*PURPOSE OF RESTITUTION* (a)
Pastor E.A. Adeboye once shared a story on this subject. He encountered a family where rice troubles all of them. Whenever they eat rice, their body system gets troubled seriously and it became a matter of prayer concern. When they brought the case to him, the Lord revealed to him that their father stole a motor bike. The owner of the motor bike cursed the thief saying that anytime his generation eats rice, they will experience trouble.
Now, I suppose these children have come to know the Lord, deducing from Pastor's narration. He instructed the children to restitute on behalf of their father by buying another bike for the man. They did as instructed and that was the end of their problems. Isn't that a surprise to you?
The first purpose of restitution is: TO AVERT NEGATIVE HARVEST. There is a law God has set in motion that applies to all mankind. That law is the law of sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7 says:
"Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant"( NLT).
This scripture is not referring to the physical planting only but our actions. Every action is a seed that will surely produce a harvest. Negative action will produce negative harvest. The bible says, "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease"( Genesis 8:22).
While we have established the fact that restitution is not a precursor to salvation neither does it complete it, yet, it should be noted that in certain instances and under some circumstances, God may instruct the believer to restitute to avert certain dangers or to put an end to a cylce of troubles like this case shared.
That a man is saved and blood washed does not exclude him from the consequences of certain actions in the past because of the law of harvest. Some persistent battles that you have prayed about only require that we inquire from the Holy Spirit about what to do. You may be surprised the Holy Spirit will point your attention to something to restitute.