Tuesday November 21st, 2023
« Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy »
5 At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God.
6 And I said: “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.
7 Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation, as it is this day.
8 And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.
9 For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
Restoration presupposes that something is missing or a loss has occurred, usually that of something good – whether spiritual or physical.
There are some people in the Church today who have backslidden and need divine restoration.
The danger in backsliding is that the individual, more often than not, may be reluctant to leave their sinful ways (Proverbs 14:14) and might have been given over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28).
If you have backslidden, I pray that you would retrace your steps today, in Jesus’ name.
When a person loses their salvation, so many unpleasant things happen.
As in the case of Ezra and his people in today’s Bible reading, there was a corruption of virtues.
What then should a spiritually backslidden individual or nation do to be restored?
Like Ezra prayed penitently on behalf of his nation in our Bible reading today, a backslider too must be penitent and humble before God. Psalm 51:17 GNT says
« … O God, You will not reject a humble and repentant heart »
Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT
« For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation, but worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. »
In other words, when you are so sorrowful about your sins – that you confess and forsake them, you experience restoration (Proverbs 28:13).
When you repent, you are making a complete ‘U-turn’ from your trespasses.
Ezra warned the people in captivity never to return to the sins that brought them into that state in the first place.
He instructed them to stop the pollution of inter-faith marriage too (Ezra 9:12).
This is a very important lesson to us as end time believers.
We must not conform to this world (Romans 12:1-2), but rather we must come out of the sinful environment, be steadfast and separated unto God (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
When we obey God’s word, our restoration shall be complete and permanent.
Have you suffered spiritual, physical, material, or any other kind of loss?
You can experience divine restoration if only you would repent today and return to the Lord.
I pray that the Almighty God will restore unto you everything you have lost, in Jesus’ name.
Prayer focus – Father, please restore to me all that I have lost, in the mighty name of Jesus.
Author: Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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