Restoration

Restoration: Acrylic on Canvas

Painted at Gathering of The Artisans 2013

What is missing in your life? Is anything broken?

When I think about what is missing in my life, I think of family, friends and loved ones who are gone because of sickness or accidents and a few who lived a long life but have passed on. I feel an ache in my heart because I miss them. I miss their voices, their laughs.

When I think of broken things, I think of broken bodies, broken marriages, broken relationships broken hearts, broken minds and broken dreams that cause pain in the lives of many people I know. 

Here's the good news. We don't have to be overwhelmed by these things. We can overcome them, because Jesus Christ is The Restorer. 

What does it mean to be restored? It means :

The returning of something or someone to their original state. 

When we were created, and placed in the garden of Eden, we had unbroken intimacy and love with God and between husband and wife. We lived in complete harmony with all that God created.  Think about that. We had everything we needed and more. There was nothing missing and nothing broken. 

This is not what the world looks like today, but a day is coming when all of that will radically change. The day of restoration is coming. 

This is my favorite promise from the Holy Scriptures: 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Revelation 21:1-5

Let that sink in. A day is coming when all things will be made new. We will not be in pain. We will not have grief. We will not have accidents. We will not have heartache or fear or anxiety. We will not have sickness and disease or threat of harm from man or beast. 

We don't have to wait until that day to begin to experience this restoration. The moment Jesus becomes your All in All, He sets in motion the process of restoration in your life. He came to heal the brokenhearted. He came to preach deliverance to the captive and the recovery of sight to the blind. He is The Soul Restorer.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Psalm 23: 1

He restores my soul!  He is in the process of restoring my mind and emotions to it's original, intended state of unbroken intimacy with Him, before sin came....before anything was missing or broken.  

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake! 

He has made all who trust in Him the righteousness of God, and He has stamped His Name on the covenant, sealing it with His very own Blood. 

Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I don't have to fear evil. The Shepherd of my soul is right there beside me with His rod and staff to guide, protect and comfort me. 

He has prepared a table, a Passover table, which redeems and restores me in every way possible, while my enemies look on in utter defeat !

As His people, we have been called and commissioned to be restorers in this world. 

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 

2 Corinthians 13:11

The God of Peace will be with me ! The God of Shalom will be with me. Shalom is a term which means peace, completeness, wholeness, soundness, welfare, and restoration. 

And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. Isaiah 58:12

What breaches or paths have you been called to restore?

He even gives is divine grace and power to become restorers : 

"And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Isaiah 58:11

This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, Isaiah 58:12

This is the day of the Lord's favor to be restorers ! If you are a Spirit-filled Child of God, you have power residing in you to be an instrument of restoration in the earth. This is our privilege and destiny. 

Look around you. Who needs love today? Who needs an encouraging word? Who needs a kind touch?  Who needs prayer ? Who needs a visit or phone call or groceries?

Who needs to hear the Gospel of the Restorer of Souls?

Speak these words of restoration over your own life and the lives of others. Declare the restoration of the Kingdom of Heaven be manifested. 

And if you are led, "speak" restoration through your brush or your song. 

Excerpts from Joel 2

Blow the trumpet in Zion;

sound the alarm on my holy hill.

Let all who live in the land tremble,

for the day of the Lord is coming.

It is close at hand—

Like dawn spreading across the mountains

a large and mighty army comes,

such as never was in ancient times

nor ever will be in ages to come.

Before them fire devours,

behind them a flame blazes.

Before them the land is like the garden of Eden

Rend your heart

and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in love,

and he relents from sending calamity.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

declare a holy fast,

call a sacred assembly.

Gather the people,

consecrate the assembly;

bring together the elders,

gather the children,

those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room

and the bride her chamber.

Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,

weep between the portico and the altar.

Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.

Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,

a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”

Surely he has done great things!

Do not be afraid, land of Judah;

be glad and rejoice.

Surely the Lord has done great things!

Do not be afraid, you wild animals,

for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green.

The trees are bearing their fruit;

the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.

Be glad, people of Zion,

rejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given you the autumn rains

because he is faithful.

He sends you abundant showers,

both autumn and spring rains, as before.

   The threshing floors will be filled with grain;

the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

I will RESTORE to you the years the locusts have eaten—

You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,

and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has worked wonders for you;

never again will my people be shamed.

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams,

your young men will see visions.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

I will show wonders in the heavens

and on the earth,

blood and fire and billows of smoke.

The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved