UNDERSTANDING RESTITUTION ( Part I )
Leviticus 6:4, “then it shall be, because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore what he has stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found”

One of the most important issues in Christian doctrines is restitution, it's what determines our eternity, what determines our relationship with Jesus after we are saved. Restitution is so important after Salvation that it has to be done immediately a person is genuinely saved. Salvation without restitution is half freedom and unconfirmed salvation.

The center of restitution is confession to men as the Bible commands us to confess to one another, but in a larger and clearer sense, restitution is restoring things wrongly acquired in old life of sin, returning what was wrongly taken or borrowed in the past; revealing lies, faked, falsified, fraudulent information and documents of past; reconciling with people we offended by apologizing and people who offended us by FORGIVING them; lastly it is also repaying debts we owed in the past which we refused to pay or forgot to pay. By reality, every child of God has at least one or two matter of restitution.

When you are truly saved and the Lord has forgiven and cleansed you from all your sins; the Spirit of God enters into your life, and immediately He begins to point to you what you need to amend and restitute. The First and Greatest Teacher of restitution after salvation is the HOLY SPIRIT, speaking to our mind, our conscience what to restore, reveal, and return and who to reconcile with. It’s spiritually natural after genuine salvation. If you are truly saved and nothing is ministered to your spirit to correct or confess to people, it means there is need for second touch to see clearly or you are blocking the speaking of the Spirit into your heart.

Everybody of us was born a sinner, grew in sin to a particular level before we become born again. Since nobody is sinless before salvation, every body has one or two restitution to do. Sin is offending God and man, when we come to Jesus, confess our sins to Him and ask Him to forgive us, He does just that. After God has forgiven and cleansed, then we reconcile with fellow men.

The most and first important thing is to settle and reconcile with God, every sinner is fighting with God, but when we come to God through Jesus, when we repent from all our sins, confess them and accept Jesus into our lives, we reconcile with God and that made us to be children of God Almighty instead of His enemies. Paul said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” Acts 23:1.

When we repent from our sins and confess them, we have good conscience before God, and that is the beginning of everything in our Christian lives. The salvation of our souls is the basic and foundation of Christian living, Christians without genuine salvation are religious Christians, not reckoned with God, and they are the majority in Christianity.

After our genuine salvation that gives good conscience before God, we move on to having same good conscience with men as a confirmation and evidence people will see. Apostle Paul furthered in Acts 24:16, “This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” If truly we have a conscience without offense towards God, it will be also go towards men likewise. If God knows, men also will know. It is just like somebody saying “I love God” but he hates fellow men; how can he loves God he doesn’t see and at the same time hates fellow men he sees? Bible says such love is fake. The same is applicable with confession, when you confess to God you find it hard to confess to fellow men you that you can see, how genuine is that confession?

If you are afraid of what people will say or do if you confess, it means you fear men than God. You were not afraid to confess to Almighty God, Awesome God, All knowing God, who can kill and make alive; if you are not afraid to confess to that God fearful in praises, then why are you afraid to confess to fellow men? Here is what Jesus Christ says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28. The worst men can do to you after restitution is to kill your “temporal” body but only God has the power to destroy that body and soul, only Him you should fear. Fear brings snares; fear ensnares people, even after they are saved, not to claim their total freedom in Christ through restitution. Why will you be afraid to confess the sin to creatures after you have confessed and settled with the CREATOR?

THE SNARES OF UNDONE RESTITUTION
Proverbs 29:25, “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.”

Refusing to do restitution is as a result of fear; fear of people and profit, you know or see so that you will not loose their favor, and you may also be afraid of loosing life’s profits – your position, possession, properties, popularity, prestige or papers. Yielding to such fear will hold you in perpetual snares of Satan after salvation. Here are some of the snares:

Snares of Persistent Sin
When restitution is not done immediately you are saved, you will keep telling lies to cover the past sins. For example, a wife who runs a secret bank account without the knowledge of the husband, and now she is saved, she needs to open up to her husband and reveals; but if she doesn’t, she will need to keep telling lies to cover up. If you are using a false certificate or travel documents, after you are saved, you need to open up, if not, you need more lies to keep those papers. And that is how it is applicable in every area of life if you don’t open up, you will need to keep telling lies, you will need to commit new and another sin for you to cover the past and old sins; so where is your freedom in Jesus?

Snares of Profits of Sin
The benefits of sin are bondage in disguise, and you might have gotten one or two before you were saved, and so after you are saved, the only means you can be free from those snares of the benefits of past sins is by restitution. You return or reveal those benefits. The papers you got by sinful means, the possessions you got in sinful manners and the properties, positions and prestige you gained by sinful way or in sinful life must by relinquished. If you, by mistake, keep those things it means you are still keeping yourself in the snares of Satan, because they belong to Satan, things got by sinful means belong to Satan.

Snares of Poisoned Minds
Before you were saved, you offended people and people offended you. Those you offended are holding it against you with their minds poisoned in the process; you are holding unforgiving poisoned mind against those who offended you, because what they did were terrible, right. After you are saved, you reconcile with people; you forgive from your heart those who offended you, and as much as possible you notify them. Likewise you strive as much as possible to apologize to those you wronged in the past. By so doing, you release yourself from the snares of offense and unforgiveness.

Snares of Unsettled Mind
Undone restitution brings uncertain and unsettled mind. As a child of God, if you are delaying a restitution, you will persistently have uncertainty about your eternity and unsettled mind even AFTER you have confessed all to God. That shows restitution is important to God, even after confessing to God, your mind will still be unrest until you confess to some people. You don’t need to deceive yourself and harden your heart in the present of persistent unsettled mind.

Snares of Satan’s Access and Accusation
After salvation, if necessary restitution is not done, Satan will be using that means to have access into your life and to accuse you before God. That will bring attacks from the enemies, spiritual stagnation and unanswered prayers. And it can also bring premature death. That is one of the reasons you see many Christians being tormented by satanic attacks, old curses and enemies, because their undone restitution give access to enemies into their lives and marriages.

Snares of Missing Heaven
If a child of God denies or delays restitution for any reason, and he or she dies in such situation, hell is their eternal abode, painful but period! Many children of God, ministers of God will miss rapture, not because they were not genuinely saved, not because they were not living righteous lives after salvation but because of undone, unsettled restitution as a result of fear of loosing people or earthly profits.

.......continues in Part II.

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