Prayer, Fasting, Repentance, and Revival

Text: Joel 1:14; 2:1-3:21. What was for the Jews is for us, since we are grafted in. We are to call for repentance. Pray for the bigger picture, God’s picture, to be developed. Real change comes when it comes to our hearts. Even though we have sinned, the Lord restores us. Keep a long-term perspective. Pastor Syd and Jen had missionaries from Ephesus, Turkey visiting them this week. They shared about the many Muslims who experienced dreams of Jesus appearing to them, and then they, the missionaries, lead them to Jesus. A neighboring land-and-shop-owner had a dream of Jesus ten years ago, and he gave his life to Jesus through the missionaries. A student at the university in the city got saved, and when the missionaries asked what his father would do when he told his about his conversion, the student said he did not know. In the meantime, the father had a dream about Jesus’ saying to him, “Follow Me.” He said he would, but that He had to tell his wife. The same night his wife had a dream about Jesus’ saying to her, “Follow Me.” She said she would, but that He had to tell her husband. In the morning they struggled with how they were going to tell the other, and after doing so, they prayed, “You will have to tell our son.” God is so good! Pray for your neighbors to have dreams of Jesus. The Lord told Pastor Syd in June that in three months he would be going to Ephesus at the end of September. Pray for hearts to be prepared. We are to be witnesses here at home, in our region, in similar cultures, AND to the uttermost places in the earth. (We spent time in corporate prayer.)