Sandra Bontemps
For over a month I have been reading the Word of God, praying and "listening" closely to God about what He wants to speak further on Restoration. In 2006 my intercessory prayer and ministry partner and I presented our pastor with a gift of a Shepherd’s Rod, or “Mattah”, after he said that Holy Spirit told him he needed one. This was right after we had attended a prophetic conference where they passed out the Mattah’s and we experienced the mighty wind of God’s Holy Spirit, while we had used the Mattah’s and prayed for Israel, then gave a ‘shout out’ to the LORD. We were praying for a name for the Mattah for our pastor, and God gave me an amazing dream/vision.
In the dream, I was standing before the Tomb of Jesus. There was a great and brilliant light and cloud of God’s Glory coming from inside. I walked into the tomb and saw a stone bench where Jesus had laid. His shroud was there, and on it lay a wooden Mattah. I went over to the stone and saw a very beautiful, intricately carved Face of Jesus. All of a sudden Jesus came alive and He looked at me, with such a precious, tender smile with such love in His eyes Then I heard the voice of God speaking loudly. And He said, “The Name of the Mattah is RESTORATION!”
So then I started a quest asking God for more wisdom, understanding and revelation on “RESTORATION”. I have been made more aware of God's true meaning as I have studied His Word, and have read and heard so many powerful messages from other men and women of God on Repentance and Restoration, “for a time such as this.”
In this new season, 2015, I believe that God is going to reveal more about our individual restoration and how this impacts Jesus' Bride, His Church in these latter days, as His Bride, the Church prepares for Jesus' rapture and second coming.
In 2007 when 100,000 gathered in Nashville, Tennessee, not far from my home in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Signal Mountain, again we were told of the place and importance of true repentance and restoration, because it begins within us as individual believers! We make up the body of Christ in His Church. We are His Brides. God wants to restore and heal us individuals within His Church, healing His Church, so we may go out and bring healing and restoration to our communities, our cities, our regions, our states and our great Nation. God is calling His people to evangelistic healing to go out and spread the Good News to the Nations. “Arise Son of righteousness with healing in Your wings!” Arise my people! Arise my Church! “Arise and shine for Your Light has come!” Isaiah 60:1
Prophetic men and women of God have told us that we are entering into a New Season in this Hebraic Year, 5557. New Beginnings. We will experience the “Suddenlies of God” as He give us Double Portions and opens New Double Doors and places New Opportunities before us. We are to expect the unexpected! An EXPLOSION of God's power, grace and redemption, as we are called to humble ourselves and repent. Submit to God in reverence and obedience. We must not limit God! And we must not limit ourselves!
I read recently a powerful insightful message that made me stop and think! We often say to ourselves and tell others, “Resist the devil and he will flee!” Then we have a real dilemma! And say, “Lord we are trying to resist the devil! And he is not fleeing! What is wrong? You told us to resist the devil! It seems that the more I try to resist him, the harder it becomes! And the more he comes against me! I simply do not understand! Where are You Lord?”
How many of us have forgotten the full scriptures, the most important part? “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you!” James 4:7. We are to humble ourselves before God, repent and renounce our rebellious stubborn fleshly desires. And also something we do not often think about, is that we should renounce the devil and reject his suggestions and lies How many of us are still believing his lies therefore not able to live the abundant life in Christ? How many of us are not claiming God's Word for Victory? We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus! It is through our trials and pressures that we believers test our true debt of our faith in God. We are to submit all things to God. We are to thank Him through all circumstances. And put on what I love to call, His Glorious Garment of Praise.
We are to put on God's full armor. God whole armor prepares us for battle. His Holy Word and His Holy Spirit are our chief weapons for warfare. Prayer is the battle! This obedience and submission in praying with all supplication, brings about the work of God, reveals and releases the power of His Holy Spirit in supernatural ways. This gives new meaning to restoration in all things! We then have the power and authority through the Blood of Jesus Christ to arise, stand and resist anything that the enemy tries to do! We may march forward into our Divine Destiny, into Victory with Our Divine Warrior, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, going before us preparing our way. And God is our Rear Guard. When we align ourselves with Jesus and God, in this position, the enemy has no place!
In Isaiah 58, Jeremiah 31 and Hosea 14, God presents wonderful promises on restoration. He says He will bring forth our righteousness as the noonday, and we will become like a watered garden. He will take away our iniquity, heal our apostasy and love us freely.
In God's Word, between God's voice of judgment and His promise of restoration, God repeatedly gave warnings to the prophets of old, as He continuously and consistently does now today, for our great Nation, as we face such challenges ahead. The prophets vitally exhort “Repent”! “If you turn from your ritual fasts and submit to the true fast.” This plea means that we are not just to repent, and become more dedicated in our efforts to please God by keeping the law or performing better works. This repentance means we are to turn to God Himself! This type of true repentance gives us a biblical view of what God is doing in the church today. And we are to pray and fast!
God calls us to repent. He calls us to pray and fast for cleansing, sanctification and purification, for our own restoration and healing, so we may do away with legalism, religiosity, evil spirits, judgmental and condemning attitudes, and turn to hurting people, with accepting open arms, showing them God's unconditional love.
God wants us all to receive restoration and refreshing that comes from an intimate relationship with Jesus, in the very Presence of God. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19-21
From the time our fellowship with God was lost in Eden, God has been calling for repentance and restoration. In Isaiah 4:2-3 God's Word speaks of a “righteous branch of David” that will spring forth. That Branch is Christ, the head of the true church. Jesus told us that He is the Vine and we are His branches. He told us in John 15:5 that we can bring forth much fruit if we abide in Him.
Throughout the Bible we are encouraged that in Christ and Christ alone, God restores His people to the relationship that was broken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. All who believe in God are brought back to a restored relationship and are being conformed to His image from glory to glory. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Romans 8:29,30
Jesus said He would give us the glory His Father gave to Him. And today Jesus is bringing God's Kingdom Glory to earth, as it is in Heaven. There is Glory in His Cross! Hallelujah! Jesus said that His Father God would send His Holy Spirit to fill us and give us the power and authority to do greater works than He! We need to walk in faith into Victory in Jesus! Repent and be fully restored in all things! David tells us in Psalms 23, that Jesus is the Restorer of our souls!
My husband has studied Eschatology for many years. He is an avid and passionate Bible scholar of the prophecies in the Old Testament and in Revelation. Revelation 19:7-9 depicts the wedding feast of the Lamb, Jesus, the Bridegroom, Who will claim His Bride, the church, after she has made herself ready for Him. With all the many prophecies that God revealed to the prophets recorded in the Old Testament, being fulfilled today, Jesus' soon coming is imminent.
In the New Testament, Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:25-27 that we as the Brides of Christ must be prepared for Jesus' return, and then the intimacy broken in the Garden will be completely restored. Paul tells us that Jesus will not return for a defiled, defeated bride. God is the same yesterday, today and forever more. So in these latter days God is still revealing to prophets of today, His message of repentance and restoration. Jesus is calling and raising up His Church, His Bride, with beauty and power, dressing her in His Shekinah Glory.
God's Holy Spirit is the agent of restoration. The prophet Joel told of a day when God would pour out of His Spirit “on all flesh”, upon all those who believe in Jesus and have been born from above. Titus 3:5-6 reveals that salvation, our regeneration, cleansing, and purifying is the work of God's Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples that they should wait for God's Holy Spirit, and to do nothing until He had come to them. Then they would be empowered to witness and spread the Good News throughout the world. We all have been called as Jesus' disciples to spread the Gospel of Jesus, which is all of our commission in Isaiah 61.
“To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted.
To proclaim liberty to the captives.
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord,
that He may be glorified.”
What does restoration mean to you as an individual? It means “life”. The Lord is your life. Christ is your life. And He said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 Not only do we receive new life, but we must grow in it. The process of growth is a work of God's Holy Spirit. By His Holy Spirit God continues to sanctify and perfect the work He began in us at salvation. “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:9-11
Restoration to the church means more than becoming a reproduction of the New Testament church. It means becoming all God originally intended the church to be. Restoration means the establishment of something more and better than the original.
First and most important to God is that the church shows the kind of love Jesus demonstrated throughout His ministry on Earth. “By this love, all men will know you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35. Restoration also means the release of God's power without measure to the church. This release will come through God's people as the gifts of the Spirit operate without restraint or restriction under the guidance and direction of God's Holy Spirit, and in the holy spirit of God's love.
Through full operation of the gifts and operating in love, unity and one accord, essential to God's own nature, the individual and the church, will reach “the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13 When we praise God, He inhabits our praise. We become a spiritual house, inhabited by a holy priesthood as God intended. When we offer the sacrifice of praise acceptable to God through Jesus Christ all men will be drawn to Him. The world will see the Glory of God through this restoration!
THERE IS HOPE TO EACH OF YOU PRECIOUS ONES READING THIS MESSAGE WHO PRAY FOR RESTORATION OF YOUR LIVES, FAMILIES, RELATIONSHIPS, HEALTH, BUSINESSES AND FINANCES!
This is what God brought to my heart this morning. Seek God with all your hearts, souls and minds. Spend intimate time with Jesus each day. Read and meditate on God's Word. Pray and intercede for others. And Listen to God. He wants to speak to each of you individually. Too many of you may be too busy to really listen! When you hear God, then Obey Him. Honor Him. Show love and compassion to others. Avoid strife. Learn and understand the principles of prosperity, health and relationships.
Believe God's Word and hold on to His promises, so you do not allow the enemy to hold you in bondage to his lies. Repent for believing the lies of the enemy. Whatever your strongholds, whether fear, depression, or believing yourself a victim, claim God's promises for you. YOU HAVE VICTORY IN JESUS. Declare and decree the Word of God, out loud!
Claim scriptures and things that are not as though they were! Speak forth the Word of God and never give into negative words or believe the lies of the enemy. Understand how much power is in your words. Know that God's Word is full of creative power. Speaking His Word, decreeing, declaring and proclaiming your circumstances, so they will change and line up with God's will for your life.
DECLARATION FOR RESTORATION PRAYER
Our Dear Heavenly Father, we come to You in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We bow down, worship and adore you. We come before You in thanksgiving and praise. Father God, we pray Your Word over our finances, our relationships, our health, all our circumstances, and we thank You for Your manifested Word, promises and blessings.
Oh Lord we pick up the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God and call forth Life to all situations that need restoration! We declare the Word of the Lord to cut off the plans of the enemy, calling forth the true and blessed plans God has already spoken!
We speak, declare and proclaim Your everlasting Word! 3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I wish above all thing that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth; "But thou shall remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day."
Deuteronomy 8:1 "But shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."
Mark 11:23 "And these are they which sown on good ground; such as hear the Word and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundred."
"I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. " Philippians 4:13, 19
"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to ever good work." 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
Father God, in the precious Name of Jesus, and on the authority of Your Holy Word, we call all our debts paid in full. Debt, we speak to you in Jesus' Name; be paid and be gone. Cease to exist. We now declare that all our debts, mortgages, and notes are paid in full, cancelled or dissolved. We thank You.
We are blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed in coming in and blessed going out, our laying down, our rising up. We are blessed in the basket and blessed in our bank accounts, investments, health, and relationships. THEY FLOURISH. The blessings of the Lord overtake us in all areas of our lives and we receive them. Deuteronomy 28:1-14
"The Lord has opened unto us His good treasure and blessed the work or our hands. He has commanded the blessing upon us in our storehouse and all that we undertake." Deuteronomy 28:8 and 12
"God delights in our prosperity. He gives us power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant upon the earth.” Deuteronomy 8:18, 11:12
"We delight ourselves in the Lord, and He gives us the desires of our hearts." Psalms 37:4
"The Lord rebukes the devourer for our sakes, and no weapon that is formed against us will prosper. All obstacles and hindrances to our prosperity (health and relationships) are dissolved." Malachi 3:10-11; Isaiah 54:17
"The Lord is our shepherd, and we do not want. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.” Psalms 23:1; John 10:10
PRAISE YOU LORD. YOU ARE HOLY. We praise Your Holy Name.
Thank You Lord, O Lord. "You ARE our God. WE exalt You. We give thanks to Your Holy Name, for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness." Isaiah 25:1
Thank You Lord that “You are my strength and my song and You have become my salvation.” Exodus 15:2-3
And my life verse, Isaiah 12:2-5 “Behold God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and my song. He has also become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And in that day you will say, 'Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples. Make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things. Let this be known throughout all the earth! Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion. For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”
“Praise to Your Holy Name forever and ever. and may the whole earth be filled with Your Glory.” Psalms 72:19
“The Lord lives. Praise be to my Rock, exalted by God my Savior.” Psalms 18:46
“Thank You Lord that we will praise You from the rising of the sun to the places where it sets, the Name of the Lord be praised forever.” Psalms 113:3
Father we present ourselves, our families and our finances and properties. By the power of the Blood of Jesus we bind the power of Satan’s demons and all dominion of darkness seeking entrance into our lives. We bind any demonic assignments spoken or sent against us, and pronounce them to be no effect. "For this reason the Son of God made manifest, to destroy the works of the devil." I John 3:8
Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus Christ, we ask You to expose and bring into light, negative inner vows and strongholds that contradict Your Word and Will. By the breath of Your Holy Spirit, release Your truth as a sword to expose falsehoods and curses. We take up the Sword of Your Word and cut ourselves free from the bondage of generational strongholds. In the Name of Jesus, we renounce all relationships dishonoring to You Lord.
We are Your sons and Your daughters, Your children, as we proclaim freedom to live as You intended us to live, filled and overflowing with the light and power of Your Holy Spirit, filled with the life, the light and the love of Jesus Christ. We claim the full protection of the shed Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God and we pray for RESTORATION over our individual lives, our marriages, our families, possessions, churches, neighborhoods, cities and nations.
"You O Lord are a shield about us. Our glory, and the lifter of our heads." Psalms 3:3
WE PRAISE YOU! YOU ARE HOLY! OUR HEARTS CRY HOLY! JESUS YOU ARE HOLY! HOLY IS YOUR NAME!