DAILY MANNA DEVOTIONAL SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2018 THE ROAD TO RESTORATION TEXT: JOEL 2:20-29 Key Verse:

DAILY MANNA DEVOTIONAL

SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 2018

THE ROAD TO RESTORATION

TEXT: JOEL 2:20-29

Key Verse: “ And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25)_

A respected cleric in a message titled “A Call to National Rebirth through Righteousness,” said: “We cannot continue to give national awards and chieftaincy titles to treasury looters and expect prayer alone to change our nation without repentance. The church, in any society, ought to be its moral bastion and church leaders its ethical conscience as they add prophetic voice to matters of State. They commend what is acceptable and condemn what is objectionable. Unfortunately, there is so much moral decay within the body of Christ today as seen

in the overemphasis on wealth without wisdom, popularity without piety and health without holiness. The gospel has been turned into a means of making money and the church has been so commercialized that sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between a preacher and a businessman.”

Israel, in our text was going through a pathetic situation; hence, Prophet Joel called for the congregation to be sanctified. The priests were to maintain a sober mood while asking God to spare the nation and not to give His people (His Heritage) unto reproach. It is after the repentance, the solemn assembly and sanctification of the people that the Lord will then be jealous for His land, pity His people, end the oppression of their imperial masters, revive the nation’s agrarian economy, and restore peace and prosperity.

The condition for national rebirth is righteousness which exalts a nation and not prayer and fasting without repentance (2 Chronicles 7:14). Under the current economic recession which is affecting many nations with decline in food production, dwindling resources especially in the African continent, it is time to seek the Lord. To enjoy full restoration, confess your sins to the Lord, ask Him for forgiveness and exercise faith in Christ’s substitutionary atonement.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Righteousness, not mere prayer and fasting, exalts a nation.
COVER to COVER: NUMBERS 35-36_

PONDER on the Blessings of Divine Restoration

1. Complete deliverance and dominion over the oppressors and the enemies, both physical and spiritual v20.
2. Wonders beyond human imaginations v21.
3. Blessings on the offsprings and possessions v22.
4. Economic blessings v23,24.
5. Restoration of wasted or lost years v25. Only God can do this humanly impossible.
6. Glorification and honour for the saints in this world v26,27.
7. Outpouring of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts.

HYMN: There shall be showers of blessings

1. There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.

[Chorus]
Showers of blessing,(Showers, showers of blessing)
Showers of blessing we need;
Mercy drops 'round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

2 There shall be showers of blessing--
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain. [Chorus]

3 There shall be showers of blessing:
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing;
Come and now honor Thy word. [Chorus]

4 There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we're confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call! [Chorus]

PRAYER POINTS:
1. Lord, open our eyes to see our spiritual poverty and need for restoration.
2. Convict and deliver us from the self satisfaction in the absence of divine restoration.
3. Ask for the spirit of mourning and penitence on the ministers and saints in this nation.
4. Pray that each blessings of divine restoration listed above be showered on you, your family, church and the nation.