive them.
Have a blessed week ahead!!!
Yours in Christ,
Dr. Grace.
We'll be going on a journey through the book of Joel. I hope to expose certain things about God's pattern of doing things. You would have to pick up your bible to follow closely. God's ways are not the ways of man at all and the book of Joel paints that picture of how things go with God. I mean, the ways of God. I've come to discover that the ways of God remain the same from generation to generation. Though the situations may be different but God's patterns are the same yesterday, today and forever.
For this reason, the people of the land of Judah in the book of Joel were told to make known the ways of God from generation to generation.
Joel 1:3 - "Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation."
Things had gone in disarray on the land and it's a reflection somehow of how things happen in our individual lives. A time came in Judah when it seemed like their productivity was diminishing. The harvest from the seeds they had sown was not encouraging . The increase from their labor and the beauty from the life of consistently working hard was not apparent.
Joel describes it in Joel. 1:4-
"What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
10-The field is wasted,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails."
The 'drying up of the vine' in Vs 12 may present the end of relationships that are very dear to you, relationships that turn sour;'the withering of the gutter' may be breakdown of something you have been trying to build: A business, a career, a dream. 'All the trees of the field are withered', may be an indication of nothing around you making any sense. And joy just seems to be far away from you.
Vs 13,14,19 talks about throwing yourself before God to really say the things that bother you... Stuff like "God Howfar? " "what's going on here". This probably sounds unconventional,but truth is that God wants us to be that open to him, he desires an intimate relationship with you and I.
Vs18-paints a picture of how other things or people in our lives that tend to "suffer" on account of the things that are not making sense in our lives.
Vs19,20- the writer literally spills out everything that's going on. Now, I want to point out here that as much as God knows all that's going on in our lives, there are certain times when we really need to spill out our guts before him just the way it's so painful to us. You know, just like there are times when our friends may offend us and we can overlook it and there are other times when we literally don't let it pass because we feel really hurt about their actions and just speak out our minds:not for any harmful reason but just so they understand how deeply they hurt us.... Yeah, that kinda thing. Truth is, we have an highpriest that feels what we feel(Heb.4:15- For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses)
Davids relationship with God was something like this---(PS. 79,80,83,etc);A transparency before God.
It's the kind of relationship that God the Father would like us to have with him. One in which we can be very open and he can answer the questions of our heart.
In vs12-13, God was expressing his heart to the people : that they should turn to him with all their heart.
The last line of vs13 says that 'He relents from doing harm'. Meaning, God was the factor involved in the disarray of the land. They began having issues when they turned their hearts from God. That means, order is only possible when our hearts, all our hearts is turned to God. This is not to say we should not take any actions but for God to be the center of it all...
The moment other things begin to get in the way, things start to get disordered.
We see the result of turning to God(in the things we have been called or gifted to do) in Vs 18-32.
Let's talk a bit about fasting : it's like 'separation' from the things or environment or activities that point less of your attention to God. It's a repositioning or relocation to a state in our hearts where God is the center and you live every moment in or from the presence of God(Joel chapter2 verse 15)
Chapter 2:21-32 spells out the blessings attached to returning to God. I'll share some more about this in the next post.
In chapter 3,God now arises, by himself, haven blessed his own to now fight for them.
God in his awesomeness has a way of reshapening and rebuilding our lives in such a way that even we ourselves attest to it, that He did it. Where in we don't have to struggle with anyone but the only fight we've got to do is the one for him to remain the custodian of "ALL our hearts "
How can we do this:
~ Release the matter/situation/struggles to God. Turn your heart to God through Jesus.
~ Listen for His voice
~ Ask for help that you will remain in him-we are humans
~ Speak to a trusted elder or person if you have to,in order to stand with you (Joel was an elder)
God has the best in stock for us but we have to position our hearts right to receive them.
Have a blessed week ahead!!!
Yours in Christ,
Dr. Grace.
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