God has recently been showing me a few things in the Spirit about Joel 2:12-29 and how this is a prophetic calling to His Church today to come into the place that God has been calling His Church to for the past decade! This is such an awesome revelation that the Holy Spirit has given to me, bless God!
-THE NEW HEART REALITY FOR THE CHURCH-
So, if you have your Bible handy, turn with me to the book of Joel 2 and we will begin this "prophetic calling out." Let's start reading with verse 12 (from NIV text):

12: "Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with ALL YOUR HEART, with fasting and weeping and mourning. (emphasis mine)
13: "Rend your heart and not you garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents in sending calamity.
14: "Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing -- grain offerings and drink offerings unto the Lord your God."

What is God trying to get through to His church in these verses? He is saying to us to repent unto the Lord, to repent with fasting, weeping and mourning for the sins we have done. How are we to repent, by returning to Christ with ALL YOUR HEART! God tells His church in Ezekiel 36:16-27, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and move you to follow my decrees and to be careful to keep my laws!" The Church has not followed God's decrees and has not been careful to keep the Holy Spirit's laws! We have been quick to judge the flow of God's Spirit, we have been entertained the spirit of religion, we have boxed up God and put Him on a shelf in the basement telling Him that miracles are for the yesteryear Christians, by not letting Him have control of our services and doing what man wants instead and the Holy Spirit has said, enough! No more, there shall be NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME, says the Lord! He says only if you return unto me, than I will remove your heart of stone in which the religious spirit has dwelt and I will give you a NEW HEART!

He doesn't want us to be fake about our repentance either! He says to rend our hearts and not our garments! Western Christianity has been good about putting on a show for God. But God has seen right through us. He says for us to rend our hearts. No more performances. He says that we have been fake long enough. He also tells us, His Church, that if we will rend our hearts to Him, He is compassionate, slow to anger and will abound in love. His grace will literally overwhelm you, yet if He must, He will bring judgement upon His Church. Beware, for the day of the Lord is coming and if you do not have the new heart of the Lord, judgement is also coming your way.

-WHO KNOWS? HE MIGHT TURN AROUND AND BLESS US TO!-

God does tell us though, praise You Father, that He might just turn around and bless the socks off of us! The Word says in Jeremiah that His "MERCY" is new every morning. Many prophets of the day have been preaching blessing, health and prosperity, but the Lord is only doing this because of His mercy. It does not take long before accountability catches up to us, that is why we must repent before God now with fasting, weeping and mourning because of the sins of His Church. This is why I appreciate the CALL events that Lou Engle and Che' Ahn have put together. Because they are rendering their hearts to the Lord and asking for the new heart with weeping, fasting and mourning.

-GLORY TO GLORY-

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV) says, "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the spirit." I love this translation. The NKJV says, "But we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Part of the "new heart reality" that will take place within us is the changing from glory to glory.To receive the new heart, we will be transformed into His likeness and image, bless God, so that we might reflect His shikina as mirror does the light of the sun. But first there is the transformation period.

-THE COST FOR REVIVAL: A CALL TO FASTING AND PRAYER-

Now, let's look at verses 15-17:

15: "Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.
16: "Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chambers.
17: "Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep before the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare your people, O Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?'"

There has already been a movement that has been calling God's people to fast and pray called the CALL which I mentioned earlier. They have blown the trumpet of the Lord in Zion, the House of the Lord to declare a holy fast. I beseech you children of the Light to declare a Holy fast unto the Lord by calling the sacred assembly and consecrate them, no matter what their age! Men and women of God and Ministers of His Word, whether you are prophets, pastors, apostles, teachers, weep on the altar before God in repentance crying out for revival!! REVIVAL DOES NOT COME WITHOUT THE COST OF FASTING AND PRAYER AND REPENTANCE OF THE CHURCH! We want to see the book of Acts restored into the Church, but it cannot because we as the church have a greedy and unholy hearts. Because of our wicked hearts the Church has become the scorn of the nations! We have become so stingy that God will not move until our hearts are surrendered unto Him and then the nations will no longer cry out to us "Where is their God?" for we will prove Him through signs and wonders, bless God!!!

-HOW GOD WILL ANSWER: I AM SENDING MY BLESSING TO MY SPOTTLESS CHURCH-

Verses 18-19:

18: Then the Lord will be jealous for His land and take pity on His people.
19: For the Lord will reply to them, "I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.

What does God say here? What is He going to do if we will repent? He will become jealous for His people. He is a very jealous God when it comes to you and where you've been and who you've been hanging out with. God wants your free time!

God says this to those who have repented, come into the times of refreshing (Rom. 2), and have become spotless in His sight, He says I am sending you a new grain (REVELATION), a new wine (LEVEL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT), and new oil (LEVEL OF ANOINTING). He's bringing us to deeper and new levels of His Spirit, hallelujah! All of this will be enough to satisfy us fully and no longer will Christ be a reproach among the nations, for they will see the power of God released in this new thing He is doing.

NEW GRAIN (prophetic revelation): The Lord is bringing to those who are 'holy and acceptable unto Him' a new prophetic revelation of His WORD. The prophetic Words that have gone out from His Word will not compare to what He is revealing to us with the "New Grain of Prophetic Revelation' See here, it is a new thing. I once heard Jack Hayford talking about "God's New Thing." Well, here it is. It is being released now even as we speak. The new grain of His prophetic revelation is being released now even unto the people whom have repented and are upright before the Holy God, but might not believe in it. He is opening their eyes now even as we speak with the fire of new revelation that is burning in their hearts.
NEW WINE (levels of the Holy Spirit): The Lord is taking us deeper into the River, hallelujah!! Your 'soaking' periods are going deeper! It isn't just devotional hour anymore! It is glory days. "being transformed from glory to glory!" Soaking in the deepest parts of His river. It is here that the spirit of true revival will be stirred and released!!! Deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper. Take us to the River, O LORD! Have you ever heard the term, Heavy Holy Ghost Drinkers? Well, if you are a Holy Ghost drinker, it just got heavier! A new wine, the good stuff, is here. Just take a drink of the new wine of His presence!!
NEW OIL (levels of the anointing): Your anointing is becoming new again! Its seemed as if it has been getting old, its getting renewed and deepened. You've been praying for the renewal of the "Acts Church" and your anointing is going deeper now. You will begin to see the book of Acts come alive before you now, for the levels of the anointing are now deepened. Do you feel the rain of new oil anointing falling upon your life?
-DRIVING THE ENEMY AWAY-

Verses: 20-24

20: I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea, and those in the rear into the western sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise. Surely the Lord has done great things.
21: Be not afraid O Land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things.
22: Be not afraid O wild animals; for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
23: Be glad O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your GOD, for He has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains as before.
24: The threshing floors will be filled with "GRAIN"; the vats will overflow with "NEW WINE" and "OIL."

The Lord is driving away the armies of darkness that have been oppressing you for years! He's pushing those oppressors away into barren lands and far enough to be pushed into the eastern and western seas! Prophetically the east is a major place of victory, for this is where Christ will have a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, through the "EASTERN GATE." So, the enemy will be pushed first into the eastern sea, the place of victory. Then He will push them into the western sea, where the sun (SON) arises! The east and the west are definite places of victory in the spirit.

Next, the Lord commands us not to fear for the LORD has done great things in this day! The open pastures, the places that need pioneering in the Spirit, have suddenly become green again. The winter is over. It is ripe for the pioneering ministry to move in.

Trees are very important. John 15 talks of the Church as being branches on the great vine (CHRIST). No doubt that Christ was referring to this Scripture, were it says the trees are beginning to bear fruit! His Church is beginning to bear fruit. HIS branches have been bear long enough!!! Bear fruit. Bring new life into the tree! The fig tree and Vine (CHRIST) also will yield their riches!

He also is restoring the rain of soaking which will restore righteousness into the Body!!! We will begin to receive showers, which will turn into great rains of Heavenly experiences, hallelujah!

"The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil." The great harvest! the prophetic revelation will be released and the Holy Spirit and anointing will overflow in this new thing in which God is doing! They will overflow into the harvest! There is a great impartation that will take place and this is why the threshing floors are "FILLED" with prophetic revelation and will OVERFLOW with Holy Spirit experiences and the anointing!

-WHAT THE LORD WOULD SAY TO THE YOUTH CULTURE-

Todd Bentley has touched on this before.

VERSE 25-27:

NOTE: The next few verses speak of the new youth movement that God is raising up!

25: I will repay you for the years that the locusts have eaten--the great locusts and the young locusts, the other locusts and the locusts swarms--My great army that I sent among you.
26: You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your GOD, Who has worked wonders for you: never again will My people be shamed again.
27: Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your GOD, and that there is no other; never again will My people be shamed.

The Lord is saying to the teens today, He knows you have been robbed and broken to pieces. He knows that your very lives have been stolen, eaten and destroyed. But He would say to you young ones, "I AM THE RESTORER! I will restore back to you a 100-fold what has been taken, only if You will live for Me. Only if you will follow after Me with your whole heart, mind, strength and soul! I will then enlist you to My army where you will be filled with My presence! I will work MIGHTY SIGNS AND WONERS AMONG YOU!! No longer will your generation be a shame among the older generations for your generation has been chosen and set apart. Chosen to be radical. Set apart to be My vessels! Young people know that "I AM" God. I AM! I AM! I AM! There is none before Me, nor will their be any after for I AM forever! Be glad children of Zion, REJOICE for I AM with Thee!"

-POUR OUT MY SPIRIT-

Verses 28-29:

28: And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit upon all people, your sons and daughters will prophecy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
29: Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

As I have been stating before, God is pouring out on all people, and He made it clear, it wasn't just adults, nor was it just men. He said on all people. Men, women, sons, daughters, old men and women and young men and women! He's pouring it out ! That is why we see an increase of dreams and visions in the Church these days. Children are prophesying. You say , but they are children. There is no Junior Holy Spirit and He is pouring His Spirit upon all flesh.

The WORD He has for the Church is this: He says, "I AM CALLING OUT TO YOU! Will you respond? I am calling you higher and deeper! I am calling for repentance! Will you respond? If you will only reply to My calling, then I will pour out My Spirit upon you with mighty blessings that will follow. I am calling out. Will you only reply?"

Take Us To The River is a ministry of Daniel Black and Lookout Community Church

GOING AFTER GOD AND CHANGING THE WORLD

Daniel Black