“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,“ return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;” Joel 2:12 ESV
Did you realize that the story of your life is recorded in the pages of the bible? It’s in Luke chapter fifteen, and it speaks of the experiences of a son who lost his way. This son walked away from his father’s house, forgot all that he had been taught, and wasted his money and life. But then something unusual happens, and his memories are awakened within him. What happened? He repented and made up in his mind that it was time to return to go back home or to return to his father’s house.
Many of us have been prodigal and strayed away from the Lord, but here’s the victory in our prodigal ways; the father is waiting for you to return. Wow! Can you believe it? The father’s eyes are on the horizon, looking for you. It’s not too late, don’t let pride get in the way and keep you from experiencing the steadfast love of the father, a love that both forgives and restores.
Joel records the Lord’s cry for his people; He wants us to return fasting, weeping, and mourning. In other words, acknowledging our wrong, turning away from it, and turning to the father is true repentance, the RETURN!
May this time of fasting and praying be a time of self-reflection and self-examination where we realize a need to return to the Lord. May those broken pieces within us all be revealed and cause us to return to the potter and put them in his hands to mend. Now is the time to return to God with fasting and praying.
Written by: Pastor Walter Robertson, III
