Restoration Restoration
by Wendy Leoni
Have you ever really sat down and thought about how nations and kingdoms ebb and flow? While history is full of stories of how nations rise and fall, many of us have never experienced how that looked or felt in this generation. What we read are just words on a page to us. Books in the Bible like Daniel or Revelation can be hard to understand because all that we pick up on is the end of life as we know it or the dangers mentioned, but I firmly believe that God is revealing more and more about what was hidden from generations before us. Even Daniel didn’t understand the visions that were given to him, and was greatly troubled because he couldn’t wrap his head around it. It wasn’t meant for him to understand, nor was it meant for some of our previous generations to understand, which is why we have so many different theories that cause division on end times today.
God throws us curve balls, and they are actually a good thing! They teach us to have faith, and seek Him for answers instead of relying on what we think we know. Last year was full of curve balls. We have seen the word “unprecedented,” so much that we are becoming used to it. It seems that each day there is something new and startling. We are beginning to realize that everything that we thought we knew, is not following the rules as we know them anymore. We all know that something bigger is going on, something biblical, but we haven’t really figured out what that is yet.
David Phelps has an awesome song called, “The End of the Beginning,” and I feel it’s incredibly relevant to what we are seeing going on in the world today. YouTube Video
What we are witnessing is a pivotal point in this nation’s future and decades from now, when our children are learning American history, they will be taught that this time was a turning point. Not just in America, but in all of the nations. We see birth pangs brought up several times in the Bible referring to the end of the age:
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
Mark 13:8
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
Revelation 12:1-2
When a woman is in labor, those birth pangs can be pretty painful. There is fear about the future, and things often don’t work out as a new mother plans. Birth itself is a chaotic and messy process and her whole body is writhing in agony, but after delivering her baby and healing from it, her joy of having something she helped create is insurmountable. There is amazement that God chose her to take care of this new creation, awe of what this child will be capable of, and dreams of what kind of life she can have as she helps mold and nurture her child. It’s a new beginning for a parent full of exciting possibilities and hopes. The parent’s life they had before the child was born is over, but the new life they have brought into the world will be lead to a new generation and through that child, future generations. The child will carry on the parents legacy through the years.
There are many parallels in the birth of a child and the birth of a nation or kingdom. In the Bible, Christ taught that the Kingdom of Heaven was near, and that spiritually we already have authority in it. When Christ died and rose again, the process allowed God’s Kingdom to come to earth spiritually.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:19
All of this being said, we have not yet seen His Kingdom come to earth physically yet, but I believe we are starting to see the signs of just that. I used to read the different theories on the end times with dread. The idea of a one world government was incredibly threatening in the ways that I’d come to view it. Then I realized that we’d been living in it already, we just didn’t realize it. On September 11, 1991 President Bush Sr announced a “New World Order.”
From what we have seen since that time, the government has grown to a monstrous size and more programs have been created that we have to spend our hard earned money on with little to no tangible results. Abortion rates are astronomical, crime rates are getting worse in all states, drugs are rampant, and a family can not survive on just one income. Healthcare is no longer between a doctor and a patient. Now there are multiple agencies involved. Government programs encourage and reward those that are dependent on it, so that people stay dependent on it. Taxes continue to go up year after year, and our government is still dipping into the social security fund. Money is being printed willy nilly and is becoming as worthless as paper just to try to keep up with our rising debt, and we are indebted to other countries. Our children are basically either being raised by someone else, or are raising themselves. The schools teach them things that we may not necessarily agree with or don’t line up with the truth. Our food is so processed and modified that it has become unhealthy, and coupled with the high stress levels we have, more and more are being diagnosed with chronic health problems. Psychological conditions not only affect many adults, but also many children.
I point all of this out to emphasize that this “New World Order” is not working at all, but it has served it’s purpose incredibly well! It has opened our eyes to the fact that we are more enslaved now than our more recent generations have ever seen. All of us, no matter our race or religion or social status, are working our tails off constantly just to survive and this system isn’t working. We have divisions of every kind be it class, race, religion, or gender. No one can seem to agree on a solution to fix our issues. Luckily, God has a plan for us! It starts with repentance:
“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him”—Joel 2:12-14
The next part is where it gets really exciting!
“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust ,the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame”-Joel 2:25-26
He restores those that repent and come back to Him! It gets so much better!
“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days”-Joel 2:28-29
We have a time where God is going to restore us and pour out His Spirit on us like we have never seen before! How amazing is that? Imagine the possibilities that God will provide for us! Financial security, food security, and the joy and wonder of what it will be like to operate in His Spirit! All of this happens before the Day of the Lord spoken of in Joel. I had never put together that we would need to be under this one world system in order to prepare the way for Christ to rule the earth as the Bible speaks of, which is why I’ve always dreaded that system. I’d never looked at it from the “flip side of the coin,” so to speak. I only viewed it from what I’d been taught and never researched it for myself, with guidance from the Holy Spirit. I believe these days are upon us, and we are seeing a new nation being formed. One that operates in righteousness, justice, and God’s favor. What are some things that the Holy Spirit has shown you?