Neville Goddard on Joel 1:14-15 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Joel 1 in context

Scripture Focus

14Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.

15Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joel 1:14-15

Biblical Context

Joel 1:14–15 invites a communal preparation and personal consecration, calling for a sacred gathering and heartfelt prayer, while warning that a great day of the LORD is near. It hints that the old order dissolves in the light of inner awakening.

Neville's Inner Vision

In the inner scripture, the fast is not a rite of abstaining from food alone, but a renunciation of the hungry thoughts that cling to you. The 'land' is your entire consciousness; the 'house of the LORD' is the awakened awareness that sits within. When you sanctify a fast, you declare you will starve the ego’s noise and give energy to stillness. The 'elders and inhabitants' are the facets of your mind—memory, desire, belief, fear—invited into your inner sanctuary to be heard, not ruled. 'Cry unto the LORD' becomes the living I AM calling to itself, the awareness aware that it is awake. The looming day of the LORD signals a turning point: the old self dissolves as the new life asserts itself. This is not fear of destruction, but the graceful kneading of form by consciousness, revealing the truth you already are. When you allow this inner gathering to happen, you experience the felt sense of an imminent shift—the realization that you are the creator presence I AM within.

Practice This Now

Imaginative_act: Close your eyes and assume the state of I AM as your own awareness; invite all inner faculties to the inner house and declare, 'I AM awake.' Practice a felt sense of fasting from fear and distraction for a single breath or hour, then imagine the day of the LORD arriving within you.