I want to speak to you about the secret to open heaven for restoration. There is so much that has gone wrong with the human race and God’s creation since the fall of man. I, however, have no doubt in my mind that God wants to restore all things to what it ought to have been. God want us to get to that place where we can operate as originally designed.
[Luke 15:11-32 NLT] “To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.”
“About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.”
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.”
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf.”
“We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to.”
“And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
The story of the prodigal son and 2 Chronicles 7:14 teaches that there is only one secret to open heaven for restoration. Only one thing can make God rend the heaven and come down to restore all things to ‘design setting’: repentance!
The only thing that moved the father to come down and hug and kiss his son was the fact that he returned. He came back! He returned to his father’s house. He did not just remain in the far country thinking and desiring; he returned to his father’s house to serve him. He came back willing to be called a servant just to eat crumbs.
Many of us are not returning because we are too proud and too arrogant. The son returned willing to serve as a servant just to eat crumbs. There is only one thing that God is waiting to see His church do; to turn from our wicked ways and to call upon His name out of a pure heart.
We can sit here and wish for an open heaven for 1000 years; but be taught that the only thing that can make the Father rend the heavens and come down to save us and cause the mountains to melt, as expounded in Isaiah 64 is for us to repent and turn from our wicked ways.
The Lord has assured us that the very moment we humble ourselves and pray, and turn from our wicked ways; He will hear us and come and heal our lands. This is the time for the church to arise and return to God. This is the time when the priest and leaders must lie between the porch and the altar and call upon God. We cannot waste anymore time. We must arise and call!
Stay blessed!
Simpe Bediako
