Topic:
Beginning Restitution
Greetings:
Very
simply put restitution begins with one word found throughout the Scriptures and
it is always preceded by this call whenever God is about to do anything and
that word is “Repent”. It was a change
of mindset that caused the fall in the Garden of Eden and it will require a
change of mindset to bring the restitution of all things for the return of
Christ. The Father understands that we
tend to adjust to the climates we are put in.
He will give us instruction to a thing and me carry that out but it is
not until God decides in His time or kairos, that we need to change our mind
from the thing we were doing to the thing He is now doing. When Israel would fall into sin there was a
consistent cry of repentance to the nation.
God in a particular time would accept the sacrifice of a lamb and its
blood shed for the atonement of sin for the nation, but now, no longer will the
blood of a lamb do because the lamb changed from a four-footed animal to
two-legged man in Jesus Christ and now we have access to the Father through
Christ for our sins to be forgiven no longer needing the shedding of blood from
a lamb. In times past it was the Temple
at Jerusalem where the presence of God resided on Earth in the inner court of
the Holiest of All but no longer does God’s presence dwell within a temple made
by the hands of man but within a Corporate Man, the Body of Christ.
In
one of the most important notes when we discuss the 6 elementary doctrines of
Hebrews 6, the very first elementary doctrine is Repentance from Dead
Works. When John the Baptist, full of
the Holy Spirit cries from the wilderness, He cries “Repent for the Kingdom of
Heaven is at Hand (Matthew 3:2). When
Jesus began to preach the message to the world was “Repent”. It was not hell…it was Repent. Even today that is still the message that
brings about change. We are being
changed glory to glory and as we mature to the measure of the fullness of
Christ it will require us to repent on every level as we shift from the rule of
the soul to the fullness of the rule of the Spirit that we obey Christ with all
our heart, soul and mind.
Romans
12:2: And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
2
Corinthians 7:9-10: Now I rejoice not
that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made
sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to
salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the worketh death.
To
experience godly sorrow is good because it shows a true conviction and
contrition within the believer for the need to change their mind from a current
behavior to one that makes them like their Heavenly Father. We who have submitted to grace knows this
feeling and at first it is sad but it also lifts the burden and oppression of
the wrong mindset knowing that you are being “transformed” into the image and
likeness of the Father.
Psalm
51:17: The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God , thou wilt not despise.
Repentance
is the first step to every stage of restitution that brings us to the fullness
of the measure of Christ. Let us not
harden our hearts but embrace the necessary changes that bring about the
manifestation of the sons of God.
Peace
and Grace,
Calvin
Calhoun, Jr.
