Category Archives: Book of Joel

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“THIS IS THAT”

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all were in one accord in one place.

And suddenly  there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave the utterance.

Now when this was noised abroad (told), the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?

And how hear we every man in our own tongue (language), wherein we were born?

Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia.

Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews, and proselytes.

Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

Others mocking said, These men are filled with new wine,

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.

For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.” Act 2: 1-16

I am sure everyone has seen reports of the great revival that is manifesting as all the woes. and troubles,  and terrors are bringing the birth pains of this world to an excruciating deliverance.

We have been seeing for years now those events which Jesus told us were the beginning of the sorrows, and as the world is in that spiritual labor with pain and suffering on all sides, but the beauty to be revealed will far outweigh the pain

So many of us have lived for this very moment in time, the fulfillment of all that Jesus promised and the fulfillment of those promises.

And all this will go hand in hand, as the troubles increase so will the number of salvations.

But, as the old saying goes, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” I know I had included this in a post once but I can’t remember which one, I have almost six hundred on here, so I am clueless what I titled it,as I do get funky with those sometimes:)

I used the passage above to correlate with this, I know I have used it before but it had to be again, I wanted to share this.

I want to share what I believe is coming with this, I believe we are in the realm of what we have been waiting for, and many that believed that also, and have went on home now, but like those of Hebrews chapter eleven, they died still believing this would one day come.

And it has been stirring, I had an absolute divine revelation of such, May 19,2012, I had an appointment to preach and those of us there were worshipping and the Spirit fell in an incredible way,  now this was a Spirit filled church, there were two, one of which was my late sister, who had the awesome gift along with tongues that allowed them to sing in tongues, which is a sound unlike anything you could ever imagine,we had a wonderful pastor, who has also went on now, but God blessed our services, but this particular night was profound.

As we worshipped the Spirit just came and every person’s gift manifested, and this was simultaneously, the entire group with different manifestations of the Spirit, and I heard  crystal clear a portion of that verse above.

And when I got home, I went to Book of Joel, but I had to go to the Book of Acts to find what was spoken to me, it referenced Joel, but it was stated in Acts.

I was so amazed by what I had saw and what I had heard that I wrote down the date, I couldn’t even tell you now what my sermon was on that night, but I can tell you what really held the importance of that moment.

And I believe that is what we are going into, as the harvest is coming in, we will see manifestations of the gifts and miracles unlike anything this world has ever seen or will ever see again.

The simplistic truth of miracles is this, they are for those who do not believe, they are to show onlookers that what has transpired has no human explanation and are of the supernatural realm, that is why the disciple prayed  for the signs and wonders to follow them and as Jesus told us they do follow those who believe.

I don’t want to get into that too much, but it’s been quite clear why  we hadn’t seen those things as we should in the American churches

There has been some much animosity in ministry at least from my prospective  there is so much one-upmanship, and “Anything you can do I can do better” attitudes that go on behind the scenes that it’s no shock the false doctrines have taken such a hold, but that’s all over now, because we are in the days that there will be that separation and the works will be done through those who are now being prepared while those who couldn’t get past a false sense of competition will be in for a sad realization, think of that as when Moses realized his disobedience prevented him from entering the promised land.

The fire now is for them who are falling at the feet of Jesus, with true humility and repentance, desiring only His forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

When we truly have Christ, it is no longer about us, or even this world, it is about bringing all we can to Him, for His glory and for the Kingdom, and to see souls who were tormented made free, and the greatest goal, to witness his Kingdom come to this earth and Him take His rightful place as King

To sum it all up, hold on to your hats, as the saying goes, the crazy is just going to get crazier, the woes are going to grow dreading more woeful, but as the manifested glory falls, it will be unparalleled in wonder.

Joel 2:1-31: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is at hand;

A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even the years of many generations.

A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:

Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withhold their shining.

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Who knoweth is he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him: even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chambers, and the bride out of her closet.

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine inheritance to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine,a nd oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen.

But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he hath done great things.

Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.

Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD you God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”

All winding up, all coming together, and as always if you have not received the salvation of the Lord as yet, do not hesitate and if you desire more of him, pray and seek His face and you will never be the same!

Blessing and Peace till next time!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2023/ Rev. N. Brown Johnson

 

 

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A change of heart….

“And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” JEREMIAH 24:7 

A few days and it will be Valentines Day, always, always has been one of my favorites, I was born a helpless romance junkie and think it should be a crime for anyone to not celebrate the one day set aside to celebrate the greatest of all gifts… LOVE.

And I do NOT mean it in the context of the world standards with their absolutely perverse notion of what love even means, although this time of the year it is hard to escape, especially this year with all the hype about the new even more twisted sequel to a certain movie.. but enough of that

Funny how we humans can dress up the devil and sell him as the best thing that ever happened to us.

Satan will try, he doesn’t care if it has been twenty years, thirty years, whatever, he never gives up and that is why we have to always be on guard and the biggest threat to your salvation is always gonna be your “old friends” and maybe that little throw in there will help someone who may be having “a blast from the past” that the enemy has sent to knock the wind out of your sails.

Remember what Jesus said “Let the dead bury the dead” go on with your life.

Back to love.. real love… the best part of any good romance movie is when the love question comes and one says to the other “If you could only look into my heart…” and we know the correct mushy Hallmark ending to that sentence is “you would KNOW just how much I love you” and all the other mushy love stuff.

So, I want you in honor of true spirit of Valentine’s Day to answer me a question. well actually you will be answering it to you, since I am obviously pretty far outta earshot… If someone were to look deep into your HEART, what would they see?

Would they see tattered, torn, broken, and left feeling forsaken by friends, and family? 

Would they see all the damage, stress, and strain of the trails you have been through in your life and all the rips and shreds left by lost loves and lost loved ones?

Would they see regret, and remorse, and guilt so severe over things you cannot change that have left you with the inability to forgive YOURSELF?

Would they see wounds and scars from a lifetime of deceptions and many bad decisions?

Would they see sorrow, grief, and pain and the worry over the tragedies of others?

The true beauty in having a “damaged” heart is that only a heart that has known true agony can fully give itself to others and most of all to God because only He can revive, renew, and repair all that we think is eternally lost and only he can take a heart too afraid to be loved or show love and make it overflow with the purest of love, to flow out so strong that it can even flow onto those you think are incapable of love and convert them. 

That is why He tells us that He will GIVE us a heart to KNOW Him, but we must come to Him with our whole heart.

And in doing this we have to admit what we see and be willing to trade in our hearts of stone, hardened through life, hardened against faith, hardened in unbelief because of the things we have suffered, and we have the argument that our wounds are too deep, too much water under the bridge and we can’t give our lives to Christ because we just “can’t live it” right now, but that is such self-deception! 

We only have to give Him those stone hearts and let Him tell us what He sees. 

Ezekiel 36:26,27: “A NEW HEART also WILL I GIVE YOU, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I WILL TAKE AWAY THE STONY HEART out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep judgments, and do them.”

He does the work! He gives US the new heart and once He gives us His spirit, HE leads us, guides us, and CAUSES us to walk in His paths!

There is NOTHING that we can do for ourselves! And I for one thank God for that, I personally could have never “fixed” myself, no one or not the greatest team of any super brains on earth could have “fixed” me and you know what?

They can’t fix anyone else either!

Only Jesus, because we have to have a heart transplant that only ONE physician in the universe knows how to perform!

So if you are looking and not liking what you see, and be honest, that is the groovy thing with this blog, NO ONE knows you while you are reading it!

I don’t know it, your friends don’t know it and NO ONE sees you, so you can be honest, right there where you are, LOOK… what do you see?

Joel 2:12,13: “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, TURN ye even TO ME with ALL YOUR HEART, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; And rend (tear open) your heart, and not your garments.

And TURN unto the Lord your God; For HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL, SLOW TO ANGER, AND OF GREAT KINDNESS….“

I promise you, you can trust Him with ALL your heart, and I also promise you, if you could only look into the Father’s heart, you would truly see just how much He ALREADY LOVES YOU!

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

Original post date 02/10/2017 REVISTED 02/12/2022 Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

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Had been…

“But if from thence (this point forward)  thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou shalt seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

When thou art in tribulation (distress),and all these things are come upon thee, EVEN in the latter days, IF thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will NOT forsake thee, NEITHER, destroy thee, NOR forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. 

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?

Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 

Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations (trials), by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by  a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors (calamities), according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Unto thee it was shewed (revealed) that thou mightest (may) know that the Lord he is God; There is none beside him. 

And because he LOVED thy fathers, therefore he CHOSE their seed (descendants) after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power OUT of Egypt.

To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, TO BRING THEE IN, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

KNOW THEREFORE THIS DAY, AND CONSIDER IT IN THINE HEART, THAT THE LORD, HE IS GOD IN HEAVEN ABOVE, AND UPON THE EARTH BENEATH: THERE IS NONE ELSE.

Thou shalt KEEP therefore his statues, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee (you may prosper), and with they children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth (live long in the land), Which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever.” Deuteronomy 4:29-40

Just like in marriage, “From this day forward…” and other in business arrangements as “From this point forward…, how often do we use that statement or a phrase quite like it, such as “from here on out”, “from the time, on…” words and phrases used to describe a beginning, often an ordeal, and an end goal, a hope of something so much better than what had been. and that is the promise Jesus gives us with his promise of eternal life.

As the Hebrews had been oppressed and in bondage, the Hebrews had been hurt, wounded, and many, many dead because of those who had enslaved them.

The Hebrews had been doubtful before the plagues came upon their enemies.

The Hebrews that had been hopelessly trapped when God parted the Red Sea.

The Hebrews who had been disobedient complainers until the Lord removed the instigators from among them over the period of 40 years.

The Hebrews who one had been considered outnumbered and defeated by those who oppressed them became the most fierce of armies as David lead by the Lord fought not only the giant but all that rose against Israel.

The Lord God Jehovah himself supernaturally bringing destruction upon their enemies, even in some cases, using their many combined enemies to destroy each other. While bringing Freedom, and prosperity to them as he led them to a land that he himself had chosen for them.

And they had start to start somewhere, it started with the belief that God would deliver them, it started with the belief that even when their work was made harder and Pharaohs demands more harsh and severe,it started as they watched plague after plague be sent down upon their oppressors in Egypt, and it started as they watched, even knowing the relentlessness of Pharaoh that these signs, these wonders could only be explained as the hand of a very real God interceding for their release.

And I am sure for some it started as they saw the Sea literally split in to, and for some it may have been as they walked, in absolute awe at the power of God, perfectly through a departed sea, oh can you imagine what they would have been like to even see?

Or would one dare even look to either side of it, or in our human state would we fear that it would come crashing down upon us, that little voice of doubt maybe whispering, as we often have to force our ‘human” mind out of our spirits way when we do behold miracles and workings of God that are supernatural and so inexplicable that our minds would simply shatter if we tried to comprehend it.

But still we all have to start somewhere and that is what I love about our passage, God is letting them know that the only thing of importance is from the point they are in the story is their beginning and what they do from that point forward is all that matters.

Just as Jesus does not ask you what you have done or why you did it, he only asks that you repent, ask his forgiveness, and turn away from doing those things that of which you are now ashamed, and let him heal you, love you, lead you, and guide you as your Savior, being just that, ONE WHO SAVES YOU, not you trying to save yourself.

And I especially love the reference to latter days, which at the time this was written would have applied to many many different horrors to be faced by those who have determined to follow the Lord.

From the battles and betrayals retold in the Old Testament, to the family dysfunctions of Joseph’s jealous brothers to the David and Absolom, to the sufferings of his people, to the sacrifice Jesus  and the disciples, we know that those things things have been and in the succession of time as we enter the end of days, the latter days, things will worsen because people have grown more evil, worshipping devils and pagan images, others denying God and his existence, hating all that is good.

Those who murder and condone the murder of millions of babies the world over while they themselves taking pride in the own lives..

It is sickening and lets us know that we are indeed in the end of days and the judgments of God are at the door unless repentance comes.

God has always always assured us that he is there through the storms and he will never let those storms overtake us.

So wherever you are today, whatever you life has been or whatever you have wished your life had been, please know this, that TODAY can be the day that God changes all that you have ever known, all the painful, all the bad, all things that had been to what everything should be, CAN BE and all that he has always wanted your life to be!

All you have to do is ask him, seek him and what a more wonderful gift could you ever give those you love, as he promises that those blessings and that salvation would be for your family as often when one comes in, all comes in to the household of God.

Please don’t allow that inheritance to be lost.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev.Brown Johnson

 

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A change of heart….

“And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” JEREMIAH 24:7 

A few days and it will be Valentines Day, always, always has been one of my favorites, I was born a helpless romance junkie and think it should be a crime for anyone to not celebrate the one day set aside to celebrate the greatest of all gifts… LOVE.

And I do NOT mean it in the context of the world standards with their absolutely perverse notion of what love even means, although this time of the year it is hard to escape, especially this year with all the hype about the new even more twisted sequel to a certain movie.. but enough of that

Funny how we humans can dress up the devil and sell him as your best friend.

Know a little something about dressed up  “old friends” lately too, you know the ones who keep coming and coming to torment you, yet according to them they are your FRIEND. 

But it does prove a point..

Satan will try, he doesn’t care if it has been twenty years, thirty years, whatever, he never gives up and that is why we have to always be on guard and the biggest threat to your salvation is always gonna be your “old friends” and maybe that little throw in there will help someone who may be having “a blast from the past” that the enemy has sent to knock the wind out of your sails.

Remember what Jesus said “Let the dead bury the dead” go on with your life.

Back to love.. real love… the best part of any good romance movie is when the love question comes and one says to the other “If you could only look into my heart…” and we know the correct mushy Hallmark ending to that sentence is “you would KNOW just how much I love you” and all the other mushy love stuff.

So I want you in honor of true spirit of Valentines Day to answer me a question.. well actually you will be answering it to you, since I am obviously pretty far outta earshot… If someone were to look deep into your HEART, what would they see?

Would they see tattered, torn, broken, and left feeling forsaken by friends, and family? 

Would they see all the damage, stress, and strain of the trails you have been through in your life and all the rips and shreds left by lost loves and lost loved ones?

Would they see regret,and remorse,and guilt so severe over things you can not change that have left you with the inability to forgive YOURSELF?

Would they see wounds and scars from a life time of deceptions and many bad decisions?

Would they see sorrow, grief, and pain and  the worry over the tragedies of others?

The true beauty in having a “damaged” heart is that only a heart that has known true agony can fully give itself to others and most of all to God because only He can revive, renew, and repair all that we think is eternally lost and only he can take a heart too afraid to be loved or show love and make it overflow with the purest of love, to flow out so strong that it can even flow onto those you think are incapable of love and convert them. 

That is why He tells us that He will GIVE us a heart to KNOW Him, but we must come to Him with our whole heart.

And in doing this we have to admit what we see and be willing to trade in our hearts of stone, hardened through life, hardened against faith, hardened in unbelief because of the things we have suffered, and we have the argument that our wounds are too deep, too much water under the bridge and we can’t give our lives to Christ because we just “can’t live it” right now, but that is such self-deception! 

We only have to give Him those stone hearts and let Him tell us what He sees. 

Ezekiel 36:26,27: “A NEW HEART also WILL I GIVE YOU, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I WILL TAKE AWAY THE STONY HEART out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep judgments, and do them.”

He does the work! He gives US the new heart and once He gives us His spirit, HE leads us, guides us, and CAUSES us to walk in His paths!

There is NOTHING that we can do for ourselves! And I for one thank God for that, I personally could have never “fixed” myself, no one or not the greatest team of any super brains on earth could have “fixed” me and you know what?

They can’t fix anyone else either!

Only Jesus, because we have to have a heart transplant that only ONE physician in the universe knows how to perform!

So if you are looking and not liking what you see, and be honest, that is the groovy thing with this blog, NO ONE knows you while you are reading it!

I don’t know it, your friends don’t know it and NO ONE sees you, so you can be honest, right there where you are, LOOK… what do you see?

Joel 2:12,13: “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, TURN ye even TO ME with ALL YOUR HEART, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; And rend (tear open) your heart, and not your garments.

And TURN unto the Lord your God; For HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL, SLOW TO ANGER, AND OF GREAT KINDNESS…..“

I promise you, you can trust Him with ALL your heart and I also promise you, if you could only look into the Father’s heart, you would truly see just how much He ALREADY LOVES YOU!

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

Original post date 02/10/2017