A TIME OF RESTORATION
Introduction:
– We are living in interesting days.
– There are different things taking place all over the world and they are things that oftentimes can be of concern!
– Many individuals have been through difficult seasons.
– But God has something new, and I believe it is a time of restoration.
– A season during which He will do a work of restoring.
– I received an email from a friend who wrote and said that it felt like the last few years he was in a ‘faith school’ and things had been a challenge.
– It is during these ‘faith school’ seasons that we learn to trust God and to hold on to Him.
– Faith is the thing that moves God, and we can look forward to the work of restoration that He wants to do in our lives.
1. ORIGINAL CONDITION
– The purpose of restoration is to return something to its original condition.
– As we pass through life, we experience things that affect our condition and this in turn blocks us from what God has in store for us.
– God wants to bring restoration in our lives so that we can be put back on course for His blueprint for our lives.
– This is something that only God can do.
– We cannot restore ourselves. God is the One Who can take all that we have been through and undo the damage so that we can be restored to all He had intended for us to be.
2. WHAT THE LOCUSTS HAVE EATEN
– Joel 2:25 So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.
– When God restores, He is able to take all the years that have been lost or eaten and give them back to us.
– Locusts work in a particular way. They swarm in their thousands and descend on crops with military precision and wreak havoc and destruction in all directions in a very short period of time.
– This is exactly what can happen in our lives and many people who have been through such an experience can identify with this.
– But God is the One Who can undo large-scale destruction and return things to their original condition.
3. RESTORE NOT REPLACE
– Sometimes we may think that God does not want to bring restoration, but we think that He will just bring a replacement.
– I am of the persuasion that God wants to restore and not simply to replace.
– If we look at the story of Moses we can see how God works. God had a plan for Moses. God wanted to use Moses to bring freedom and release to the nation of Israel. Moses however made mistakes and ended running around the desert for years and years. When this happened, God did not simply bring in a replacement to do the job. In due season He brought Moses back and the nation of Israel was free.
– You see, God restored Moses; He brought him back, out of obscurity and used him just as He had intended.
– This is how God works.
– God is in the business of restoration and not replacement.
4. A LIFETIME IN A FEW YEARS
– This is the amazing thing about God.
– When God restores, He can take a lifetime and place it in a few short years.
– This always gives me hope.
– If you have ended up wasting time and spending time on things that have robbed you of what God had for you, there is hope.
– As we allow God to restore our lives, we can look forward to this very thing happening in our lives.
– It is for this reason that it is never too late with God.
– We are never too far gone or too distant for God to bring restoration of His purposes in our lives.
– God can do it!
5. LIFE
– Another definition of the term restoration is the concept of bringing back to life.
– God wants to do just that for us.
– He wants to restore His life in us.
– It is, as though, God wants to breathe new life into our lives.
– Sometimes, as we wander through life, we die on the inside.
– We may be physically alive, but we know that on the inside there is a measure of death.
– This can be the result of many things including the things we have been through or the things we have been exposed to.
– But God is the Source of life. He wants to come and restore life to us, so that we can truly be alive to God on the inside.
6. RESTORATION AND BROKENESS
– This may be a more difficult concept. Let me give you an example: when we restore furniture, it involves several steps.
– 1. We first have to disassemble the furniture
– 2. We have to strip away all the years of wear and tear.
– 3. Then we can add new materials and put it all back together.
– Perhaps this does not sound like a very good experience to us, but the reality is that it is very rewarding as the true beauty and glory of the piece is brought out.
– Sometimes in the process of restoration there is the element of brokenness. Some things must go but most things stay.
– This is something we must embrace and not reject as God is doing something wonderful.
7. THE PURPOSE
– Just as in the natural when we restore furniture there is a purpose.
– Restoration is part of the process to prepare something for further and future use. We don’t restore a piece of furniture to store it in the garage. We restore furniture to use it and bring it out of obscurity and give it value and purpose.
– It is just the same in our spiritual lives.
– God has a plan and purpose for each one of us and He wants to bring restoration so that He can use us, just as He intended to.
– Once a piece of furniture has been restored it can be replaced in a position of priority and visibility.
– That is exactly what God wants to do with you and me.
8. WHAT IS RESTORED?
– Not any old piece of furniture is restored!
– Usually, it is only pieces of furniture that have a value that are taken and restored. They are restored because they are worth the effort.
– You are worth the effort to God to be restored.
– You and I have great value to God and He wants to restore and use each one of us. Remember, you are valuable and precious to God and He loves you dearly.
– May the restoring power of the living God be a reality in your life.
– Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds! They don’t worry about what to eat – they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food – for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to Him than they are.
By Pastor Andrew W. Roebert
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