One Week in Joel

No book of the Bible can be studied in only one week...even if it is only three chapters long. Although time was short, I learned quite a bit with the help of my commentary about this tiny prophetic book named Joel.

Joel was prompted to call Israel back from its wicked ways as the result of a devastating drought and attack by locusts. Things were so bad, that the daily offerings in the temple had ceased. (see Joel 1:9) Although we don't know exactly when Joel was written, or by whom, we do know that the remnant had returned to Jerusalem, built the walls and the temple was again central to daily living. 

Where Joel first challenged me was a reminder that God reveals Himself to His people not for selfish gain, but to share the revelation with others. [The New Bible Commentary: Revised, reprint 1984] God doesn't meet with me so I can hoard away the blessings of what He teaches...we are always designed to be living communally. That includes sharing His teaching with others.

When I first read this idea of sharing the revelations, I realized that's why I blog. Yes, you can find reviews of restaurants, books, products and gardening tips on here too, but four years ago when I started this blog, it was because my journal just wasn't enough anymore. The pages of my writings could not contain all that God was doing in me. I had to share it with others. At the time, I didn't have anyone that could sit with me for hours and listen to me pour out all the wonder and beauty of what was happening. You...dear reader...became the outlet for me to share what this great God was doing in me and through me.

Four years later, I know He was preparing me for things that are still to come.

How do I know?

Because of this passage in Chapter 2. 

Strangely enough, I used this exact same passage when I spoke (and then wrote) in February about living the vision God has for our lives...now. Peter uses this same prophecy on the day of Pentecost to lead 3000 people to a relationship with their Savior, Jesus. 

What is the prophecy?

That there would be a time when we would have the gift of the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

Ohhh...this is just getting better and better!

There is a lot more in Joel. I encourage you to read it and study it for yourself. Sadly, my friends and I had a limited amount of time to dig in. I leave you with this wonderful quote from my commentary, that gives you some indication of where God is leading me personally:  "If Israel's history had been 'Paradise lost' then the Messianic age is 'Paradise regained." [The New Bible Commentary:Revised p. 723]

This is what God's Spirit is calling me to...a radical devotion that doesn't worry about appearances, comfort, convenience or even my wants or desires. This is why I've been avoiding Him for many months too. Then today...I sat in a worship celebration where He unequivocally confirmed everything He has been calling me to. And the beautiful thing is...I know He was calling others right along with me!

I hope to share more in the next day or two, but for now I leave you with something I said to my friend Julie yesterday as I sat in her kitchen: I don't know what He's doing...but He's doing something.

Living the Vision, part 1: God Still Gives Visions and Dreams

A few weeks ago, I asked the question, "What if we finally awakened to the reality, that the vision (God has for each of our lives) was now?"

In that post, I promised to share more in the coming days. There's been a lot of snow, ice and freezing temperatures in our part of the country, so I had a week longer to prepare to speak at our women's Bible study. Now, as I committed to the ladies today, I'm ready to get myself out of this "winter distracted funk" and settle in to delving into this idea further.

I never set out to have a three-point sermon. It just so happens that when God was growing this lesson in me, He utilized three ideas that He had already been developing in my life. In early November 2013, He pulled all three of these together to present me with a choice of how to proceed in my relationship with Him and the way I approach discerning His will and even how I come to Him in prayer.

But more about this later. For today, I'd like to share the first lesson God had been growing in me for a long time:  He still gives visions and dreams.

Acts 2:17 reminds us of a prophecy first found in Joel 2:28:

"'And it shall be in the last days,' God says,
'That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind,
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
And your young men shall see visions,
And your old men dream dreams;'"

I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but every day we are one step closer in the Kingdom calendar to the day Jesus returns to establish His reign on the New Earth. I have heard Beth Moore state in two different Bible studies, each recorded almost nine years apart, that we are in an obvious time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As she says, 'We didn't all the sudden just wake up and get smart and start studying God's Word.'

The almost insatiable appetite for God's Word, getting back to what really matters (i.e. not building massive churches, but investing massively in Kingdom work), and the current Millennial generation's willingness to forgo college and traditional jobs in order to serve the poor, the destitute and the downtrodden, are all beautifully amazing indications that we are living in a time of God's outpouring of His Spirit. If you need further proof, someone recently shared with me that an online Bible study (I think from Lysa Terkheurst) has 39,000 women from around the world participating in it.

That's just one study.

I hope you're convinced that we are living in a time of God's outpouring. If so, I'd like to press you further into embracing that because of this outpouring, young people "will prophesy".

For just a moment, I'd like for you to set aside your preconceived notions of what it means "to prophesy". It's not just the hairy man standing on the street corner shouting at cars and pedestrians that "the end is near"! The actual dictionary.com definition also includes "a declaration...as if by divine inspiration". There is even an archaic definition rendered as "to teach religious subjects". If you need further proof of this one, return and reread the third paragraph up. This Millennial generation is putting all others to shame in their desire to abandon all and no matter the cost follow the teachings of Jesus. I don't know what could more adequately demonstrate God's declarations.

And as far as visions and dreams...I've heard story after story in recent years of people who have grown up in cultures where Christianity is not even allowed, let alone promoted, and live under hostile religious regimes, yet they are willing to follow Jesus as Messiah because He comes to them in dreams and declares His love for them. Last year, I shared a review of a book written by two such women entitled Captive in Iran.

But here's the place that God was drawing me to last fall:  It's not just dreams, as in the Biblical sense, that He gives...He graces us with His vision for our lives too.

I've actually known this for quite some time. If you've been reading this blog very long, you know that about five years ago we began a financially downward spiral that was out of our control. "Downwardly Mobile" was no longer a cute catch phrase coined by Henri Nouwen to describe when a Christian walks away from the pinnacle of their career to embrace a life of servitude to the marginalized and forgotten. Downwardly mobile was our existence.

I won't rehash it all here, you can already turn to many of the early posts of this blog to learn more about my story. But this blog was started out of the fullness of my heart as God showed me piece by piece how He was reshaping me to be mindful of the "widow and orphans" (James 1:27) of our society. Single moms will always have a special place in my soul because of that time period in my spiritual growth.

God's faithfulness, provision and determination to get me through to His way of looking at life was nothing short of miraculous. But something else happened during that time that I don't think I've ever shared on here. Because of this "revelation" (for lack of a better word) in November, it is now time.

I've lost track of precisely when...but sometime in 2010-2011, God gave me His "vision" for my life. It wasn't a divine billboard dropping out of the sky. It was more like whispers, refinement, unquenchable desires and abiding joy at a plan He was growing in me. I spoke this out loud to a group of people outside of my closest friends and immediate family for the first time today. Somehow it's appropriate that I put it out for the world to know too:

Some day...I would have a place where I can grow things, teach others to grow things (the current "it" word is "live more sustainably") and a place where the "weary traveler" can come, put up their feet, rest, be nourished, encouraged, grow in wisdom, discernment and knowledge, for however long it takes for them to be sturdier on the feet God gave them.

That's a mouthful.

At times, I have thought He has a place for me on the "back 40" somewhere. A place where I can have chickens, goats, orchards, massive garden sites and enough room to take in a herd of people too. I envisioned classes, seminars and relationship upon relationship, cultivated just as much as the ground upon which I would toil.

Other times, I've found it very appealing that maybe God's vision for my life would be in an urban setting. The work that groups like The Simple Way have done to live out love and relationship in the inner city is nothing short of amazing. A "beauty from the ashes" story is one I'd also love to live.

What I was able to share with the ladies this morning in our study of the life of Joseph, son of Jacob, is that while my "trials" by no means compare to his...I do know what it's like to be given a vision by God that looks nothing like your physical life exists.

How could I be confident and assured that His vision would become reality? That's the second part of the lesson He was growing in me. Come back tomorrow (or two days!) to learn why my confidence in His vision could not be shaken.

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More in this series: Part 2 This Life as We Know It...