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R³ Devotional - Day 255

R³ Devotional - Day 255 - Joel 1-3

By: Anderson Baptist Church

Have you ever read the book of Joel?  I’ll admit it’s a first for me too, and well Joel doesn’t hold back telling what God has told him to tell His people.  Who is Joel?  He is the son of Pethuel.  That’s it, that is all the intro for this prophet we are given.  The people have turned away from God (again), and God has told Joel what He is going to do.  Buckle your seatbelts kids, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.  

Chapter 1: Joel is saying, hey guys, you are going to want to pay attention and remember this so that you can tell your children, and they can tell their children, and they can tell their children’s children.  They are in a famine so bad that not even the elders can recall a worse famine.  Locusts have come to eat everything, cutting locusts first, then swarming locusts, then hopping locusts, then finally the destroying locusts.  What was left?  Nothing.  No grapes for wine, no pasture for grazing animals, no wheat for flour, no olives for oil.  He calls for mourning, to lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth lamenting for her bridegroom who is dead.  TURN BACK TO GOD.  He calls for priests to guide this nation into repentance and prepare to do the work of repentance!  How?  Fast, gather together from elders to God’s people, come into the house of the Lord and cry out trusting that He will respond in mercy.

Chapter 2: The Day of the Lord is coming!  
Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on My Holy mountain!  
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, 
for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, 
a day of darkness and gloom, 
a day of clouds and thick darkness!  

Destruction, an army of locusts, people are in anguish, the earthquakes, the sun and moon darken, stars withdraw their shining…For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?  Even with all the destruction that is promised, the Lord still tells them to return to Him, actually to return to Him with ALL their heart, and repent, for our God is merciful and gracious and forgiving!  He calls for them to repent again, fast, gather the people, even the nursing babies and newlyweds and consecrate the people.  Priests urge the people to come back to God and cry out for God to spare your people!  Once again God had pity on the people and sent them grain and wine and oil. He sent rain to restore the pasture lands, and wheat fields, grape vines and fruit trees will bear fruit again.  Once again, His name will be PRAISED!

Chapter 3: Judgement is coming. 
Judgement is coming, consecrate for war, beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears.  God is calling for warriors of ALL nations, come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for judgment is coming, the end of age, the rapture.  God will pour out His judgment on Egypt and Edom to avenge the blood of His children!   

Real Life Principles:  
No one is without sin, have you come before God mourning that you have sinned?  Has your sin wrecked your spirit so badly that you fasted and wept bitterly and mourned for God to cleanse you of that sin?  
Relevant Life Applications:  
All sin should wreck our spirit to the point of weeping and bitter mourning, crying out to God that we need Him to clean us again, and He will.  
Being Ready with Life Action Steps:  
 Come back to God, repent of your sins, share the Gospel, judgment day is coming. 


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