Year of His RESToration

Pastor Prince just revealed the theme for 2015 during last Sunday's sermon. It is the year of His restoration. He said for those who have lost loved ones or relationships last year, there is good news. Something better is coming your way. Christ on the cross is the love of God, paying for the ransom of us. When man restores, it is never the same as the original. When God restores, it is always greater in quality or quantity or both. Primarily, there are three ways the restoration will take place.

1) Joel 2:25 says 'I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten.' The years spent out of fellowship with God are wasted years but if we turn to God, He will restore the years. All the broken pieces will come together in 2015. But we have to believe that God is a God of restoration and He will restore. We have to say 'Lord, restore!'

2) God will restore our soul, our mind, our emotions. If you have been depressed, lost your joy, encountered heartaches, He will restore your joy and heal your emotional wounds. Psalms 23:3 says 'He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.' God will bring us back to the days of our youth with our minds restored.

3) God will restore health to us. Jeremiah 30:17 says 'For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds.' In the Hebrew definition, wounds here refer to prolonged plaques and chronic conditions. Some of us have been living with chronic illness for such a long time, believing for God to heal us but nothing seems to be happening. This will be the year that the manifestation of healing comes forth. Don't give up.

God's laws in Exodus 22:1 says 'If a man steals an ox or a sheep, slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.' Because of the crime done to him, he becomes a gainer. This is the law of God: the greater the loss, the greater the restoration, the greater the sorrow, the greater the joy. Whenever we have an attack, look out for spoils. You will come to a place where you will say to the devil 'Because you attacked me, I have now become a gainer!'

Whatever we have lost, stop asking why. One day in heaven we will know the reason. But don't give up, continue to believe God for restoration. How then can we position ourselves for restoration? Christ has already accomplished it for us at the cross. Our fight is a fight of faith, we fight from victory ground, not for victory. The key is to rest in The Lord. RESToration comes when we rest in The Lord. When we rest, God works. When we work, God rests. This can be seen in Ruth's story, when Naomi told her to rest while Boaz went about her redemption. She said that man will not rest until this matter is resolved.

I was excited to hear this because I had experienced so many attacks last year. Attacks on my mind, my body, my family's health etc. I was asking God where is the good coming out of those attacks for I understood the principle of restoration. Yet for most part of the year I didn't see the restoration for the things stolen. But since the last month of 2014, I started to see the turnaround. I started to see the good coming out of the attacks. I saw how the devil meant for my harm but God turned it around for my good. All the good things started coming up to the surface last month. Yet God tells me that this is just the beginning, more to come. I know that God will not rest until the full restoration work is completed.