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23 O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. 24 The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. 26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. 30 I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. (Joel 2:23-32 NRSV)
A wonderful and blessed Wednesday to you and yours, dear Friend! Our prayers for Iona and Rev. Clay Walden as they still await the arrival of their daughter, Adena. Last we heard they were in Labor and Delivery as the doctors were running more tests. We pray for them and for a safe and healthy delivery. Prayers for those in Dallas who two nights ago had that terrible storm come through. A co-worker of our daughter who lives in Dallas lost her home, and this a week after being informed she had been laid off by her company. Pray for her and for all who have lost much, if not everything. Pray for one another. Pray for yourselves.
This passage appears in Acts, chapter 2, when Peter preaches the sermon that converted three thousand new believers to the faith. The prophetic passage as we find it here addresses a powerful hope that God promises to His children in Zion after they had suffered drought, pestilence, and famine. God sent them early rain, which was a necessary rain after their drought, and He promises a great harvest of wheat and wine. The ravages of the locust are gone and the newness of God's gifts will be a blessing to them. God's promise is that now the children of Zion will "eat in plenty and be satisfied"; His most important gift is His presence in the midst of them as their God.
The next promise is the passage that we find in Acts 2, a promise that the day would come when God's Spirit would be poured out on them and their sons and daughters would prophesy, and their old men would dream dreams, and their young men would see visions; even male and female slaves would receive God's Spirit. God's signs would be in the sky and on the earth, and what Jesus told His disciples that the sun would turn dark and the moon would turn blood red, right before the coming day of the Lord. And when that day arrived, all who called upon the Lord would be saved.
This passage could be about you and me and our life's history. We have seen the good and the bad; we have experienced the best and the worst that life can throw our way, but in Christ Jesus we finally find the hope of life that no one else can offer to us. That is salvation, the being pulled out of that which seeks to kill, steal and destroy us, to the life, and that in abundance that Jesus came to offer us (John 10:10). The Holy Spirit has been poured out on those who are open to His leading and to His speaking. It is through prayer and scripture study that we can hear that which God wants us to hear. And it is the message of salvation that the Church should be proclaiming.There is no greater joy, no greater nourishment to our souls than the message of God's Good News in Jesus Christ. And that is a message that is too good to keep to ourselves.
PRAYER: Awesome God, pour our Your Holy Spirit on us again and again. Fill us with what You would so that we might be the people who make a difference in the world for You. This we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Share good news with someone today!
Blessings of love,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
