Tag Archives: restored

RESTORED

Christian life, ,

PRAISE, MY SOUL, THE KING OF HEAVEN

  1. Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
    to his feet your tribute bring.
    Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
    evermore his praises sing.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Praise the everlasting King!
  2. Praise him for his grace and favor
    to his people in distress.
    Praise him, still the same as ever,
    slow to chide, and swift to bless.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Glorious in his faithfulness!
  3. Fatherlike he tends and spares us;
    well our feeble frame he knows.
    In his hand he gently bears us,
    rescues us from all our foes.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Widely yet his mercy flows!
  4. Angels, help us to adore him;
    you behold him face to face.
    Sun and moon, bow down before him,
    dwellers all in time and space.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Praise with us the God of grace!

Author: Henry Francis Lyte (1834)

Song available on My.Hymnary

This grand old hymn, based on Psalm 103, highlights the mercy and grace of God in the way He treats humans.

“Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven…” these are the work of His salvation plan, to get back on track His purpose for creating the earth and the human race to occupy and manage it for Him.

God is the great restorer of everything the devil destroyed in his determination to derail God’s plan. He promises restoration to His people, both in the Old and New Covenants, from whatever has broken, damaged, or destroyed them.

What does it mean that God is a restorer?

“Restoration simply means returning something to its original condition. Our belief that God is a God of restoration is the basis of our hope, and it is fundamental to our faith as Christians. We are reconciled to God, and our relationship with Him is restored forever, by faith in Jesus Christ.”

The Hebrew word for restore means “to go up” or “ascend”. What a beautiful way to understand restoration! There are many experiences in life that weigh us down, piling burden upon burden upon us… loss, pain, broken relationships, unfulfilled dreams, disappointment and disillusionment…

God intervenes in our lives with restoration… of hope, encouragement, new dreams and aspirations that enable us to “go up”, to ascend above the burdens to a new level of understanding and living.

God wants us to live above our circumstances, not under them. We choose to live under our burdens only when we keep looking at our problems and seeing them as bigger than God.

How does God restore us?

“He restores us to a right relationship with him through the gift of forgiveness and justification. He is able to restore earthly relationships. And he can even restore days and years that have been lost to the effects of sin (Joel 2:25). That has to be greatest evidence of the extravagant nature of God’s mercy.”

What is the spiritual meaning of restoration?

Spiritual restoration is that process by which God is restoring the image of Jesus in us. Through the tests He allows into our lives, we learn faith, submission, and obedience to Him and His Word that are the hallmarks of a true son. He works, in and through our “all things”, for our good.

Restoration of our lives to order and peace can only come when we learn to view our circumstances from God’s perspective, and when we come under the authority of His Word. Life on this earth will never be smooth or uneventful but…

… our hope is in God to restore everything Adam lost at the fall.

1 Peter 5:10-11 NLT
[10] “In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. [11] All power to him forever! Amen.”

When we choose to put our hope in Him, no matter what He permits in our lives that weighs down, God will restore us through Jesus. We can be sure, through our faith in Jesus, that He will restore us to His determined purpose… sons of God in His eternal kingdom.

To be continued…

What’s In It For Me?

Bible Study, ,

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

“‘David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, for a long time now. But the One God raised up — no dust and ashes for Him! I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.

“‘Don’t take this lightly. You don’t want the prophet’s sermon to describe you:

“Watch out, cynics, Look hard — watch your world fall to pieces. I’m doing something right before your eyes that you won’t believe, though it’s staring you right in the face.'” Acts 13:36-41 (The Message).

The forgiveness of sins — that’s what the cross is all about! Sin is the one great barrier between us and a holy God. “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.” Habakkuk 1:13 (NIV).

God created a perfectly functional world. Everything fitted together with everything else in perfect harmony and functioned as one, reflecting the same perfect harmony within the Godhead. He also created man, forming him from clay and filling him up — which is what the word “create” actually means — with His own image, male and female in perfect union.

He separated the woman from the man and brought them together again to live in a union that reflects the oneness of God. Because of the intimate connection between humans and the natural world, when man chose to disconnect himself from his Creator and make his own rules, the entire created order followed suit and became dysfunctional. Conflict replaced harmony in the plant and animal world, making life a battleground instead of an orchestra.

Life on earth should have been a perfect reflection of life in the presence of God. Therefore, from God’s perspective, everything that is imperfect is sin because it falls short of God’s glory. Even what we consider “natural”, like sickness, disabilities, accidents that cause brokenness, decay and death are alien to God and are therefore classified as sin and demand blood sacrifice to atone and cleanse its pollution.

Jesus’ death on the cross did not only pay for man’s sin. It also paid for the pollution and disruption that man’s rebellion caused in the whole of creation. Even the entire universe was affected by that one choice.

“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:19, 20 (NIV).

The expectation of those who believe in the finished work of Jesus on the cross goes beyond this life into the life beyond the grave. “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Romans 8:20, 21 (NIV).

The forgiveness of sins Jesus purchased for us on the cross brings with it the promise of the restoration of the entire creation to its original state and purpose. When we receive the gift of forgiveness, we become a part of God’s design to restore all of creation and to complete the work He began; a perfect world in which He can live in union with man that can never be disrupted again.