RESTORATION
by Revivalist Todd Bentley
PART 2 of 2 

God is telling us that we need to seize the moment-that He is releasing a new anointing, today, for great deliverance from destruction and long-standing bondage! The emphasis is on great deliverance!

Within this fresh anointing He is inviting us to partner with Him in the authority and power inherent in His word not only for personal deliverance, but also for setting the captives free. Wow! That's good news!

ACTIVATE FAVOR & JUBILEE BY PROPHETIC PROCLAMATION

So let's turn to Isaiah Chapter 61: 1, 2-a familiar passage, yet ever-powerful-in order to understand more about wielding our God-given authority in the power of His might.

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD . . ." (emphasis mine).

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me . . . "to proclaim liberty to the captives" and "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." In a different Bible translation "the acceptable year of the Lord" is rendered: "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Friends, there is an anointing available to you and me to proclaim, prophesy, decree, and declare a season of favor! What's more, the impact of this anointing really comes into position once we come to understand what it means to be a servant of the Lord.

Being God's servant means there is an authority available to us under or in the anointing, that in the moment we decree "favor" or just say the word "favor" over someone's life (in the anointing), they have to come into favor! I want to emphasize "under or in the anointing" because it's in moments of an open heaven, when there's a realm of the spirit, that we can make decrees that change destinies through the spoken word.

What's more, favor goes hand in hand with deliverance and restoration-which describe what "Jubilee" is. Biblically, in Leviticus Chapter 25, Jubilee means the cancellation of all debt, the release of property, the release of slaves, and more. For us today, it means the return of our sons and daughters, the release of our investments, cancellation of debts for us and our family, and liberation from bondage and oppression.

With that in mind, part of my ministry responsibility today as a preacher is to proclaim "Jubilee"-a prophetic proclamation of liberty and freedom-that will shift believers into a realm of the power of God's Spirit that makes everything that's out of order, come into order and freedom.

ACTIVATE JUSTICE/VINDICATION/THE VENGEANCE OF GOD BY PROPHETIC PROCLAMATION

Moving along in verse 2 of Isaiah 61, "To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God . . ." Vengeance is a "settling of scores" and it's directly connected to vindication and justice! As servants of the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord is upon us to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God; and when we do, we can literally say "justice," "vindication," "the vengeance of God" and the moment we make that decree under the anointing, everything that is deemed by the courts of heaven as unjust, gets overturned.

Next, I want to outline some different aspects involved in restoration and then, with that foundation laid, we'll go back to prophetic declarations, focusing on authoritative command in spiritual warfare.

THE HOLY EXCHANGE & BIBLICAL RESTORATION

So let's take a look at the rest of verse 2: "To comfort all who mourn" and then examine verse 3:"To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes." I love those verses-the anointing to make something beautiful out of what's just ash-to give beauty for ashes. It's called the holy exchange. Your business, your marriage, finances, your self worth; whatever it is in your life that's nothing but ash, there is an anointing to replace it with beauty. God always takes the ashes and makes something beautiful! Isn't that a great anointing? There are people anointed to bring an exchange-your ashes for His beauty. Talk about a makeover!

It goes on in verse 3: "The oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness . . ." Verse 4: "They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations" (NIV). It's the anointing to restore everything that's been lost in a previous generation-all the old mantles, all the old anointings-there's literally an anointing, to raise up, repair, and restore.

Actually, did you know that it's one thing to loose and undo the work of the devil-it's one thing to be set free-but it's another thing to have God restore back in your life all the damage that was done because of the oppression of the enemy?! In other words, just think for a moment about the alcoholic that gets set free, and we thank God for that. But what about all the aftermath-the damage that the alcoholism did to the children and others-or the drug addict that's now free, but the family is still broke?

The fact is, there are testimonies of people that have come into notable freedom, yet there still remain lingering negative consequences. But biblical restoration cuts off those negative consequences! That's because, when God restores, one: He brings an increase; two: He multiplies beyond where you were; and three: He adds the extra, making it better than it was before. Look at Job. When God restored Job, He gave him double (Job 42:10). In fact, you cannot be touched by the anointing of restoration and, for example, just get your money back at the same measure. It's not just recovery of a former condition. No! You're not going back to a former state. You're going back to better! I mean, when God restores, say double, it's everything double-life, joy, and revelation, and much more!

For instance, in the Bible we see that if harm came to someone or something was stolen, God commanded that the return be greater than what was plundered or robbed. Occasionally the return would "one for one," but almost every single time the return was more than that-a double blessing, or four or five times greater (Ex. 22:1; 22:4; Lev. 6:5, 22:14). What's more, Proverbs 6:31 says, "Yet when he (the thief) is found, he must restore sevenfold . . ." There is a "sevenfold" principle involved in restoration. God wants to bless you with an increase and to command the thief to give back sevenfold!


PROPHETIC PROCLAMATION IN SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Now I'm going to share how my dad was saved. His story not only reveals how prayer and prophetic proclamation differ, it also shows how the latter brings forth the kind of restoration described in one of my favorite scriptures in Isaiah. Here is the scripture:

"Thus says the LORD: 'In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages; That You may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' to those who are in darkness, 'show yourselves.' 'They shall feed along the roads, and their pastures shall be on all desolate heights'" (49:8).

God says at the beginning of the verse (paraphrase): "I have called you, I have heard you. I'm going to preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people to restore . . ." We're talking about Jesus. And we're talking about you and me and the anointing of restoration to restore the earth, and to cause people to inherit the desolate heritages, or the inheritances that they've lost. Then it goes on, "That You may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' to those who are in darkness, 'show yourselves.'" Wow!

Bearing this verse in mind, at one time I was praying constantly for my dad to be saved; however, he wasn't getting saved! For about 30 years he had been a drug addict and an alcoholic. Then, once when I was reading Isaiah 49:8, I heard the Lord say, "Say to the prisoner (in an authoritative command), say to the one who sits in darkness!" (What God just said, refers to my dad.) Then came the challenge: "What are you going to do about it son?" I answered, "God, Your mind is to save, heal, and deliver. Come on, save my dad!" But God had to teach me something before my dad could be saved.

He revealed to me that my dad had made certain choices and he wanted the darkness. That being the case God was prevented from breaking in to help him. "There are spiritual laws, son, and those spiritual laws obstruct Me when your dad wants the devil. But there is also a spiritual law whereby you can make a decree and say to the one who sits in darkness, "show yourself" and you can proclaim an opening of the prison. You can come on up here into the heavens and do something about your dad."

So, I stopped praying for my dad's salvation like I did before, and I went up into the heavens and I said, "You listen to me devil. This is my house. I'm making a demand, and I'm commanding you, devil, to loose my father so he has the free-will to make the decision to hear the gospel. Although he isn't searching for God, the law of the Spirit says that I can take my authority to bind and loose."

I began to deal in spiritual warfare, with God's help, against those demonic powers that were keeping my father from the salvation that he really wanted to receive. He could not comprehend God in the midst of the darkness; he was too blind, so I prophesied to his dead soul and called him back: "Dad, David Bentley, you who sit in darkness. I command an opening of the prison to you who sits in darkness. I command you! Show yourself. To the prisoner, come out of your prison!"

Right after that my father got saved, my mother got saved, and my family! People started coming to Jesus! Look. There are things that we only pray about even though God told us to do something more than that. Look at what God said to Moses, "But lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it" (Ex. 14:16a).

Actually just before God told Moses to stretch forth his rod, he said, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward" (v.15). Think about this: Can you imagine if you were praying about healing and God said to you, "What are you doing crying to me?" I mean we'd be devastated, wouldn't we? To paraphrase: "Get out there and heal the sick! Don't pray about it. It's a command-"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8). Just get out there and do something!"

SO WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE?

The Apostle Peter got out there and did something! Remember what he said to the crippled man? "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk" (Acts 3:6).

That crippled man walked; because of the power of God, yes, and it flowed through Peter because he knew his authority in God's kingdom. Likewise, you'll know your authority the day that you accept who you are in Christ, what God called you to, and who Christ is in you. Then, you'll live accordingly, because there is a place at times, in the kingdom, where we need to begin to move with authority, make a command, make a decree, be aggressive and say to the one who sits in darkness, "Show yourself." Say to the one who is confined, "Come out of the prison; come out prisoner!"

God expects us to do something about the bondage that's out there. When I read Isaiah Chapter 42 verses 6 and 7, I felt so convicted: "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house." We have a responsibility.

There's more. Be captured by God's heart as you read this next verse: "But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey, and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says, "Restore" (Is. 42:22).

Church! Be the one that says, "Restore!" Believe that He wants to give you the anointing for the ministry of restoration, to repair people's lives and rebuild what was ruined. Truly, today, God is making a way for those held in bondage to be set free-great deliverance-great restoration!!

So what's it going to be? For the hour is upon us to co-labor with Him for complete restoration, not only in our own lives but also in the lives of those around us. Remember, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" (Ecc. 3:1). Let's seize the hour! Come on, now! Come on church!!

by Todd Bentley