The wisest leader who ever lived said the wisest thing a leader could ever do is ask other wise leaders for wisdom (that was King Solomon who said that).

If I want to go to the next level in my leadership then I must humbly put myself at the feet of those who are further along than I am. One of those wise leaders is Pastor Josh Gagnon from Next Level Church in Dover, NH.

Recently, he wrote a blog post that I thought was so powerful, I decided to just repost it right here. If you want to see the original post on Josh’s site go to www.joshuagagnon.com.

Joel 2:12-14 rocked my world!

There are some passages in the Bible that just stop you in your tracks. They cause you to almost feel the pain in the heart of God. I truly believe this is one of those verses. If God stood before his church and the world today and gave one audible sentence in my opinion I think it would sound something like this…

That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love…Joel 2:12-14

Notice, once again, God is clear to say, we must TURN to him. I’m convinced that the reason so many of us turn away from the heart of God is because we turn our hearts towards someone or something else. Rejecting God in our lives is the result of embracing something else instead of him. I love how God said “while there is still time”. It goes to show that the love and forgiveness of God this side of judgment day are always available. This verse goes on to say “give me your hearts”. Goes to show us that the one thing God wants from us – that only we can give him – is our heart. Even the God of the universe won’t take that, he wants it given to him. The next part to me screams sacrifice: Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. He’s saying turn to me, give me your heart and surrender everything to me. In our brokenness and surrender, we catch glimmers of how awesome God is. Only when we truly surrender do we truly begin to seek the heart of God. The next part of this verse, Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, has all sorts of meaning for theologians but for me in this moment God is showing me this: stop trying everything else, stop fighting for your own gain, stop blaming everything you can for where you’re at, stop trying to be your savior, stop using your own wisdom, stop doing life through dead end means…instead open your heart to me and I’ll give you more than you could imagine. Okay, the verse ends by saying…(God) for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love, No matter what your yesterday looked like God is FILLED with unfailing love, he doesn’t just have a little, it’s not questionable, it’s not human, HE IS LOVE! He is FILLED WITH IT!

So what am I saying? Today is the day that we turn from “stuff” and to God and in our turning to him we fully give our hearts in surrender not focusing on man made wisdom but opening our hearts up completely to God’s direction as we trust completely in his love! That’s what God said to me through this verse. I pray it encourages you.