where does this path lead?

tonight i read this passage and i note that it applies to the youth ministry that we dont currently have; it hurts no end to come to that realisation. Our youth ministry, no, God's youth ministry is being hi-jacked: God will forever be behind the wheel, but those leaders that claim to be travelling along with him keep taking over the controls! what is the result? god will take back the controls and get his plan back on track. he will remove the leaders from ministry that have hijacked his plans and he will search out those who stay faithful to his word and to HIM. this could be anyone. we must not think that because we are not in ministry or are no longer in a ministry that God no longer has a use for us. there is one way that we can get back to god's plan for his minstries and that's to get back to god's plans for us and for where he wants us. to repent of where we have been and to turn to him. that's how his ministries work; with people who are devoted to god's plans and let go of what they want for themselves.


Joel 1
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.

An Invasion of Locusts
2 Hear this, you elders;listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? 3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. 4 What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts [a] have eaten.

5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. 6 A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. 7 It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.

8 Mourn like a virgin [b] in sackcloth grieving for the husband [c] of her youth. 9 Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD . 10 The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up [d] ; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. 11 Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. 12 The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree- all the trees of the field-are dried up. Surely the joy of mankind is withered away.


A Call to Repentance
13 Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD .

15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. [e]

16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes- joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. [f] The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. 18 How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

19 To you, O LORD , I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. 20 Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures.


(2:12) That is why the lord says, "turn to me now, while there is still time! Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping and mourning. 13 Dont tear your clothing in your grief; instead tear your hearts." Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is not easily angered. he is filled with kindness and is eager not to punish you. 14 Who knows? Perhaps even yet he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of [a] terrible curse. perhaps