God Restores What Was Lost!

We have been looking at the word restore this month. God restores all things. We are His sons and daughters, and He desires to have a relationship with us as His children and restore our lives. It doesn’t matter if we need restoration from our sinful past, hurts, or habits, from things that others have done to us or how circumstances have affected us. We see from the Bible that God wants to redeem and restore us to live the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. It is the enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).

Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Psalm 103:4 – 5 (NKJV)

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13 – 14 (NKJV)

God declares that He will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten (Joel 2:25). Jesus is our Jubilee, proclaiming the acceptable year of the LORD (Isaiah 61:2):

To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Instead of your shame, you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore, in their land, they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs. Isaiah 61:3-4, 7 (NKJV)

Therefore, our response should be:

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10 (NKJV)

2020 is a new year and the beginning of a new season, a new decade, and a new era! Last week we looked at how God wants to restore our health, bringing healing and deliverance into our lives. Go back and read the blog or listen to Wednesday’s Word on Facebook Live if you missed it. We will now turn to how God restores what the enemy, Satan, has kept and taken from us.

In session 1 of the webinar “Discerning the Times and Seasons 2020” (with James Goll), Jane Hammond discusses that there has been an assignment of robbery to keep us from our destiny, finances, health, etc. She discusses how Laban robbed Jacob for 20 years before he made a decision not to tolerate it any longer (see Genesis 29 – 31).

We need to engage with the promise of God for the fulfillment of the promised land. We need to be persistent to receive it. We must not look back but look ahead and move forward. We need to ask the Lord to deal with our hearts, be energized by the Spirit to break through and overcome. We are overcomers (Revelation 2:17). She believes this is the season of promises fulfilled! 2020 is the Hebrew year 5780 and is the decade of the mouth (Peh). Therefore, we need to decree over our lives what God says about us and has for us. Speak His Word. The victory is in our mouths!

But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey, and no one delivers; For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!” Isaiah 42:22 (NKJV)

The Lord has instructed me to speak restoration over you!

“Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 2 Chronicles 20:20 (NKJV)

According to Strong’s Concordance (6743), the Hebrew word for prospering means to push forward, to break out, come (mightily), go over, be good, be profitable, and to prosper. We are in a season of crossing over from promises revealed to promises fulfilled.

Time is accelerating (Daniel 12:2; Zephaniah 1:14; Matthew 24:33-34; Amos 9:13), and God is redeeming the time (Ephesians 5:14-17). Let the Lord forgive you for past sins and heal your wounds so you can move forward. Remember, He has cleansed you of past sins (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 1:9;  2 Peter 1:3-11). Forgive yourself as well and others that have hurt you. Release your guilt and shame to Jesus.

It is the devil who tries to keep you stalled in a place of guilt, shame, and condemnation. But when we walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh, there isn’t any condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2). Jesus took our shame upon Himself at the cross. God declared us “not guilty” because Jesus took our sins and paid the penalty for us, which was death! Jesus is our righteousness, and He covers us. Don’t carry those things He has already carried for us.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12 – 14 (NKJV)

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 1 Corinthians 9:24 – 25 (NKJV)

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12 1 – 2 (NKJV)

In 1976, I walked away from the Lord, following a betrayal that wounded me to my very core. I blamed God for allowing it to happen and felt that I couldn’t trust Him. For three years, I did my own thing instead of following His ways and believing what He said in His Word. During that time, the Holy Spirit was convicting me of sin, as I was living in rebellion against God. The Holy Spirit kept wooing me to come back, and one day as I was singing a love song to Jesus, He said to me, “If you love Me, you will obey Me. I knew He was quoting John 14:15.

I also knew that I needed to make a decision for or against Christ at this time. I knew this within my spirit. As I considered my life, I remembered all of the good things He had done for me and saw His protection through times that the enemy could have destroyed me. I chose to surrender my life back to the Lord Jesus Christ by asking Him to forgive me and making Him Lord of my life again. That was on July 29, 1979. Since that time, I have walked with the Lord with greater love, trust, knowledge, and understanding of Him and His ways as I have spent time with Him in the Word, worship, prayer, and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

“Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Luke 7:47 (NKJV)

I felt regret over the three lost years I spent away from Him, as well as times when I was not able to receive what the Holy Spirit was putting before me to grow in the knowledge of spiritual things. The Holy Spirit reminded me that God could redeem the time and accelerate things to bring me into my place of destiny and purpose for such a time as this. He has brought me healing, deliverance, and restoration, as I follow Him.

We must be free first (Matthew 7:5; John 8:36) so that we can bring healing, deliverance, and restoration to our families, friends, and those around us, including our cities and nations. Remember, God fights for us, and the battle is the Lord’s (Nehemiah 4:12; 2 Chronicles 20:15; Romans 8:31; Isaiah 54:17). Time is short (James 4:14; 2 Corinthians 6:2). Let’s move forward and advance His kingdom, bringing it to the earth!

Prayer for Restoration

Thank you, Lord, that You are the restorer of all things. You bring healing, deliverance, freedom, and restoration into our lives, families, cities, and nations. There is nothing impossible for You. We ask You Holy Spirit to reveal any areas of sins, hurts or habits that need healing and deliverance, and may we bring them to You so that we can be made whole. We choose to believe Your Word and receive all that Jesus has provided for us to live an abundant life. We ask for Your grace and strength to forgive ourselves and others, and to obey and follow You. Help us to co-labor with You so that the walls and gates of our lives can be repaired and restored. We give You all praise and thanksgiving for who You are, what You have done, and will do! Thank You, Holy Spirit, for working in our lives to bring healing, freedom, restoration, and life! In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Stand fast, therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1 (NKJV)