Perhaps we could paraphrase Joel 2:25 like this: “I will restore the years swallowed up because you did not realize the significance of MY purpose and 
destiny in your life. The circumstances were forces that I used to change you, to build character, to build strength, to complete a work within you and to bring about the right timing and conditions for My purpose in you.” Of course, when you are eating locusts without the honey and pulling crispy, creepy locusts shells out of your hair and swatting them away from your nose, eyes and ears, you wonder if you will be naked and half eaten or even be able to see the Redeemer who is coming. If you dared open your mouth you would ask for His ETA. However, that is the time to let the last line of Job 19:25, echo through you, “And at the last He will take His stand on the earth”. He will have the last word and He will be the last one standing in our behalf. So, let’s dare to trust Him to keep our accounts and wait for Him to show up as our Redeemer. —Kathy Gabler
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Staying on the Path
This is the day the Lord has made so. . . In this day we will rejoice and we will 
practice caution concerning byways and side roads, staying on the path of righteousness by making decisions based on the Word of God. We will avoid deception and deceiving. We will recognize that the straight road is pictured as the road on which no one ever loses his way. “Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright. 27 Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil.” (Prov.4:26-27, Amp)
Outliving a Siege
The last sentence in Joel 2:25 says, “My great army which I sent among you…”. That tells us that God sent the army of locusts, the swarm of circumstance. Did He 
send them to ultimately rob, kill and destroy His people? No. Interestingly, through those times that it feels like we are helpless and chaos is king, our Redeemer is watching and working behind the scenes and at every intersection. Even during a siege there is a redemptive factor at work and, whether we realize it or not, the conflict is working something out of us and into us. Overcoming a locust season is an opportunity for sons to build muscle and maturity. Coming out with both is a redeeming result of difficulty. Outliving a siege positions us for redemption of our purpose. Matured and muscled, we are then equipped to embrace every opportunity restored, every resource restored, every potential restored, every strength restored, every harvest restored, every energy restored and the years lost in the difficult, building process. —Kathy Gabler
Part of Something Bigger
As the people of God assemble today may each one be aware that he/she is a part of 
something that is bigger than they are–that they are a part of the momentum of God that will not ever stop but shall ever increase (Isa.9:7). We will worship and honor our Lord who made us one body for His glory, so shall we move forward as one, laying down our lives (our ambitions, aspirations and personal agendas) so that body might glorify JESUS in this earth before a culture that is jaded by the fruitless philosophies and idealisms of a man-focused society.
Jehovah Making up for the Years
Holy Scripture says that Jehovah will restore what the locusts have eaten. (Joel 2:25) 
He will make up for those times that no matter how many bugs you killed, they kept coming. He will restore those years it took to fight and endure the swarming circumstances. He will make up for the time it took for circumstances to consistently strip away your strength and hope. He will make up for all those mornings when the sunrise woke up the dread in your soul again and circumstances continued to devour your day and your future. He will make up for the months and years that opposition smothered you and circumstances robbed you through changelessness. He is, indeed, your Redeemer! —Kathy Gabler
Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
As the people of God assemble today may they fix their eyes on Jesus who endured the cross, despised the shame and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God as 
the Victorious Lamb. May they know that Jesus rose from the dead because there was more to come. “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 FIXING OUR EYES ON JESUS, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb.12:1-2, NAU)
Our Redeemer
A redeemer is one who delivers, avenges or ransoms as needed, one who buys back 
what was lost. Think about all that can be lost to us, like lost opportunities, lost resources, lost potential, lost strength, lost harvest and lost energy (to list a few). Our Redeemer can even buy back time, He said so in Joel 2:25, “And I will restore to you the years [I will make up to you for the years] the swarming locust has eaten, the locust larvae, and the stripping locust, and the cutting locust. . .” This scripture does not only say He can restore the years, it says He will. — Kathy Gabler
The Master of the Sea
Beside Still Waters with Marty Gabler on Lake Livingston in East Texas
Click on the video below to watch “The Master of the Sea”
Beside Still Waters is an evening devotional of reading Scripture in the Bible
and time in prayer. Marty Gabler leads BSW live on his Facebook
page each Tuesday at 8:00pm Central Time USA.
Click on Marty’s Facebook picture on the left
to view his Facebook Page.
Breaking out of old Patterns
God is breaking us out of old patterns. He is breaking old patterns of habits, of things that defeat us, the old patterns of thoughts and attitudes that lead us into defeat. He is breaking those old patterns so that we can walk in freedom and be at peace in His purposes. “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.” (Ps.23:3, NKJV)
God-Cloaked Answers
Have you ever had times when a revelatory nugget pops up, then within days you hear the same nugget from other sources? That’s been happening as of late and I’m learning 
to pay attention to those! Following is one such instance that has been not only ringing in my ear, but answering some of those seemingly unanswerable questions.
While in conversation this was quoted to me from a book, “God hides some things for specific times so that the enemy cannot destroy them.” That stuck with me, and a couple of days later I read a quote from some- one else that was expressing the exact same thought! Well, that really hit me between the eyes, especially because these came from trusted sources. It was an “Are you listening?” moment.
I began meditating on God hiding something for a specific time, and it felt like this statement began filling cracks in my understanding. If God cloaks something for a time, it is not only to hide it from the devil and his destructive minions, but it is also to hide it from our own self sabotage. Yes, the devil and self-sabotage are two different things. However, the devil LOVES stoking the flames of self sabotage! All we have to do is let our fears and concerns fall out of our mouths like kindling for the enemy’s threatening bonfire. So many times we make the devil’s job so easy.
Melissa Gabler will be speaking at Kingdom Congress 2020
More info about KC2020: https://martygabler.com/kc2020/
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