Return

“So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.”
‭‭Joel‬ ‭2:13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The book was written in a time of uncertainty and a plague of locusts had hit Judah.

God was asking the people to return to Him.

““And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.”
‭‭Joel‬ ‭2:28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

More than anything, we want to see God pour out His Spirit on all parts of life. This can’t happen unless we return to God.

The word return is not judgmental or angry in tone. It is so intimate in His invitation for us to return to Him.

“Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe…”
‭‭Joel‬ ‭2:13-14‬ ‭MSG‬‬

We have become so familiar with the hands of God but have forgotten how to get to the heart of God.

1. God is calling us to come back in intimacy, where it is just us and Him. (Psalm 27:4). Jesus is always excited to spend time with you.

2. God is calling us into repentance. The word repentance means to turn away from the wrong things to the person of Jesus. We don’t want lose that connection with the One we love. A heart that is soft to the Lord with love will not sin. A transformation of our heart is what God is looking for and never returning to the place we were before. Behavioral modification is not real. Real transformation comes from Jesus. True repentance is doing what Jesus wants us to do. Jesus is the first priority (Matthew 6:33). He is worth it all.

3. God is calling us back in surrender. Surrender equals to trust (Proverbs 3: 5-6) He is such a good Father who is kind. What are those things you need to give God so that your mind and heart can be free? Surrender and trust in God will take us to where we are meant to go, without striving to stay there.

The church is being rebuilt and our hearts being called back to Jesus, without which God will not pour His Spirit out.

He who calls us will see us through. He is calling us to surrender and rebuilding the church, establishing the kingdom of God on the earth.