Week 16

RESTORATION

Part 1

Restoration means to restore.

Restore is a verb tense showing action and it means to make strong; restore to normal state; to give back (as if something was taken or lost)

I don’t know about you, but I would love to have my innocence restored!  I would love to have my MIND restored!  I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE MY BODY RESTORED!! 

Can restoration really happen with people? 

I love “Rehab Addict” and “Flea Market Flip” on HGTV, I love seeing the potential in old homes and discarded items, but can our lives which have been destroyed really be restored?  How?

First, turn to 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17, I know I reference this scripture a lot, BUT I really think it is important to know and understand and BELIEVE what this scripture tells us as followers of Christ.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

Do you believe this scripture? Profitable means more than just money, it also means advantage. By giving us the Bible, God wants us to have an advantage in life, He wants us to be able to rebuke, address items in our lives with SHARP disapproval, to be able to correct the wrongs in our lives, to train ourselves to be righteous so that we will be able to DO EVERY GOOD WORK that comes our way.

But when we didn’t follow the road map and got lost along the way and found ourselves broken, battered, torn down we can’t help ourselves much less help anyone else.

How can we be restored?

Let’s find out:

Luke 4:17-21

What are these verses telling us?

Verse 18-19 came from Isaiah 61, let’s go there and read what God told Isaiah was going to happen for the Children of God.

Isaiah 61:1-4

The book of Isaiah is full of prophecy.  Isaiah means “Jehovah Saves”.  In the book of Isaiah the Suffering Servant and the Conquering King are references toward the coming Messiah. Chapters 58-66 of Isaiah are all about the Redeemer Coming to save His people.  God’s people have been in bondage or slavery for years now and Isaiah is telling them not to lose hope God is sending a Redeemer.

Have you ever been in bondage?

What are some of the things that you have been in bondage over?  Have you ever been in a place in your life and you looked around and said, “This is not where I thought I would be”  “How can I get out of this mess”  “How can I change my life?”  “How did I become THIS person?”  Whether it is a bad relationship, bad health, bad habits, bad personality, and bad attitude whatever it is that makes you NOT be equipped for every good work, is bondage. 

John 10:10 says, “The thief (Satan, because he wants to steal your joy, your happiness, your ability to be equipped for every good work, when you have a bad attitude or sick or just plain self-absorbed you really are not in the position to help others and show them the way to CHRIST) comes to steal, and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) cam that they (my people) may have life, and have it abundantly (overflowing).

So Satan NEEDS us to stay broken, to stay crumbled, to stay self-centered, to stay overweight and sick so we are not able to help others.  I included overweight because that is where I was in prison that was and is today where I began my journey to freedom.

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me

Because the Lord has anointed me

To bring good new to the afflicted

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted

To proclaim liberty to captives

And freedom to prisoners;

The word anointed here means a consecrated person such as a king, or priest, Isaiah is talking about the ONE TRUE KING, THE MESSIAH.

To bring GOOD NEWS:  What would be the only GOOD NEWS if you were a slave or held in bondage?

The afflicted, some translations might say, meek.  Who do you think Isaiah is referencing?

The Hebrew word here means depressed, in their mind, circumstances such as being needy or poor.  The word comes from the root word anah (aw-naw) meaning through the idea of looking down or browbeaten, self-afflicted,  hurt.

Wow!!  Do any of those words cover what you have felt at some point in your life? 

He (God) has sent me (Jesus) to bind up the brokenhearted

To Bind something up..what does that mean?

The Hebrew word, chabash (khaw-bash) means to wrap firmly, compress, to stop (like to stop the hurting) to govern, TO HEAL, TO WRAP ABOUT. 

I need, I want and I desire Jesus to wrap His arms around me when I am hurting.  Nothing feels better when you are in that moment of despair and someone who truly loves you, wraps their arms around you and allows you to sink into their protection.

Who are the brokenhearted?

This word was used twice in the Bible, once here in Isaiah in Hebrew and once while Jesus was quoting this verse in Luke.  This word is not thrown around all over God’s word, He allows it to be used twice.  PROWERFUL.

The Hebrew word is shabar (shaw-bar) meaning to burst (literally or fig.) break (to break down, to break off, to break in pieces, TO BREAK UP), to crush, to destroy, to hurt, to quench (the SPIRIT maybe)

The Hebrew word for hearted is leb (labe) used very widely during that time for FEELINGS, the will and even the intellect likewise for the center of anything.

Does the word brokenhearted pertain to you in any way, shape or form?  It sure does (and did) for me.

Jesus came to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners;

Of course, that did not happen immediately, and our freedom to the things that holds us captive will not happen immediately either.  We have to learn some truths, we have to get into “All the scripture that was inspired by God to learn” what He says and what He wants us to do with our lives.

Go back to 2 Timothy 3:16-17

In Matthew 22:36-39 Jesus tells us the greatest commandment and then He tells us the next most important commandment.

What is the most important commandment?

What does Jesus say the next most important commandment is?

How can we love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind, if we are broken and hurting?  How??? 

How can we love other people the way we love ourselves when we really don’t love ourselves the way God intended us to?

That was the hardest part of healing for me was loving myself...I did not like myself, I could not stand myself, I was worthless.  The people I was reaching out to help, really it was like putting a Band-Aid on an arm that has been cut with a chainsaw, or that has been crushed by a tree.  Really, the work I was doing at that time in my live was a cover-up, I knew I was supposed to love others and do good but I...didn’t really GET IT. Until, I started searching in God’s inspired Word for the truths that He tells me!!

I will end part one with these one treasure I found:

Psalms 45:11

Then the King will DESIRE YOUR BEATUY; Because He is your Lord,  bow down to Him.

Not just someone desires me..A KING, THE KING.  THE KING OF THE WORLD.  THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE DESIRES MY BEATUY.  My beauty?  I am not beautiful!  I am average.  BUT “ALL SCRIPTURE IS INSPIRED BY GOD”! Remember???  God desires me.  God thinks I am beautiful.  I needed to be desired.  I needed to be beautiful.  I needed someone important to notice me, to love me, to desire me.

God does.

God does.

God Does.