Gregory Dickow - The Lord of Restoration
Well, I want to welcome you to "The Power to Change Today". And what a show we have for you because I got a word from God for you I know is going to change your life. In fact, the next few weeks, I'm bringing a series of teachings that I believe are the best teachings we've ever done in our church and in this ministry, not just the most popular, but the most powerful, that produce the greatest results in your life that you've ever experienced. Because today, we're going to talk about the Lord of restoration, the God of restoration. Many people have lost their jobs, their finances, they've lost their health. They need these things restored. Some people have lost their minds.
You know, we have been in a decline in this nation and around the world financially for many years. And it's a time where people have lost hope, they've lost faith. And I'm declaring war on the thief that has been robbing you and robbing the people you care about of your health, your money, your peace, your joy. Today, we're going to get it all back. You know, the Bible says that the devil is a thief, and he comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
And I've been sharing this message of restoration for awhile now, and today, I want to talk to you, one on one, about it because maybe you're going through something where the devil has robbed you of your health, your peace of mind, he's robbed you of years off of your life. Maybe he's robbed you of hope. Maybe a loved one or somebody in your family has lost a job or finances, or maybe you have. Maybe you've lost years of your life through pain, wrong decisions, maybe through a divorce or a broken relationship. Well, it's time to get it all back. God is the God of restoration. In Joel 2:25, he says, "I will restore the years that the worm has eaten". And we'll talk more about that later. It's a time of restoration for you, and I want to talk to you about several things that God wants to restore to your life, and then I want to show you how to experience that restoration. So, watch this and I'll be right back.
Well, here we go, are you ready? Listen, I want to take you step by step now into how to see God restore everything that's been lost in your life and everything that's been stolen from your life as well. Now, when I preached this in my church awhile back, I titled it "I Want My Stuff Back". And really the better title for it is "Give Me Back My Stuff," because sometimes we got to take our stuff back from the enemy. But there's got to be this attitude where you say in your heart, "I'm not going to settle for being robbed and having things stolen from me. I'm not going to settle for what the devil's been trying to do to steal, kill, and destroy in my life". You got to want this. You got to have that attitude that says, "I want this".
Remember when blind Bartimaeus came to Jesus and he heard about Jesus, and then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you"? Up until that time, he was crying out, saying, "Jesus, have mercy on me. Jesus, have mercy on me". And then when Jesus finally called him to himself, he said, "What do you want me to do for you"? And Bartimaeus said, "I want to see again. I want to see again". So, maybe you're in a situation where you need a job restored, you need your finances restored, or health, or a relationship, a marriage, or a child or a grandchild's been lost or backslidden. It's time to get our stuff back. It's time to get our family back. But we've got to have this attitude, "Give me back my stuff," because the devil has been stealing from us long enough.
And there's this amazing verse from Scripture about how God wants to restore everything that's been stolen or lost in your life. And that means that whatever has been lost in your life is going to be repaid and restored to its original condition, to come back with interest, or a return on what's been taken from you. God wants you to get your stuff back with interest. It's time to be restored. Doesn't that resonate with you? Well, there's a great verse in Acts chapter 3, verse 20. And I want to read it to you, it says, "He that is God," it says, "he shall send Jesus Christ, which was preached to you, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration," he says, "which God has spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets since the world began".
Now, frankly, let me just cut to the chase about what this verse means 'cause he said Jesus would go to heaven, which he has after his resurrection. But then it says he wouldn't come back to earth... he's coming back to this earth, but it says that he won't come back to this earth until all the things that the prophets spoke about are restored. So, what we're going to do is I'm going to take you through some of the things that the prophets said would be restored. We're going to go through it, I want to give you four or five things based on the time that we have, specific promises that God has made through the prophets in the Old Testament, through the prophets in the Bible that God said through them these things would be restored. And he says in Acts 3:20 that they'll be restored before Jesus comes back.
So, I want you to realize that, that since Jesus hasn't comeback and he's not coming back until these things are restored. There are a lot of people that have predicted he's coming back this year, he's coming back that year, he's coming back this date. Well, none of that, the Bible doesn't say that, but it does say he's not coming back until these things are restored. So, we can literally go to God and say, "Father, since Jesus hasn't come back yet, I'm in line for the restoration of these things in my life". And then you can ask for them, and you can expect them, and you can tell the devil to take his grubby hands off of your stuff right now, and it can begin right now. So, now let me take you to another Scripture in Joel chapter 2, and it's a verse that many of us have heard before, I mentioned it earlier.
In Joel chapter 2, verse 25, God says, "I will restore to you the years that have been eaten, the years that the locusts have eaten, the worm, the caterpillar, the palmer worm, the great army sent among you. And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you". Number one, God will restore the years that have been lost, years that have been devoured, years that have been eaten away by Satan from bad decisions, from whatever conditions have existed in this world and in your life. You can expect before the Lord returns, and since he hasn't come back yet, you can literally ask God, "Lord, I'm asking you to restore the years that I've lost". But you might say, "Well, what about the years before I was even saved"?
Well, all of those years that you weren't even serving God, all of those years that you didn't even know Jesus, God wants to restore those years to you as well. Everything that was lost during those years, all the opportunities that were lost, the years, the peace, the happiness, the joy that you could have had if you would have known the Lord, all that has been lost because during all those years, maybe time spent in the hospital. Maybe you lost a lot of time because of sickness, or disease, or an addiction in your life. Well, God is going to restore years, and I believe you're ready for that. So, number one, he's going to restore the years that you've lost, time. Time is going to be restored. Time is going to come back to you. Time is going to get multiplied to you 'cause God is the God of restoration.
Now, let's keep going through this because we want to talk about number two. Watch this, the second thing that God said he would restore is found in Jeremiah. Again, this is chapter 30 of Jeremiah. And again, Jeremiah is one of the prophets. And remember, in Acts 3, our foundational Scripture, Acts 3, verse 20, he said he would restore all the things that the prophets prophesied. And we're going through some of these prophecies that they gave, so here's the second one. Jeremiah 30, verse 17, he says this. He says, "For I will restore health to you". Man, I love this verse. He goes on to say, "I will heal you of all of your wounds, says the Lord, because they call you an outcast, saying that no man seeks after Zion". Well, notice what he says here. "I will restore your health and you shall be healed. I will heal you".
So, the second thing God promises that he'll restore in our lives between the first coming of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus, is he'll restore our health. He said, "I'll restore your health and I will heal you". Now again, what right do we have to ask for this to be restored to us? Well, the right we have is that Jesus isn't coming back until these things are restored. And so, God wants to restore your health, he wants to heal you. Maybe you've got mental health that needs to be restored. Peace of mind is mental health. Maybe you've been depressed, and God wants to restore your mind from depression and heal you of that. Maybe you have a sickness that you have, maybe cancer, a heart condition, asthma, diabetes, some blood disease. Whatever it is, God says, "I will restore your health". And when God restores your soul, that's when the restoration of everything else begins. It begins the process of restoring your health, and your peace of mind, and your finances, the years that we've talked about, the relationships.
As we renew our mind to God's Word, our soul is restored. Remember what he says in 3 John verse 2, "Beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as or just as your soul prospers". So, as your soul prospers, everything else in your life is going to prosper. So, we see here that he restores my soul, and then watch what happens and the effect, this trickle down effect in Psalm 23. What happens when he says he restores my soul, then what happens? Then he leads me in the path of righteousness, he leads me, he directs my path. My path becomes clear. Then he says, "You'll walk through the valley of the shadow of death and you'll fear no evil".
So, let's look at what happens. As your soul is restored, you're delivered from fear. When your soul is restored, you can walk through fire and not be burned. Then he says, "For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me". So, God's going to comfort you. He's going to encourage you, he's going to strengthen you. When does that happen? As your soul is restored, it releases the comfort and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Then he says, I'm just reading Psalm 23. You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemy. So, look at what's going to happen. When your soul is restored, you're going to celebrate. Life can be a celebration. It doesn't have to be a drag and a tribulation all the time. When your soul is restored, you enter into a life of celebrating at the table that God prepared for you. And then he goes on to say, "And you anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over".
So, the anointing begins to operate in your life as your soul is restored. It removes burdens, it destroys yokes. And then he says, "My cup runs over". This speaks of abundance in our lives. This is never running out. This is running over, and boy that... and that in and of itself would be worth all that we're talking about here. But look, he goes on to say, I love this, I mean, sometimes we just read it and we don't really tap hold or tap into and grab hold of what this chapter really has to offer us. He says, "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life". It'll follow you all the days of your life. So, goodness and mercy are going to chase you down. Listen, when you go this way, goodness is going to follow you there. When you go that way, goodness and mercy are going to follow you there. Everywhere you go, goodness and mercy are going to find you. They're going to chase you down because your soul is restored.
So, here's the key if we're going to see all these things that we're talking about being restored in our lives, it starts with, number one, our soul being restored. It starts with getting healed in our thinking, filling our mind with right thoughts, filling our mind with God's thoughts. And then what'll happen? He'll fill your life with the restoration of health, the restoration of time, the restoration of finances, the restoration of relationships. People that you never thought you could fix that relationship, people you never thought you could be restored to, all of a sudden they come and apologize, or all of a sudden their heart opens up, or all of a sudden your heart softens. It all happens as your soul is restored.
Now, I mentioned there's three things we can do to activate God's restoration in our lives. The first one we just said is to restore our soul. He restores our soul, and that sets in motion all the restoration of all the goodness that God wants to do in our lives. And second, the second thing that we do is go over here with me to Isaiah chapter 42, and let me read you this amazing passage. Isaiah 42, verse 22, and it says, watch this, he says, "But these people are robbed and spoiled. These people are robbed and spoiled continually". So, the devil continually steals from these people. What kind of people is he describing here? What kind of people does the devil steal from?
Well, it goes on to say in this verse, "These people are robbed and stolen from continually. They are caught in snares, in holes, they're hidden in prison houses". He says they're imprisoned to what they've lost, to all the loss in their lives. And he says, "They are a prey, and no one delivers them," why? Look at what he says. "No one delivers them," why? "Because none of them declares, 'Restore.'" Whoa, this is a powerful verse. He says the reason why they're stuck and the reason why they're imprisoned to all that's been lost in their lives is because no one declares, "Restore". In other words, God has given us the power of our tongue. We can declare restoration to everything in our lives, the restoration of our soul, the restoration of our finances. We can declare restoration over our marriages. We can declare restoration over the things that have been lost, restoration over lost family members, loved ones, finances, opportunities. We can declare restoration over everything lost in our lives. And when we do, it catapults this cycle of restoration and the power of restoration in your life.
Now, when people tell me, "I'm not sure how powerful my words are. Can my words really be that powerful"? well, I would just say think about a husband. Anybody who's married who would think about whether their words are powerful or not, try this. Just tell your wife you don't like her hair, or you don't like her dress, or you don't like what she did to her eyebrows, or something. You say something like that to your wife and you will find out how powerful your words really are. Those words will ruin a good night. You don't think your words have power? Oh, they have a ton of power. And what he's telling us here is we continue to get robbed because we do not use our words to enforce our victory, to declare, "Restore".
Now today, before the end of this program, we're going to declare it together. We're going to declare, "Restore," together. But I've got one more key to the secret, or one more secret to your restoration. I told you these three simple steps to restoration in your life. I've got one more thing to share with you in just a moment, but I want you to watch this, and you're going to be inspired by what you're about to see, and I'll be right back. Susanna Spires: I am Susanna Spires, and I'm from Aurora, Illinois. Well, it happened in June. We received a letter from the IRS saying that we owe them money. I would come to church and pastor was praying actually about restore. Pastor had called, you know, to plant a seed of miracle seed.
And in December 30, I planted a seed. I felt like God's favor was getting put on me because he was blessing me. And that day on Christmas actually too, pastor wrote a Scripture for me. He prayed for me. And then on that Friday, I got my paycheck, and I said, "Oh, I have to get my seed in before the end of the year". I said, "I'm going to give to my church," you know? And I'm giving to God's kingdom because he can spread the gospel this way. I just let it go. And then on January 3, it was on a Wednesday, my husband goes, "Susie, you need to come home and sign this check". And I go, "What check"? He goes, "We got the check". And I go, "Oh wow, how much"? And he showed me. We got 2 checks, one for $9,700, and the other check for $6,400. If God will feed the birds, he's going to take care of his beloved children. And that's what I kept, you know, trusting on God's promises.