Reading Through the Bible - JOEL

Some Books of the bible are very short and some are very long but this one is one of the shortest.

JOEL  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY

29th book of the OT 

29th book of the Bible

It starts with a straight announcement in the first verse stating that it is the word of the Lord through Joel. 

So in other words  "take heed"  or   "pay attention".

What is it?

The Book of Joel is one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament which means it is Prophecy.

How Long is it?

It has 3 chapters.

Who Wrote it?

Joel

The first verse tells us who Joel was

"The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel"

 

He was the son of someone called Pethuel but it gives us no indication who Pethuel was.

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Joel is the second minor prophet, who ministered to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. We don’t know much about him, and we don’t know much about how his message was received."

When was it Written?

It is difficult to get a true timeframe for this book as there is very little information in it about Joel.

Who was it Written to?

Nothing is mentioned about the people Joel was prophesying to in the whole of the first 2 chapters.

We see in some verses in chapter 3 that it was to the people of Judah.

"Teach Sunday School" tells us the following

"The problem dating the book of Joel comes through the fact that the prophet has very little to say about himself.  Many of the prophets name the kings under which they were serving, but Joel does not"

What destructive creature dominates the first part of this book?

The locust.

Why was it Written? 

It was written because God want to send a distinct message to the people.

Verse 13 of chapter 2 tells us God wanted the people to repent

  

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Joel explains to the people what the Lord wants from them: repentance. The Lord would soon have His day, both with Judah and the whole world. Joel’s message has two strong points:

• God is judging Judah, but He will bless and restore them again when they repent.
• God will judge all the nations on Judah’s behalf."

"Teach Sunday School" tells us the following

"Joel prophesied about destruction ............  He also prophesied about the Day of the Lord .......... and therefore some of his prophecies remain futuristic."

 

What does Joel state that is also good news?

The people can be glad because God has done marvelous things as this verse tells us.

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

God disciplines His people, but He also defends them. Joel says that although Judah is under God’s wrath right now, in the future holds many exciting things for the people of God:

• The Lord will pour out His Spirit on all mankind.
• Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.
• The Lord will avenge Judah of her enemies.
• Judah will again become a land of plenty.

What structure does this book take?

Chapter 1:   

•  Locusts

Chapter 2: 

•  Day of the Lord.
•  Promised Deliverance
•  Promise of the Spirit

Chapter 3:

•  Judgement of the Nations
•  Blessing of Judah

The Overview Bible  gives us a quick outline

• God judges Judah (Joel 1–2)
  1. God sends a plague of locusts on Judah (Joel 1:1–2:11)
  2. God calls Judah to repent (Joel 2:12–17)
  3. God promises to restore Judah from the plague (Joel 2:18–27)
• God judges the nations (Joel 2:28–3:21)
  1. God promises to pour out His Spirit on all mankind (Joel 2:28–29)
  2. God provides opportunity to repent before the day of the Lord (Joel 2:30–32)
  3. God judges the nations on behalf of Judah (Joel 3)

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

The 5 Best Quotes on Love + Free Printable - Coffee & Conversation

I am not a fan of QUOTES

In fact sometimes I get very annoyed at how people almost treat a quote

 as more important than the Word of God

I actually wrote a blog post about Do We Really Need This Quote?

I'm taking a theme of Love this month which is no surprise because it is February but I not looking at Love because of Valentine's Day but centred around God's Love.

I have seen soppy love quotes, and funny love quotes but I'm looking at serious love quotes from people I would respect.

So in the list below I will quote

Not  Lysa Terkeurst   but   Corrie Ten boom

Not  Brennan Manning   but   Jerry Bridges   

Not  Rick Warren   but   C.S. Lewis

1.  St. Augustine

          "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us."

2.  Corrie Ten Boom

"There is no pit so deep, that God's Love is not deeper still."

3.  Jerry Bridges

"God's unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God's love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son."

4.  Charles Spurgeon

"When the time comes for you to die, you need not be afraid, because death cannot separate you from God's love."

 

 

The visual below is available as a  Love Quotes Free Printable

5.  C.S. Lewis

I could not decide between these two quotes so I've included them both

(I had the same problem in The 5 Best Quotes on Forgiveness too)

"You cannot love a fellow creature fully till you love God."

 

"To ask that God's love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God."

and I know that C.S. Lewis is definitely reassuring us all when he also said

"Though our feelings come and go,

God's love for us does not."

 

A personal Question of my own about Love is

Don't forget to download your Love Quotes Free Printable

 

 

Reading Through the Bible - HABAKKUK

Some Books of the Bible are very short and this is one of the shortest. 

HABAKKUK  -  OLD TESTAMENT  -  PROPHECY 

35th book of the OT 

35th book of the Bible

What is it?

The Book of Habakkuk is one of the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament.

Who Wrote it?

The Prophet Habakkuk  

How does it start?

It starts with a question from the prophet Habakkuk to God ch. 1 v.2-4    

Haggai is crying out to God about justice

How Long is it?

It has only 3 chapters.

What does it contain?

It covers

•  2 questions from Habakkuk to God and God's reply,
•  a prayer by Habakkuk
•  God's comparison between the proud and the just in ch. 2v4

•  God's proclamation on the wicked

but even through the judgement of the wicked there is always hope for the world.

When was it written?

It covers the period of 615 - 605 BC.

Prophecies come true in the period 608 - 598 BC

Why was it written?

It is to encourage people to turn to God and rely on Him to do what is right though prayer and praise.

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

"Habakkuk pleads with God to stop the injustice and violence in Judah, but is surprised to find that God will use the even more violent Babylonians to do so."

 

"Teach Sunday School" tells us the following

"The Prophecy is in response to heartfelt prayer and has been an encouragement to people to cry out in times of trouble."

What format does this book take?

The Overview Bible  tells us the following

1. Habakkuk asks when God will judge Judah (Hab 1:1–4)
2. God will judge Judah with the Chaldeans (Hab 1:5–11)
3. Habakkuk asks why God would use the wicked Chaleans (Hab 1:12–17)
4. God pronounces judgment on the Chaldeans (Hab 2)
5. Habakkuk responds with a song of worship (Hab 3)

How does it end?

With a Hymn of Faith in ch. 3 v 17-19

where we get the very well known passage acknowledging that we can trust God through everything.

OTHER BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR READING THE BIBLE PAGE 

 

10 Bible Verses of Encouragement about Forgiveness

We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage us all around the topic of Forgiveness.

I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.

So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to turn to in times when we are concerned about forgiveness.

1.   1 John 1 v 9     

Starting at the beginning with what we need to be sure of - the fact that He is the one who is willing to forgive our sins

and

cleanse us from them

but

we also have a part to play - we must confess our sins.

 

2.   Daniel 9 v 9

Daniel did not have the benefit of the New Testament and the narrative of Jesus about His Father but yet he still knew what a forgiving God we have, regardless of how sinful we are.

"To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him." 

3.   Isaiah 1 v 18

“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.

God is so gracious to explain to us that even though we are so sinful compared to our Holy God He still has made a way for us to be changed.

4.   Isaiah 43 v 25  

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions

 for My own sake;

And I will not remember your sins.

We cannot get rid of our sin but God will.

Then he actually comforts us by telling us He will not remember them - in other words He will not hold them against us afterwards.

5.   Psalm 103 v 10-14

10.  He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

We do not get what we deserve

11.  For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

God's mercy is greater than we can even imagine

12.  As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

There is no getting these sins back because of His forgiveness

13.  As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.

Fear (awe) of God brings our the tender mercy of our God

14.  For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

God made us so no-one can know us better than He can

Are we deserving of any of this forgiveness?

No but God gave Jesus in our place so that He can forgive us when we turn to Him. 

6.   Ephesians 1 v 7

In our previous verse we saw the effect of God's mercy on our forgiveness now we see His grace.

7.   Acts 10 v 43

It's not a complicated process to apply for the forgiveness of God, we simply have to believe

this is where faith comes into the process.

8.   Isaiah 53 v 5-6

We have seen the mercy and the grace of God to bring about our forgiveness.

Then we saw the faith we need to have and now we see the hope we have in this Saviour 

but none of this is to be taken lightly because our Saviour took such a heavy burden that belonged to us.

9.   Matthew 6 v 14-15

Forgiveness is not just something that God does for us.

We must remember that once we have faith in God and become new creations we have the responsibility of taking on the commands of God and so we need to love others as He does and be ready to forgive them.

It should be an outworking of the Spirit of God working in and through us.

We finish with a reminder from the Apostle Paul

10.   Colossians 3 v 13

 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

The most important thing to remember is we must give forgiveness because we have first received forgiveness from the Lord.