God - The Mighty Restorer

Throughout scripture, one can see God's ability and desire to restore that which has become diseased, ruined, or destroyed due to our own sinful nature. God never destroys anything without great cause, but he is always willing to rebuild that which was ruined. Sometimes, that ruined thing can simply be our lives. When we sin, we allow the enemy of God, Satan and all helpers to invade our lives and reek havoc! I happen to know what this means on a personal level. There was a time not so long ago when everything I did turned out wrong, and led to further destruction of my life. I never meant to destroy, I was actually thinking that I was making my life better in some crazy way. I would drink all the time, shirk responsibility, date guys who were going nowhere (like me), and totally waste my God-given potential to be anything great at all. I know there are others out there right now who understand this plight. It is a vicious cycle, and it leads to nowhere. I spent years trapped in this dark, smelly pit of life...which many can identity as a life of club-hopping, alcohol, sex, drugs, lying, etc. It is a lifestyle, and it will destroy a person until they have no life left....as in death.

This morning I woke up with this message burning in my heart (as I often do). I want to help those who are suffering and are grasping for a way out of this life, but simply believe nothing could ever change. Plus, they treasure the "good times" they are having with the friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, drugs, etc. The Bible illustrates what happens to a person from a spiritual point of view. God sends the "locusts."

Revelation 9:7 (NIV) says "The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads, they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces."

I believe that God is giving a personal description to the locusts because at times, they are just that...people. They are sent our way to eat, devour and destroy in the most deceiving and cunning way possible, by acting like our friends. I am sure I have encountered locust upon locust in my life. I believe that locusts are the representative symbol of the demonic world's influence on a person, place, or the world. They are here to destroy in any way they can that which has turned away from God....mankind. They are not our friends, although they often try to present themselves that way through the problems mentioned above. They will turn mother against child, child against mother, friend against friend, and husband against wife.

They latch onto areas of our lives where we have become very weak due to our disobedience to God's Word. Because we have fallen so far from the perfect world found in the Garden of Eden, our world is now comfortable with extreme violence, pornography, child abuse, drugs, human trafficking, corruption, wars, weapons....you name the problem, it exists in today's society. Because of our disobedience to what God originally intended for mankind, we have now fallen....FAR. We don't even know the locusts are living among us, eating away our lives, because we can't see "the forest for the trees" anymore. You may think, this is all some crazy Christian girl's OPINION regarding the times, and that biblical scripture is just a crutch for me to feel peace in a horribly degrading world. But, the Bible talks about this happening. There is nothing happening in the world today that God did not foresee and write about, so we could "discern the times." He wanted us to see what was going on around us, and realize that he is coming soon to restore us to a place of perfection once again that we will never again be able to fall away from - Heaven.

The good news this morning is in Joel 2:25, God makes us a promise upon returning to him.

Joel 2:25

"I will make up to you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust, My great army which I sent among you."

God is promising to make things RIGHT! And the return to him is so simple. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, and that he rose again. Believe that through him you will be saved and confess it with you mouth, and you WILL BE SAVED. Not only that, but in your obedience to God's Word, he will begin to make your life shine rather than look like decay. The strife, heartache, hardship, addictions, failing marriage, depression, whatever it may be....will begin to melt away. He will fill those areas with security, joy, strength, love, peace, and strong relationships. After all, God is most interested in relationships, therefore he wants all our relationships to be strong with one another. He sent the armies among you (or is doing it right now) because he loves you so much, he does not want to see you be lost and condemned to hell. He is giving it all he's got to get you back! He is not doing it to destroy you, or you would be dead already. All he wants is for you to accept his perfect sacrifice, Jesus, and live according to his Word and commands. He does this not to be overbearing and a tyrant, but because he knows in his infinite wisdom that the Truth leads to Life everlasting! And that life starts now....not when we go to heaven. We can begin to live and walk in the grace of God, with the benefits of being adopted children of God, RIGHT NOW. We have access to all of his riches of grace. These riches include:

"...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against these things, there is no such law." (Galatians 5:21-23)

We also have access through the Spirit of God to healing, wisdom for living, fellowship with other Christians, financial help, security and many other countless benefits. My favorite benefits most of the time are peace and joy. No matter what happens, who gets sick, or what trouble life brings....I have a deep rooted peace that just carries me through, and I have great joy when I see God resolve a problem in my life or heal my body. Ultimately, the BEST benefit to living right is simply God's presence in my life. Sometimes, it manifests physically and I know he is all around me, protecting me, guiding me and loving me, but other times, I get comfort seeing his Word applied to my life. He is still currently restoring unto ME what the locusts have eaten, but he has done an amazing work thus far! I can look forward to an eternity of good works!

A final note...some of you may reject what I am saying because living as a Christian just seems too burdensome to your carefree life. This is what Jesus had to say about that:

(Matthew 11:30) "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

He will empower you through the Holy Spirit to live according to his Word. Just give him a chance, and see what he will do with your life!

Have a wonderful, blessed and victorious day in Jesus!

Sarah