Let’s do a little exercise. Think back over your life since
2011…let’s say January 1st of that year. How would you describe it?
Has it been a great season or has it been a time of testing and trial? Have you
learned a lot of lessons or have you been in a holding pattern? What has your
life been like? I would venture to say that it has been a mixed bag for most of
us. There have been highs and lows, movement and stagnation, joy and sorrow. What’s
your point, Ebony? Why do I have to go back and think about those hard times?
Isn’t looking forward the answer? Sure it is! We all want to be moving forward
and not backwards but today God spoke to me about restoration. In order for us
to appreciate the bounty of a renewed faith, a restored love, and rejuvenated
life, we have to understand and acknowledge the loss, the disappointment, and
the death.
Today, as I was walking, I was listening to Romans 4 and God
highlighted one line for me that I could not get away from. This chapter talks
about Abraham and his faith and how we benefit from what he experienced. God made Abraham a promise. He told him that
he would be the father of many nations. Abraham could not see that in his
natural mind or based on his circumstances but verse 17b says that it “happened
because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who
creates new things out of nothing.” (NLT) I could not get away from that
line. It kept playing in my mind as I walked and when I was ready to go home,
it was still there. I was trying to throw it around in my mind as to where God
wanted me to go with it but when I sat down to write all I heard him say was
restoration.
You see, for some of you this season has been devastating.
You have lost things and people that you couldn’t imagine. You have at times been
forced by the enemy to live on fading faith. But God directed me to tell you
today that He is the God that can restore life to dead things and create
newness where there is nothing. Are you ready to walk in restoration? You see,
you have to be ready to receive it because otherwise you are waiting with no
expectation. You have to be in a place where you are tired of being tired,
tired of living in lack, tired of living in depression, tired of waiting on
someone else to give you what you need. You have to be ready for spring. God
wants to give it to you. He is willing and able to do it.
It could be that decisions you made brought you to this
place or you are completely a victim of other people’s choices. It could be
that God chose you for this season to show others how to handle it. Whatever
was the cause, it is now time to come out. It’s time to repent for any sin that
may have gotten in during this season and watch what God does. Look at the book
of Joel. The people of Israel were in the midst of drought and attack by
locusts. We find out that God sent those locusts to get the people’s attention
and call them to repentance. Once they had repented, God promised to restore.
He said, “So I will restore to you the years that the
swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and
the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your
God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to
shame. Then you shall know
that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to
shame.” (Joel 2: 25-27 NKJV) God left nothing uncovered. Every trauma,
loss, attack that you have experienced will be recovered and you will know
without a doubt that God did it. Again, He is giving life where death has
destroyed. He is creating a new order out of nothingness.
Today, I want you to grab hold to your restoration. I want
you to claim your victory and walk in it. God has made you some promises and
given you some instructions and He wants you to follow through with them. He
wants you to do what He said so that you can reap the benefits. It’s time! You
have walked around wondering when it will be your time for too long. Now is the
time. The shift is happening right now and the restoration is taking place…believe
it. Today, the Lord is saying restoration is here! To the weary, get up! To the
heartbroken, rise up! To the depressed, live! To the disappointed, come up! “God sent me to announce the year of his grace— a celebration of God’s
destruction of our enemies—
and to comfort all who mourn, To care for the needs of all who
mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, Messages of joy
instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. Rename
them “Oaks of Righteousness” planted by God to display
his glory. They’ll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage.
They’ll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make
it new.” (Is. 61: 2-4 MSG) God will take your ruin and make it new. He
will take your dead situation and give it life and through it He will get the
glory!
I pray that God, the source of hope,
will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you
will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15:13 NLT)
AMEN
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