PART 2 RETURN TO ME WITH PRAYER AND FASTING
INTRODUCTION TO PART 2 (JOEL 2: 12-17)
LAST WEEK
Last week we saw how revival begins by seeing our situation and seeing God. The Holy Spirit reveals our true condition in compromise and ravaged by sin, and the Spirit also enables us to see God who is omnipotent and compassionate so we are filled with hope for revival in and outside the church.
THIS WEEK
Today, and through our devotions this week, we will see that God calls you and me to respond to Him with all of our hearts. In Joel, God shows us that a key to coming back to God is prayer and fasting. We hasten to add that no spiritual activity can add to the gift of righteousness that is given to us by faith in Jesus alone, and through which we are saved! Nevertheless, prayer and fasting – practised by Jesus – is key to the pursuit of a holy life that pleases God, a life on which God is pleased to pour out His Spirit.
QUOTES TO INSPIRE YOU.
‘A movement of God will only last as long as the Spirit of prayer that inspired it’ (Arthur Wallis)
‘The ugly fact is that altar fires are either out or burning very low. The prayer meeting is dead or dying. By our attitude to prayer, we tell God that what was begun in the Spirit we can finish in the flesh. What church ever asks its leaders what time they spend in prayer? Yet ministers who do not spend two hours a day in prayer are not worth a dime a dozen, degrees or no degrees’ (Ravenhill, Leonard).
'Prayer has always been a primary mark of the saints of God in every generation of the church. George Whitefield, who retired punctually at ten p.m. every night, rose equally promptly at four a.m. in order to pray. 'John Wesley spent two hours daily in prayer, and commonly said that 'God does nothing but in answer to prayer.' Martin Luther said, 'If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.' 'The leaders of the Clapham Sect, such as William Wilberforce, who initiated enormous social reforms in England, habitually gave themselves to three hours of prayer each day. They organised Christians throughout the country to unite in special prayer before critical debates in Parliament. They knew, and persistently proved, the power of prayer. William Temple replied to his critics who regarded answered prayer as no more than coincidences, 'When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don't, they don't." Our Lord's disciples' request is probably our most needed prayer: 'Lord, teach us to pray.” (David Watson)
CONTENTS
1. Come to Jesus Daily devotional- Monday – Return with prayer and fasting
- Tuesday – Pray in light of God’s revealed promises and character
- Wednesday – Revival includes the restoration of true worship
- Thursday – Revival included united, costly prayer
- Friday – The content of revival prayer
For links to the message go to our website,
1. COME TO JESUS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
One of our goals as a church is to spend at least 20 minutes every day in prayer and worship out of the bible. I hope you find this devotional helpful toward that end.
MONDAY – RETURN WITH PRAYER AND FASTING
Joel 2:12-13a “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments…
Joel 1:14 Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.
Pain is an invitation
The unleashing of this enemy, likened to locusts and lions in chapter 1, was to cause the people to grieve. This was judgement from God for their unfaithfulness toward Him. He was allowing destruction to discipline them. All that was happening was a loud invitation to “return to me with all your heart”; they were to stop being complacent and compromising in their relationship with God. C. S. Lewis wrote in ‘The problem of pain’,
“We can ignore pleasure, but pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
God is over all things in His sovereignty, therefore, if pain is touching your life it is because He is calling you into a deeper relationship with Himself, and I leave it with you to open yourself up to the Holy Spirit and to ask Him if there is sin that you need to repent of.
Pain is an invitation to humility and to prayer
God calls His people to ‘return to me with all your heart’. Clearly, their hearts were not fully devoted to God. This is at the centre of sinful actions - our lifestyles are an expression of the health of our hearts. If one has a healthy heart - our ambitions centred on pleasing God - our lives will display this in concrete ways.
Revival in any measure is about the Spirit convicting us of our lukewarmness – coming face-to-face with our weak spiritual condition – and our responding in humility and prayer.
Prayer and fasting
God calls His people to respond in a certain way, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments…” Heart response involves ‘fasting, weeping and mourning’; this is a repeat of what we read in chapter 1, ‘Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord’ (1:14).
The Lord warns them about praying and fasting in an outward, showy, manner when He says, ‘Rend your heart and not your garments’. Jesus warns us about the same danger,
“When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18)
RESPONSE – PRAY AND FAST
Arthur Wallis, regarding the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit in Joel 2, wrote,
Arthur Wallis, regarding the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit in Joel 2, wrote, ‘If, however, we believe that this wonderful promise is for us—is in fact God’s answer to the present need—it is vital that we fulfil the conditions as well as plead the promise. Three times Joel sounds a clarion call… to return to God with fasting (see Joel 1: 14; 2: 12, 15). Then he seems to see a vision God’s response of restoration and outpouring.’ (Arthur Wallis, God’s Chosen Fast)
Jesus says “When you fast…” not “If…”. Is prayer and fasting a regular part of our spiritual life? Biblical fasting is principally only drinking water for the purposes of seeking God, and I encourage you, if you are healthy, to fast and seek God in repentance and for revival.
If your health does not permit water fasting - then make time to pray by laying aside entertainments etc.
Here are a few quotes to inspire us.
'O brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper—and sleep too—than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber.’ (Andrew Bonar).
“The measure of our longing for true life with Christ is the amount of worldly comfort we are willing to give up to get it.” (John Piper)
‘Revival is imperative, for the sluice gates of hell have opened on this degenerate generation. We need (and we say that we want) revival. Yet, though slick, shallow saints of this hour would have heaven opened and revival delivered on the slot-machine method, God has not mechanised His glorious power to fit our time-geared religious machinery. ‘‘We wish revival would come to us as it came in the Hebrides,’’ said a pastor recently. But fellow servant, revival did not come to the Hebrides by wishing! The heavens were opened and the mighty power of the Lord shook those islands because ‘‘frail children of dust . . . sanctified a fast and called a solemn assembly,’’ and waited tear-stained, tired, and travailing before the throne of the living God. That visitation came because He who sought for a virgin in which to conceive His beloved Son found a people of virgin purity in those souls of burning vision and burdened passion. They had no double motive in their praying. No petitions were coloured with desire to save the face of a failing denomination. Their eye was single to God’s glory. They were not jealous of another group who was outgrowing them, but jealous for the Lord of Hosts, whose glory was in the dust, the ‘‘wall of whose house was broken down, and whose gates were burned with fire.’’ (Leonard Ravenhill)
TUESDAY – PRAY IN LIGHT OF GOD’S REVEALED PROMISES AND CHARACTER
Joel 2:13b …Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Joel quotes from what God spoke to Moses about Himself in Exodus 34:6. Cleary, Joel has studied God’s word and so is able to bring truth about God to the people of God. For a rocket to ascend into space it needs fuel. Without fuel, it is just a beautiful tin can! Likewise, the Christian church cannot rise in prayer without the potent fuel of truth, and, specifically, truth about God.
How many of us are lethargic and powerless in prayer because we lack understanding. We may have the life of God but have we the prayer muscles that come to the hard-working person who studies to know God? Are we like the toddler rather than the athlete? Yes, you are alive but are you wobbling rather than praying with power!
The example of the early church - They prayed truth
The prayers in the bible teach us to speak God’s character and promises back to Him. For example, we read, at a time of persecution the church prayed thus,
‘They raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.’ Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.’ (Acts 4:24-31)
At a time of spiritual destruction like we are in, how many of us are learning, and learning to use ‘the sword of the Spirit’ (the word of God) in powerful, reviving prayer?
Second example of praying the scriptures
‘Went to Dr. Hooper's home for the evening where we continued in prayer until a quarter to twelve. Oh, for the power of God! We must have it. How wonderfully He opened His Word to us while in prayer. We have read it and prayed it on our knees, especially the second chapter of Joel. Oh, for a baptism of tears! Also the ninth chapter of Daniel. Sentence by sentence we prayed it out before the Lord…Faith is rising to assurance. God is working. Deep conviction has already settled upon many. Oh, for a mighty break! Have found Mark 11:22-24; Joel 1:13,14,16; 2:1,11-18, 25, 28, 29, most precious today. Have prayed them one by one before God…God's Word is becoming so precious. We are hearing His voice through the prophets of the Old Testament. Our method is to read a little and then pray it out before God, closing by asking Him to fulfil it in our experience.’ (Oswald Smith)
RESPONSE
Paul tells us, in this ‘day of evil’ (Eph. 6:13) to ‘take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the Spirit’ (Eph. 6:17). But do we make excuses for leaving our sword to rust because we have other priorities? Do we put ourselves and families at risk, whilst remaining un-revived, because we have better things to do than to learn and pray God’s powerful word?
We must learn to pray the truth of God and His promises. This is the example of the bible and of history. As we read God’s word, we must do so as a harvester looking for ripe revelation and promises. When God speaks through His word, we must pray His word.
WEDNESDAY – REVIVAL INVOLVES THE RESTORATION OF TRUE WORSHIP
Joel 2:14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.
Any reviving work of the Holy Spirit involves grief at, and then restoration of worship. New songs are written and the church worships with renewed passion - ‘in Spirit and in truth’.
Colin Whittaker in his book, Great Revivals, summarises revival thus,
‘What is revival but churches repenting and, by the gracious and tender ministry of the Holy Spirit, being wooed back to their first love’.
Clearly, the whole book of Joel is a provocation to return to God with our whole heart. Specifically, Joel speaks of God’s blessing as, He will ‘leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.’ Whereas God’s discipline on His people destroyed their ability to make offerings (Joel 1:13), His coming in grace, leads to renewed offerings in the temple.
Now, as Christians, we don’t have a literal temple in which to make sacrificial offerings, however, these things foreshadow a number of things regarding our worship:
Grain offerings – The grain offerings, brought by the people to the temple, firstly, were an act of thanksgiving for God’s provision. Secondly, some of it went to the feeding of the priests (Lev. 2:1-3).
For Christians, when our worship is restored, we have a renewed awareness and thankfulness for God’s provision – provision of daily needs, but, most importantly, provision of salvation in Christ; as his priests, our souls are fed by Jesus. He is our ‘bread of life’, and revival makes this a living reality.
Drink offerings – The drink offering, consisting of wine, were always to accompany the grain offerings (Num. 15:1-5).
This offering points to Jesus’ blood poured out for us. This is vividly portrayed by John, ‘the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.’ (John 19:31-34). Revival always leads to worship that is centred on Jesus (Acts 2:42).
Example from the New England Revival of 1734
In case you missed it in the last devotional, I repeat the example of restored worship during a season of Revival in 1734, in Northampton (North America), Jonathan Edwards writes of the effect of the work of the Spirit on worship,
‘Our public services were then beautiful: the congregation was alive in God’s service, everyone earnestly intel on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly in general were, from time to time, in tears while the Word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbours.
Our public praises were then greatly enlivened; God was then served in our psalmody, in some measure, in the beauty of holiness. It has been observable that there has been scarce any part of divine worship wherein good men amongst us have had grace so drawn forth, and their hearts so lifted up in the ways of God, as in singing his praises…’
RESPONSE – ASK GOD TO RESTORE WORSHIP
A precursor to revival is a sense that our worship is compromised. Maybe it’s become a show, a habit, for our own pleasure, formal, not centred on the gospel, cold and heartless…
Jesus was angry at the temple worship when He came into Jerusalem. It says, ‘Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:12-13).
Jesus wants to restore our worship, but, firstly, He reveals our condition.
I love the next verse of this narrative, it says, ‘The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.’ (Matthew 21:14)
Jesus will ‘heal’ (restore and revive) anyone who comes to Him, particularly if we feel ‘blind and lame’ in our worship. However, the prideful can expect nothing!
God wants to restore love to the centre of our worship
As we have seen, a fundamental fruit of revival is worship - a renewed love for God. We bring our ‘offerings’ individually, as churches, and non-believers become worshippers. But, Let’s never forget the words of God in 1 Corinthians 13,
‘If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing’ (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Let’s beware of equating revival with gifts, power and experiences. The reviving of the Holy Spirit is, firstly, about loving God. We mourn our lack of love for God and we seek authentic worship centred on love for God. Any revival so-called that is not saturated with love for Jesus and amazement at His love, is suspect.
Ask the Spirit to cause your heart to, like Paul, to make knowing Jesus your greatest ambition,
‘But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ…’ (Phil. 3:7-10)
THURSDAY – REVIVAL INVOLVES UNITED AND COSTLY PRAYER
Joel 2:15-16 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
In response to the mess that the people of God are in, they pray together. Every generation, united in seeking God. Unity in prayer is an outcome and precursor for revival.
Blow the trumpet in Zion
'Blow the trumpet (šôpār) in Zion…’ (see 2:1 also). This was used to call the people together, on this occasion, to pray. The leaders have a responsibility to sound a clear call for the people to gather to pray, and the people have a responsibility to gather and pray.
Declare a holy fast
We spoke at length about this on Monday, so please look at that devotion if you have not done so. Fasting, I believe, needs to be restored as a regular practice among God’s people. (An outstanding book on this subject is God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis).
All generations
All generations were to gather to pray, ‘the elders, the children, those nursing at the breast.’ This is a challenge to all who work with young people but, particularly, to parents. Are we teaching our children to pray, even bringing them to prayer meetings?
Costly prayer
Joel commands ‘Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.’ How many of us excuse ourselves from devotion to God and His people because of our personal or family situations. You know that a miracle is happening when a bridegroom leaves the marital bedroom for a prayer meeting! But God puts it this way in order to convict all of us of our lack of devotion to praying with the church.
Praying personally and with the church will take up your precious time that we feel needs to be given to important things in our lives. The simple truth is that our use of time often reflects our fear rather than our faith - we fear our lives will be damaged is we spend time with God and His people. But faith hears Jesus’ word of promise,
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33).
RESPONSE
So let’s hear God’s trumpet call to repentance and prayer. Dare we ignore His call? I leave you with more provoking words from Leonard Ravenhill,
‘No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be a shop window to display one’s talents; the prayer closet allows no showing off. Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer. We have many organisers, but few agonisers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere. The two prerequisites to successful Christian living are vision and passion, both of which are born in and maintained by prayer. The ministry of preaching is open to few; the ministry of prayer—the highest ministry of all human offices—is open to all.’
FRIDAY – THE CONTENT OF REVIVAL PRAYER
Joel 2:17 Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
The priests weep
The spiritual leaders were told to ‘weep’. Sorrow at the low state of God’s people due to God’s judgment because of their sin reminds us of what we read in Psalm 137,
‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.’ (Psalm 137:1-6)
Are we mourning for the state of our lives and the church? Does our praying and worship include the ‘minor key’ or are we blinkered and unfeeling?
Spare your people
Prayer for and during revival has the character of these words of Joel, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations…”
All of God’s people should be moved with loving compassion for the church - God’s people who are not what they are called to be. Jesus declares over us, and may this vision be our prayer,
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:14-16)
Why should the people say…?
Deeper than all of the things that make us mourn about our condition, it should grieve us that our personal and community life doesn’t represent God in a way that brings Him glory. Joel writes of their low spiritual condition, ‘Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” (2:17)
When people meet us or attend our meetings or activities, there should be something of the love, goodness, holiness, joy, and concern of our Father. Also, a revived church community is always talking about Jesus. Too often the church can be seen doing good works but do they hear about Jesus through us? Or are people left wondering ‘where is their God’?
RESPONSE
The content of prayer for and during revival is honest, humble and loving and often mournful. Use the content of Daniel’s prayer to help you to pray now,
“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favour on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” (Daniel 9:17-19)
2. COMMUNITY GROUP/FAMILY STUDY
Opener - When have you felt the most love for someone and why?
During this series in Joel, we are thinking about spiritual revival. Colin Whittaker summarises revival thus, ‘What is revival but churches repenting and, by the gracious and tender ministry of the Holy Spirit, being wooed back to their first love’.
Discuss - What does it mean to have God as ‘first love’? How do you think God would rate your love at the moment and why?
This week we are thinking about prayer and fasting as a fundamental tool used by God prior and during revival.
Read Joel 2:12-13; 1:14 (Particular notice the reference to fasting)
Arthur Wallis, regarding the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit in Joel 2, wrote, ‘If, however, we believe that this wonderful promise is for us—is in fact God’s answer to the present need—it is vital that we fulfil the conditions as well as plead the promise. Three times Joel sounds a clarion call… to return to God with fasting (see Joel 1: 14; 2: 12, 15). Then he seems to see a vision God’s response of restoration and outpouring.’
Discuss:
- Jesus says in Matthew 6:16 “When you fast…” not “If…”. Is prayer and fasting a regular part of your spiritual life? If yes, why?
- Who according to Joel 2:15-16 are to gather to pray with fasting? What, if anything, holds you back from going to times of prayer and worship when the church gathers?
Note on fasting: Biblical fasting is principally only drinking water for the purposes of seeking God, and I encourage you, if you are healthy, to fast and seek God in repentance and for revival. If your health does not permit water fasting - then make time to pray by laying aside entertainments. Even children can be taught the importance of fasting by missing a meal.
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