Our Father in heaven is good and He is the Great Restorer. You should have high hopes about that and believe it, no matter what happens. Believe that God not only wants to restore what has been robbed and plundered in your life and in other people’s lives, but He also wants to add blessings to that which is restored. “Blessings are on the head of the righteous…” (Prov. 10:6). That’s your head!

When God restores and blesses, He wants you to see His intervention as evidence of His love for you in a personal way. So let’s remember that one important aspect about restoration is that you would draw closer and closer into God’s heart of love. His biggest purpose for restoration is intimacy with you. He wants an intimate relationship with you. Wow!

RESTORATION IS LIKE A TWO-EDGED SWORD

I shared my personal conviction, in last week’s teaching, that if my body needs healing, not only does God want to heal and restore my body to health, but He also wants me to have divine health. And then I’m going to minister healing to the sick because I am getting a healing anointing in the process!

So, restoration is like a two-edged sword. One sharp edge reveals our own personal restoration victories and the other edge cuts off the plans of the enemy over other people’s lives. What a double blessing!

But we need to remember that in the process of restoration there is always a divine test. Before Joseph’s freedom was restored and he took the throne in Egypt (second only to Pharaoh), he was taken into a great God-ordained time of testing (Gen. 37–50). Psalm 105:19 says: “Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.” Joseph had the prophetic word of the Lord but until it actually came to pass, this word tested him.

Likewise, many of you have the prophetic word of the Lord concerning areas of restoration coming upon your lives; however, today, the fulfillment has not manifested, it’s still on its way. Stand your ground in the time of testing, the time of waiting. God will surely come and bring restoration exactly at the perfect moment.

Listen. I believe that God is going to stir up the gifts of the Spirit in your life. God is going to restore your anointing. For some of you He is going to restore your vision and your purpose. For some of you, God is going to restore your marriage. Some of you today will experience God restoring your finances and giving you jubilee and supernatural cancellation of your debt. Say, “God, I want you to restore my soul. Anoint my head with fresh oil.” The anointing is going to restore your soul, your mind, your will, and your emotions.

“God’s blessing makes life rich; nothing we do can improve on God” (Prov. 10:22, The Message Bible). Hallelujah! Your restoration looks like a two-edged sword! You won’t only receive the blessing of restoration, you will be a minister of restoration!

THE MINISTRY OF RESTORATION TRANSFORMS

Walking in the ministry of restoration is like being a minister filled with a message of hope that transforms “what was” into the “reality” of what God desires. Look at what God says through Isaiah (the prophet). “And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations” (Is. 61:4). It’s the rebuilding, the raising up and the repairing of ruins and ruined cities and the desolations of many generations. It’s a transformation process into the reality of what God desires. This is no small thing!

Looking at Isaiah 61:1–4, it’s rare that Christians consider the part about “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me” in the context of not only being anointed to bring restoration, but also to contend for the increase. Remember last week we spoke about how God wants to bring the increase, even a “seven-fold” blessing (Prov. 6:31).

Listen. Without the prompting of the Holy Spirit we don’t think about restoring or about repairing “ruined cities.” We don’t think about repairing destinies. (There aren’t many believers ministering in restoration.) Most of the time we seem to focus on the first few verses of Isaiah 61, but there is a ministry called the ministry of restoration, beginning in verse 4. To paraphrase, it’s like God is saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He wants me to rebuild the old ruins. God wants me to raise up former desolations.”

Do you know what the old ruins and former desolations are? Plans. Purposes. Destiny. Gifts. Promises. Some of these examples concern churches and ministries or positions you have operated in before. These areas can be likened to “ruined cities” and “former desolations.” God wants to restore and repair these ruins and desolations.

Look at the end of verse 4. God wants to restore to the church the desolations of many generations. I’m talking about past revivals that were cut short. Evangelism and healing ministries that ended with the death of the ministers—Charles Finney, Smith Wigglesworth, Jack Coe, and A.A. Allan. Some of these ministries became desolate. Some of them had their reputations ruined by things that may not even be true. But God wants to restore their legacies.

RESTORATION OF FAMILY INHERITANCES

This word is also to restore godly family heritages. Some of you need to apply this to your life in a personal way. You may have people in your family tree who loved the Lord, that were in the ministry even as prophets and evangelists. Believe and ask God for the spiritual destiny that your dad had, that your grandfather had (or whoever in your family line that the Holy Spirits brings to your attention). You have rights. They sowed, they labored and they died probably not yet receiving their promise, or seeing everything they thought God was going to allow them to see. You need to see it.

God wants to bless and bring restoration to the children and the children’s children. Your blessing might go back three generations. You need to take it. There is an anointing to restore the desolations of many generations. What am I talking about? I am talking about restoring old wells. How is that going to happen? The anointing. You need to believe God and say: “My God, let their calling and ministry be restored in my generation.”

I believe that there is coming a generation that will receive the restoration of the desolations of many generations and that this will come in one last generation. Could it be us? Could we be that generation that receives much of what was lost in those former generations? Could we be that generation that digs up the wells of all those mighty men and women of God and all those great revivals?

So let’s look at several keys for changing what was to the reality of what God desires.

KEYS FOR RELEASING RESTORATION

The devil came to steal and he has stolen from us, but God has provided a remedy. He’s given us keys for walking in the ministry of restoration in order to reverse and restore those situations devastated by the enemy. Here are three keys.

1. Christians are anointed to declare: “Restore!”
   
   No one says, “Restore!” Isaiah 42:22: “But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey, and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore!’” God wants to raise up believers to bring deliverance and to declare: “Restore!”
   
   It’s like God is saying, “If somebody would have said, “Restore!” I would have delivered those people who were robbed. I would have taken them out of their prisons and the places that were plundered and I would have given them back sevenfold. If My children would have believed, they would have released jubilee anointing by “the rod of their mouth” just by speaking and proclaiming liberty for the captives. I need somebody to believe that I want to give the anointing for the ministry of restoration to repair people’s lives and to rebuild what was ruined.” (Jubilee is defined in Personal Breakthroughs.)
   
   There is an unction inside of us – Holy Spirit words and decrees – that when spoken out in authority, will break the power of the enemy. The decree might be over a marriage or finances. Simply declaring: “Restore!” is powerful. Things change.
   
   We need to stand in the gap and believe that with one prophetic word spoken into the heavens, a breakthrough will come to raise up the foundations again. A breakthrough will bring the foundations back in a better way than was their former state. And then God will bless this with an increase; it might be a double portion or more!
    

2. Stand in faith and be “Repairers” and “Restorers”
   
   We need to believe that we can rebuild the ruins. Isaiah 58:12: “Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.” “Those from among you …” That’s us!!
   
   God calls us Repairers and Restorers. We need to restore people to their calling, their path, so that they can be planted and walk in it again. Here’s what God said to me: “Todd, I want ‘repairers’ in the body of Christ. I want Christians that operate in the anointing of restoration to put people back on their path so that the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are quenched will be stirred up again—restoration to their anointing.”
    

3. Prepare ourselves for the ministry of restoration
   
   Remembering God’s goodness is vital. David knew this. “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice…” (Ps. 63:6, 7).
   
   Like David, we too, can lie on our bed and think about God’s faithfulness to us. We can think about all the prophetic words that have come to us; about all the ways that God has used us; and about the healings we have seen and experienced in our own body. We can ponder all the instances where we saw God’s hand of intervention. We can think about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and stir up those gifts and remember what God has promised us.
   
   He wants us to see ourselves walking in what He has promised us, dreaming again, and remembering God’s faithfulness and the Father’s love. We can remind God of His promises. “Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope” (Ps. 119:49).
   
   With our personal revelation about restoration, God’s love, and His faithfulness, we are prepared to carry the anointing for restoration. Our personal breakthroughs will fuel our authority as ministers of restoration.

PERSONAL BREAKTHROUGHS

Throughout this teaching series we have discussed hope—that God wants us to put our hope in Him. He will come as the Great Restorer bringing the personal breakthroughs that we are crying out for.

Still, I sense that some of you are burdened by fear, intimidation, and discouragement. It’s like you are snared in a hole and you can’t get out and you are in a prison and you can’t get restored. But having said that, you need to remember that God wants to give you hope; renew your hope in Him. He wants you to have the victory!

[So I say, why not pause here for a few minutes and determine within yourself to put your hope in God. The psalmist had to address his despair. Look at this scripture: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance” (Ps. 42:5). Take a few minutes and then we will go on and encourage ourselves in the Lord and we’ll take a look at restoration from another angle.]

Restoration can be likened to the year of Jubilee. In the context of Hebrew scriptures Jubilee was a year of rest; it was observed every 50th year by the Israelites. During this time certain slaves were set free, alienated property was restored to the former owners, and the soil rested, untilled. Freedom!!

God wants you to know that He will restore what has been plundered and robbed by the enemy. He wants you to taste freedom and restoration; to celebrate this in a “Jubilee way.” Remember, what the Lord is about to restore, He is going to add blessings. There’s going to be increase and multiplication! Not only does He want to accomplish personal breakthroughs in your life and bring restoration to those devastated areas, He also wants to anoint you to minister restoration to others. It’s the two-edged sword of restoration!

Look. No matter what place you are in spiritually today, whether it’s a place of utter despair, a place of flickering hope, or a place of real trust and faith in God’s ability to restore, I want to invite you to join with me in prayer. Prayer changes things because God answers prayer. And we’re also going to make some declarations! Amen!! Here we go 

PRAYER

Father, we join together today to thank You, first of all, for wanting an intimate relationship with us.

Thank you for revealing to us that it’s the desire of Your heart to restore to us what the enemy has robbed and plundered. We receive this revelation with open hearts and we give You our love in return. Your desire to bring restoration into our lives brings us such hope and joy. Again, thank You, Father!!

We want to do our part to be ministers of restoration. But we want to take responsibility for our own lives first, before we minister to others. Father, please anoint us with Your power to devastate the enemy’s plans and to no longer tolerate his robbery and plundering.

We remember that Your heart is for us, as Christians, to take our position of authority and declare “Restore!” And so today we want to bring to You the different areas in our lives that need restoration. As we hold each one before you, we humble ourselves and bow down before you.

Therefore, we declare: “RESTORE!” Those foundations that need to be restored, we declare “RESTORE!” Over those ruined places, we declare, “RESTORE!” [Speak to the Lord about each matter in your life that needs restoration.] Thank You for adding blessings to each area being restored!

Lord, as we begin to see the evidence of restoration in our lives we want to be counted among those who bring hope and restoration to others that need this. We want to be ministers of restoration! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you in this way Lord! In Jesus’ name. Amen.