God is the Restorer

I’ve being hearing that many people are discouraged and experiencing hope-deferred right now because of the virus and all it’s created. Some people are lonely. Others are hurting because they have lost jobs or loved ones. I just want to challenge people to keep dreaming. If you’ve stopped dreaming, start again. Don’t lose faith, but believe. Don’t allow hope-deferred to creep in and steal from you the ability to run the race of life. In Proverbs, there is a verse that says “Hope-deferred makes the heart sick.” If you have “heart disease”, you can’t believe, you can’t run the race with endurance. You have to get that healed before you can go on with life. God gave us a dreaming nature and we can’t give up on the dream. 

The Hebrew word for “dream” is also the word “create”. God put within dreaming the power of creating. God gave us His dreaming nature. He made us to dream. I want to encourage you to press on, to not give up. The longer I live, the more I believe that one of the most powerful spiritual traits is just perseverance. Life is all about the ability to persevere.

God wants to turn situations around. He wants to restore. He wants to mend and help us believe again. 

“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. 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 again be put to shame.” (Joel 2:25-26; ESV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

• Intercede for those who are discouraged and experiencing hope-deferred. Specifically mention those you personally know. Include yourself, if this applies to you. Take your time here and be specific. 
• Declare Joel 2:25-26 over these situations where so much has been lost. “Lord, You will restore to us the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, Your great army, which was sent among us. We shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord our God, who has dealt wondrously with us. And we, Your people, shall never again be put to shame.”
• Declare the turn-around!

A prayer you can pray:

Lord, grant us grace to dream again. Help us to move past the pain, despair, and discouragement. We know You can do this. People need strength to move on and to rise up again. We pray for those who have lost jobs, health, and money. We also pray for those who have experienced setbacks that aren’t even related to this virus. Maybe someone has lost a friend, a spouse, a marriage, or a job. Maybe they have gone through a financial situation, lost their savings, maybe lost a home. Maybe they lost a business. Maybe they lost a friend, or a husband, or a wife. We pray You would provide grace and strength. Don’t let them “decorate their cell”. Give them the grace to get every picture down off the walls and do whatever it takes to say, “I am not going to live here. This is not my final place. This is not my home or where I’m going to stay.” 

Give us the ability to persevere instead of give up. Lord, You can do that! You can turn any situation around. Restore dreams, Lord! Make hearts hope again! Restore to us the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter. We shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise Your name, for You have dealt wondrously with us. And we, Your people, shall never again be put to shame. Provide us with the grace to dream again, Jesus. Amen.

Today’s decree:

God is restoring dreams to those who will ask Him to.