August 8 - I Will Pour Out My Spirit

Today's Reading: 
Joel 1:1-3:21 
Mark 3:7-30 
Proverbs 24:5-14 
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Focus Verses:
Joel 2:28, 31-32 
28 "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. - - - 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
 
Insight:
The prophet Joel compared the destructive invasion of Israel by its enemies to a devouring plague of locusts. They would utterly consume and destroy everything in their path as judgment for rejecting their God.

Joel also had a message of hope and restoration for the remnant of repentant people who were steadfast in their faith in God. They were promised restoration of their land and their lives. They were also promised a new outpouring of God's Spirit and salvation on the final day of judgment.

Jesus' disciples appropriated the promises of Joel's prophecy. They saw the Day of Pentecost as the beginning of fulfillment of his promise to all who would "call on the name of the Lord." They believed they were seeing the long-awaited outpouring of the Holy Spirit and salvation given to all who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Response and Action:
I want to experience salvation and to live in the hope and power of the Holy Spirit. I will call on the name of the Lord. I will hold on to faith through every circumstance, believing that God will sustain and save me.

O God, save and protect me from the things that threaten to consume and destroy me. Help me to look to you in faith in all circumstances. Thank you for Jesus, my Lord, who for my sake and my salvation came down from heaven. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life who has spoken through the prophets. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ my Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. 

Spiritual Formation Verses:  
Acts 2:21-23
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' 22 "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 

Resources:
Hope Has Its Reasons
by Rebecca Manley Pippert