The Reclamation
The Reclamation
The Lord began speaking “Reclamation” to me a few weeks ago. What I write will speak to some of you. Not all of us are in the same place, so if this is for you, allow the Holy Spirit to do His reclamation process in you. Furthermore, let Him take you beyond reclaiming what has been lost into claiming new lands and new territory inhabited by your enemies—the world, the flesh, or the devil.
To begin, think about your walk with the Lord right now. Pause. Reflect. Take as long as needed. Get understanding on where you are overall. We all have highs and lows, but overall, where are you? Have you lost ground or are you walking where you have attained?
As I said, the Lord began speaking “Reclamation” to me a few weeks ago. Reclamation is defined as: (Free Dictionary)
· The act or process of reclaiming.
· A restoration, as to productivity, usefulness, or morality.
(Merriam-Webster)
Ø the act or process of reclaiming [relating to]
· reformation, rehabilitation
· restoration to use: recovery
Ø reclaim
· to get back (something that was lost or taken away)
· to make (land) available for use by changing its condition
· to get (a usable material) from materials that have been used before
· the act or process of improving something or someone by removing or correcting faults, problems, etc.
I think we get the picture.
Here in Idaho it is a bright sunny [cold] day. I can see clearly out my windows. Everything looks crisp and beautiful. It’s like having on the right prescription of glasses—everything looks sharp and lovely. However, if my windows were covered in the toils of storms with wind thrown dirt and dust on them, outside would be a blur at best. Everything I saw would be tainted with the ugliness of my filter.
1 Corinthians 13 says that we see through a glass darkly. But we should see more clearly as we mature in the Lord. Proverbs 4:18, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” Jesus put it this way, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad [the Greek is: full of labors, annoyances, hardships; diseased, blind; evil, wicked…], your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Getting back to, “Where are we now?” First of all, the Holy Spirit is in the business of Reclamation. He delights in reclaiming and restoring things that have been lost or stolen. Whether that is man who needs to be restored to God or whether it is in our own lives where we have lost ground. The Holy Spirit’s reclamation also takes things that were once unusable and worthless and gives them value and purpose. He does this even with the tragedies of our lives—He can and does cause all things work together for our good. And the Holy Spirit, as we allow Him to, takes every part of our person and wholly purifies and sanctifies us to God.
The flip-side, we have to work with Him. We have to repent. We have to change what we are doing, what we are thinking, what we are loving. We must change.
The Holy Spirit loves to takes us further and deeper in our walk with Him. He loves to reveal the deep things of God to us, bringing the light of revelation to our hearts. He delights in revealing Jesus to the human, and to all of creation. He leads us into new lands, arms us for victory, and puts to flight our adversaries. And, the Holy Spirit also loves to reconcile man to God, whether unbeliever or believer.
If you have lost ground—if your windows are a bit hard to see out of—ask Him for help. He is close. He is an ever present help. We must be honest with Him, though. It could be something such as losing ground in your battle with anger or weight control. The children of Israel were continuously fighting the inhabitants of Canaan, even though God had already given the land to Abraham and his descendants. If He is calling you to new victories, to conquer your Canaan—He goes before you to route your enemies. Follow His lead. Move when He moves, stop when He stops, and camp when He camps.
If there has been tragedy, heartache, bruises, or things you cannot even imagine God could redeem, He can. He is asking you to trust Him with even your very darkest places. God called the harlot, Rahab, into His linage of Jesus Christ. Her name is linked to Egypt, a sea-dragon monster, and evil. Yet, when she trusted God look what He did. He made her beautiful. He reclaimed her.
It is time to retake our land and move forward.
“See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers — to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — to give to them and their descendants after them.” Deuteronomy 1:8
