Restoration - February 15, 2015

Joel 2: 25-26      25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

Job 42:10   And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

John 14:1   Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

Whatever you have willing given to the  enemy or whatever he has taken away from you, God wants to give it back with His blessings upon it. God wants to show His power and might by restoring it on a larger scale. That’s the kind  God we serve; we never have to settle for a substitute or "good enough."  We have choices put before us daily; we can be tempted to give in to hurt,  be wounded, or depressed. We can  dismiss the power of God by complaining and remain in the same situations. Or we can praise God and be raised up.

The enemy will try to  attack  us and attempt to steal our joy. He operates best when we are sad, sorrowful, and oppressed. Remember the feeling of elation when you first were saved? There was joy that could not be measured. God doesn't want us to lose that spark of enlightenment! Nehemiah 8:10 tells us, “The JOY of the Lord is your strength.” It is important for Christians to understand that the joy in their life!  If you don’t have joy, you don’t have strength.

You don’t have to stay in despair and depression. Don’t buy into the opinions of others to control you.  When you know and walk with God you begin to make choices that drives your own destiny. You may not be everyone's cup of tea and not everyone  is going to be thrilled about your walk. But God is. You are who God created you to be. And God likes you just fine. He’s thrilled about you!