Join us in prayer tomorrow!

National Day of Prayer
The trumpet is sounding, rallying the people of God to come with “one voice” in prayer and repentance.
Around the world and especially in our very nation, we see the battles of good and evil raging. We, as a nation are too often filled with pride, selfish ambition, materialism, greed, envy, and all types of evil and idolatry. We live in a day and culture where often evil is called good and good evil. Too often, we Christians follow the world and would rather our ears be tickled and entertained than to adhere to the great calling and purpose we have been given.

We are in need of a wake up call. Sound the trumpets! Rally the troops! Put on sack cloth and, like Ezra, pour out your heart to intercede in prayer for this nation. Will you answer the call? Will you join us? It begins with me. It begins with you.
May 1st is our nation’s “National Day of Prayer”. This day was originally declared by George Washington for the people of our fledgling nation to humble themselves before the Almighty God in prayer, fasting, and in seeking His will and ways. It is a day set aside to meditate on His goodness. A day to give thanks and to praise His name! The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has blessed us with grand providence and provision! Ask the thousands, if not millions, who have fled to this nation in search of freedom and in hopes of finding refuge, my own ancestors included. God, in His grace, allowed this Nation to rise into a world power. It was a place of freedom and hope for millions of people fleeing persecution or hardships. God, in His sovereignty, has protected her and poured out his blessings on her. Sadly, like the Israelites, we Christians have fallen in love with the gifts instead of the giver. We can be fickle people and prone to leave the God we claim to love. Will you join us in “rending your hearts and not your garments” this May 1st? Will you join us in interceding for the individuals of this Nation? As you ponder your own whole hearted devotion to the LORD GOD who is worthy of all praise, take time to also reflect on the plight of our Nation. Take a minute to read President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 address below and join us in prayer. Choose this day whom you will serve.!

JANUARY 27, 1983 - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
PRAYER IS THE MAINSPRING OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT, A FUNDAMENTAL TENET OF OUR PEOPLE SINCE BEFORE THE REPUBLIC WAS FOUNDED. A YEAR BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, IN 1775, THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS PROCLAIMED THE FIRST NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER AS THE INITIAL POSITIVE ACTION THEY ASKED OF EVERY COLONIST.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO IN 1783, THE TREATY OF PARIS OFFICIALLY ENDED THE LONG, WEARY REVOLUTIONARY WAR DURING WHICH A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER HAD BEEN PROCLAIMED EVERY SPRING FOR EIGHT YEARS. WHEN PEACE CAME, THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER WAS FORGOTTEN. FOR ALMOST HALF A CENTURY, AS THE NATION GREW IN POWER AND WEALTH, WE PUT ASIDE THIS DEEPEST EXPRESSION OF AMERICAN BELIEF -- OUR NATIONAL DEPENDENCE ON THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.
IT TOOK THE TRAGEDY OF THE CIVIL WAR TO RESTORE A NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER. AS ABRAHAM LINCOLN SAID, “INTOXICATED WITH UNBROKEN SUCCESS, WE HAVE BECOME TOO SELF-SUFFICIENT TO FEEL THE NECESSITY OF REDEEMING AND PRESERVING GRACE, TOO PROUD TO PRAY TO THE GOD THAT MADE US.''
REVIVED AS AN ANNUAL OBSERVANCE BY CONGRESS IN 1952, THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER HAS BECOME A GREAT UNIFYING FORCE FOR OUR CITIZENS WHO COME FROM ALL THE GREAT RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD. PRAYER UNITES PEOPLE. THIS COMMON EXPRESSION OF REVERENCE HEALS AND BRINGS US TOGETHER AS A NATION, AND WE PRAY IT MAY ONE DAY BRING RENEWED RESPECT FOR GOD TO ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD.
FROM GENERAL WASHINGTON'S STRUGGLE AT VALLEY FORGE TO THE PRESENT, THIS NATION HAS FERVENTLY SOUGHT AND RECEIVED DIVINE GUIDANCE AS IT PURSUED THE COURSE OF HISTORY. THIS OCCASION PROVIDES OUR NATION WITH AN OPPORTUNITY TO FURTHER RECOGNIZE THE SOURCE OF OUR BLESSINGS, AND TO SEEK HIS HELP FOR THE CHALLENGES WE FACE TODAY AND IN THE FUTURE.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DO HEREBY PROCLAIM THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1983, NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER. I CALL UPON EVERY CITIZEN OF THIS GREAT NATION TO GATHER TOGETHER ON THAT DAY IN HOMES AND PLACES OF WORSHIP TO PRAY, EACH AFTER HIS OR HER OWN MANNER, FOR UNITY OF THE HEARTS OF ALL MANKIND.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I HAVE HEREUNTO SET MY HAND THIS 27TH DAY OF JAN., IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE, AND OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTH.
RONALD REAGAN
[FILED WITH THE OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL REGISTER, 11:22 A.M., JANUARY 28, 1983]
NOTE: THE TEXT OF THE PROCLAMATION WAS RELEASED BY THE OFFICE OF THE PRESS SECRETARY ON JANUARY 28.

Prayer:
To the Almighty Sovereign LORD,
There is none like You. Forgive us our sins and transgression and make us willing to forgive and love others, especially when it’s difficult. Grant us the strength, humility, and courage to do your will. Set our hearts on fire with love and passion for your great name! Turn our affections from anything and everything that is outside of your will. You alone are worthy of our hearts devotion.
We pray for a revival to spread throughout the nation and world by leading the church to repentance by your mercy and grace. Deliver us from temptation and save us
from the enemy. May we be a generation that is found faithful and true in your eyes. A people full of LIFE, full of JOY, full of HOPE, full of LOVE, full of POWER, and full of YOU. You are our God and we are your people. Come LORD JESUS, Come! To your name be all
the glory. Amen! 

Joel - Return to the LORD!

Deception Locuts in America

 I have spent way too much time trying to figure out when the book of Joel was written and who was Joel. Eventually I realized that those details did not matter and they did not for a specific reason.

If we knew exactly the time the book was written and the life of Joel, we could draw conclusion about the writing and tie it all to that time and place. The truth about this book is that it is for here and today.

Hear this, you elders;
    give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
    or in the days of your fathers?

Tell your children of it,
    and let your children tell their children,
    and their children to another generation.

What the cutting locust left,
    the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
    the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
    the destroying locust has eaten.

Joel 1:2-4

Joel starts with this horrible picture of locusts invading the land. Locusts were a common bedtime story during the Passover as the Israelites would recall the Exodus stories.
Locusts are still alive and well today. They still swarm in Africa and destroy everything in their pass. It is now possible to predict the pass of locusts and prevent the destruction with pesticides. Yet they still come and destroy. In revelation you can read how in the last days we will be plagued with locusts. On the day of judgement we will face the locusts.

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. Revelation 9:3

The battle of Armageddon will be fought after the return of Christ our Lord. The time and day are and will always be unknown. Where we stand today is the valley of decision. Today you have to decide where you are standing. In the valley of decision there is no gray just black and white. We have been misled into thinking that God’s laws offer room for interpretation and options. I will call this living in the gray.

The truth is that God’s laws are black and white. The gray is sin. Sin that entered the world with a simple question “Did God really say…” You can read all about this in Genesis 3.

This gray is what I call the locusts of deception and this is why the prophesy of Joel is applicable to you and me today.

 Let me walk you through a few examples of locusts in our daily lives:

• Prostitution: 

Did God really say......

 "Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 (emphasis mine)

We have slowly and surely accepted prostitution as a fact of life. Each deception locusts pushing us farther and farther into the gray. Simple thoughts such as "it is the oldest job in the world" or "it does not affect me" turn the white from God's law into gray. Here are some facts about prostitution:

The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years (M.H. Silbert and A.M. Pines, 1982, "Victimization of street prostitutes, Victimology: An International Journal, 7: 122-133) or 14 years (D.Kelly Weisberg, 1985, Children of the Night: A Study of Adolescent Prostitution, Lexington, Mass, Toronto). Most of these 13 or 14 year old girls were recruited or coerced into prostitution. Others were "traditional wives" without job skills who escaped from or were abandoned by abusive husbands and went into prostitution to support themselves and their children. (Denise Gamache and Evelina Giobbe, Prostitution: Oppression Disguised as Liberation, National Coalition against Domestic Violence, 1990)
 

Estimates of the prevalence of incest among prostitutes range from 65% to 90%. The Council for Prostitution Alternatives, Portland, Oregon Annual Report in 1991 stated that: 85% of prostitute/clients reported history of sexual abuse in childhood; 70% reported incest.  

Does it still not affect you?

Most of us either watch the Superbowl or know someone who does. At that time of the year it is nearly impossible not to hear about the Superbowl.  Urban legend has it that sex trafficking is increased during the Superbowl and that an influx of prostitutes arrive in the city where the Superbowl is held. There are no real evidence that this is true. However those observations might be tainted by the gray lenses we are looking at those facts. What constitutes prostitution? What is acceptable and what is not? Here is another fact for you to consider.

Law enforcement in New Jersey has worked for years to battle forced prostitution. The state strengthened its human trafficking law in early 2013, but it hit a roadblock in August when a federal judge ruled that a portion of the law that pertains to commercial sex ads posted online may conflict with federal legislation. The state is appealing. [source:AP.org]

• Pornography:

 Did God really say...

"But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:28 (emphasis mine)

 Pornography is a plague that is affected all of us. What you and I consider pornography might not be what God would call pornography. That is the first gray area that we have allowed. What is lustful intent? Lusting after any man or woman that you are not married to is pornography in God's eyes. Accepting anything else is stepping into the gray. We have slowly but surely allowed darker gray to invade this truth by saying "I am a Christian and immune" or "I am a woman and not affected" or "there is no harm in just looking". Here are some facts.

Seventy percent of American men ages 18–34 view Internet pornography once a month. This shocking fact is one of many that CT consulting editor John W. Kennedy found during his research for this month's cover story, "Help for the Sexually Desperate" (page 28).

Don't assume that porn isn't a problem in the church. One evangelical leader was skeptical of survey findings that said 50 percent of Christian men have looked at porn recently. So he surveyed his own congregation. He found that 60 percent had done so within the past year, and 25 percent within the past 30 days. Other surveys reveal that one in three visitors to adult websites are women.

Porn is gaining a stranglehold on mainstream American culture. One reason is the false message that porn viewing is harmless and socially acceptable for the sexually frustrated. One reason it is not harmless is the number of casual porn viewers who end up sexually addicted. The term sexual addiction is only 25 years old. But it describes the very real problem of extreme sexual behavior that is destructive to self and others. [source: Christianity Today 2008]

• Slavery:

Did God really say...

 

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God,

who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;

who executes justice for the oppressed,
    who gives food to the hungry. Psalm 146:5-7

Slavery was abolished in the United States after the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was a key person in this movement. Here are some of his thoughts about the topic in 1858:

I have always hated slavery, I think as much as any Abolitionist. I have been an Old Line Whig. I have always hated it, but I have always been quiet about it until this new era of the introduction of the Nebraska Bill began. I always believed that everybody was against it, and that it was in course of ultimate extinction.

The topic of slavery is a tricky one and we could spend hours discussing what we think God says about slavery. After all we are all slaves. Romans 6:16 states that we are slaves to the one we obey. Either slaves to God or slaves to sin. So for the sake of argument I will replace here the term slave with the term oppressed. You might argue that you do not own any slaves and therefore are not responsible for this epidemic. Read the following story:

Antonio was taken to a run-down trailer where 28 workers slept on mattresses on the floor and shared one bathroom. "In the morning when I woke up and wanted to go outside I realized the door was locked. We were told we could not leave until the debt was paid off."

He subsequently worked for 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week. "It was hard work, very hot and we had to work constantly squatting down and carrying the heavy buckets of tomatoes. The first week I thought I'd earned good money. But from the wages I received he took out money for the driver, the rent, the water- everything."

Antonio was kept under 24 hour surveillance, was not allowed to make phone-calls, and faced constant threats of violence to himself and his family back home. "What made me most scared was when I heard about the people who had tried to escape. One of them had been beaten very badly.” http://freedomcommons.ijm.org/news/national/slavery-america-meet-antonio

Antonio is not a slave in South America, or Asia or Africa. Antonio is a slave in a tomato farm in Florida. You very likely bought a tomato picked by Antonio.

The first gray about this deception locust is to believe that slavery is not our fault and that we do not oppress anybody. Through the Freedom Commons you can take a survey called the Slavery Footprint Survey. I took it and found out that I have 66 slaves working for me. I cannot pretend any longer that it does not affect me. I can no longer stay in the gray. I want to stand in the light and apply God's truth to my life - executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry -

There are many more areas where the deception locust has invaded our lives. Hear the trumpet and make a change to day.

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster. Joel 2:12-13

I am extremely grateful for a God that is merciful and abounding in steadfast love. All He wants is for us to return to Him with all our hearts. Remove the grays in your lives and step in the light.

We live in the world we broke

My new motto for life is “You will love what you invest in; and you will invest in what you love.” I promise you, you invest the time and effort into this obscure little ancient book of Joel, you will come to love it. So let’s roll up our sleeves and get dirty here.

 One of my favorite books of all time is “The Gift of Magi” by O.Henry. Remember it? A young poor couple want to give each other the best gift ever for Christmas. So she sacrifices her most treasured possession, her hair, cuts it and sells it to get a chain for his most prized possession--his grandfather’s pocket watch. The ending is a twist that makes everything so wrong and yet so perfectly right. You’ve got to read it for yourself.

Anyways, O.Henry was known for his surprise twist endings like that. Someone reportedly asked him how he wrote. He said he’d write the endings first, and then wrote the story up to it.

I hope as you started to look at Joel this week, and your Old Testament survey, you saw a glimpse into the heart of God and was reassured of his plans. He wrote the ending first, and now is letting the story unfold up to it. Make no mistake--He didn’t start wringing his hands when he found out Eve bit into that old apple. He didn’t wonder what He was going to do.

No, the God of time--who is not bound by time, who is the beginning and the end, who was and is and is to come--He saw the end when he started the beginning. He knew before he pulled the dust together into the shape of a man. He saw Eve take that bite. He saw children sacrificed in fires to appease demons. He saw the shooter at Ft. Hood, the killing fields of Cambodia; the gassed trenches of Europe. He saw his very own son agonizing on a cross. As he breathed into that lump of clay, he said it is worth it. He said Laura, Tiffany, Emily is worth all the pain and suffering. Certainly not for our own merits. But just because He loves us. And the good we will do--through Jesus--that will outweigh the bad.

So with this plan from the very beginning, He breathed life into Adam. And the story of man began. Repeatedly, when things were going good--oh friends, hear me--when things were going good, our hearts would wander from our God. He would allow hard times. He would send punishment. But always with a way out. Always, He would plead, ‘But if you will only repent, I will save.’

We live in a broken world. We’re the ones who broke it. And that broken world is hell-bent on destroying itself with Satan driving it there. At this time, God allows those natural outcomes of sin to bring hard times. Yes, sometimes, the Bible says He even sends those hard times.

Sometimes He allows the trouble. Sometimes He sends it. Always. Always, He uses it for our good.

So we see humanity vacillating for generations, deciding who they will serve, and seeing the consequences of that choice. It’s frustrating to watch, isn’t it? Over and over, God sends his Holy Spirit to people to be witnesses to the people. And so we come to the prophets.

You know those kids’ books “You wouldn’t want to be a roman gladiator?” It’s a whole series of funny, cartoon books that show the hard times of history. You wouldn’t want to be a pilgrim. You wouldn’t want to be a settler. You wouldn’t want to be a mother of toddlers. They should write that one. Well, there also should be one called ‘You wouldn’t want to be a prophet of God.’

The prophets of God gave their entire life to His disposal. Gave up every ‘right’ they had to their lives. Get swallowed by a whale. Preach naked. Lay on one side in the town square for a year. Marry a prostitute and call your children unloved and rejected.

That’s just the things God told them to do. Then there was the reaction of the people. Prophets were probably the ones who started the saying ‘don’t kill the messenger.’ Over and over again, they were killed. Beaten. Exiled. Thrown into a well while a war went on overhead.

And they said He is worth it.

We seem to think our reward should be in this lifetime. Yes, the American Christian culture--like no other culture--thinks it can achieve it’s mansion and peace and rest that heaven promises, now. Here on this earth. It makes us the poorest in spirit in the world.

Joel was one of God’s prophets. We call him a minor prophet, only because of the length. At the end of the Old Testament we have 12 minor prophets’ books, not in chronological order.

In Joel, we see such mystery. God has not given us a time for when the prophet lived. Through this book we get a glimpse into how the God of time sees the world--the past, the present, the future at once. We know some of the things have already happened, and some are yet to come.

Because there’s no mention of any king or armies, many scholars think Joel could have lived around the time of King Joash, the child king. Let’s back up his story a little bit. From the glory of King David and the untold riches of his son King Solomon--in one generation we fall to the kingdom divided, the wealth vanishing. In just over a hundred years from those great men, we end up with Queen Jezebel ruling the Northern kingdom. To this day, the woman’s name is equated with evil.

Well, in the southern kingdom, on David’s throne was her counterpart, Athaliah. Both of them had their husbands die. Both of them had their idiot sons ruling. God said enough of Jezebel. He raised up a commander of the army to deal with her.

Army wives: pay attention. God understands the heart of a warrior. He remembers their names and their deeds repeatedly, preserved for eternity in the Book.

So Jehu kills Jezebel, her son, all their relatives, and since Queen Athaliah’s son was hanging around, he got it too.

You know when the men are gone...

 Athaliah had a choice. We all do. When faced with hard times, we can shake our fist at God, or we can continue to trust Him. Let’s remember Habakkuk’s response in 3:17-19.

Athaliah has seen the outcome of the wicked. God gives her the opportunity to repent. Every day is an opportunity to repent for all of us. Instead of falling to her knees, bowing her back and her will to the Lord God Almighty, she stiffened her back. She set her jaw. She raised her fist.

Her first order of business was to kill off all potential kings. What’s a few blobs of potential flesh when you’re establishing your career of controlling the world? These were her grandchildren. She put them to the sword.

But even as she set about to control her world, another royal woman risked her own life to obey God. She took off with a yearling, and hid him in God’s house. Her husband, the high priest Jehoiada sheltered the boy and his nurse for 6 years.

When Joash turned 7, High priest Jehoiada armed the guards. (Again, notice the details God tells us of the warriors.) He brought the boy out and crowned him. When Queen Athaliah heard the noise of the crowds, she rushed out and was killed.

Hooray! Victory! Happy ever after, right? Jehoiada and Joash restore the temple. The country is at peace. Sadly, there’s a clause in there “Joash served the Lord as long as Jehoiada lived.”

The old saying is true, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. We can raise moral pagans. We can drag them to church every time the doors open. We can make them stand at attention during worship. We can pound a hundred Bible verses into their brains. But the day will come when they will have to decide, ‘will I repent’?

Phil Vischer--Veggie Tales Creator--said this:

"I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, "Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so," or "Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!" But that isn't Christianity, it's morality. . .
And that was such a huge shift for me from the American Christian ideal. We're drinking a cocktail that's a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel. And we've intertwined them so completely that we can't tell them apart anymore. Our gospel has become a gospel of following your dreams and being good so God will make all your dreams come true. It's the Oprah god.”

I am convicted by that. Do I teach obey the rules because that makes life easy for me, or do I teach    love    the     Lord     your     God.     We absolutely have to lead the horse to water. That is our job. But we can only show them how to drink from that well. The Holy Spirit convicts. And they must decide to love the Lord their God.

Andy Stanley said, “Our greatest contribution is not what we do, but who we raise.” Another old saying I know you know--the hand that rocks the cradle is also true. Yes, it means a sacrifice of your very life. Your time. Your energy. I know the days are long. So long. But the years are very, very short. Your children are not an interruption to your life, your ministry. They are your ministry.

When King Joash was left without his beloved priest, he had to decide for himself. He chose poorly. And when God sent prophets, pleading with him to turn back to his heavenly Father, Joash stiffened his back. He set his jaw. He raised his fist and said ‘You can’t control me.”

Perhaps Joel was one of those prophets sent. When Priest Jehoiada’s own son came before King Joash, the king had him killed. Because that’s what you have to do. You have to kill the messenger of God. Skip that Bible time. Turn off the praise music. Stop going to church. Don’t hang out with those people.

Again, we don’t know for sure when Joel gave his message. But we see in it God’s plan from the beginning. Love. Repent. A life with God, freely chosen, is worth the pain.

As man’s wickedness continues, more punishment will come. How will we get through these?

In Holland, in a little clock shop, a girl asked her father this very question. As an older woman, she was reminded of his answer again and again. Corrie and her sister were in their fifties, living with their elderly father and working in his watch repair shop. At a time when they should have been enjoying their golden years, retiring, kicking back, what seemed like the end of the world was breaking all around them. It was driven by an anti-Christ, Hitler. In the face of an army with the power to conquer the world, they chose to enlist in the Heavenly Army. They hid Jews. And they were punished for it.



How will I have the faith to stay strong through the trials? Corrie had asked her father. Remember when you were a little girl, and we would go on the train? Her father explained. When did I give you your ticket? Right when you needed it. So will God give you the faith you need, my child.

Much of God’s plan for the future, which we see only a little bit of in Joel, is shrouded in mystery. We don’t know the times. But a soldier who doesn’t know his orders stays close to his commander, right? And a girl who needs a ticket holds her father’s hand. And we must teach our children to do so, as the days are evil.

As we dive deeper into Joel these next couple of weeks:

    Be open to the mystery. No easy answers. No pat verses. Nothing we can control.
    Be in awe of the God of all ages. Learn to trust Him more.
    And pray for a deeper love for the One who said you are worth it.

Overview of the book of Joel
by Tonia Gütting