Spirit of Weeping

Joel 2:12-14

12 Yet even now, declares the LORD,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.
Return to the LORD, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD your God?

 In a sense, returning to God with all your heart includes your body (with fasting), your soul (weeping due to realization of sin), and your mind (mourning because we desperately need Him, but we don't rely on Him).

Matthew 15:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted"

The Lord wants to comfort and bless this community of believers, but we don't mourn in this season of desert because our eyes are blind to seeing the state that we are in. As we are on this fast, I have found myself saying "man this is so boring, i can't do anything and I can only read for so long" and that's when it strikes me. We, the believers who were created to be amazed and delighted at His majesty and glory are bored because our senses have been dulled. We are no longer amazed and joyful because of revelations of God.

The fast is cleansing our senses and once again realizing the majesty and beauty of God the Creator, the Merciful, the Healer. Once we begin to mourn for the abandonment of God in our ministry, then and only then will God come back saying I've been waiting so long for you to want me, and now I will come and comfort you from your boredom, depression, stress, and worries, whether they be finances, school, career, family, relationships, etc.

The term mourn in Hebrew (a very concrete vivid language) means expressing your grief to where one beats his chest and tears his hair, and that can only come through the revelation of the true state of our ministry.

Heavenly Father, you are the Merciful and the great Comforter. Lord, give us our daily bread. Give us your words, as we live on your words and not on bread alone. Give us a spirit of weeping and mourning as we are on this 40-day fast. That we realize that we have lost our first love as the church of Ephesus. As the rain falls this week, let the rain of the Holy Spirit come. Lord, rend the heavens and bring down your Holy Spirit and fill up every single member of this congregation. Revelations upon revelations. Baptize our hearts in your Holy Spirit. We love you, and in your Son's most precious name we pray, Amen.