Greetings and blessings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

My brothers and sisters, there are times in our lives when we will experience and be made to endure tribulation.  We will find ourselves lost and alone in what seems to be the most grave and dire trials.  Our sins, iniquities, and transgressions will saturate us and lend the impression of insurmountable grief and sorrow.  Hear me today saints: It is never too late to give our Father our burdens.  Psalms 55:22 tells us “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to moved.”  If the answer is the Lord will deliver us out of our circumstances, then what is the dilemma we face?  Righteousness.  The real question is how to obtain and sustain righteousness.  The answer is:

1.      Repentance

2.      Restoration

3.      Recovering

4.      Reconciliation

5.      Rejoicing.

Repentance is the first step in receiving Christ and is the very essence of the Rhema word of God.  As discussed in When God Speaks by Chuck D. Pierce, understanding and acting upon conviction one feels regarding personal sin is to have a Rhema understanding granted by the Holy Spirit.  Following that understanding leads to repentance- the act of regretting sin and changing actions so as to not replicate the sin.  In Judges 3, the story of Israel’s idolatry renewal is told.  Because of their lawlessness, the Lord allowed Eglon the King of Moab to take control of Israel.  Under his rule, the people of Israel suffered eighteen years.  It was not until the people repented that the Lord delivered them.  The Lord sent Ehud to deliver his people: Ehud made a two-edged dagger and slew Eglon.  As a result of this, the people of Israel had eighty years of peace.  Some of our trials are self-inflicted through our sins; however, repentance is the first step to reverse our situations.  By repenting, we cease, banish, turn away from, discourage, and avoid all actions that contradict the will, the laws, and the commandments of God.  We must allow ourselves to be trained to recognize sin and the appearance of sin as well as repent to live righteously.

Now that we have identified our areas requiring repentance, we can allow the Lord to begin restoring us.  There are times when we confess our sins and hurts and repent before the Lord that we will feel a void or an area in our hearts and souls of emptiness and numbness.  We need the Lord to impart restoration in us.  Take account of the testimony of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20.  He became very ill and the prophet Isaiah was sent to him in the court to deliver the news of his imminent death.  Hezekiah wept before the Lord proclaiming his life of faithfulness and truth.  He pleaded to be healed.  Before Isaiah left the court, the word of the Lord came.  “Turn back and tell Hezekiah… I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you.” The Lord added fifteen years to Hezekiah’s life and restored him. 

If we can vacate the sin in hearts and minds, the Lord can send restoration to take residence within us.  Restoration is critical in our ability to grow and achieve righteousness.

While we seek repentance and restoration, a re-covering must take place.  By that I mean, a divine order must be sought and adhered to.  1 Peter 5:5 (AMP) says, “Likewise, you who are younger and of lesser rank, be subject to the elders (the ministers and spiritual guides of the church)…”  In our quest to live a righteous life, we must seek spiritual counsel and covering.  In March 2005, I found my divine covering and that was the day that changed my life forever.  This was a church that I neither had passed in my daily routine, nor had I heard of it.  I was driving with friends when I saw it for the first time.  I remember the image of the church being burned in my mind like a brazen sun, so much that I thought of it frequently.  About a year passed before I would visit the church.  During that time, I was going through great trials- depression, disappointment, anger, loneliness- anything you can think of to be unhealthy emotionally.  One day I realized that I had tried everything and everyone but Jesus.  I prayed so hard that day in my desolate room.  I knew not what to say so I told the Lord how I felt.  I remember someone telling me that “the Lord is concerned about the things that concern me.”  We are instructed to “cast all of our worries and anxieties upon the Lord because he cares for us affectionately and watchfully.” (1 Peter 5:7-AMP)  I told the Lord of my pains and asked him to come for me.  My Heavenly Father came right them.  He came in the brightest, most beautiful light with peace, love, and comfort.  He told me that he was with me and had always been with me.  He told me to worship him, to seek him, and he would deliver me.  I immediately began going back to church.  I say back because I had always attended church; however, I always felt empty.  Even then, the churches I visited were good for the service but nothing kept me, nothing healed me or welcomed me.  It was not until I visited More Than Conquerors Faith Church in Birmingham, AL that I felt whole.  The very second I stepped in, I felt the anointed presence of God in the atmosphere.  Once I was seated by the hostess, I heard the Lord say, “Welcome home.”  I felt a peace and comfort that I can only pray that you have been favored to feel.  My eyes were filled with tears and my heart with praise- all of this prior to the service beginning.  Only because of pride and disobedience I did not join the first visit but I did the following Sunday- it was Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday that is.  That marked my rebirth and recovering.    The apostolic covering that I submit to is one so divine and so God-sent that I encourage to seek no less than the same.  My Pastor has imparted a voice within me that I am eternally grateful.  I bless the Lord for every gift that my Pastor possess, because the enemy will never cease to kill us and declare our defeat and because of the will of the Lord in the purpose of our lives, we must be spiritually covered at all times.

Now that we have repented and we have been restored and recovered, we are reconciled.  Romans 5:1 tell us “therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

A deeper look at the Amplified Version reveals “Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us [grasp the fact that we] have [the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Annoited One).”  What a wonderful place and understanding to be reconciled, better stated, justified and declared righteous by our Father.  We can stand upright and walk in his favor and with his grace and mercy.  We have been acquitted of our sins- forgiven, dismissed, and forgotten are our wrongs.  Praise the Lord for the peace he grants us in his forgiveness.  2 Corinthians 5:19 (AMP) says, “It was God [personally present in Christ] reconciling and restoring the world to favor with himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses but canceling them but committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).”  Essentially, we have been redeemed and made new.  There are a plethora of passages supporting the Lord’s desire for our reconciliation with him for the very simple reason that The Lord loves us more than imaginable.  He sent his son to die for us that we may be saved (John 3:16).  All he asks of us is to walk in righteousness according to his principles and not the world’s.

Please let me be very clear: rejoicing may be my last topic but its place is truly in the beginning, middle, and end of our circumstances.  We are to “bless the Lord at all times and his praise should continually be our mouths, “says Psalms 34:1.  We have to trust in the Lord’s will for us even during our night seasons.  Sometimes it takes a trial or hardship to acquire the wisdom or revelation that we seek.  Some of us who seek financial wisdom may experience some financial strife to grant us the knowledge of better decision making.  There may be times that we experience tribulations as a result of our own ill-thought actions.  Even in those times, we can find refuge in the Lord if we praise him.  The Lord will rescue us no matter the situation or the reason, but we still have to rejoice in his name all the while.  Romans 5:3 says, “Moreover, [let us be full of joy now!] let us exult in triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.”  We have to endure our storms and hard times and rejoice simultaneously.  My pastors tells us all the time that our breakthrough, our blessing, our deliverance is just on the other side of our praise.

My fellow saints, it is never too late to seek the Father for righteousness.  He is waiting on us to cast our hurts and pains, our wrongs and sorrow- the full multitude of our grief upon him.  It matters not how many times you have started over or even what you have done.  What matters is what you plan to do about it now!  So in closing, I leave you with two things: a prayer and an expectation.    

Gracious God,

I thank you right now for every circumstance in my life.  Father, I humbly and diligently ask for your forgiveness for every sin that I have committed.  I stand and walk in the spirit and action of repentance right now.  Lord, I ask that you fill me with your love and mercy of restoration.  Touch my heart, Father, that I shall be healed. Father, I pray that you impart wisdom into me that I seek spiritual covering. May I humble myself to receive and welcome the instruction and guidance.  Lord, I think you for the justifying me in reconciliation. Thank you for removing my shame and guilt that I may be whole again.  And Father, I praise you now and forever because I know that you have a perfect will for me and all that I desires and ask is done in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

The expectation:

Romans 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Expect the Lord to hear your prayer. Expect the Lord to deliver you.  Expect the Lord to save you. Expect all that you seek in the name of Jesus to be granted in heavenly abundance. 

God bless you all.