By Revd.Dr. Idowun Ibitoye
Introduction
Restoration is simply an action of returning something to a former owner, place or condition. Indeed our modern world need divine restoration because of the multiple problems that we are facing. Immediately after year 2020 universal week of prayer, COVID-19 found its way to the shore of Nigeria, which led to the closure of churches, businesses and academics activities were all paralyzed. Commercial and educational institutions were just recuperating and, trying to recover from COVID 19 set-back, when the ENDSARS protest surfaced which eventually resulted into break down of law and order, while many lives were lost.
The ecumenical body strongly believe that though our challenges may be many and enormous, seeming insurmountable; however God is our refuge, and He shall rescue our nation. On this note, the church declares that year 2021 shall be a year of Glorious Restoration and there shall be a new dawn in Nigeria.
Glorious Restoration
The nation of Israel engaged in various forms of sinful acts, and prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied that they shall be captured and taken to exile, and also prophesied that God will restore their peace as that of before (Jer. 27:22, Dan. 9:25). We have indeed been involved in several kinds of sinful behaviours such as thuggery, raping, stealing, murder, homosexuality, shedding innocent blood, etc. God is not happy with the contemporary world with all these vices in our midst. We must all go back to God for forgiveness, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins and will heal their land” 11 Chron. 7:14.As a nation we must humble ourselves by admitting our sins, pray to God, asking Him for forgiveness, seeking God continually and turning from our sinful behaviours; through this God will restore our land to the glorious part of prosperity and success.
God had promised that He is going to restore all our lost fortune; “I will repay you for the years the locust have eaten, the great locust and the young locust, the other locust and the locust swam, my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed” Joel. 2: 25-26. God promised His people that they will never again experience a disaster like that of locust plague. Likewise, promising us that we shall never experience calamity like that of COVID-19 again. This promise is relevant to our contemporary time. It should be clearly noted and stated that this promise will only come to stay if God’s people remain truly repentant from their sin and consistently follow God and His ways. God’s goodness and deliverance for our present generation, from various disasters bedeviling us shall lead us to praising and worshiping Him.
By the time God restores the fortunes of Nigeria, we shall be like those who are dreaming, then our mouth shall be filled with joy and laughter, and such will be the testimony among the comity of nations.(Ps.126:1-2).
Year 2021 Year of Glorious Restoration
Year 2021 theme is prophetic and promising, meaning that God is assuring us that it’s going to be a year of restoration of lost glory and bringing back of our fortune. For us to fully actualize this restoration we must ensure that the following are practiced by all of us:
1. We must constantly stand against evil vices in 2021- The only antidote to stamp out evil in our society is to constantly stand against it. Year 2021 will be glorious if all of us always speak, condemn and stand against evil occurrences in our society.
2. Determined to serve God alone- Year 2021 is another opportunity to serve God, though challenges may come our ways, we must determine to stand with God and serve Him alone. Our determination is very crucial at a time when a lot of distractions are beckoning on us.
3. Worship God alone- Satan is causing many distractions for contemporary believers not to worship God. He is using money as a strong weapon, Jesus himself declared; “no one can serve two masters either you will hate one and like the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and money” Matt.6:24. God deserves the best of our worship, year 2021 must be a year of total worship for us to experience divine glorification.
4. Dedication of oneself and time for God- As we enter this new year, we must dedicate ourselves and time to God’ service. We must dedicate quality time for the service of God, knowing that we shall get reward in return.
5. Be Christ-like- Our characters and actions must reflect that of Christ. In our places of work we must be Christ-like, allowing our actions to bring glory to God. Every violence that is not Christ-like must be shunned and discarded; through this others will see the glory of God in us, in the New Year.
6. Pray always- prayer is the master key, Jesus started with this great weapon and ended with it. For us to enjoy Gods glory unhindered in the New Year, we must be a lover of prayer. Through prayer God will grant us victory and total restoration of our land, taking us to the part of glory.
Conclusion
Indeed year 2021 shall be a year of glorious restoration; God will visit our land again and restore our lost glory. As we engage in this week long prayer, God will turn our petitions to testimony in Jesus name.
Happy New Year!
