The Restoration of All Things
“Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; and be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude]. And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24 AMP).
Last fall, I decided that our house needed to be “transformed” so we could potentially “rent” it out during the week of Super Bowl. People sometimes do this when major events come to Phoenix, and we were going to be east coast for a family wedding during that weekend.
So I made a renovations list and got straight to work. It took four months!
I won’t bore you with all the details. Here’s the part I do want you to know:
There was one item on my list that demanded way more time than I had allotted and frankly proved to be a source of constant expense, irritation, and disappointment: our solid wood, 30-year-old double front doors.
I had gone to the hardware store and announced to the young attendant, “I need a stripper!”
“You mean for paint and varnish?” he queried.
I snickered, but he didn’t seem to notice the poor choice of wording and quickly directed me to the aisle where all the solvents were located. I spotted one purported to strip through multiple layers of stuff in 15 minutes.
Yay, this is going to be a cinch, I thought. I was already dreaming about what the bare wood on those doors would look like—and how gorgeous the final product would be. I already had a particular stain in mind.
It's Rarely What You Think
I started with the inside doors, applying stripper, allowing it time to take effect (15 minutes, my foot!), applying acetone to dissolve the residual goop, scraping with a small steel brush, then wiping down with more acetone.
Scraping and scratching was particularly time consuming because there are nine inset areas in each door, with trim around each one. And there were lots of layers of “who knows what.” But I was committed at that point—determined to find that beautiful bare wood.
Yes, it took longer than expected. (After getting started, I figured it might take 2-3 days to scrape all the goop off both doors, front and back).
As it turned out, I had to run to the hardware store multiple times for more stripper and acetone, just to do those inside doors. (It didn’t take long to determine that I needed large cans of acetone as opposed to smaller ones!) I also had to get way more steel wool and sandpaper than originally purchased.
Finally, after more than a week, the inside doors were complete. Perfecto! Beautiful oak wood, by the way.
One other thing! My husband had taken all the hardware off the doors. So during this whole escapade, we had to barricade the doors at night!
On to the next round: the outside doors.
A Real Life Parallel Develops
Somewhere in the middle of this whole door thing, I got a call from a gal from another part of the country. I didn’t know her, but her friend (someone I had worked with several times already) referred her to me for inner healing prayer, as she was experiencing some confusion concerning a possible career switch. She went into a bit of detail on this. Would I have a prayer session with her to eliminate this confusion?
“Of course,” was the answer, “though I am up to my ears in acetone right now! Could we arrange a time for next week?”
Most always the prayer sessions I conduct with people are arranged ahead of time. Generally, I block out two hours. Also, what may seem like a general request for help in a certain area of life almost always stems from a greater issue. I knew I would need at least an hour, maybe two.
Also, to delay the session until the following week would seemingly give me time to finish the restoration project.
But the outside doors that had baked in the Arizona sun for 30 years proved to be a real problem. For the next 4-5 days I went around and around on the first door alone, the one that caught way more sun than the other and had likely gotten more polyurethane treatments over the years.
Try as I might, I could not seem to find the bare wood. For instance, there were many places where the wood was “black.” I certainly didn’t want those black marks showing through with the light stain I was envisioning. I had to dig deeper. So I kept applying and scratching and sanding.
As you might imagine, the project was a long way from finished when time arrived for the afternoon phone appointment I had set the week before. I crystalized my mindset. “Ok, this gal needs help, so I am going to do it. But I look like a hoot (bad hair, no makeup, probably a smudge or two on my face, etc.) So I won’t do a zoom call as usual. A voice-only call will work.”
An Unexpected Exercise of Faith
So I engaged the young woman on the phone. Her problem, that is, the thing she was holding, was “confusion.”
“And when was the very first time you can remember being so confused, as a child?” I asked.
What came next was the unexpected.
“Well,” (there was a long pause). “My father was involved in occult activities, and he abused me throughout my childhood. But I have already dealt with all of that. I saw a counselor for about six years to work through all of that.”
“I see,” I stated, with a matter-of-fact tone. I was struggling to determine how to proceed.
“Let’s pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us through this session today,” I added. “Is that ok with you?”
“Sure.”
So I prayed and asked Him to direct my thoughts and her thoughts and to lead us into a place of healing for the confusion she was suffering.
While I was praying, the young woman interrupted. “I’m sorry, but I keep thinking about a time when my father would come to me in the middle of the night. He would say things to me that confused me greatly. I was about twelve at the time.”
“OK, can we go back to that memory and ask Jesus to come and be with you there?”
I felt certain the Holy Spirit had spoken, and she had heard Him.
“OK,” she said.
So we went there. The details are not needed. But believe me when I say the young girl’s experience was very real. (When I say “young girl” I mean the part of this young woman who never got healed of all the trauma inflicted on her by the occult-practicing father.)
Without doubt, the young girl saw Jesus at the end of her yellow bed, in her yellow room. He reached out and held her hand.
I coached her to “give” Jesus her confusion (by extending her cupped hands, as though she were “holding” the confusion itself and handing it to Him).
“Your father speaks lies,” He said. (She told me what Jesus said).
Then came the moment of crisis: “Can you forgive your father for what he is saying and doing?’ I asked her softly.
There was a long pause.
“No, I cannot,” she said.
“Can you ask Jesus to help you forgive him? Remember, He’s with you now, holding your hand. He will surely help you.”
I was hopeful; but the girl snapped, instead: “No, I will not do that! You don’t understand what my father did to me!” she near shrieked. Her demeanor had changed entirely, in an instant.
“Yes, I do understand, but there is nothing that cannot be forgiven, with Jesus’ help. Can you ask Him to help you forgive him?”
We dialoged back and forth for a bit. I was praying in my spirit to say the right thing, the thing that would calm her and bring her back in touch with the Jesus who was holding her hand on the bed. At the same time I was regretting that we could not see one another. I have found that eye contact helps keep alters (the wounded children inside a person’s soul) calm, so one can reason with them.
Unfortunately, no amount of calm or words spoken worked. The girl was at a place of no return, that is, she was stuck in a mindset of fear, mistrust, and victimization.
She continued, “I’m not feeling good about this. Do you know what you are doing? Do you have experience with Satanic Ritual Abuse victims? I don’t think you do. And I don’t trust you. I don’t think you know what you are doing. This call is getting ready to end. Now.”
Click.
Unforgiveness is Like Dry Rot
The encounter with the girl whose father abused her is etched forever in my mind and heart. (Read Chapter 6 of my book Invite Jesus into Your Traumatic Memories to find out more about what happens when children experience Satanic Ritual Abuse.)
I texted her the next day and tried to relate the fact that Christ in her could and would manifest forgiveness on her behalf, if she would simply (by an act of her will) ask Him to do that for her. “He wants you to be healed. He will even provide you with the forgiveness you need (or that the little girl in you needs), so she can extend it to those who have hurt you,” I told her.
Here is the truth that all people seeking healing must understand: With no forgiveness, a person cannot receive all the things she needs for complete healing. As in this young woman’s case, the choice to not forgive doesn’t necessarily affect her salvation (this could be debated); but it does affect her ability to live in fullness and freedom while living life on earth.
So, back to the outside doors, which I worked and worked on—finally getting down to the bare wood on that first one, with only a few blemishes still showing. After that, I proceeded to the second door. That one seemed to go more quickly; however, the wood seemed “flakey.” (I was finally realizing that something was not right). But, because I was running out of time, I went ahead and stained both doors with a light shade of stain.
The outcome was horrendous. The color was totally blotchy, with many very dark, almost black places. (I even used a conditioning crème for the undercoat, which was supposed to prevent this.) To boot, the overall look of the door on the left was nothing like the one on the right. Frustrated, I took pictures of the doors and went back to the hardware store. “What is going on? I asked.
“Ma’am looks to me like to you got a case of dry rot. Dry rot absorbs too much of the stain,” the man explained. “Your only option is to paint over it. Be sure to use a lot of primer on it first!”
Dry rot! It had never occurred to me.
Suddenly, I realized the real-life parallel: The dry rot in those outside doors—having accumulated over a 30-year period—had been a severe hindrance to the success of my project. I was not able to change the outcome because it was so deeply embedded in the wood.
Likewise, unforgiveness is a severe hindrance to the success of total healing. It is virtually impossible to be receive a lasting healing (or any healing at all) without forgiveness.
This is the way it works: Jesus died so your dry rot can be forgiven. To be totally healed, so the effects of your dry rot are controlled and eventually eliminated, you must forgive others.
Perfect Love is Breaking Through
There is a day coming when a “new age” will finally break through in fullness. It will be the “restoration of all things.” It will be the time when the kingdom comes to earth in full form. And the church will have become perfected in love.
This will be the time when all dysfunctional relationships are completely restored, and when racial hatred is annihilated. It will be the time when the “new man” of Ephesians Chapter 2 along with the “sons of God” in Romans Chapter 8 are fully manifested in the earth.
I believe this will happen as more and more people of all races and denominational persuasions come into the revelation of what it means to truly forgive—and that it is imperative to forgive and to keep forgiving, and to ask to be forgiven.
Forgiveness should be the main theme of every church gathering; for it is out of forgiveness that true unconditional love pours. Jesus will not return to a church that is not perfected in love.
Here is my prayer: Lord Jesus, come! Live your life in us and through us. Your life in us will change things! Lord, be our peace and our wisdom. Motivate us to seek forgiveness when we have hurt others. And help us to see that a large part of our healing involves forgiving those who have harmed us. When we are struggling to forgive, help us turn to you for help. Give us the faith to know that you always deliver. Further, give us continued revelation of what it means to let you come in—in such a way that our houses become fully restored! Thank you for helping us get ready and equipped for all the amazing and wonderful things that are to come! Amen.
Emily Gardner Foppe helps people transform through memory healing—and the forgiveness that comes about as a result. To order Emily’s latest book, Invite Jesus into Your Traumatic Memories Click here.
Related Scripture Verses:
“For this old pattern of worship was a matter of external rules and rituals concerning food and drink and ceremonial washings which was imposed upon us until the appointed time of heart-restoration had arrived” (Hebrews 9:10 TPT).
[TPT notes: The Greek word diothosis (heart-restoration) is used only here in the New Testament. It means “to set things right” or “to snap a broken bone back into place,” by implication restoration.]
“And now you must repent and turn back to God so that your sins will be removed, and so that times of refreshing will stream from the Lord’s presence. And he will send you Jesus, the Messiah, the chosen one for you. For he must remain in heaven until the restoration of all things has taken place, fulfilling everything that God said long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:19–21 TPT).
[TPT notes: The word restoration in Greek is apokatastasis, which infers the restoration of creation to the state of existence before the fall, but also Davidic covenant being restored. Luke’s choice of this word, found only here in the New Testament, is noteworthy. It is a medical term that means “restoration of perfect health.”]
“Under the old system year after year the high priest entered the most holy sanctuary with blood that was not his own. But the Messiah did not need to repeatedly offer himself year after year, for that would mean he must suffer repeatedly ever since the fall of the world. But now he has appeared at the fulfillment of the ages to abolish sin once and for all by the sacrifice of himself!” (Hebrews 9:25–26 TPT).
“Our reconciling ‘Peace’ is Jesus! He has made Jew and non-Jew one in Christ. By dying as our sacrifice, he has broken down every wall of prejudice that separated us and has now made us equal through our union with Christ. Ethnic hatred has been dissolved by the crucifixion of his precious body on the cross. The legal code that stood condemning every one of us has now been repealed by his command. His triune essence has made peace between us by starting over—forming one new race of humanity, Jews and non-Jews fused together! Two have now become one, and we live restored to God and reconciled in the body of Christ. Through his crucifixion, hatred died” (Ephesians 2:14–16 TPT).
“But if you will listen, I say to you, love your enemies and do something wonderful for them in return for their hatred. When someone curses you, bless that person in return. When you are mistreated and harassed by others, accept it as your mission to pray for them. To those who despise you, continue to serve them and minister to them. If someone takes away your coat, give him as a gift your shirt as well” (Luke 6:27-–29 TPT).
“Are you really showing true love by only loving those who love you back? Even those who don’t know God will do that. Are you really showing compassion when you do good deeds only to those who do good deeds to you? Even those who don’t know God will do that” (Luke 6:32–33 TPT).
“We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 TPT).
“These grace ministries will function until we all attain oneness into the faith until we all experience the fullness of what is means to know the Son of God, and finally we become one into a perfect man with the full dimensions of spiritual maturity and fully developed into the abundance of Christ. And then our immaturity will end! And we will not be easily shaken by trouble, nor led astray by novel teachings or by the false doctrines of deceivers who teach clever lies. But instead we will remain strong and always sincere in our love, as we express the truth. All our direction and ministries will flow from Christ and lead us deeper into him, the anointed Head of his body, the church” (Ephesians 4:13–15 TPT).
“For his ‘body’ has been formed in his image and is closely joined together and constantly connected as one. And every member has been given divine gifts to contribute to the growth of all, and as these gifts operate effectively throughout the whole body, we are built up and made perfect in love” (Ephesians 4:16 TPT).
“You are rising like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple, and your lives are being built up together upon the ideal foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and best of all, you are connected to the Head Cornerstone of the building, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ himself! This entire building is under construction and is continually growing under his supervision until it rises up completed as the holy temple of the Lord himself. This means that God is transforming each one of you into the Holy of Holies, his dwelling place, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you!” (Ephesians 2:20–22 TPT).
“All that he does in us is designed to make us a mature church for his pleasure, until we become a source of praise to him—glorious and radiant, beautiful and holy, without fault or flaw” (Ephesians 5:27 TPT).