Make Room for Encounter Series - Even Now Return - James Bailey - 27/09/2026

Joel’s call comes into a season of drought, stripped fields, and real desperation. God does not tell his people to rebuild what the locusts have eaten or pretend everything is fine. God says, “Even now, return to me with all your heart.” That invitation lands in the places where plans have not worked, where people are tired, distracted, disappointed, or trying to carry far too much on their own.

The call to return is not about looking spiritual on the outside. Joel’s image of rending hearts rather than garments exposes the temptation to keep up appearances, to smile at the door, post the right thing, and fake it for an hour and a half. God cares about the heart being in tune with his heart. Honesty becomes the beginning of release: “Lord, if I’m honest, I’m exhausted. I’m afraid. I’m disappointed. I think it all depends on me.” God remains the builder, while his people are called to faithfulness and fruitfulness.

The phrase “make room” gives shape to that return. The first call is to release control, because Joel’s people could not command the harvest back into the fields, but they could return to God. The second call is to show up. Joel gathers elders, children, nursing babies, brides, and bridegrooms because the need is desperate and the invitation is wide. Jesus waits like a groom waiting for his bride, ready to meet people who come with their full attention, affection, and availability.

The focus of attention matters because “what you attend to, you become.” Jesus is not an addition to good coffee, good songs, or a well-organised Sunday. Jesus is the crosshairs of the church’s focus. God changes people as they behold him, and the first drops of rain become a prayer for saturation, not merely a moment that rolls off dry ground.

Joel’s priests also stand between the portico and the altar, weeping and crying, “Spare your people, Lord.” The royal priesthood means that intercession is not reserved for one person at the front. The church is called to stand in the gap, walking and praying, sitting and praying, bringing names, homes, families, and places before God with genuine compassion. Tears may be real and waiting may be long, but God hears. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. This is an “even now” moment: make room, release control, show up, and stand in the gap.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Return with your real heart [08:36] Joel refuses outward religion that hides inward distance. God does not ask for a polished version of disappointment, fear, or exhaustion. God invites honest hearts because surrender begins when control is no longer disguised as strength. [08:36]
• 2. Release what cannot be controlled [12:27] Joel’s people could not force rain or restore the harvest by sheer effort. God calls people to return before he calls them to rebuild. Faithfulness matters, but it never makes a person the builder of God’s church or the changer of another heart. [12:27]
• 3. Show up with full attention [15:24] Joel gathers everyone because no one is outside the invitation to seek God. Jesus waits for people who bring their attention, affection, and availability, not merely their physical presence. Attention is an act of love, and the heart becomes shaped by what it beholds. [15:24]
• 4. Stand in the gap with tears [24:44] The royal priesthood means that intercession belongs to the whole church. Honest prayer does not require perfect words or manufactured emotion, but it does bring real people and real burdens before God. Tears sown before God are never meaningless because he hears and works beyond what can be seen.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:41] - Letting God Have His Way
• [02:13] - Coming Home to Jesus
• [04:36] - Joel’s Invitation in Desperation
• [07:13] - Make Room and Rend Your Heart
• [10:04] - Releasing Control to God
• [12:59] - Make Room and Show Up
• [16:40] - Encountering Jesus in His Presence
• [19:29] - Praying for Saturation
• [21:13] - What You Attend To, You Become
• [23:05] - Standing in the Gap
• [26:23] - From Organizers to Agonizers
• [29:21] - Sowing in Tears with Hope
• [30:07] - An Even Now Moment

Bible Reading

Joel 2:12-13
“Yet even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” [05:57]

1 Peter 2:9
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” [24:44]

Psalm 126:5
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!” [29:21]

Observation questions

1. What crisis had Joel’s people experienced, and what did that make impossible for them to restore by their own effort? [12:31]
2. In Joel 2:12–13, what contrast is made between an outward expression of grief and the condition God desires within his people?
3. Who is included in the call to gather before God, and what does that wide invitation show about who is welcome to return to him? [13:13]
4. What images of prayer and emotion appear in Joel’s call for the priests and in Psalm 126:5?

Interpretation questions

1. Why is returning to God with “all the heart” especially important in a season of disappointment, exhaustion, or loss, rather than waiting until circumstances improve? [06:06]
2. What might it look like for a person to “rend the heart” while still being tempted to keep life looking fine on the outside? [07:44]
3. If God is the one who changes hearts and builds his church, what is the difference between faithful responsibility and trying to control outcomes? [10:21]
4. What does 1 Peter 2:9 mean for the shared responsibility of ordinary believers to pray for others, rather than leaving intercession to church leaders? [24:44]

Application questions

1. Where might you be trying to rebuild, fix, or control something that is beyond your power? What would returning to God in that situation look like this week? [12:31]
2. If you spoke to God with complete honesty, what might you need to name—exhaustion, fear, disappointment, resentment, or the sense that everything depends on you? [08:43]
3. What most often keeps you from showing up to God with your full attention, affection, and availability? Is there one practical change that could help you make more room for him? [15:12]
4. “What you attend to, you become.” What currently receives most of your attention, and how is it shaping your heart? What could help Jesus become the focus of your attention each day? [21:33]
5. Whose name have you stopped praying for, or whose situation feels too difficult to bring before God again? How could the group stand in the gap with you for that person? [27:48]
6. What form of intercession fits you best right now—walking and praying, sitting quietly, praying with others, praying for a neighbourhood, or bringing one family member before God? When could you take that next step? [25:09]
7. Where are tears, waiting, or unanswered prayer part of your story at the moment? How does the promise of Psalm 126:5 give hope without pretending that the pain is small? [29:21]