DIVINE RESTORATION EZRA 9:5-9
5 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God 6 and prayed:
“I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.
8 “But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place[a] in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. 9 Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Psalms 126:1
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 fellow, more often than not, may be reluctant to leave his 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 fellow loses his salvation, so many unpleasant things happen.
As in the case of Ezra and his people in todays Bible reading, there was a corruption of virtues.What then should a spiritually backslidden fellow 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 says: “a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh 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 Gods 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 LINE: Father, please restore to me all that I have lost, in the mighty name of Jesus. (O.H)