Restoration

Good morning to all on this 1st Sunday in August. It is my sister Velma's birthday and she will be celebrating it with her daughter and son-in-law. She will also be celebrating the birth of her second grandson next month and the entire Jenkins-Tamori-Kong clan is waiting with much anticipation. Waine and I were in Orlando last weekend to celebrate Kai's 4th birthday. I still can't believe that 4 years have passed already since this little bundle of joy joined us. Our lives have been enriched beyond measure because of him and each of our other 5 grandchildren.

I am continuing my journey with Jeremiah, this week in chapter 31 verses 15-29, " This is what the Lord says: A voice is heard in Ramah,  mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted,  because they are no more. This is what the Lord says: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears,  for your work will be rewarded, declares the Lord. They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,  declares the Lord. Your children will return to their own land. I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: You disciplined me like an unruly calf,  nd I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God. After I strayed,  I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.  Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him, declares the Lord. Set up road signs; put up guideposts.  Take note of the highway,  the road that you take. Return, Virgin Israel, return to your towns. How long will you wander,  unfaithful Daughter Israel? The Lord will create a new thing on earth—the woman will return to the man. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity,  the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: ‘The Lord bless you, you prosperous city, you sacred mountain.’ People will live together in Judah and all its towns—farmers and those who move about with their flocks.   I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me. The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord. In those days people will no longer say, The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge." Amen and may the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of his Word.

One of the constant themes in Jeremiah is that God will RESTORE--actually this is a biblical principle! Even when Adam sinned and destroyed his ability to live forever, God restored man to eternal life through Christ our Lord. The timetable for the restoration, is however, in our  hands. God I think restores us immediately to Himself, when we repent of our sins however the realization of the restoration is dependant on our faith and ability to accept the lesson and accept the grace. Just like the Israelites in Jeremiah's life, as Christians we waste a lot of time trying to fix the things that we have broken in our lives and in the relationship we have with God. God really just wants us to repent and then move on to experience our restoration.I know that this sounds easy but its not because true repentance and acceptance involves the submission of our WILL to His. Just take Jonah. God commanded that he preach to the people of Nineveh. Jonah didn't want to because he thought them to be unworthy. So Jonah decides to take a boat to a distant shore. As the story goes, Jonah is thrown off the ship when the crew of the ship realized that Jonah was the cause of the storm. Jonah was swallowed by the fish and lived in the belly of the fish until he submitted his will to that of the Father. When the fish spat him out, Jonah was on the shores on Nineveh completely restored.

Are you a Jonah Christian?? If you perceive your blessings to be blocked you may want to evaluate what is keeping you from realizing your restoration.

Now may the Lord bless you  and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine on you  and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie