Restoration – An Introduction

This is a work in progress, but shared so that it may be a blessing in your life…

The Point of It All

In the Beginning…

God created Adam and Eve for a purpose. In order for them to fulfill that purpose, God sought intimacy (communion) with them. He would walk and talk with them in the Garden of Eden on a regular basis. If this is a new idea for you, think about what their reaction should have been in Genesis 3:8 if they weren’t already used to the sound of God walking in the garden and the sound of His voice.

Fast Forward to Today

You too were created for a purpose. You too need guidance, through intimacy (communion) with God, in order to fulfill that purpose. He wants to walk with you, talk with you, show you the wonder of what He has created for you to discover, and guide you to fulfill your purpose. All He asks for is your heart – all of it.

The Fall of Man

Free Will

However, intimacy is voluntary. Intimacy is not possible if a person is forced into the relationship. It takes two people to have intimacy, and only one to subvert it. Intimacy is the expression of love, which cannot be required of anyone. Therefore, God blesses us with free will – we choose on a moment-by-moment basis how our heart is directed, and our actions flow from that choice.

Choice

“The Fall of Man”, as it’s typically called, is simply a result of distraction and deception from Satan, and the free will of man choosing to disobey God to pursue prideful lusts.

So when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make [one] wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
– Genesis 3:6

Unfortunately, along with the gift of free will, which remember is required for true intimacy with God, comes pride. Pride is the perception that we are greater than another person. That pride makes us susceptible to the wiles of Satan, who seeks to distract us from God’s purpose and deceive us with worldly pleasure.  As pride swells in our hearts, we become more reliant on ourselves and less reliant on others, especially God, which hinders and eventually severs our relationship with our Creator.

Correcting Course

Since we are born as sinful beings, God offers us re-establishment of our relationship with Him through accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. This event is called being born again, but more accurately, we are accepting God’s redemption.

Read more about the necessary conditions and the event of restoration by clicking below:

Redemption

Once redeemed, the opportunity to renew our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is available to us. While redemption is an event, restoration is a process. You recognize that your relationship with God must be restored, and that the restoration depends partly on you. God always does His part. The question is how fully are you committed to Him? How much do you trust him?

The process of restoration goes through stages of development. Each stage builds prepares you for the next, so shortcuts are ineffective. Much of the frustration in Christianity can be attributed with wanting to experience a stage that the person is not prepared for.

The amount of time that restoration takes is dependent upon the condition of the heart and how fully we are able to subvert our pride and subject our will to His will. This is not always possible through decision; most people require extensive and consistent inspection from Christ. This is done by inviting His inspection and asking for His wisdom in rooting out issues of the heart.

Through your communion with Christ, God’s guidance and wisdom are made known to you. Through your obedience to His guidance and wisdom, His blessing on your life becomes clearly evident.

There may be overlap evident between the stages of growth, but the stage you are in will be evident by how people around you are affected. This is explained specifically in each stage.

The stages of development are explained in the following sections:

Love

Peace

Prosperity

Unity

The Danger

Once redeemed, however, it is possible to “fall away” from the path of restoration. A person falls away from restoration by taking their focus off of the Lord, which allows them to be easily distracted by the ploys of the enemy. The enemy plays on your pride, he entices you to compromise a little here and a little there, until your pride has swollen again to the point where you say (with your words, actions or inactions) that your relationship with Christ doesn’t matter to you right now. Your pride is Satan’s hook – he will attempt anything and everything to swell your pride, focus your energies on lusts (lust can be for power, money, control, etc) or create fear and doubt. Keep focused on your relationship with Christ through Bible study, prayer, and fellowship with other Christians and your relationship with Christ will be protected.