The name of Jesus – Restorer
This has been a bittersweet week. This week I am saying goodbye to people who have played a major role in my walk with Jesus. Mostly guys that I have met with weekly for years. On Thursday morning I said goodbye to the Mission Men. It was a sweet time of affirmation and prayer. Then I said goodbye to a good friend – Joey Gentempo. This morning I prayed with my Friday morning Bible Study friends and said goodbye to them. This is also an amazing group of deep-spirited men who seek the Lord and usually find Him, in their daily walk. Among these men is my dear friend Tom O’Neil. Saying goodbye to Tom was particularly hard.
Goodbye is probably not the right word. It is so final. But still, I will not see them regularly. I will miss them.
This Friday morning the group read Oswald Chambers for today, May 29 (My Utmost for His Highest). Ozzie wrote about praying in the name of Jesus. I understand that this means praying in His nature and in accordance with His purposes. But as we were praying I heard the word ‘restorer’ and knew in my spirit that Restorer was His name. To pray in the name of Jesus then is to pray for restoration. Restoration of a heart, a mind, a relationship, and health are all ways that we pray for restoration.
To restore means to bring back to a former or original condition. Implicit in this definition, at least for me, is the notion that the former condition is better than the current condition. I think of the restoration of an old automobile. My friend Joe bought a 1972 12-cylinder Jaguar and is restoring it back to its original condition with great care and love. Or, the Sistine chapel. Judy and I saw the restored Michelangelo painting on the ceiling in all of its vivid, brilliant colors. In the corner of the ceiling we saw a 1-meter square patch that had not been restored. In contrast to the restoration it was dingy and gray. So, when I think of restoration I think of bringing something back to its original beauty. That is what Jesus did in my life: He brought me back to (or closer to) the life God always intended for me to live and the function or purpose for which He created me.
I read another blog about restoration. This person said they didn’t want to go back to what they were before Jesus. But that is not what I mean. Jesus wants to restore us back to our relationship with Him in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve rejected God and plunged us into this life we call the Fall. He restores us to intimacy and harmony with Himself; a condition of the heart in which we are whole hearted, healed, walking with peace and joy in spite of life’s difficulties. We can walk with Him in the supernatural realm where He shows us amazing things. A state of relationship with Him in which we walk with authority and power. People read these words ‘authority and power’ and think I am talking about operating in ‘our’ or ‘mans’ authority and power. No. Scripture tells us that God created us in His image to rule over the earth. Not on our own, but in partnership with Him. Like an ambassador assigned to a country by the US State Department. Power, but delegated to you by the Government. And they trust you to use that power in a way that will not embarrass the United States.
Isn’t that incredible? Jesus can restore us back to that beautiful place where we walk with Him, have fellowship with Him, and can operate for His purposes with the same power and authority that God gave Him. That is why we are called to pray for healing of people, cities, nations, and the world. The Restorer has restored us back to His original intention, condition, and purpose. Healed, whole, and holy. So that we can restore in partnership with Him.
When we walk in this restoration (although not perfectly) we are walking in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is here; Heaven is here now. The Garden of Eden is here now (these are synonymous). Not is their fullness or perfection. That will come later. But still, here. And believers have the right and privilege to enter the Garden through the one-and-only door – the crucified and resurrected Jesus, the Restorer. Jesus said “I have come to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God”. The Kingdom of God is here and the Restorer has opened the door for me to go in – where there is a transformed heart, healing and wholeness, and the power to push back the darkness. That is the Good News. I don’t have to wait till I die and go to heaven – heaven is here now. Choose Jesus and live.