It’s a New Season of Restoration
By Matt Sorger
The Thief Has Been Discovered – Get Ready for Your Harvest!
The church is entering into a new season. Many are about to experience great restoration and harvest in their lives.
John 10:10 declares “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). (AMP)
ENDURING UNJUST SUFFERING
Most of us have walked through what I call “unjust suffering.” You will find that in your life’s journey you will encounter circumstances that are outside of your control. When you are going through it, life might not feel too abundant. But that is when you learn to live out of your spirit, not your soul. God’s Kingdom within you will release His righteousness, peace and joy no matter what is happening around you.
Unjust suffering is suffering you endure as a result of the choices and actions of other people around you. It can result from the hand of the enemy or from the ungodly, immature choices people make. When people act in a non Christ-like way it can affect not only them but you. I call these people “fruit testers”. They have a way of squeezing your fruit to see how Christ-like you are. If you are living out of your soul, life can become unpleasant when someone is squeezing your fruit!
We are called to not only receive God’s blessings, but at times to endure the pain of unjust suffering. But we are going to learn something life changing about suffering and blessing. It pleases God when we respond correctly to suffering. And we can respond correctly because we know one simple fact. God is a just God and will not only judge fairly, but He will go to bat for you and fight on your behalf! If you respond correctly, God’s hands will be released to bring divine justice for you.
HOW TO RESPOND TO UNJUST SUFFERING
So how should we respond when life doesn’t seem too abundant and people are squeezing our fruit? How do we respond to people that are hurting us with their words and actions? What do we do when people’s wrong choices are adversely affecting our lives?
“Never return evil for evil or insult for insult (scolding, tongue-lashing, berating), but on the contrary blessing [praying for their welfare, happiness, and protection, and truly pitying and loving them]. For know that to this you have been called, that you may yourselves inherit a blessing [from God--that you may obtain a blessing as heirs, bringing welfare and happiness and protection]. For let him who wants to enjoy life and see good days [good--whether apparent or not] keep his tongue free from evil and his lips from guile (treachery, deceit). Let him turn away from wickedness and shun it, and let him do right. Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]” (1 Pet 3:9-11 AMP)
There’s a lot in this portion of scripture! When you are scolded, tongue-lashed, insulted and berated don’t respond in the same evil way. Respond with blessing! How do you do that? You pray for the person’s welfare, happiness and protection, even when they don’t deserve it. Rather than reacting in your flesh, step back, leave the room, walk away, do whatever you have to do to remain in the spirit so you can release blessing. Pray for the person. This will keep your heart attitude right and keep you free from offense, bitterness and anger. Once bitterness takes root it will be difficult to pray blessing on someone. Remember this, when you release blessing, you inherit blessing. When you release undeserved blessing on someone you increase your inheritance of God’s blessing, happiness and protection over your own life.
To enjoy the abundant life Christ died to give you, you must be mindful of three things.
1. Always release and pray blessing over people, especially the ones hurting you the most.
2. Keep your tongue from evil. Refuse to agree with what the enemy is doing. Avoid at all cost angry, hurtful, bitter, negative, fearful and reactionary words. Choose to line your mouth up with the Holy Spirit and with God’s word.
3. Aggressively pursue peace. Go after peace with God, with other people and with yourself.
In many of our lives, at one point or another, it may feel like the enemy has come in like a thief and tried to rob, steal, kill and destroy.
But I have a word from the Lord for you!
THE THIEF HAS BEEN FOUND OUT!
“But if he is found out, he must restore seven times [what he stole]; he must give the whole substance of his house [if necessary – to meet his fine]. Prov 6:31 (AMP)
Once you have discernment on where and how the enemy has been stealing from you, you can rise up and use the authority God has given you as a believer.
When the thief has been discovered to have stolen something, he must not only return what he stole, but he must give back seven times as much. Not only that, he must give his whole house away if necessary to pay back the fines he owes.
The devil has a lot of fines to pay! Not only does he have to give back seven times what he stole from you, but we are plundering his entire house!
If he has tried to put depression and heaviness on you, get ready for seven-fold joy. If he has tried to put sickness on you, get ready for seven-fold health. If he has tried to put debt and lack on you, get ready for seven-fold prosperity and provision. If he has tried to put fear and anxiety on you, get ready for seven-fold faith. If he has tried to put bondage and addiction on you, get ready for seven-fold freedom.
IT’S HARVEST TIME! LOST YEARS WILL BE RESTORED
God is a God of the second chance! He is about to restore to you the years that the locust has eaten. Some suffering is unjust. However, some of our suffering is the result of bad choices we have made. Some of you today are experiencing a negative harvest in your life because of bad seeds you have sown. When we make sinful choices we are sowing negative seeds in our lives that will ultimately bring a bad harvest.
However we serve a God of the second and third and fourth chance! If you will decide to begin to sow good seeds in your life today, your harvest will begin to transform. God is in the restoring business and many are about to experience some glorious restoration in many areas of their lives. We cannot always get back lost opportunities but God is able to restore the years that were lost to you and cause the glory on your latter house to be greater than your former.
Here’s the word of the Lord for you in this new season!
Joel 2:23-26 “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord, your God; for He gives you the former or early rain in just measure and in righteousness, and He causes to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, as before. And the [threshing] floors shall be full of grain and the vats shall overflow with juice [of the grape] and oil. And I will restore or replace for you the years that the locust has eaten--the hopping locust, the stripping locust, and the crawling locust, My great army which I sent among you. And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people shall never be put to shame.” (AMP)
It’s harvest time. Your threshing floors will be full of wheat and there will be an overflow of wine and oil in your life. Wheat and grain always speak of harvest and the wine and oil speak of the overflow and abundance of the anointing of the Holy Spirit in your life. Years that were lost during past seasons of wilderness wanderings are about to come back to you and be replaced with harvest and blessing. Some of you will even experience an extension of your lives as lost years are restored!
DECREE AND DECLARE
“Heavenly Father, I humble myself and repent for any bad choices I have made over the years. I ask that you would bring full restoration into my life and restore my lost years. May the glory on my latter house be greater than my former.
Heavenly Father, right now I pray blessing, love, well-being, protection, and provision upon every person that has hurt me and brought unjust suffering into my life. I choose to walk in love and blessing. I speak blessing over them right now in Jesus name. I forgive them in Jesus name. I release them into Your hands.
I command everything that was taken from me and everything that was stolen from me to be restored in Jesus name. I command the thief to repay seven times what he stole. In Jesus name I command every fine to be paid and I empty the storehouse of the thief! I command the thief to restore seven times everything that he has ever taken from me, in Jesus name. Father I thank you for the abundant harvest and fresh anointing that is coming my way! In Jesus name. Amen.”
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