The Year of Overflow

The Prophet Joel prophesied to Israel in one it’s most down and out times and I believe he has a word for us today. Joel 1:1-12 describes a land that has been ravaged and reduced to rubble. We are in no way as desolate as the people Joel addressed, but in many ways, we may feel like we’ve been ravaged like the people Joel addresses. But take courage, there’s always hope in our Lord!

A change begins as the leadership starts to mourn and repent, fast and cry out to the Lord because the Lord’s work is not finished yet (1:13ff). As the Lord works within the leadership, a general call is sounded to the whole assembly (2:12ff). Congregational repentance and consecration yields a renewed awareness of the absence of God’s glory in their lives and the Lord turns to restoring the land and reviving His glory through his people (2:18ff).

Church, if we will restore our commitment to God’s glory and renew our dedication to holiness we will see the Lord work mightily. The Lord is anxious to restore to us what has been lost and beyond that to cause us to become fruitful so that “the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil (2:24).”

This is the year of Overflow in the Lord. However if the Lord were to pour his new wine and oil into our midst at this time, our wineskins would burst and everything God would graciously give would create a mess on the floor.

Instead, God would have us seek him for new wineskins as well. New ways of thinking. New Visions. New vessels to hold the precious outpouring of our God.

Join me in prayer as we seek the outpouring of God in our lives.