RESTORATION OF WHAT IS YOURS

RESTORATION OF WHAT IS YOURS

TEXT:

Gen: 12:9-20: And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. 10: And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. 11: And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: 12: Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. 13: Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. 14: And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. 15: The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16: And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. 17: And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife. 18: And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me?  why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? 19: Why saidst thou, She is my sister?  so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. 20: And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

Let’s look at some places in the Bible in the Old Testament to see the mind of God concerning restoration.

Ex:22:1-4: If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2. If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.3: If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.4: If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.

Also, this was said in another book

Lev:6:4-5: Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, 5: Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.

In these two passages of the Bible, it is affirmed that whatever has been taken away, stolen or forcefully removed must be restored. God wants those things to be given back to the owner.  God commands restoration. He doesn’t want people to be cheated and disadvantaged at all.

Whatever has been taken away from you shall be restored doubled in Jesus name.

In the text we read, there was famine in the land, there was no food for Abraham and his flocks, the grass was dried. It was a difficult time for him. I pray for somebody that the yoke of famine be broken in our lives in Jesus’ name.

He went to Egypt and before he and Sarah his wife got there; he told Sarah to tell people that she was his sister because he was afraid that the people might kill him.

There are many Christians out of fear of compromise and telling lies, and participating in wrong things because of fear of men, that was what was happening here. Sarah cooperated with Abraham and truly when they got to Egypt, people saw Sarah and they commended her to the King and the king took her since Abraham said that Sarah was his sister.

But praise God that that very night God came into the scene and despite the fact that Abraham was wrong God still fought for him. That was grace. May such grace work in your life today in Jesus’ name.

That night God plagued Pharaoh because of Sarah and you know what Pharaoh called Abraham and restored Sarah back. As we prayed today every power that has taken what belongs to you shall be plagued and what is yours shall be restored in Jesus’ name. the Lord will restore all that is yours.

Why will God come and intervene for Abraham? It was because of grace, Abraham was operating under the covenant of grace. But many people take grace for granted. You will think that Abraham had learnt his lesson, but it happened again.

Gen: 20:1: And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Suhr, and sojourned in Gerar. :2: And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3: But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. 4: But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 

Ge:20:5: Said he not unto me, She is my sister?  and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6: And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7: Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 8: Therefore, Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.

In this account Abraham repeated the same thing he did in Egypt in this place called Gerah. So, the king of the land took Sarah. Who are we to blame? It is Abraham. But because of grace God came in the night and spoke to Abimelech to restore Sarah or he would die. 

The Bible says that Abimelech put up his defense, that it was Abraham that said Sarah was just his sister and that was why the Abimelech took Sarah. God was not ready to listen to Abimelech and rather than rebuke or chastise Abraham, it was Abimelech that was to be punished for taking what belongs to a man under grace.

Abimelech restored Sarah and it was then Abraham prayed for him and his household were healed.

I pray for you, because you are in this place where grace is being preached, every power that has taken what belongs to you shall be restore them by fire in Jesus’ name.

You may blame Abraham because he uses his hands to cause his own problems. But what does it look like when people take what belongs to you in your absence?

Such was the case of a woman in 2King 8

2Ki:8:1: Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. :2: And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3: And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.

2Ki:8:4: And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done.

2Ki:8:5: And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land.  And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. 

2Ki:8:6: And when the king asked the woman, she told him.  So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

Elisha by the Spirit told the woman to leave the city for seven years because of the imminent famine that will come over the land. The woman obeyed the word of God through Elisha. There are not many people like that today who will pack their bags and leave town for seven good years. Many will say let the famine come first, when we get to the bridge we will cross it. These are unbelieving people. The woman believed Elisha and left for seven years.

When the seven years expired, she came back only to see all properties and farms taken away. This is pathetic. After obeying the Lord and yet she still has all these happening to her, it’s very discouraging. There are many people in the church today that are like this woman. We know that we have obeyed God, what He asked us to do, we have done it, the Pastor asked us to pray and fast, we did it and yet what we did not expect happened to us. Many will be thinking that it’s like God has failed us. Why didn’t God defend our properties after all we were doing what he asked us to do?

What did this woman do? The woman went to the king to lay her complaint and it happened that it was at the same time that Gehazi who used to be a servant of Elisha was recounting all the miracles that Elisha had done, that this woman arrived at the palace. She was at the right place at the right time where her case was being mentioned.

I pray for you that God will order your step to where your miracles are in Jesus’ name. May you be at the right place at the right time this year in Jesus’ name.

The king gave order and an officer was assigned to the woman to enforce the order, all the woman’s properties and all the farm products for seven years were to be restored to her. In fact, the products she didn’t labored for were to be given unto her. Grace. This is restoration with compensation. 

This week all that belongs to you that has been taken shall come back to you in great measure in Jesus’ name. They shall be restored with compensation in Jesus’ name.

There may be people who may be thinking that I have wasted my time, wasted my youth, time is going now and I have not married, I don’t have jobs, I don’t have money, I have wasted so many years. Here is what the Bible says in the book of Joel.

Joe:2:25-26: And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26: And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

May your years be restored today in Jesus’ name.

Under the new covenant, through the agency of the Lord Jesus and his atonement on the cross, God has restored to mankind what the devil took away from the first man Adam in Genesis chapter 3. Devil even boasted about it to Jesus in the gospel according to Luke 

Lu:4:5-7: And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6: And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7: If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

But after the death and resurrection of Jesus, all the authority was restored back to mankind. That is one of the reasons Jesus became man and he took it from the devil and this is what Jesus said after he rose from the dead.

Mat:28:18: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Anticipating this, he gave authority to the disciples

Lu:10:19: Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Conclusion

Jesus restores the dominion that man lost in Genesis. With this we can in the name of Jesus command restoration and receive whatever that has been taken away from us. 

If someone is sick, it’s because the devil has taken away his health, the good news is that it can be restored because as I pray this morning you will be healed. 

Jer:30:17: For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

If someone is not having a job or work is not coming regularly, it is because the devil has come to steal his prosperity, it can be restored and you will be called back to work and start earning income. 

Zec:1:17: Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

If there is a problem in your home, trouble between husband and wife, it’s because the devil has stolen the peace, it can be restored in the name of Jesus. 

Isa:26:12: LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

You can receive your health back, you can receive your jobs back, you can receive prosperity back, you can receive joy back and this morning you are receiving them in Jesus name.

PRAYERS

Whatever has been taken that belongs to me that is in any coven or on top of any altar, as I pray now let the fire of the Lord consume the altar in Jesus’ name.

The Lord plaque the house of Pharaoh, every power that has taken into custody what belongs to me I command plague to locate that power now in JESUS NAME.

I command restoration today, we command peace to be restored, abundance to be restored, joy to be restored in Jesus’ name.