Restoration Business

I love seeing old furniture that has been restored and repurposed. It has beauty beyond the surface. It has character and is usually built quite solid. Growing up I saw my Mom and Dad take old furniture from a family member and strip the outside coating off of it down to the raw wood and then put the finish back on it. The pieces looked new on the outside even though it was the same piece of furniture.

The Lord is in the “Restoration Business”. He takes a person and he starts on the inside. He carefully removes the old finish from their heart and restores the heart to new condition. He also places a new Spirit inside to work with the new heart. As this takes place, the outward appearance is permanently affected and changed as well.

Isaiah reports His restoration of Israel. Check this out….

5 And now the Lord says –

    he who formed me in the womb to be his servant

to bring Jacob back to him

    and gather Israel to himself,

for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord

    and my God has been my strength –

6 he says:

‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant

    to restore the tribes of Jacob

    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’

7 This is what the Lord says –

    the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel –

to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,

    to the servant of rulers:

‘Kings will see you and stand up,

    princes will see and bow down,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’ (Isaiah 49:5-7 NIV)

 

I’m asking the Lord to look inside my heart and help me restore it for His use and His work. I want to always be willing to allow Him to have full access to my heart for His direction. He created me. He wired me. I want Him to use me for the reason I was created in the first place. In order to do that, He will need to do a restoration project on my heart more than once. There are times that I allow the world to creep in and bring sludge to my heart that needs to be cleared out. The Lord is so patient as He cleans my heart pretty often. He restores my soul and saves my heart.

Pressing On!

Dwayne