I. GOD’S GOVERNMENT THROUGH CORPORATE INTERCESSORY WORSHIP
A. God has given the human race great dignity. We have a free will, which means we have been given the ability to make
choices that make a real difference. These choices for righteousness or for sin will bring either blessing or evil to us and
those around us. If we choose righteousness, we open doors of blessings on others. The choices we make provide the
legal entry point for both angels and demons to be much more active in the natural realm. We affect the quality of life by
what we do. Some of our choices now will affect us forever. This life is not a practice game.
B. God governs the universe in intimate partnership with His people through intercession. The majesty and mystery
of intercession is seen foremost in Jesus’ relationship with the Father.
He (Jesus) always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
C. The governmental center of the universe is “Prayer Room,” which includes all the holy prayers in heaven and on
earth that converge in unity before the Father’s Throne. God has given His people a dynamic role in determining some of
the measure of the “quality of life” that we experience. We make significant contributions in the quality of life.
D. God opens doors of blessing and closes doors of oppression in response to our prayers. There are blessings that
God has chosen to give, but only if His people rise up in the partnership of prayer.
You do not have because you do not ask. (James 4:2)
This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. (Matthew 17:21)
E. God is waiting for our persistence in prayer before Him. Isaiah taught that He longs to release His grace and power,
but actually waits until He hears the cry of His people in intercession.
The LORD longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on High to have compassion on you....19 He
will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
(Isaiah 30:18-19; NAS)
F. Some “trust” the sovereignty of God in a non-biblical way by “trusting” God to do the role that He has assigned to
us. This is not truly trusting God, but rather it is presumption before Him. We cannot do God’s part and He will not do
our part. Some misapply the truth that if God wants something that He will do it. This is true in some of the main issues of
what God will do. Yet, there are many things that God will not give us until we ask. God wants all to be saved, but it does
not happen because God will not violate our free will in our salvation (2 Peter 3:8-9)
G. Ezekiel taught that God searched for one who would stand in the gap between Himself and Israel, someone who
would pray in a way that would cause God’s judgment to be withheld.
So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land,
that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. (Ezekiel 22:30)
II. CORPORATE INTERCESSORY WORSHIP
A. Corporate intercessory worship is the primary means God has chosen to release His government (power) in His
relationship with Jesus and His redeemed. It is the highest expression of government in time and eternity, and the most
powerful weapon that exists. It is far stronger than the combined strength of all the nuclear weapons on Earth.
B. God’s primary call to a nation in crisis is to gather in solemn assemblies (Joel 2:12-17). In other words, corporate
intercessory worship is what we need most in this hour of history.
1. Corporate – God is looking for prayer that is corporate. It requires humility to embrace all that is implied in
gathering corporately. The differences between worship and prayer styles, doctrinal emphases, as well as our
personalities, make humility necessary if we are to gather together in a regular way.
2. Intercessory – God is looking for prayer that is intercessory. Intercessory prayer stands in the gap for
others as we declare back to God what God promised to do for His people.
3. Worship – godly music provides a unique dynamic in enabling large numbers of people to feel the same
truths together in unity for sustained periods of time.
C. These three components together form corporate intercessory worship, which releases God’s judgment and blessing,
and halts the destruction of the enemy.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, 7 To execute vengeance
on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; 8 to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with
fetters of iron; 9 to execute on them the written judgment-- This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!
(Psalm 149:6-9)
III. FOUR CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO CRISIS EVENTS IN THE EARTH
A. To review, there are four key factors in crisis events. They are God’s zeal, Satan’s rage, man’s sin, and creation’s
groan. These factors work together under God’s sovereignty and wisdom.
B. God’s enemy is sin and He will oppose it. Israel made herself God’s enemy by living in sin. They set themselves in
an adversarial relationship with Him.
They rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought
against them. (Isaiah 63:10)
Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever
wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
C. God’s zeal or passion is to establish His people in His love in order to bring forth a pure and prepared Bride. His
purpose in sending judgment is to remove everything that hinders love. God’s role in causing a crisis is often ignored. He
is actively involved in the process. The Church talks much about the role of Satan or sinful man, yet we are hesitant and
uncertain about God’s role in a crisis. Sometimes He causes the crisis in a direct way. At other times, He allows other
forces to work under His oversight. God wants us to understand His role in the calamity.
D. Satan’s rage is permitted by God to be expressed within the boundaries that God sets. Man’s sin can bring
destruction to others. For example, terrorist make decisions that kill people. Creation groans as seen in earthquakes,
violent weather patterns called “natural disasters” (Romans 8:22).
E. The biggest problem for a nation that persists on living in sin is not Satan, nor the violent acts of terrorist, nor
“natural disasters,” but God’s zeal is for that nation to live in purity so she can walk in her destiny. God’s zeal to rid the
earth of rebellion causes great and terrible things to occur.
For the Day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it? (Joel 2:11)
The Day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. (Joel 1:15)
IV. THE RESPONSE THAT GOD REQUIRES: SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES
"Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with
mourning." 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will
turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him…? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a
sacred assembly; 16 gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children
and nursing babes…17 Let the priests…weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, "spare Your
people, O LORD…" (Joel 2:12-17)
A. In this passage, the Lord tells us exactly what we are to do to receive His mercy and deliverance in a time of crisis.
We are to gather in solemn assemblies (or a sacred assemblies). This involves the leaders and people joining together to
fast, pray, repent for our sins and ask God to release His favor on our behalf.
B. This is God’s primary call to a people in crisis. It is the most practical thing we can do before and during a crisis.
God releases His favor and protection in response to prayer and repentance.
C. This is the clearest passage in the Scripture that describes what God desires of us in times of local or national
crisis. As the global drama unfolds at the end of the age, the Body of Christ has a plain roadmap. God is asking His
people for a specific response.
D. The Lord does not leave us guessing as to what He desires from us. What a holy confidence this brings! We can act
with certainty in times of crisis. God will shake all that can be shaken. This will cause desperation so that there is no
solution except in God. He will remove all our false hopes so that we hope only in Him.
V. TURN TO GOD WITH WHOLEHEARTEDNESS
Now therefore, says the Lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning.
13 Rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD… (Joel 2:12-13)
A. God wants our hearts more than anything else. He wants all of our love (Matthew 22:37). This reveals His heart for
us, in that He requires that we respond to His love for us by loving Him back.
B. What does it look like to turn to Him with all our heart? We are to turn from sin and flee from all that is contrary to
what He wants. Turning to God in with all our heart involves repenting, fasting, and praying. When we turn to Him, we
position ourselves to receive His favor.
C. The place of immunity from God’s judgments is in corporate, long-term wholeheartedness for God. The only
place of safety is in the midst of God’s people living in obedience to Him. In this way, we receive God’s favor and are kept
in a place of safety from the primary cause of pressure which is God’s zeal for His people as seen in His judgment against sin.
VI. REND YOUR HEART AND NOT YOUR GARMENTS
So rend your heart and not your garments; return to the Lord your God… (Joel 2:13)
A. Traditionally, in the generation that Joel prophesied, the people would tear their garment to show their grief and
desperation. To rend means to tear something violently or forcibly.
B. What God desires is the rending or tearing of the heart, which speaks of dealing radically with the matters of our
heart. This is the most challenging aspect of Joel’s exhortation. We must separate ourselves from anything that is
displeasing to God.
C. When must tear our heart away from sin. God desires the tearing of our heart. Joel essentially cried out, “Tear
your heart open! Spare not! If there is an issue in the way that is quenching the Holy Spirit, get rid of it!” Speaking
symbolically of this radical tearing, Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out (Matthew 5:29). He was
talking about a radical pursuit of obedience that painfully tears the heart in the process. In other words, forsake all
compromise!
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out…for it is more profitable for you that one of your members
perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:29)
D. It can be painful when confront the root systems that support sinful bondage in our lives. Sometimes it hurts to
press through until we get a breakthrough, yet it is the way to freedom. We want the Lord to somehow cause our problems
to evaporate without any cost or struggle or without the pain of tearing our hearts. This tearing of the heart is typically
the part that is most overlooked in the process. We might not mind missing a few meals in fasting or give a few hours to
cry out a little bit in the prayer room. Yet the tearing of the heart gets intensely personal. It is painful. The Lord will help us
in this. He will empower us.
E. We cannot pursue wholeheartedness in a casual way. This is an oxymoron. We sometimes hope for a
wholeheartedness that is gentle, easy and tame. Does it hurt to continue to press through until we get a breakthrough?
Yes, but it is the only way to breakthrough. We naturally desire the easiest road. Our hearts must be torn. This is a foreign
concept to the Western Church.
F. God is against much of what the Church labels as having our ‘liberty in grace.’ Many of the ‘liberties’ that the
Church fights for are the very thing that God is fighting against. The way we spend time and money; the way we seek
honor; the way we speak and relate gives evidence of not having torn away from that which holds us in darkness.
G. God the Father’s heart was torn when He gave Jesus’ life away, and it continues to be torn in His patient
longsuffering with His people as they refuse to respond with repentance. Jesus tore His heart when He went to the cross.
It is not a mystery why God wants us to tear our hearts in love for Him. He tears His own heart in His pursuit after us; He
has proved that He does not love us in a detached, distant way. To fully enter into this love, our own hearts must be torn.
How foreign this concept is to the Western Church!
VII. REPENTING WITH CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S TENDER HEART: A 5 FOLD REVELATION
Return to the Lord...for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; He relents from
doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent…? (Joel 2:13-14)
A. Joel summons the people to return to the Lord, giving five reasons why this is doable and wise. God is gracious,
merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm. He desires to make a way of deliverance. The
knowledge of God’s heart for us gives us courage to tear our hearts in repentance. If we take one step toward Him, He will
take ten steps toward us.
B. First, the Lord is gracious in that He evaluates us differently than anyone else does. He remembers our frailty and
that we are but dust (Psalm 103:14). He is not like a harsh military leader nor an angry coach who rejects any form of
weakness. God’s style of relating is human-friendly. His requirements are within the reach of the weak. He will make a way
of deliverance for us.
He has not dealt with…nor punished us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103:10)
C. Second, the Lord delights in mercy. God delights in watching the heart responses of His people as we encounter
His relentless mercy. He enjoys what is awakened in us when we understand that He gives us a new start after each
failure.
Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity...because He delights in mercy. (Micah 7:18)
D. Third, the Lord is slow to anger. Jesus spoke of this to the church in Thyatira. He gave them time to repent of their
immorality (Revelation 2:20-22). He is not quick to judge but gives time to repent.
E. Fourth, the Lord has great kindness. When we believe in God’s kindness, then we have confidence to press through
the hindrances and reach full repentance. Our repentance will never be met with rejection. This gives us the courage to
tear our hearts knowing that God desires to restore our fellowship with Him.
F. Fifth, the Lord relents from doing harm. This does not mean that God randomly changes His mind, surprising
Himself. Rather, He honors the free will of man without violating His justice.
VIII. THE LORD RELENTS FROM SENDING JUDGMENT
Return to the Lord...for He is gracious …He relents from doing harm. (Joel 2:13)
I sought for a man...who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that
I should not destroy it; but I found no one. (Ezekiel 22:30)
A. God is willing to relent, or to cancel the decree of judgment, instead of issuing it over a nation. Judgment comes
because the people refuse to relent (change). When people relent and turn to God, then He relents. Instead of releasing
the judgment they deserved, He sends blessing.
Gather yourselves together…2 before the decree is issued…before the LORD'S fierce anger comes upon
you…3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth…it may be that you will be hidden (protected from judgment)
in the day of the LORD'S anger. (Zephaniah 2:1-3)
B. There are two stages in God’s decrees; first, the decree is established in the heavenly court. Second, it is issued
as God releases angels to execute the judgment or else the decree is canceled.
C. In response to our prayer, God changes what He releases in our lives. The end result of a coming disaster can be
changed (Genesis 18:22-32; Exodus 32: 9-14; 2 Samuel 12:15-23; 24:10-14; 2 Chronicles 34:22-28; Jeremiah 18:7-10;
51:6-8; Ezekiel 18:21, 22, 28; 33:10-14; Daniel 4:29; Amos 5:1-3,14-15; 7:1–6; Zephaniah 2:1-3; Habakkuk 3:16-19;
Jon. 3:4-10; Malachi 3:16-4:6).
D. There are three steps in our partnership with God. First, God initiates what He wants by declaring it in His Word
and stirring our hearts. Second, we respond in obedience and prayer to God’s initiative. Third, God answers our
responses by releasing more blessing that He would have withheld until He heard our cry. Our prayers matter, even when
we do not feel their power.
E. Because of Jesus’ work on the cross, we receive the gift of righteousness. We respond to this with a commitment to
walk in righteousness. Therefore, we can receive God’s favor (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). The place of immunity from the
judgment of God is to live in His favor. Joel calls a people to corporate wholeheartedness in response to a crisis in their
nation. God will release His favor to geographic areas as a result of the people in that area coming to Him over the years,
in love, through corporate intercessory worship. The greatest place of safety is in the midst of a company of people living
in long-term, corporate wholeheartedness. I am committed to be in the midst of a people who develop a corporate,
long-term history in wholeheartedness before God.
IX. THE MYSTERIOUS “PERHAPS OF GOD” RELEASING “POCKETS OF MERCY”
Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth...seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be (perhaps) that you
will be hidden (protected) in the day of the LORD'S anger. (Zephaniah 2:3)
A. There is a mystery in the grace of God that has moved the hearts of the redeemed throughout the ages. I call it,
“the mysterious perhaps of God.” It is this place in God’s heart where He may turn and relent from sending judgment. He
may do this if His people respond to Him in humility.
B. The New American Standard says, “Perhaps you will be hidden.” The Lord is not trying to keep us guessing, as if it
were a game. Rather, He hides the full implications of all of the factors in the equation—all the reasons behind His actions
and His silence—so as to keep us from seeking to fulfill an equation without relating to Him.
C. The Lord desires to relents from judgment according to the response of His people. God desires to transform a
would-be disaster zone in various geographic areas into revival centers.
X. GATHER THE PEOPLE AND SANCTIFY THE CONGREGATION
Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; 16 gather the people, sanctify the
congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes... (Joel 2:15-16)
A. How should we respond? What can we do about the worldwide crisis we know will take place? The Lord has
handed us a clear and effective battle plan, though it will take faith to carry it out.
B. We are to blow the trumpet in Zion to call a solemn assembly. The elders assemble and gather the people; even
the children are to be part of this gathering. Since no one will be exempt from the coming crisis and judgment, no one is
exempt from crying out to God for mercy. Then we consecrate a fast. Fasting positions our hearts to experience the grace
of God in a greater way.
1. Blow the trumpet – boldly proclaim the coming judgment and the solemn assembly.
2. Consecrate a fast – put fasting on the schedule and take it serious.
3. Call a solemn assembly – gatherings that are sacred in their priority to our schedules.
4. Sanctify the congregation – leaders sanctify the people under their care, by laying aside ministry programs
to make seeking God the top priority in terms of their time.
C. Joel describes the wholehearted response that God desires by emphasizing the necessity of earnest prayer. We
cry out for His visitation of mercy with earnestness.
Let the priests...weep...let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord…why should they say among the peoples
(unbelievers), ‘Where is their God?” (Joel 2:17)
XI. ESTABLISHING A JOEL 2 SPIRITUAL CULTURE
Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your
days, or even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children,
and their children another generation. (Joel 1:2-3)
A. The first exhortation in the Book of Joel is “hear and give ear” or to pay close attention and learn by what happened
to Israel in times of God’s judgments (Joel 1:1-2:9). The call to “hear and give ear” is to learn from history. It is also a call
to hear what Joel said. In our context, we do this by studying the Book of Joel. It is the call to hear God’s heart as we
prepare for future glory and crisis. Joel challenges them to hear, which includes embracing a lifestyle that enhances
hearing. We must go deep in the message that is presented in the book of Joel!
B. This hearing does not come automatically because we are Christians. It requires an intentional, deliberate
cultivating of understanding of the Book of Joel.
C. Joel emphasizes the unprecedented magnitude of the coming judgments. He asks, in essence, “Have you seen
anything like this? Is this normal?” The significance of the message is that what is to come is unprecedented, thus, it is
unfamiliar to us. This makes it difficult to hear.
Has anything like this happened in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? (Joel 1:2)
D. We are entering a new season on the divine calendar. His glory and judgments will shake everything that can be
shaken. We are in a unique period in which we have no frame of reference for. Noah is an example of embracing a
prophetic message that was unfamiliar to him. His prophetic message was unprecedented, thus, it was hard for the people
to receive him. God told Noah that it would rain for forty days. However, it had never rained in history up to that point. Up
until that time, God watered the ground from below and not as rain descending from the sky.
XII. TELL THE CHILDREN – ESTABLISHING A DYNAMIC SPIRITUAL CULTURE
Tell your children about it, let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
(Joel 1:3)
A. Joel gave the elders a four-generational mandate that all understand his message about the Day of the Lord
revival and judgment, rather than being ignorant or indifferent to what it.
B. God wants a holy spiritual environment of faith and revelation established in the Church. Prayer with fasting must
be a key part of the spiritual culture of the End-Time Church. This is what God is after in commanding all to, “Tell the
children.” The spiritual culture in the Western Church today has a scoffing and passive spirit that considers it “extreme”
to believe God’s Word about the End-Times. It was one of Peter’s priorities to warn us about this mocking spirit (2 Peter 3:3).
Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days… (2 Peter 3:3)