For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,' says the LORD, 'Because they called you an outcast saying: "This is Zion; No one seeks her." 'Jeremiah 30:17
Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you- The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. "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. Joel 2:23-26
God has promised to restore everything that has been stolen from us. It does not matter how many years we spent going through or what we've been through. If we come back into His restoration day, He will give back to us what was stolen plus what would have been ours should we have been living in a good land. Everything that has been stolen through the years He will restore to us. God's restoration is not only giving us what we had, but also giving to us what we would have had should all the bad years we went through be counted as prosperous years. His word is true:
"If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. Exodus 22:1"
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8
We can take this word from God. It does not matter what has been stolen from us or what we may have got back in a ruined condition. God's word declares that restoration of seven, five or four fold is promised to us. We can trust in the LORD with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding; In all our ways we acknowledge Him, and He shall direct our paths. He shall restore to us more abundantly what has been stolen from us. God's restoration means He is going to give back what we had, what we were supposed to have if nothing was stolen and all the good things that would have come with it plus more abundantly. Yes, every time we've been sick, whether it was a headache, the flu or cancer, time has been stolen from us. Each time there has been sickness in our life, time has been stolen from us. In those periods we have not been what we were supposed to be or what God intended for us to be. In times of sickness we were unable function the way we're supposed to function, we could not live the way we were supposed to and we could not be what we were supposed to be.
God has no problem restoring things multiple times. He has no problem to give health to our flesh and strength to our bones, if we turn away from evil ways, if we walk in the ways of the Lord and we do not lean on our own insight and understanding. If we honor the LORD with our possessions, and with the firstfruits of all our increase, our barns will be filled with plenty, and our vats will overflow with new wine (Proverbs 3:9-10). Yes if we will do as He tells us, we shall be healthy and our storehouses shall be filled with plenty and will be overflowing. And if our storehouse is not filled with plenty but is empty, it will be restored! God’s word is unchanging:
"And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. "The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. Deuteronomy 28:11
God has said that He will give us a surplus of prosperity in our body and in all our property, which means we will be healthy and we'll have more things than we can ever use or be in need of! He will command the blessing on us in our storehouses and in all that we undertake. And our store house is our body, our possessions and things and ground as well.
Because of Calvary our body is filled with health, because by His stripes we were healed. However, if a portion of our health has been stolen, what we need is RESTORATION in that portion of our body. We need to be RESTORED! If something is wrong with my heart, then it's not sickness that's come upon me, but rather health that has gone away from me. It needs to be RESTORED! And God has promised to restore all things. His word is true:
Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them. When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses." Matthew 8:14-16
Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Matthew 12:13
Those who were demon possessed needed to be restored. Those who were sick needed to be restored. There was a man who had a withered hand and Jesus restored it as whole as the other! Restored means everything that is out of the store will be put back. And there will also be overflow. There will be a surplus because our God is a God of abundance, a God of Health, a God of Wealth, a God who has everything that we need. He wants us to have restoration in our life. Just think of all that has been stolen from us in health, in our home, in our finances, in our time, in our joy, in our love, in our marriage, in our work. Just think of all that has been stolen from us. God says, "I have come to restore".
So, lets open up our storehouse wide today and say, "Lord, please fill it up". IF we are willing to give to the ministry of God? Are willing to bless the Lord's work out of our finances? Are willing to give out of our storehouse for the work of God? We can do it and God will restore our storehouse to overflowing! God’s word is unchanging:
"Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 'but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name. Neheiah 1:8-9
The bible tells us that the king of Babylon had besieged Jerusalem city, destroyed it, and carried off to Babylon everything that was of value including the people because of the sins of God’s people. As a result the enemy had literally taken the ground, lock stock and barrel. And then God raised up Ezra and Nehemiah to restore things to God’s people. Ezra went back to Jerusalem to rebuild the broken down temple while Nehemiah returned to rebuild the broken down and burned walls of the city. Pastor Michael Jackson in his sermon “Take It Back!” brought out ten different areas that the God’s people in Judah repossessed from their enemy:
1. WEALTH. The enemy had taken it; God restored it. The bible tells us:
And all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods; and Cyrus king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. This is the number of them: thirty gold platters, one thousand silver platters, twenty-nine knives, thirty gold basins, four hundred and ten silver basins of a similar kind, and one thousand other articles. All the articles of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar took with the captives who were brought from Babylon to Jerusalem. Ezra 1:6-11
Now these are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city. Ezra 2:1
2. Their FAMILIES were returned. Ezra 2 and Ezra 8 stresses the fact that the people returned in families. The genealogy of those who returned was carefully noted. Isn’t it exciting that God favors the home; the family?
3. Their WORSHIP to God was restored. Ezra 3 covers the rebuilding of the altar. This was the first thing the people did upon returning to Jerusalem. The altar actually came before the temple. With the building of the altar came the sacrifices and the offerings of self-dedication unto God.
4. PERSONAL HOLINESS WAS RESTORED. God’s word tells us:
Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly. Ezra 10:1
They had a number of evil practices which they had picked up from the pagans. These were renounced and dealt with.
5. The WORD OF GOD was restored to it’s rightful place. The bible tells us
And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. Then all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Nehemiah 8:5-6
6. The TEMPLE was restored. They had been away from their temple for years. Now they had it back. What rejoicing; what victory.
7. THE CITY AND IT’S WALLS were restored and their sense of security also. The bible tells us :
"For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. Ezra 9:9
8. He restored their JOY. Captives don’t know the sound of laughter. They only weep and moan. The bible tells us
Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. Nehemiah 12:43
9. Their SERVICE to the Lord was restored.
10. Their TESTIMONY was restored. They were again known as a people of God. God was also known for who and what He was – the provider and savior of His people.
The Word of God tells us abut Satan, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. ( John 10:10). In the life of Job we clearly saw that it was Satan- the devil who caused Job his problems incluidng great financial losses and physical sickness. But it was the Lord who healed, delivered, blessed and prospered him and made his end better than his beginning. God’s word is true:
And the LORD restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days. Job 42:10-17
Job didn’t die prematurely living a life of defeat and poverty? He got back all that the devil had stolen from him and lived an additional one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. He died, old and full of days as well as rich and prosperous? And what God has done for Job, He can and will do for us because though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
Yes, through the use of Jesus name, the strength and power of the Holy Spirit and our faith, we have divine power to demolish strong-holds that have stolen things from us or are keeping things from us. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63). We come against Satan not in our power or name but in God’s power and the name of Jesus and He has to restore everything that he has stolen from us. We step out from our limited abilities and resources to God’s unlimited abilities and resources through the use of the name of Jesus which give us, Salvation: Acts 4:12 , Justification: 1 Corinthians 6:11, Healing: Acts 3:6; proclamation: Acts 8:12, Deliverance from demons: Mark 16:17, Worship: Ephesians 5:20, Prayer: John 14:13-14, the Holy Spirit: John 14:26.
A check without a signature is not worth the paper it is printed on. What makes the paper of value is that name at the bottom right-hand corner. That signature or name represents that person’s financial resources. It is as if Jesus left behind a check book full of blank checks which He has signed with His name. The believer fills in the amount as the will of God is revealed, and once the check is presented it is backed up by the inexhaustible riches of Christ. God’s word is unchanging:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14
"Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:22-24
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