Joel 2:25-26 (NKJV) 25 “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. 26 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.
I believe the Lord has shown me that 2020 is to be a year of restoration. Let me review what the word “restoration” or to “restore” means. There are three entries in the dictionary for the ideas these words represent.
The act of returning something to a place or condition (repair). In salvation, God sent Jesus to restore us to the condition of sonship he originally intended for mankind when he created them in the Garden of Eden. Salvation itself is an act of restoration and all other restoration stems from there.
The act of returning something lost or stolen to its rightful owner. 1 Timothy 6:17 tells us that God gives us all things “richly to enjoy.” In 1 Peter 1:3-4 we read that God has given all things that pertain unto life and Godliness and that we partake of them through access to his divine nature by the “great and precious promises” in his Word. Sometimes our own unbelief, laziness or lack of understanding causes us to lose or never access what God has provided. Sometimes our adversary, the devil, steals them from us. God wants to restore what is rightfully yours in Christ. That can mean finances or things. More important are your family and relationships. Most important of all it means your understanding of who you are in Christ and the power of salvation.
The return of a hereditary monarch to a throne, a head of state to government, or a regime to power. God gave man dominion over the earth. He lost that dominion to Satan when he sinned in the Garden. Satan became the God of this world and the ruler of man. In salvation God gave dominion back to his children through the sacrifice of his Son. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 upon his resurrection, “All authority (power) has been given unto me both in heaven and in earth.” God restored the rightful rulers to their place. Now we must walk in harmony with the Lord of the church so that we can exercise that dominion to extend his Kingdom.
All of this is part of what God wants to do for us individually and in his church corporately in 2020. This can mean something different to each one of us personally, but I believe it means a restoration to power, holiness and spiritual influence for his church. The scripture above is a prophetic word spoken by Joel. It has a meaning to the nation of Israel in their day, but as with many prophecies in the Old Testament it also applies to the church. It is no coincidence that the first scripture quoted in the church age comes from this chapter. On the day of Pentecost Peter stood and quoted verses 28 through 31. The New Testament is a story of restoration.
Today I want to take just a moment to point out one thing God wants to restore for you. In verse 25 God says, “So I will restore to you the years.” How many of you can relate to this idea? I was saved very young in life. I did not waste too many years living in the world. Over more than 40 years of ministry I have heard this statement many times from those who were saved when they were older. “I just wish I had known all this sooner.”
We cannot change when we met the Lord. Maybe you were in your later years. Maybe you had a hard life in the time you lived without Jesus. Maybe you did things you regret. Maybe your life has become so much better with Jesus that you just wish you had all the time you waisted back. Whatever may be true in your life, God says I will restore the years!
I am not saying you get to live those years over again, but I am saying that God can cause what you have left to be more than what you lost. I cannot explain what this may mean to you, but it is right there in the words of the Bible. God will restore the years. He may give you more effectiveness in the life you live from now on. God may give back to you financially what you have lost. God may fix or replace relationships that were ruined by your life in the flesh. He may heal your body and give you years of life you would not have had if you never met him. I do not know what you need but God can and will restore the years that the devil has “eaten.”
If you are a Christian and have been for some time, you can probably look back and say, “I wish I had done more to serve the Lord. I wish I had prayed more or worked more for his Kingdom.” The truth is that none of us is perfect. None of us have done all we could to grow in our relationship with God. None of us have been completely obedient or been as diligent as we could have been. I do not say this to stir up condemnation. Condemnation never produces better living. Whining will not help. Faith in the restoration of God will.
I cannot change the mistakes I have made. Sometimes it seems to me that the message today is that we should not strive to be better and stronger Christians. I do not agree with that. I refuse to walk in condemnation, but I also refuse to be mediocre. These two ideas are not exclusive to one another. I want to grow from glory to glory. I want to know him more today than yesterday. I want more power in my life, more love in my life. More of Jesus in my life. Unfortunately, I have not always lived in such a way as to obtain those goals. What should I do?
I should repent of laziness and commit to faithfulness. I should repent of anything I know is sin and commit to righteous living. I should do as Paul did.
Philippians 3:13-14 (NKJV) 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I should receive by faith that this is a year in which God wants to work restoration in my life. I believe that God will restore the years I may have wasted! I do not really know what that means, but I do know that God can do it. He can do anything.
The truth is that there is nothing I can do about the past. I believe in repentance when we know we are wrong. The Bible teaches that as a key to going forward in God. However, repentance is not about regret. Repentance puts an end to regret. We do not need to live in the light of past failures. Learn from them, repent from what brought them and be done with them. Do not let them steal your future and do not let go of anything God has for you. This is a time to believe that God will restore the years. I say again that I do not really know what that means. I do know that God has promised to do it and this year I am going to make it my business to believe it.
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