Recently I was going through my emails and deleting the numerous spam emails I have received over the years. Unfortunately, I accidentally ended up deleting a very important email. I only realised this had happened when I wanted to refer to something in the email and couldn’t find it. Like most of us would do, I started panicking and quickly went to Dr. Google to see if there was any solution. By the grace of God, there is a recovery tool available where you can request for restoration of emails permanently deleted within 30 days. Thank God!!!!

What are you requesting for God to restore in your life? It might be time, money, relationships, assignments opportunities, health, jobs, businesses, a prodigal son or daughter, you name it. These things might have been ‘permanently deleted’ from your life and like me, you’ve wondered whether there is any way of getting them back. Well, I have good news for you. We serve a God who specialises in restoration.

The dictionary definition of restore is to return, bring back to a former condition or to put again in possession of something. In the Bible, to restore is to recompense, reward, cause to be at peace, make whole or good, to complete or to perform. Before we look at how we can experience restoration, we first need to assess how we end up losing the things in the first place.

 I have found that there are two primary ways:

1. When things are stolen from us without our knowledge.

I heard this analogy from Prophetess Tiphani Montgomery that absolutely changed my perspective on restoration. Imagine coming back home one day and you found your house broken into and it was empty. Empty! No furniture, no TV, no kitchen appliances, even your dog is missing. Most of us would immediately call the police and file a report. You would be seeking to recover everything that had been stolen.

John 10:10 says that there is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. Listen! The devil is not coming to play. He is a master at sending us distractions so we don’t notice when he is ravaging our lives. His aim is to make sure that he has completely wrecked our lives. He is not just coming for a little, he is coming for everything. Our faith in God, our families, our health, our finances, our time, our peace, our God given assignments, our careers. EVERYTHING!!!

I don’t know about you but I’m tired of letting the devil steal from me and not fight back. I have decided that I want EVERYTHING that the enemy stole restored back to me. In fact, Proverbs 6:31 NLT says that once a thief is found, he is to restore back seven times what he stole, even if he has to sell everything in his house.

God wants to restore what the enemy stole but are we alert enough to notice what was stolen and angry enough to want it back. In 1 Samuel 30, David and his men returned to Ziklag and found that the Amalekites had stolen everything from them. David was sad and poured out his emotions to the Lord but then He inquired from the Lord whether he should go and get his stuff and people back and when God told him to, He did! 1 Samuel 30:18-19 tells us that David recovered all!

Job also lost everything when the devil afflicted him. He however, remained obedient and submitted to God despite experiencing intense heartbreak. As a result of his unrelenting faith in God, God restored everything to him double!

God is ready, willing and able to restore over and above what the enemy has stolen. Are we desperate enough to contend for our restoration?

2. When we give the thief access to our possessions.

Now imagine if you went to sleep and left the door to your house open and when you woke up there were strangers in your house, rats the size of cats, snakes and stray dogs. Even though you didn’t invite any of them, you gave them access to your house by leaving the door open.

Let’s be honest, not everything we have lost was stolen from us without our knowledge. In my own life, there are times when I have lost time, resources, opportunities and relationships because I didn’t steward them correctly. Other times it is as a result of sin and disobedience. I think we have normalised and made disobedience a cute thing in the 21st century not realising that it has very serious consequences. Just flip through the scriptures and you will see numerous examples of people who faced judgment from God for their disobedience (Hey Jonah!)

1 Samuel 15:23 likens rebellion (which is another word for disobedience) to witchcraft. Wait what??? There are opportunities we are missing and seasons we are still stuck in because we are being disobedient. As a result of Saul’s disobedience, God stopped speaking to him which then led him to going into witchcraft to seek direction (1 Samuel 28:6-7). We are living in very interesting times, and we CANNOT afford to not be hearing the voice of God. It’s like going to an unknown destination without using maps. You are bound to waste so much time trying to figure out the way or even worse, getting lost completely. Because of disobedience, Saul and his sons died and the army of Israel was delivered in to the hands of the Philistines (1 Samuel 31)

In Joel 2:25, God promised that He will restore all the years that the locusts have stolen. I found it interesting that some of the definitions of the word ‘locust’ in this verse are sudden disappearance and insignificance. When God sent locusts to Egypt, they devoured everything such that there was nothing green remaining on a tree or plant (Exodus 10:15). Now that’s sudden disappearance! Have you ever been in a season where it felt like you lost everything all of a sudden? Money, opportunities, friendships, resources you name it. Maybe you went through all the stages of an interview process and then at the final stage, they picked someone else. And it was not just one job, this has been happening for the last 4 jobs you have applied for. That’s what is called failure at the edge of breakthrough. Or maybe you applied for a tender, submitted a job application, DM’d that girl or guy you are interested in, started a business but you are not experiencing any progress. It feels like no one notices you. You are insignificant.

These are just a few of examples of areas where locusts are devouring your life. There is good news though. We serve a God who is able to restore even the things that we have given the enemy access to. When we truly repent, which is not just being sorry and feeling guilty but turning completely away from our sin, God hears us and is able to restore us. The Israelites are a perfect example of this. As a result of their rebellion to God, they were sent to exile in Babylon for 70 years. However, God had a perfect plan for them, to give them a hope and a future, and He restored them from captivity (Jeremiah 29:10-14).

Over 2000 years ago, God showed the greatest act of restoration. God sent His one and only son to die on the cross for our sins and to restore back to the Father, anyone who believes in Him. This is good news! Like the prodigal son in Luke 15, when we start the journey of going back home, we will realise that our Heavenly Father was always waiting for us with open arms, ready to welcome us back home.

I don’t know what has been stolen in your life, whether without your knowledge or that you gave the enemy access to. I believe we are in a season of revival and one of the definitions of revive in the Bible is to restore (Psalms 85:6). God is not just restoring possessions, but He is also restoring the people who have been spiritually dead back to life. It’s time to wake up, repent and seek God for restoration of everything the enemy has stolen from us!

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I thank you that You are the God who is able to restore anything and everything that the enemy has stolen. I come to you humbly in repentance for any area of my life where I have lost time, resources, opportunities, relationships and assignments because of sin. I ask Lord that Your Winds of Restoration would blow over every area of my life and restore everything that the enemy has stolen from me. In Jesus Name, Amen.