Joel - Part 9

First posted: November 11, 2025

In this series of articles, we are meditating on the book of Joel and what God is shouting to today's deaf generation through Joel's prophecy. In this article, we shall focus on Joel 1:10-12.

Index

Devastated soul fields

In Joel 1:10, the Spirit of God declares the following:

"The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth." (Joel 1:10)

The word "field" was translated from the Hebrew noun sade, whose first 4 appearances are in 3 verses of Genesis 2, translated as "field" each time, all in the context of God's regeneration of the Earth:

"And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." (Genesis 2:5)

"And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." (Genesis 2:19)

"And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." (Genesis 2:20)

Notice how sade is associated with the abundance of non-human plant and animal life. This means that it refers to the abundant variety and prosperity of soul life.

Interestingly, the word "wasted" in the phrase "the field is wasted" of Joel 1:10 was translated from the Hebrew verb shadad, which literally means "to devastate, to violently destroy" and has the connotation of "desolation". Both sade and shadad are 3-letter words in Hebrew, and both start with the same 2 letters --- shin ש and dalet ך --- meaning that they only differ in the 3rd letter --- he ה v. dalet ך. Notice how shadad ("wasted") repeats the 2nd letter as the 3rd letter (שךך), whereas sade ("field") uses a new letter as its 3rd letter (שךה). This means that, when the "field" is under an atmosphere that is stuck at "level 2" and does not progress to "level 3", it becomes "wasted" or "devastated". As mentioned on wikipedia.org, the 3rd letter in sade ("field"), i.e.- ה, is often used in Judaism to represent the name of God, acting as an abbreviation of the word Hashem, which means "the Name" and is a way of saying "God" without actually saying His Name (Yahweh). Therefore, to go from sade or "field" (שךה) to shadad or "wasted" (שךך), one must remove a letter that points to the Spirit of God and replace it with a repetition of the 2nd letter. This speaks of how, when the matriarchal Church chooses to stay at level 2, the level of the soul, and refuses to move to level 3, the level of the spirit, the abundant variety and prosperity of soul life is reduced to devastation. This is why churches eventually become stale and dry, even as they endeavour to prop up soulish activities and "liven up" things through natural means.

It is thus ironic that, by glorifying the soul over the spirit, matriarchal believers deprive themselves of the incredible level of soul abundance and prosperity that would flourish in the Church if they only allowed the Life-Giving Spirit of God to take "male" dominion and rule with apostolic judgements, prophetic defiance of natural paradigms, and evangelistic warrior conquest. The Spirit of God wants His remnant to become painfully aware of this deprivation and to mourn it deeply.

Mourning over the land

The phrase "the land mourneth" in Joel 1:10 was translated from the Hebrew words adama meaning "land" or "earth" and abal meaning "to mourn". As you may have noticed, the word adama is very similar to the name "Adam", which stems from the fact that God formed Adam from the dust of the adama, not becoming a living soul until after God had breathed into his nostrils the neshama of life (Genesis 2:7). This reveals that the word adama emphasises the "physical" or "material", as opposed to sade, which emphasises the invisible "soul". Hence, the phrase "the land mourneth" speaks of how things in the natural, material realm suffer due to the soul matriarchy's reign on Earth. If the Spirit were allowed to rule, the material realm would be flourishing in wonderful ways that would be reflected in the Earth's climate and in the health and material wealth of humanity. Science and technology would flourish at an even faster rate, and they would do so without the negative side effects that technological improvements produce now.

"20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." (Romans 8:20-25)

We are to mourn over the death, dearth, and waste being caused in the material realm because of the soul's dominion in humanity. We are to join the material realm in the silent dirge she is already singing in order to forge the end of the shameful loss we and the Earth are experiencing.

Devastated grace

In the phrase "the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth" of Joel 1:10, the phrases "corn", "new wine", and "oil" were translated from the Hebrew words dagan, tiyrowsh, and yishar respectively. As we have shared before, prophetic dagan ("corn" or "wheat") and evangelistic tiyrowsh ("wine") point to the black horse of the Apocalypse. Hence, it is no coincidence that both dagan and tiyrowsh, along with prophetic yishar ("oil"), appear in the following verse that speaks of "Baal", a name spiritually similar to "Balaam", the enemy of God that surfaces during the black-horse phase:

"For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal" (Hosea 2:8)

It is also no coincidence that the first appearance for both dagan and tiyrowsh in Scripture is in the following verse, which quotes Isaac's blessing over who he thought was Esau, given that, as we have shared before, Esau is strongly related to the Girgashite spirit, and Balaam propels believers to use God's grace for banal, Girgashite ends:

"Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine" (Genesis 27:28)

The word "wasted" in the phrase "the corn is wasted" of Joel 1:10 was also translated from the Hebrew verb shadad used earlier in the verse, and, as we shared above, shadad has the connotation of emptiness and devastation, as when a city is left in ruins after being razed by an enemy's attack. Hence, "the corn is wasted" speaks of Hittite emptiness and deception infiltrating the prophetic endowment in the Church (i.e.- the dagan "corn") to render it poisonous and useless for God's purposes.

The phrase "dried up" in the phrase "the new wine is dried up" was translated from the Hebrew verb yawbashe, which is used in Joshua 2:10 to describe how the Lord dried up the water of the Reed Sea so that the people of Israel could come out of (Girgashite) Egypt. Hence, "the new wine is dried up" speaks of how the evangelistic endowment in the Church (the tiyrowsh "new wine") has been soiled by the Girgashite spirit of earthly pursuits, rendering it spiritually weak and incapable of expanding God's Kingship over the Earth.

The word "languisheth" in the phrase "the oil languisheth" was translated from the Hebrew verb amal, which means "to be weak, to grow feeble" and is used by Hannah when thanking God for having given the prophet Samuel as a son to her (she spoke these words right after she handed Samuel in prophetic sacrifice back unto God at the temple):

"They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble." (1 Samuel 2:5)

[The phrase "waxed feeble" was translated from amal]

Hence, the phrase "the oil languisheth" speaks of how the flow of God's prophetic oil in the Church has been rendered sterile and has been deprived of its fruitfulness, i.e.- its ability to give birth to armies of prophets amongst God's people and to give God's people a victorious prophetic future in eternity.

In short, the phrase "the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth" of Joel 1:10 speaks of the horrendous damage that the matriarchal Church has inflicted on the prophetic and evangelistic grace that God has gifted to His people, a damage of Hittite emptiness and deception, Girgashite weakness, and spiritual, eternal barrenness. How can we not mourn what the matriarchy has done to God's people?

Empty prosperity to howl and feel shame for

In Joel 1:11, the Lord then declares the following:

"Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished." (Joel 1:11)

The word "husbandmen" was translated from the Hebrew noun ikar meaning "ploughman" and is derived from a word meaning "to dig". As we have shared before, ploughing is apostolic in nature, for it points to the "trailblazing" nature of apostolic work, opening the way in new, uncharted, and sometimes difficult territories. As we have shared before, the apostolic endowment turns Jebusite when it goes bad, and Jebusites are inclined to "slapping" and shaming others, especially those whom they deem to be of a "lower caste". Therefore, when the Spirit tells the "husbandmen" to be "ashamed" in Joel 1:11 above, He is telling those with the apostolic endowment in the matriarchal Church to apply their shaming judgements on themselves because they have failed to use their apostolic endowment to produce the wisdom and growth in God's people that He intended the endowment for.

Given that wine is connected to the evangelistic endowment, we can conclude that the "vinedressers" in Joel 1:11 refer to those who have the evangelistic endowment and are supposed to nurture that endowment in God's people. The word "howl" in Joel 1:11 was translated from the Hebrew verb yalal, whose 1st, 2nd, and 6th appearances are in the following verses, translated each time as "howl":

"Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." (Isaiah 13:6)

[The word "destruction" was translated from the Hebrew word shod, which is related to the verb shadad and, as mentioned above, has the connotation of devastation that leaves behind utter emptiness, which therefore points to the Hittite spirit]

"Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times." (Isaiah 14:31)

[The word "Palestina" was actually mistranslated from the Hebrew word pelesheth, which is almost identical to the pelishti meaning "Philistine" (used in 1 Samuel 17:8 by Goliath to refer to himself). Hence, a more correct translation would read "Philistia" or "Philistine". And, as we have briefly mentioned before, a study of the Philistines in Scripture reveals that they were inherently Amorite-Hittite.]

"The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them." (Isaiah 23:1)

[As we have shared before, Tyre speaks of a strong evangelistic fortress anointing that has turned Amorite as it pursues temporal, Girgashite ends]

Notice how the verses above point to a connection between yalal "howling" and the Amorite, Hittite, and Girgashite spirits. In other words, the "howling" that the vinedressers are called to do in Joel 1:11 speaks of confessing the Hittite emptiness of the Amorite conquests carried out by the matriarchal Church. Instead of using the evangelistic endowment to enlarge God's Kingdom, the matriarchals have used it to enlarge their earthly ministries and pursue temporal, Girgashite ends of no eternal value. Thus, God wants us howling in deep, deep sorrow over how we have misused the evangelistic endowment, wasting kairos opportunity after kairos opportunity to expand God's Dominion on Earth.

In Joel 1:11, the Spirit of God tells the husbandmen to be ashamed and the vinedressers to howl "for the wheat and for the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished". This points to the Revelation 6:6 judgement of the black-horse rider on the Hittite-Amorite spirit of Balaam for using God's grace for banal, Girgashite purposes. This correlates with the 3 evil spirits (mentioned above) whose presence merit yalal "howling". Hence, the Lord is calling us to launch invisible black-horse apostolic-prophetic judgements against the matriarchal Church for embracing the spirit of Balaam, especially in the form of a "prosperity gospel" that has no interest in furthering God's spiritual kingdom. These judgements are to cause us to feel a collective sense of shame and to howl on account of the spiritual devastation that the matriarchal Church has caused by stymying God's Kingdom for the sake of empty, earthly victories, victories that enlarge useless ministries and profane the name of the Lord in the eyes of men. The harvest that the matriarchal Church has produced out of God's grace is an empty harvest that perishes under the weight of eternity. The "harvest of the field" has indeed "perished".

The dried and languishing non-angelics

In Joel 1:12, the Spirit of God declares the following:

"The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men." (Joel 1:12)

Notice that the Spirit of God first refers to 2 plants/trees, i.e.- the vine and the fig tree, ascribing an adjective to each (i.e.- "dried up" and "languishing"). He then lists 3 trees in a row, the pomegranate, palm, and apple trees, ascribing a single adjective to the 3 (i.e.- "withered"). This means that these 3 trees are to be considered separately from the first 2 plants/trees, and it also implies that these 3 trees are to be combined to form a single "image". Before considering these 3 trees, however, let us meditate on the first 2 plants/trees.

The vine mentioned by the Lord at the start of Joel 1:12 clearly points to the evangelistic endowment because of its connection to wine; and, as we have shared before, the fig tree points to the apostolic endowment of wisdom and judgements. Hence, the first 2 plants/trees of Joel 1:12 refer to the evangelistic and apostolic endowments, which in turn point to angels, since, as we have shared before, angels are apostle-evangelists. In other words, the dried vine and languishing fig tree speak of the matriarchal Church's inability to carry out the "angelic actions" that God calls us to carry out (as per Romans 10 and 13). This "angelic inaction" stems from the matriarchal Church's inherent passivity and her repulsion of anyone who acts like an "angel", i.e.- like a soulless spirit, due to her love of the soul over the Spirit.

This reference to the Church's lack of apostolic-evangelistic "angelic actions" is also emphasised in Joel 1:11 when God tells the apostolic husbandmen to be ashamed and the evangelistic vinedressers to howl. The matriarchal Church should be ashamed of her feeble, "languishing" apostolic judgements, and it should howl on account of the emptiness of her "dried-up", shrivelled-up evangelistic conquests that are as dry as Girgashite dust and that therefore do not have the expansive power of God's prophetic River (since the Girgashite spirit is the antithesis of God's prophetic endowment).

The sadly withered male trees

After referring to the Church's Girgashite-dry evangelistic conquests and its feeble apostolic judgements, the Spirit of God mentions 3 trees in Joel 1:12: the pomegranate tree, the palm tree, and the apple tree.

"The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men." (Joel 1:12)

Let us briefly consider the spiritual meaning of each of these 3 trees.

The palm tree

The phrase "palm tree" in Joel 1:12 was translated from the Hebrew word tamar, which is also the name of the woman described by God in Genesis 38 who travailed (before and during childbirth) to give birth to Pharez, ancestor of Yeshua. As we have shared before, Tamar speaks of a remnant engaged in prophetic intercession to bring forth God's latter rain upon the Earth. The "unorthodox" strategy used by Tamar (described in Genesis 38) points to her "fractal" green-horse nature, which emphasises the prophetic nature of Tamar, given that green-horse riders are prophet-pastors. Hence, we can conclude that the tamar "palm tree" in Joel 1:12 refers to believers operating in the prophetic endowment, and, more specifically, believers carrying out prophetic intercession. This means that Joel 1:12 speaks of a fallen church system that is worthy of sorrow and lamentation because it has withered the "Tamar"s within it, draining them of their prophetic potential and their transformational intercessory power.

The pomegranate tree

As we have shared before, pomegranates have a strong prophetic connotation, speaking of prophetically rising above an unrighteous crowd so that God can unleash His judgements on them. As we have also shared before, pomegranates also point to the priesthood calling in God's people. This, in turn, points to a subtle spiritual reality about spiritual priesthood that most believers are not aware of:

"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God" (Genesis 14:18)

The word "priest" in the verse above was translated from the Hebrew word kohen, which appears for the first time in Scripture in that verse. Hence, it is interesting that the first appearance of kohen is in the context of someone who is also a king. The word "king" in the verse above was translated from the Hebrew word melek, which, interestingly enough also appears for the first time in Scripture in Genesis 14, though not in verse 18. Its first appearance is in verse 1, appearing a total of 24 times before its appearance in verse 18. Curiously enough, as listed in 1 Chronicles 24, there were 24 priestly divisions in the Aaronic priesthood, which reinforces the linkage between kingship and priesthood. The fact that the first appearance of kohen is to refer to melek Melchisedek (after having referred to earthly meleks 24 times) reveals that, in the Lord's eyes, priesthood is like a "spiritual kingship". This correlates with what God says about kingship and priesthood in the following passage:

"3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." (Exodus 19:3-6)

[Notice how the Lord's intention is for His people to be a "kingdom of priests", which we can enter into if we are willing to obey the voice of His Spirit]

"Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day" (Ezra 9:7)

[The word "and" in the phrase "our kings, and our priests" was added by the translators and is not in the original Hebrew text. Hence, the original text says that "our kings, our priests" have been "delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands". This not only points to the spiritual connection in God's eyes between kingship and priesthood but to priests' connection to kingdom conquest, given that the Lord speaks of them being conquered by the kings of the land. This also shows that, whereas the unbelievers only have "kings", God's people are to have "kings/priests" because of their spiritual quality.

This passage also illustrates how our iniquity, i.e.- the matriarchy of the soul that has been passed down from generation to generation since the fall of man, has deprived us of the Head Authority to conquer the enemy kings, making us easy prey to them. As long as we allow the matriarchy of the soul to continue within the Church, any efforts to defeat the enemy will be futile.]

"And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest." (Lamentations 2:6)

"31 For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face, 32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 32:31-32)

[Notice how the kings, princes, and priests are mentioned together, with no "and" word in between. This once again emphasises the intricate connection that the Spirit of God makes between priests and royalty. Notice also that prophets are mentioned immediately after priests. This points to the connection that priesthood also has with the prophetic in God's eyes.]

"26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, 27 Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us." (Jeremiah 2:26-27)

[Notice once again how "priests" are mentioned immediately after "kings" and "princes" and how "prophets" are immediately mentioned afterwards. This emphasises the priests' spiritual connection with "royalty" and with the prophetic.]

From the passages above, we can safely conclude that priesthood is strongly connected to kingship whilst also having a strong connection to the prophetic. This means that priesthood is related to the evangelistic (since that is the endowment most directly connected to kingship) and, in a subtler sense, to the prophetic. Hence, we can say that the "pomegranate tree" of Joel 1:12 points to the evangelistic endowment in one sense and to priesthood in another. The fact, therefore, that the pomegranate tree is withered speaks of how the pastoral matriarchy environment has withered the evangelistic endowment of God's people and stripped them of their ability to operate as priests of the Most High God. In doing so, they have also disabled the prophetic component that makes it possible to truly walk in God's priesthood.

The apple tree

Now that we have determined that the pomegranate tree points to the evangelistic and to priesthood and that the palm tree points to the prophetic and to prophetic intercession, the question becomes, what does the apple tree of Joel 1:12 represent?

The phrase "apple tree" was translated from the Hebrew word tapuah, which, interestingly enough, only appears 6 times in Scripture in 3 different books: once in Proverbs, once in Joel (verse 1:12 above), and 4 times in Song of Songs. Its appearance in Proverbs is in the following verse:

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver" (Proverbs 25:11)

The word "word" in the verse above was translated from the Hebrew word dabar, which, as we have said before, is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word logos that speaks of God's judgements, as per Hebrews 4:12. Interestingly, dabar actually appears twice in the Hebrew text of Proverbs 25:11 (i.e.- dabar dabar), at the end of the verse, even when the English translation only says "word" once, placing it at the beginning of the verse. This reveals the spiritual connection between apple trees and the apostolic endowment of wisdom and judgements. This connection to the apostolic is emphasised by the fact that the "silver" mentioned in Proverbs 25:11 points to purity, which comes through the fire of God's purifying judgements.

The word "fitly" was translated from the Hebrew noun ophen meaning "circumstance, condition", which is not used in any other verse of Scripture. Hence, its use with dabar speaks of an apostolic word of wisdom and judgement that is unique and custom-made for a very specific circumstance. As we have shared before, the ministerial endowment most directly related to uniqueness is the prophetic endowment, meaning that Proverbs 25:11 is speaking of a (doubly) apostolic dabar word that is imbued with a strong prophetic anointing.

The word "pictures" in Proverbs 25:11 above was translated from the Hebrew noun maskit, which literally means "imagination, figure, image" and is only used 6 times in Scripture, 3 of those times in a negative sense to refer to idols. One of the other times that maskit is used is in the following verse, its first appearance in Scripture, where it is mistranslated as "could wish":

"Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish" (Psalm 73:7)

Even though maskit is used in the verse above to refer to evil men, it is worth noting that it subtly points to how one's heart can imagine things and have those things materialise. Why are the imaginations of the evil men in Psalm 73:7 materialising? Because they abide in an environment that allows those imaginations to prosper. In other words, when they release their imaginations into the atmosphere, there are spiritual elements in that atmosphere that allow those imaginations to germinate and take root, and forces are kicked into motion that allow those imaginations to grow and eventually produce the imagined fruit. Therefore, to prevent the imaginations of evil men materialising, we must work to destroy the spiritual elements in the atmosphere that produce the forces that allow those imaginations to prosper. In an ironic sense, the destruction of those spiritual elements requires God's people exercising their own imagination, visualising that destruction. One may ask, "How can our imaginations work if the atmosphere is not conducive to them?" The answer is that, when God's people fashion their imaginations, they inject the Spirit of God into the atmosphere. In other words, our imaginations as God's people allow the Spirit of God to invade the atmosphere and battle against the evil spiritual elements in it. His Presence in the atmosphere, invited through our maskit imagination, allows what we have imagined to germinate, take root, and grow, eventually destroying the enemies' elements and producing the desired fruit.

The next appearance of maskit in Scripture is in verse 11 of the following passage, oddly mistranslated as "conceit":

"10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. 11 The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit." (Proverbs 18:10-11)

Notice how the first part of verse 11 says that the rich man's wealth is his "strong city", as opposed to saying that he "thinks" that it is a strong city. However, the second part of the verse indicates that his wealth is as a high wall in his imagination (the word "own" was added by the translators, and the word "conceit" was mistranslated from maskit). Speaking in the context of ancient cities, a city cannot be considered strong if it has easily penetrable walls, which means that the city will need to have high walls that are difficult to scale in order to be and remain strong. This implies that the "high wall" referred to in the verse above is "real", even when the verse says that it is from his imagination. Hence, we can conclude that it is the rich man's imagination that allows his walls to remain tall in order to keep his city strong.

If one considers the above in the context of the verse preceding verse 11, i.e.- Proverbs 18:10, we can infer that the "wealth" of a righteous person is the Name of the Lord, given that His Name is the righteous person's "strong tower", just as "wealth" is the rich man's "strong city" (interestingly enough, the word "strong" in both verses was translated from the same Hebrew word oz, which reinforces the direct connection between the two verses). Therefore, the second half of verse 11 implies that the "strength" of the tower that we have in His Name depends on our imagination, not because His Name is any less strong if our imagination is deficient but because the visible manifestation of that strength in the earthly realm depends on our willingness to imagine.

The above principle is very important to remember when praying for manifestations such as physical healings. You must endeavour to imagine the tangible manifestation of what you are praying for. If you find that you are having trouble visualising that manifestation, you must ask yourself, "What is causing the blockage?" It could either be unbelief, resistance from the enemy, or the fact that what you are visualising somehow runs contrary to God's perfect will. The Lord calls us to pray to the "narrow gate", which, as we have shared before, means filtering our requests through the narrow gate of God's perfect will. Because that gate is "narrow", some of our requests will be rejected because they will not "fit" through His perfect will, in which case we must recognise that the request is not worth pursuing; we must then ask the Lord what is wrong with the request and how to adjust it to make it fit the narrow gate of His will, if that is possible.

When we do not have clarity whether the request fits through His narrow gate, we can either pause the request (to first get greater clarity), or we must simply press on with the request, but making sure that we keep desiring God's perfect will in our hearts. For example, as described in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul fervently requested 3 times for his "thorn in the flesh" to be removed, and it became clear to him as he pressed on that God's perfect will was for him to remain in a state of weakness, which apparently required that the "thorn" remain in place. As we have shared in detail before, there was a spiritual reason why that particular thorn could not be removed from Paul's life, but it is interesting to consider that Paul fervently tried 3 times until it became clear that his request did not fit through the narrow gate of God's perfect will for him. This writer believes that, when in doubt about a request, it is useful (and sometimes necessary) to persist with the request because, in doing so, you will break through and either find that it was God's perfect will, or you will finally understand why it is not God's perfect will and know how to adjust the request so that it does fit His will. The fact that a request is not fulfilled on the first or second try is not necessarily an indication that it is not within God's perfect will, as revealed in 1 Kings 18:41-45, which speaks of Elijah praying 7 times for rain until the rain finally came. Sometimes, as you persist in prayer, you are forging the spiritual process that is required for the request to be fulfilled in God's perfect will. In Elijah's case, for example, each request dealt with each of the 7 evil spirits that needed to be defeated in order for the rain to be truly abundant and fruitful in the Spirit. As long as God's perfect will remains more important than your request, your persistence will either lead to the desired breakthrough, or it will help you to understand what God actually wants you to pray for. All of this is important as you endeavour to visualise the fulfilment of your request, especially in the area of healings.

As we shared earlier, the Hebrew word for imagination maskit appears in Proverbs 25:11above, translated as "pictures" in the phrase "pictures of silver". Hence, based on all that we saw above regarding maskit, we can conclude that Proverbs 25:11 is speaking of words of apostolic wisdom crafted with great imagination that is fuelled by a strong prophetic anointing. In other words, the apple tree represents believers who produce "apples" of great apostolic wisdom that are filled with great creativity because they allow their imagination to be driven by the prophetic Spirit of God. These apples allow fellow believers to fashion "silver" purity in their lives as they use their own maskit imagination to produce and then ingest these apples, and that purity acts as a strong tower that grows tall through the believer's imagination.

{As a parenthesis, it is worth considering the "apple" tree's historical connection to the tree of good and evil that the woman and Adam ate from in the Garden of Eden. There is a great doubt as to the exact meaning of the Hebrew word tapuah, which was translated as "apple" in Joel 1:12 and in other verses of Scripture. Most believe that apples were not grown in the Middle East in ancient times and that the translation of tapuah as "apple" resulted from Greek and Roman translators who ended up equating tapuah with a fruit that was common to them.

Based on tapuah's description in Song of Songs 2:3 as "sweet" and its connection to a "golden" colour in Proverbs 25:11, many believe that tapuah was actually an apricot. According to wikipedia.org, the English word "apricot" is derived from the Latin word precoquus meaning "early ripening" (from which we get the word "precocious"). This would correlate with the possibility of tapuah being the actual fruit that Adam and his wife ate in the Garden of Eden, since eating that fruit led to them having an ability to judge (i.e.- to distinguish between "good" and "evil") that they were going to be given anyway but which they chose to acquire prematurely.

It can also be argued that tapuah was indeed an apple because, as described on wikipedia.org, there is indirect evidence that apples were grown in the Middle East in the 3rd century B.C., and there is actual direct evidence of apple cores found in a Judean site between Negev and Sinai that date back to the 10th century B.C.

Regardless of whether the tapuah is an apricot or an apple, the fact that the fruit of Genesis 3 and the tapuah of Proverbs 25:11 both point to the making of judgements makes this writer believe that they are indeed the same fruit. It is as if the Lord enabled the propagation of the idea that the Genesis 3 fruit was an "apple" in order to confirm that the fruits hanging from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were indeed tapuahs. Why, then, would the Lord not simply use the Hebrew word tapuah in Genesis 3? This writer believes that the Lord did this to prevent the religious demonisation of the fruit, whether it was an apricot or what we now call an "apple". There was nothing inherently wrong or "unrighteous" with the tapuah, as Proverbs 25:11 bears out, since wisdom and judgements are always desirable (Genesis 3:6, Psalm 19:9-10, Psalm 119:102-103). The problem in Genesis 3 was that man took of the tapuah in the soul and not in the Spirit, which led to the chaos that we still live under to this day. Had man trusted God and allowed His process to be completed in them without eating the tapuah prematurely, man would have eventually eaten of it in the Spirit and begun to grow as a spirit being in the judgements of the Lord, and the soul would have never taken unrighteous dominion over the spirit.}

A brief summary

We can now summarise the 3 trees in the middle of Joel 1:12 in the table below:

The joyless withered Church trees

It is worth noting that, despite each being connected to one of the 3 "male" ministries, all 3 trees in the section above have a prophetic component to them: the pomegranate tree rises prophetically above the ground, the palm tree produces prophetic intercession, and the apple tree produces prophetic imagination and creativity. Therefore, we can say that the 3 trees, as a whole, point to the prophetic and to ways that it combines with all 3 "male" ministries.

As we shared earlier, the first two "plants" of Joel 1:12, the vine and the fig tree, point to the evangelistic and the apostolic respectively. Hence, we can say that the 5 plants/trees mentioned by God in Joel 1:12 point to the 3 "male" ministries in this way:

As indicated in Joel 1:12, all these trees are withered "because joy is withered away from the sons of men". Joy speaks of our conquest of the Earth unto God. Hence, the Lord is declaring that the pastoral matriarchy has sapped the joy of Kingdom conquest out of the hearts of the "sons of Adam" ("men" in Joel 1:12 was translated from adam). Because God's people have been sapped of the drive to fulfil the call of Genesis 1:26 to reconquer the atmosphere of the Earth and exercise God's dominion over it, the "male" ministry endowments have been neutralised and rendered idle. This is why those who are supposed to be like vines no longer expand God's Kingship and those who are supposed to be like fig trees do not develop wisdom and judgements, and the prophetic anointing is not allowed to empower pomegranate priests (who can rise above the unholy) or prophetic intercessor palm trees (with a green-horse anointing) or apple trees (who can produce judgements and pearls of wisdom with prophetic imagination).

When we realise the sadness of what the pastoral matriarchy has taken away from God's people and the terrible consequences that that has had on the Earth, one can only mourn. Things are not "OK" in the Church, and to pretend that they are only perpetuates the spiritual death and eternal devastation that the pastoral matriarchy is wreaking upon humanity and the Earth. We are to meditate on the devastation detailed in Joel 1:12 and mourn as pomegranate priests who rise above the unholy and unrighteous state of the Church. We are to mourn in prophetic intercession like unwavering palm trees, longing for the restoration of what the enemy has taken away, and we are to be like apple trees that with prophetic imagination produce wisdom that releases the necessary judgements that will end the loss of eternal potential that is described in Joel 1:12.

God willing, in the next posting, we will continue meditating on Joel chapter 1.