Qualifiers
If we are to experience restoration, we must believe in one true God and in His living Word. God promised us this very thing through Joel: “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25). What a magnificent promise. Do you believe it? I’ve been around long enough to be able to decree: God keeps His promises! They may not always line up with our time frame, but always with His.
If we are to experience restoration and completeness, we need to repent. A great army of locusts was sent among the people of God. Who sent the invasion? God did. Joel is speaking of a time when a great empire ruled Israel because of their sins and refusal to repent. The consuming locusts were even a specific kind of locusts—gryllus gregarius—that could make things suddenly disappear because of the speed by which they moved through a land, stripping it bare. If we turn to God once again with our whole heart, changing the way we think and thus the way we live, then there are no landing strips for evil spirits to invade and devour.
The Truth and the Whole Truth
To restore means that God makes restitution for what has been taken. It means to complete, finish and to make safe. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew word for restoration is the root word of shalom, which means that God makes us whole, He strengthens us, and restores our peace. When God says that He will restore to us what the locusts have eaten, He is promising to make us whole and complete, which will in turn lead us into our destinies.
God is not just talking about restoring a few days; He will restore the years that have been lost. This is a supernatural act of God. Perhaps some of the lost years came about by our own poor choices; or maybe they have been lost by the choices of others, circumstances we had no control over. Whatever the case, God promises to be the God of restoration, and He says to you today, “I will restore all of those years!”
What Can God Restore?
Since we serve a God of restoration, we might ask the question: “What can God restore?” The answer is that God can restore everything that has been lost; nothing is impossible with Him (Luke 1:37). Whatever has been lost in your life, whatever has been stolen and whatever has been taken from you, God is able to restore it. Not only that, but whatever you have willingly given up for God can be restored too.
Janet Perez Eckles 
Shawn Akers 
Abby Trivett 
