“Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and wholeheartedly pray to the Lord.” (Joel 1:14)
In this passage of the Prophet Joel’s writings, God warns the people to return from their sins and immorality. Through His Prophet, God directs His call to His people to repent and do away with their sinful ways and escape from judgment, a judgment that is known as “misery upon misery.” But how is this to take place? And how is it possible for people to be reconciled with God?
In this prophetic text, God shows the path to reconciliation. Reconciliation takes place when His people fast; when they join in collective prayer; when leaders and the people join in the House of God. With sincere and contrite hearts, they raise their supplications to God, while each one of them turns their hearts and desires toward God.
We need a plan for reconciliation, first and foremost, with our God. We have a desperate need for spiritual renewal and revival to grow the faculty to discern our times as they are. We must understand the seriousness of the world’s conditions and know God’s mercy and primacy for our personal and collective lives.
The Great Lent is the perfect opportunity for the individual and the collective to turn towards God. Therefore, let us observe this Lent with prayer and fasting, pleading to our Lord God for His grace and mercy in our lives and His peace in the world. Let us pray with sincere hearts to ask our merciful God to grant us a renewed life.
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