Getting Ready for Restoration

So, here you are at the end of your wilderness, and your life seems like it is in ruins and you are wondering how in the world you could ever be restored after it looks like a hydrogen bomb went off and blew everything to smithereens years ago. Your health, your finances, your career, your relationships, your possessions, and everything else seems destroyed beyond recovery, and you are now left with nothing but an old dusty tent, a scowling mate, and a few scruffy little confused sheep staring back at you. Well, if this is you then don't worry, in the natural yes, it's impossible to ever put things back together again. But God will soon move mightily on your behalf to restore not just the little you sacrificed back in Egypt, but He will bring you into a super-abundance in your Canaan so that you may abound in every good work that He calls you to.

God wants you to have more than enough to live on and to give to others, He just didn't want all those things to be a distraction to you while you needed to focus on letting Him change you in the wilderness. When you have died to all greed and pride connected to this world and the folly it chases after, then God can trust you not to self-destruct when He blesses you. We cannot afford to take even one sin problem with us into our promise land, lest we fail and fall in battle. We must die to these things in the wilderness in order to be made safe to use. We serve in a Kingdom that consists of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and it's not about having the money or things that the world chases after. When God has all of your heart, then He knows that these other things cannot. We all think we are ready to manage Gods power and resources, but then when God shows us just how corrupt and selfish our flesh actually is; we then realize that it is only Him living through us that we can be trusted. We must decrease, so that He may increase.

So how will your restoration look? Will you win the lottery and be paraded down the street for all who judged you as a big loser to see and be ashamed of themselves? Well, lets just say that God has a biblical pattern for restoration that normally looks a bit different from this picture. God isn't so much interested in making you look good, as He is in making Himself look good through you, so that people will have faith in Jesus Christ as their savior and be saved. God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to those around us. Like Joseph, God has shaped your heart to care about the lost and needy of this world, so that He can flow through you to help them. Like the Israelites, God just needed to expose all of the hidden sin and unbelief in us first, and get rid of it so that He could move through us without our sin ruining it all. God just needed to make you safe enough for Him to use you to help others.

The biblical pattern for renovation and restoration usually happens this way:

1. The people or persons are taught to live by faith, purged of secret sin, have their vision killed off over and over again, until finally their faith rests upon the vision-giver alone, and no longer in the vision itself. God just does this to expose and purge us from all selfish ambition and non-loving motives. Then, a burning bush appears and starts up a conversation to give them fresh direction and faith.

2. The power of God moves suddenly, and a series of miracles catapults that person from the lowest darkest place of obscurity, into a place of light and visibility. He appoints them to meet a critical need, and to do something important for the Lord that is meant to help many others who are in need. God sends them with His power and with a message, that the great "I AM" is there to help them.

3. They are given a task and many battles take place in the process to acquire and accomplish the vision that God is fulfilling through them. They conquer by the power of God and are blessed in the process with more than they could have ever accomplished by their own efforts, or plans. God is given His rightful glory, and the surrounding nations watch in awe and are blessed.

4. They go on to live a stable, blessed, and holy life with Gods anointing and power flowing through their lives like a river. God sends many to come and be refreshed and blessed through the land of milk and honey that He has created in them, and like a tree, many will come and eat the fruit of God that He bears through them. They are grateful for the wilderness, and even for Egypt. But greatest of all, Jesus Christ is glorified, and many lost and needy souls get saved, healed, and delivered because of what God has done in their lives.

You can expect some of your restoration to happen instantly, and some will happen in stages, depending upon how well you respond to the new things God is adding to your life. We will be banded together with others who are also being restored, and together we will accomplish all that God calls us to do in this last great harvest. We will walk as one Body, in unity. There will be a few Achan's in the bunch that may try to hide some gold, or there may be a few Annanias' or Sapphira's being dishonest about the money. There may even be a few Judas’ in the group that end up betraying you, but the Spirit of God will expose anything that is amiss among us to keep us healthy. You will dance for joy when you see all of the fresh strength, healing, provision, and blessing come pouring into your dry, dusty storehouse. You will be given an abundance to help many who will experience a great famine both spiritually and economically. The need of the world will be Gods opportunity to show His goodness so that they can believe and be saved.

I just want to say one last thing about Gods restoration and blessing. Finances and provision are meant to be a tool, not a trophy. Our greatest blessing will be His spiritual blessings. God’s presence is our great and exceeding reward, and it is Him that our hearts have been seeking throughout this whole process. He alone is our "Pearl of Great Price", and nothing in this world can compare to His glory at all. God longs to dwell among His people and to fellowship with us, His heart is to heal the sick through you, and to preach the message of the gospel through you with such a powerful anointing that all who hear it get saved. Yes, your greatest reward is God Himself coming and dwelling in your midst. Our greatest blessing comes not from numbers in a bankbook or a gathering, but from the hand of our Father caressing our brow as we pray and worship at His holy feet. Your heart has called to Him for years because His heart has been calling to you first. This is your season for Gods blessing and restoration, and like Solomon and David, God desires to show His goodness to you, and especially through you, to the lost.

Some scriptures to help you: