Prophetic voices have said that this is a year to take greater risks and step out in new faith...and as you read through Garris' word, this also means believing and prophesying for supernatural restoration to come your way.
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God is restoring what had been considered lost forever. Abandoned relationships, missed business opportunities, and unimagined cultural breakthrough will be some of the examples of this miraculous restoration. These supernatural acts of God will be considered both a sign and a wonder because they will arrive unannounced from a place defined as impossible according to human standards.
True Restoration is like a Work of Art
This word about supernatural restoration began to form when I saw a random picture online of the first car I bought as a teenager. It was a 1957 Chevy. Owning your first car is a very unique experience. I can still smell the interior and hear the sound of its motor. In 1966, I bought my '57 Chevy for $500.00. It was an "old" car then, nine years after its date of manufacture. There was nothing unusual about nine-year-old vehicles. They were everywhere. Today, they are a rare find. Many are found rusting in a field or under a layer of dust in an abandoned barn. A fully restored 1957 Chevy recently sold at auction from $129,900. These fully restored vehicles are rolling works of art.
God was using this memory to speak to me. Just as a treasured 1957 Chevy can be discovered in a field, rusting and rotting away, and then meticulously restored—so it can be for anyone who chooses to believe in the supernatural power of God's restorative love.
Prophecy Ignites the Hope of Restoration
One of the most powerful effects of the gift of prophecy is its ability to ignite our hope of restoration. If hope is not included in a word of prophecy, that word is not yet fully formed. Even a corrective word will contain the hope of restoration to those obedient to its instruction.
The word "restore" is frequently used in Scripture. Restore has been translated to mean: giving something back that was wrongfully taken (Luke 19:8); the restoration of health (Mark 3:5); the mending of a broken relationship of someone overtaken by sin (Galatians 6:1), or bringing a person back who walked away from their faith (Hebrews 13:19).
God is expressing the essence of His love when He gives back what was stolen, restores our health, mends a broken relationship, or when a prodigal returns home. He is not a partial restorer. He can fully restore every aspect of a life or any painful situation if we make our lives available to His skilled hands. He leaves nothing untouched when He does a work of restoration.
Frame-Off Restoration: Restoring Every Part
In the world of automobile restoration, the phrase, "a frame-off restoration" means the restorer has disassembled the entire vehicle and is rebuilding and restoring every part. God does an even deeper work of restoration. He goes to the heart—to a place not visible to the human eye. In our heart is where He will displace the lies we have believed that blind us to God's faithfulness and to our destiny in Christ. These lies can leave us hopeless and hidden away in a field of despair where we resemble an abandoned classic car.
The book of Joel contains one of the most notable verses about the restorative work of God. In chapter 2, Joel instructs the people of Israel to repent of their sin and wrong attitudes about God and a skewed image regarding their future. They were told to no longer live in fear. Instead, they were to rejoice and worship the Lord. After inviting Israel to return to the Lord as their only source of hope, Joel declares the word of the Lord: "Then I will make up for you (restore) the years the swarming locust has eaten" (Joel 2:25).
In this prophetic word, the Lord promised to make up the time lost in the season of devastation. When God restores a lost season, He will return with abundance, not only the actual loss we incurred, but the time we lost trying to survive the ordeal. God restores time as easily as He restores a lost relationship or a lost fortune.
Bring Fear and Disbelief to God
Popular translations of Scripture interpret the word "restore" used in Joel 2:25 in a variety of ways including: to compensate, make up, to give back or repay. Each of these translations reflects a unique aspect of God's restorative work. Which one of these renderings do you need? Bring your fear and disbelief to God in confession and repentance. Begin to prophesy the release of a miraculous restoration.
Just as a treasured 1957 Chevy can be discovered in a field, rusting and rotting away and then meticulously restored to become a rolling work of art, so it can be for anyone who would choose to believe in the supernatural power of God's restorative love.
In Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah described the nation of Israel as a forest of fallen trees, "...The country will look like a pine and oak forest with every tree cut down—every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps. But there's a holy seed in those stumps" (Isaiah 6:13 The Message).
The key to Israel's restoration would be their renewed trust in God and their choice to believe a seed of hope was hidden somewhere in the stump of their fallen lives. Isaiah would write later in chapter 11 that the holy seed was the prophesied Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Look for Your Seed of Hope
When God is involved in our restoration, there always remains a seed of hope that's waiting to be germinated by our faith. Go and stand before the rusting chassis and the decaying stumps in your life and begin to prophesy to the seed within.
• Prophesy the restoration of God's original intent.
• Prophesy a compensation for your loss.
• Prophesy the making up of lost time.
• Prophesy that stolen things be returned.
• Prophesy a repayment above and beyond what you could have imagined.
Those who can see rolling art in a rusting metal hulk or a seed hidden in the rotting stump of a fallen life will be candidates for a supernatural work of restoration. Choose to live in expectancy. Speak life and hope. God is restoring all things. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Garris Elkins, Author and Prophetic Minister
Prophetic Horizons
Email: info@prophetichorizons.com
Website: www.garriselkins.com
Garris Elkins and his wife, Jan, are a spiritual father and mother to many, both in the United States and abroad. Garris' ministry, Prophetic Horizons, is a ministry of teaching, writing, and prophecy committed to raising up a prophetic generation to speak to the cultures of our world with the empowered voice of Heaven. Garris and Jan live in southern Oregon.
Garris Elkins Itinerary:
March 1-3, 2018
Pearls of Hope Conference
Ashland Hills Hotel and Suites
2525 Ashland, St.
Ashland, Oregon
(for more information click here)
March 15-17, 2018
Accelerate School of the Prophetic
Westside Vineyard Church
5656 SW Humphrey Blvd.
Portland, Oregon
(for more information click here)
March 24-25, 2018
Revealing the Father's Heart Conference with Harold Eberle
The River Church
440 SE Grape St., Winston, Oregon
(for more information click here)
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I believe EVERYONE reading this word by Garris Elkins will be able to highly relate to it. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't need some type of restoration in their lives. We ALL do!
