Individual preparation for our joint assembly

​“Announce a sacred fast; proclaim an assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land at the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/jol.1.14.HCSB

Before we get into what Joel is calling us to do corporately. I believe he has 5 things for us to do individually.

“Hear this, you elders; listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors?”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭1:2‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/jol.1.2.HCSB

1. Listen. Take time to analyze the situation with the understanding of the Word of God you have. 

“Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you wine drinkers, because of the sweet wine, for it has been taken from your mouth.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭1:5‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/jol.1.5.HCSB

2. Wake up. Sober up and stop getting drunk on the wine of this world and be drunk on the wine of God (Ephesians 5:18). 

“Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, mourning for the husband of her youth.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/jol.1.8.HCSB

3. Grieve. Spend time in great repentance as a war widow might grieve. 

“Be ashamed, you farmers, wail, you vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭1:11‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/jol.1.11.HCSB

4. Be ashamed. For your fruit is not as fruitful as you had hoped. 

“Dress in sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, because grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭1:13‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/jol.1.13.HCSB

5. Dress in sackcloth. Humbleness needs to be our dressing rather than fine clothes. 

Joel may have addressed individual groups of people but I believe all of us fall into each group: inhabitants of the land, drunkards, like young women, farmers, and priests. We all take up space in the land God has given us so therefore we are inhabitants. We all can easily get influenced by the rich information found in the world so that we become intoxicated by it therefore we become drunkards. We all can become married to a part of the world called our job, which helps bring the bread, fruit, and oil into our homes and God’s house therefore we become like young women morning. We all produce some kind of fruit therefore that makes us farmers. We are all ministers to the Lord, therefore we are all priests. 

Now after we have listened, woke up, grieved, been ashamed, and dressed ourselves, let us announce a sacred fast. Not a fast for health reasons but a fast for God! A fast that finds us finding God together. Let us proclaim an assembly, a sacred gathering of those who will worship God collectivity. Let us gather the elders and all the residents. Not just those who have done the five individual steps but all those who will come. That we may cry out to the Lord together. We all have a role to play collectively but we also have a job to do individually before we gather. 

Will you prepare your own life for the sacred assembly announced by your church and God? 

“Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Acknowledge that Yahweh is God. He made us, and we are His — His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:1-5‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/psa.100.4.HCSB

“Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way He has opened for us through the curtain (that is, His flesh ), and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:19-25‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/heb.10.24.HCSB