God Will Restore All Your Wasted Years – Be Ready | Napoleon Hill

[Music] God will restore all your wasted years. Be ready. It's such a joy and honor to be standing before you today.

I believe this message is for someone who has walked through loss, who has faced disappointment, who feels like time has been stolen or wasted. If that's you, hear this clearly. God will restore all your wasted years.

Be ready. The book of Joel 2:2 says, "I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten. " Think about that.

God doesn't just promise comfort. He promises restoration. He doesn't ignore time you've lost.

He acknowledges it and says, "I can bring it back. I can redeem it. " That's the God we serve.

Maybe you feel like you've wasted years in fear, in doubt, in relationships that broke you, in mistakes that cost you. Maybe you look back and see opportunities you missed, doors you never walked through, prayers you gave up on. And maybe you've convinced yourself that it's too late.

But I want to tell you, it's not too late. God is not finished with you. If he can create the world in 6 days, he can redeem your years in one moment.

Restoration doesn't always look like rewinding time. It often looks like God giving you more in your future than you lost in your past. It looks like renewed purpose, unexpected blessings, deeper peace, stronger faith.

God doesn't just give back what you lost. But there's a second part to this promise. Be ready.

Restoration comes with preparation. Are you ready to receive what God wants to return to you? Are you letting go of bitterness and making room for joy?

Are you releasing your regrets and opening your hands for new purpose? Sometimes God is ready to restore, but we're still holding on to what's already gone. Being ready means trusting again, loving again, praying again.

It means living with expectancy instead of defeat. It means showing up even when you feel behind because God has a way of accelerating what looks delayed. He has a way of bringing fruit in seasons where nothing should be growing.

So if you felt like the best years are behind you, I'm here to declare the best is not behind you. The best is ahead. Restoration is coming.

Healing is coming. Joy is coming. And when it does, you'll look back and see that not one tear, not one prayer, not one moment was truly wasted.

God doesn't ignore the pain or the time we feel we've wasted. In fact, one of the most comforting truths about his nature is that he sees, he knows, and he acknowledges our loss. In Joel 2:25, the Lord speaks directly to his people and says, "I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.

" These are not just poetic words. They are a powerful declaration from a God who doesn't overlook suffering, who doesn't brush past the brokenness of our lives. He names it.

He says, "I see the years, not just moments, not just days. The years that have been lost, consumed, devoured by destruction. That matters to him.

That is worth addressing, worth healing, worth restoring. Many of us walk through seasons that feel like complete losses. It might be years of a broken relationship, years of wandering without direction, years of being stuck in cycles of addiction, failure, or emotional pain.

Sometimes it's years of simply not knowing who you are or why you're here. And while the world may tell us to move on or pretend like none of it happened, God does something very different. He stops and says, "Let's talk about what was lost.

Let's name it so I can redeem it. That is deeply personal. That is deeply loving.

That's a God who doesn't just fix, he feels. He is a God of compassion, not convenience. When Joel prophesied those words to the people of Israel, they were in the middle of devastation.

Locusts had literally destroyed their crops, their food, their livelihood, their stability. But what God was addressing went deeper than just agriculture. He was speaking to hearts broken by disappointment, to spirits crushed under the weight of unfulfilled promises and hard seasons.

And in the middle of that, God didn't say, "Move on. " He said, "I will restore. " He acknowledged the depth of what they had gone through.

And that same God speaks to you and me today. If we're honest, many of us carry quiet grief about wasted years. Maybe you feel like your best years were spent in confusion.

Maybe you gave your energy to people who didn't value you. Or you chased things that never satisfied. Maybe fear held you back from opportunities you now regret missing.

And deep down, there's a question you carry. Does God see this? Does he care about what I've lost?

The answer is yes. He sees it all. The tears you cried in silence.

The time you felt stuck in anxiety. The dreams that felt like they died before they could even begin. He saw it then and he sees it now.

And more than that, he calls it out not to shame you, but to redeem you. God's acknowledgment of your loss is not weakness. It's the beginning of restoration.

Until something is recognized, it can't be restored. God doesn't heal what we pretend isn't broken. That's why he names the lost years.

He brings them into the light and says, "This is not where your story ends. This is what I am going to restore. " That's the heart of a father who loves deeply.

He doesn't minimize your pain and he doesn't skip over your struggle. He enters into it, sits with you in it, and then promises to lead you out. And here's something else we need to understand.

The years may be gone, but they're not forgotten by God. He's not limited by time. He's not bound by human clocks or calendars.

The world may measure life by milestones and achievements. But God measures by purpose and redemption. He can do in one year what you thought needed 10.

He can make the latter years of your life more fruitful than all the previous ones combined. But it starts with this truth. He sees what was lost and he's not ignoring it.

When God says, "I will restore the years. " He is affirming something sacred that your life is not disposable. Your time is not meaningless.

Your pain is not invisible. Even if you feel like no one else gets it, he does. He was there through every dry season, every sleepless night, every lonely moment.

And now he stands ready to restore. But before restoration comes acknowledgment. And God in his great mercy has already said, "I see the years.

I see the locusts. I see what was taken. And I promise I will restore it all.

" This is not just a verse to quote when things feel hard. It's a promise to cling to when you wonder if anything good can still come from your life. The answer is yes, because God has seen your loss.

and he has already begun writing your restoration. God's promise isn't just to help us cope. It's to restore.

That's an important distinction. In times of loss or disappointment, we often settle for survival. We learn to endure.

We say things like, "If I can just make it through this," or "If I can just feel a little better. " And while there is grace in those moments, God's desire for us is so much more than comfort. He is not simply the God of soothing words or temporary relief.

He is the God of full restoration. When God speaks about restoring the years the locusts have eaten, he's not saying he'll merely help you feel better about what's gone. He's saying he will return what was taken.

He will bring beauty from ashes, strength from weakness, and purpose from pain. This kind of restoration doesn't just erase the memory of loss. It transforms it.

It turns the testimony of what you went through into a foundation for what's coming next. We live in a broken world where loss is common. People lose years to addiction, to bad decisions, to unhealthy relationships, to fear, to trauma, to spiritual stagnation.

And often when those years are over, what remains is a heart that's just trying to heal. But healing is only part of the process. God doesn't stop there.

He says, "I will restore. " That means he will rebuild what was broken. He will replace what was lost.

And often he will return it in a better form. Consider the way God has worked throughout scripture. When Job lost everything, his family, his wealth, his health, God did not just comfort him, he restored him.

The Bible says that Job ended up with double what he had before. That wasn't a reward for suffering. It was the result of restoration.

God saw what had been taken, and he gave back more than what was lost. Not only did Job receive physical blessings, but his faith was deepened. His understanding of God grew and his testimony became a source of hope for generation.

That same pattern plays out again and again. When Naomi lost her husband and sons, she returned home in grief, calling herself Mara, which means bitter. But through God's providence, she witnessed the restoration of her family through Ruth.

She became part of the lineage of King David and ultimately Jesus Christ. Restoration was never just about Naomi feeling better. It was about God completing a bigger plan through what she thought was the end of her story.

In our own lives, restoration can take many forms. Sometimes God gives us new opportunities that surpass what we missed before. Sometimes he brings healing in relationships we thought were permanently broken.

Sometimes he births fresh purpose from past pain, allowing us to help others with the very comfort we ourselves have received. And sometimes he gives us peace so deep, so enduring that even if we don't recover what was lost in a literal sense, our hearts overflow with more than we ever imagined possible. But restoration requires surrender.

It means trusting that God's version of making things right may not look like ours. It means believing that even when we can't go back, God can move us forward into something just as meaningful, if not more. We must let go of our timelines, our regrets, and even our expectations and say, "God, have your way in restoring me.

" Because when he restores, he does it fully. He does it purposefully. He does it beautifully.

One of the greatest truths about restoration is that it doesn't depend on our ability to fix what's broken. It depends on God's grace. He doesn't need perfect conditions or ideal circumstances.

He just needs your willingness to believe again, to hope again, to trust that what's ahead can still be good. You may feel like you're picking up the pieces of a shattered dream, but God sees something different. He sees potential.

He sees a future. He sees your restoration already in motion. So if you're walking through a season of coping.

If you're surviving but not thriving, know this. God is not done. He is not content to see you merely get by.

He promises to restore, to bring back joy where there was sorrow, to awaken purpose where there was stagnation, to open doors where there were once only walls. And when he does, you'll know it wasn't your strength that brought you through. It was his promise, his power, and his plan.

You were never meant to just survive. You were meant to be restored. Let that truth settle deep in your heart today.

God is not just patching you up. He is rebuilding you, renewing you, and preparing you for more. And when his restoration is complete, it will be more than you expected, more than you lost, and more than you imagined possible.

Wasted years don't mean a wasted future. That is one of the most hopeful and liberating truths you can hold on to, especially when you're standing in the aftermath of mistakes, delays, or detours. Life doesn't always go as we plan.

We make decisions we regret. We stay in places we should have left. We walk away from opportunities because of fear, insecurity, or pain.

And sometimes we simply drift. Before we know it, months or even years have passed, and we wonder if we've lost too much to ever truly recover. But with God, nothing is ever truly lost.

He doesn't look at your past the way you do. He doesn't measure your worth by your worst seasons or your most painful chapters. He sees the entire story from beginning to end.

And he knows how to take every broken piece and weave it into something purposeful. Your past may have shaped you, but it does not define your future. In God's hands, no experience is wasted, not even the ones that hurt.

One of the most powerful things about God's nature is that he is a redeemer. That means he buys back what was lost. He reclaims what was stolen.

He revives what looked dead. When he looks at you, he doesn't see damaged goods or missed chances. He sees potential.

He sees purpose. He sees someone worth investing in. Even if you've taken detours, even if you've fallen behind, he knows how to get you back on track without wasting any more time.

The enemy wants you to believe that because of what happened or what didn't happen, you're disqualified. He wants you stuck in regret, rehearsing your failures and questioning whether anything good can still come from your life. But God's voice is different.

He says, "I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a future and a hope.

" That promise wasn't just for perfect people. It was for real people. People with scars, people with pasts, people like you and me.

It's easy to look around and feel like everyone else is ahead. You might see others reaching milestones you thought you'd have by now. You might feel like time has slipped through your fingers and wonder how you'll ever catch up.

But God isn't confined by human timelines. He doesn't need decades to do what only takes him a moment. When he moves, he can accelerate you beyond anything you thought possible.

What felt like a season of delay may turn out to be a setup for a comeback. What felt like time lost may become the very thing he uses to strengthen your character and deepen your faith. Look at the life of Moses.

He spent 40 years in the wilderness, far from the palace where he grew up. By all human standards, his best years were behind him. But God wasn't done.

In his 80s, God called him into the greatest assignment of his life to lead an entire nation to freedom. Moses's wasted years became preparation for divine purpose. And that same God is working in your story, too.

Sometimes the years we call wasted were actually the soil where something deeper was being planted. You may not have seen the fruit yet, but the roots are growing. Maybe God was developing endurance in you.

Maybe he was building wisdom, compassion, or resilience. Maybe he was letting certain things fall apart so he could build something better. You see, God doesn't just fix what's broken.

He creates something entirely new. And what he has for your future doesn't depend on a perfect past. It depends on his power and your willingness to trust him.

Your destiny is not fragile. It's not easily destroyed. It's not canceled by a few wrong turns.

As long as you have breath, God still has a plan. And no matter how much time you think you've lost, he knows how to restore it in ways that will surprise you. He can open doors you didn't even know existed.

He can bring relationships, opportunities, and blessings that feel like redemption in human form. That's who he is. That's what he does.

So don't give up on your future because of your past. Don't let shame or regret convince you that it's over. You are not too late.

You are not too far gone and you are not disqualified. With God, your future is still full of hope because he is still writing your story and the best is yet to come. Restoration looks different than rewinding time.

When we think of restoration, we often imagine going back to how things used to be. We wish we could return to a certain moment, undo a mistake, relive an opportunity, or have another chance to make a different choice. In our minds, the best possible outcome is to go back and do it right.

But God doesn't restore by taking us backward. He restores by moving us forward, transforming what was lost into something greater, something more complete, something that carries the weight of wisdom, strength, and maturity. God is not interested in simply giving us the same version of what we had before.

His ways are higher. His plans are deeper. When he restores, he doesn't just return what was taken.

He adds to it. He redeems the time not by erasing the past but by building something beautiful from it. That's what makes his restoration so powerful.

It's not about going back to what was. It's about becoming who you were always meant to be despite what happened. If you look through scripture, you'll see this principle again and again.

When Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, he lost years of his life. years that could have been spent with family, growing in freedom, building a life. Instead, he spent them in a foreign land, in prison, forgotten.

But when God restored Joseph, he didn't take him back to his father's house. He promoted him to a position of authority in Egypt. God didn't rewind Joseph's life.

He advanced it. What Joseph gained in wisdom, influence, and purpose far exceeded what he lost. He was no longer the favored son with dreams.

He was now the leader who would save nations, including the very brothers who betrayed him. That's the kind of restoration God does. It's not about pretending the loss never happened.

It's about rising from the loss with something richer, deeper, and more meaningful. It's about realizing that the pain shaped you, the delays matured you, and the detours brought you to places you would have never found on your own. You come out of it not only healed, but transformed.

And what you carry now, whether it's strength, humility, faith, or resilience, is often more valuable than what was taken from you in the first place. It's also important to understand that God's restoration doesn't always look the way we expect. Sometimes we pray for a specific thing to be returned, a relationship, a job, a missed opportunity.

But instead of bringing that exact thing back, God gives us something better. Maybe it's a new beginning, a healthier relationship, a clearer sense of calling, or a deeper intimacy with him. At first, it might not look like restoration.

It might feel unfamiliar, but over time, you begin to see how God was not just giving back what was lost. He was giving you what you truly needed. This forwardmoving restoration also comes with perspective.

As you walk with God, you begin to see your past differently. The seasons you once viewed as wasted now look like preparation. The mistakes that once brought shame now testify to God's grace.

The places where you felt abandoned become the very places where you met God most intimately. That is restoration. It's not about getting everything back the way it was.

It's about becoming whole again in a new, more powerful way. And let's not forget that restoration also impacts the people around us. When God restores your heart, your purpose, your joy, it doesn't stay contained in your life alone.

It overflows. Your testimony strengthens others. Your healing brings hope.

Your journey becomes a road mapap for someone else who's walking through loss or confusion. Restoration becomes contagious. It spreads and suddenly what the enemy meant for harm becomes a source of blessing for many.

So if you've been asking God to take you back, to reverse the clock, to undo what's been done, maybe it's time to change the prayer. Ask him instead to restore you forward. Ask him to give you eyes to see what he's building now.

Trust that what's ahead is not just a replacement. It's a redemption. It's better than what was.

Even if it looks different, God is a forward moving God. He never wastes pain. He never leaves things half finishedish.

And when he restores, he does it with purpose, precision, and power. So don't wait for things to look like they used to. Watch as he creates something entirely new, something that could never have been born without the journey you've walked.

What you gain with him can be far better than what you lost. Restoration requires preparation. It's not something that simply happens to us while we stand still with closed hands and closed hearts.

To fully receive what God wants to restore, we must be spiritually ready. That readiness isn't about being perfect or having everything figured out. It's about being open, willing, and surrendered.

It means actively choosing to let go of what hinders us so we can make space for what God wants to give us. Many people ask for restoration, but are still holding tightly to bitterness. They say they want healing, but they're unwilling to release the pain.

They say they want a fresh start, but they keep rehearsing the past. The truth is, you can't move into a new season while dragging the baggage of the old one behind you. God wants to pour new things into your life.

But you have to be willing to clear out the old to make room. Letting go of bitterness is one of the first steps. Bitterness poisons the heart and clouds your vision.

It convinces you that nothing good can happen again. It holds you captive to what someone did, to what didn't happen, or to what you lost. And while it may feel justified, bitterness blocks restoration.

God wants to replace your sorrow with joy. But bitterness leaves no room for joy to take root. To be spiritually ready for restoration, you have to lay bitterness down and trust that God is a better judge, a better healer, and a better redeemer than your pain.

Regret is another weight that must be released. It's natural to look back at your life and think, "If only I had done this differently, or I wish I could go back and change that. " But regret keeps you stuck.

It locks your focus on the rear view mirror. While God is calling you to look forward, he's not asking you to ignore the lessons of your past, but he is asking you not to be imprisoned by them. Being spiritually ready means shifting your focus from what could have been to what still can be.

Then there's fear. Fear can paralyze you. It can convince you that restoration is too good to be true.

That if you hope again, you'll only be disappointed. Fear whispers that it's safer to stay numb than to open your heart again. But fear and faith cannot coexist.

To be ready for restoration, you have to choose faith. Even when it feels risky, you have to believe that God can be trusted with your heart, that he knows what he's doing, and that his plans for you are good, even if you can't see the full picture yet. Spiritual readiness also involves positioning yourself in God's presence.

Restoration doesn't happen apart from him. It's not just about circumstances changing. It's about transformation that starts on the inside.

When you spend time in prayer, in scripture, in worship, you're aligning your heart with God's. You're making space for him to speak, to heal, to guide. You're saying, "Lord, I want what you want for my life.

" That posture of humility and surrender is what opens the door for restoration to begin. Sometimes God withholds restoration, not because he's punishing us, but because he knows we're not ready yet. He sees what we can't.

He knows that giving us certain things too soon would only cause more harm. So in his mercy, he prepares us first. He refineses our character.

He heals hidden wounds. He strengthens our foundation so that when the restoration comes, we're able to carry it well. We're able to sustain the blessing, not sabotage it.

That preparation process may not feel glamorous. It might involve pruning, stretching, waiting, but it's not a waste. It's sacred.

It's the quiet work God does beneath the surface so that when the visible fruit comes, it's lasting and real. And the more we yield to that process, the more we'll see God's hand restoring things we thought were gone forever. So ask yourself, am I ready for what I'm asking God to restore?

Am I willing to release what's been holding me back? Am I making space in my heart and life for the new things he wants to do? Spiritual readiness is not about striving.

It's about surrender. It's about opening your heart and saying, "God, I trust you. I let go of the old.

I'm ready for the new. " Restoration is coming. But don't just wait for it.

Prepare for it. Let God do the deep work in you now so you'll be ready to fully receive everything he has planned because what's ahead is worth being ready for. Faith and expectation position you for renewal.

They create a posture of the heart that invites God to move, to restore, and to do what only he can do. Too often people wait for restoration with passive hope, thinking that maybe someday something might change. But the kind of faith that moves God is active.

It is alive. It believes that God is not only capable but willing, not only powerful but present. When you live with expectation, you begin to align your life, your words, and your actions with what you believe God can do.

Faith is not pretending that everything is okay. It is choosing to believe that God is working even when everything looks wrong. It is standing in the middle of a broken situation and declaring that God can bring beauty out of ashes.

Expectation is the daily decision to live as if God's promises are true, even when you haven't seen them yet. It's not denying your reality. It's believing in a greater one.

That kind of expectation doesn't come from wishful thinking. It comes from knowing who God is. faithful, trustworthy, merciful, and full of grace.

When you speak life over your future, you're doing more than just being positive. You are declaring truth in the face of lies. You are refusing to let your past failures dictate your future outcomes.

Words have power, and when your words align with God's promises, you are sewing seeds of renewal. You may not see the harvest right away, but keep speaking life. Speak as someone who knows that restoration is coming, who believes that God is still in control.

Say things like, "I may have lost time, but I haven't lost my purpose. " Or, "God is not finished with me yet. " Let your mouth agree with heaven, not with fear or defeat.

Prayer plays a key role in this as well. When you pray with boldness, you're not just asking for help. You're entering into partnership with God.

You're saying, "I believe you can move. I believe you hear me. I believe you care.

" Bold prayers aren't about demanding things from God. They're about trusting him enough to ask big things, to expect miracles, to lean into his ability rather than your own. Bold prayers reflect a heart that refuses to settle for survival.

When God has promised abundance, they say, "God, I want everything you have for me, even if I don't understand how you'll do it. " Showing up is another act of faith. Sometimes the greatest demonstration of belief is simply refusing to give up.

You keep going to church. You keep opening your Bible. You keep serving others.

You keep showing up to life even when it's hard. Even when you don't feel anything changing, faith isn't always loud. Sometimes it looks like quiet consistency, like obedience in the ordinary.

Sometimes it's just choosing to get out of bed and keep moving forward, trusting that God is with you in the process. God often restores in the lives of those who are actively looking for him to move. He responds to hunger.

He meets people in the tension of waiting with hope. In the Gospels, we see this over and over again. The woman with the issue of blood reached out in the crowd expecting healing.

Blind Barameus cried out when he heard Jesus was near. The friends of the paralyzed man tore through a roof to get him to Jesus. None of these people were passive.

They pursued. They expected. They acted on their faith and Jesus responded to it.

If you want to see restoration in your life, live like you believe it's coming. Positioned your heart in faith, not fear. Cultivate an atmosphere of expectation.

Let your thoughts, your prayers, your conversations reflect what you believe God is about to do. Don't allow discouragement to rob you of hope. Even if things look dark now, your breakthrough could be closer than you think.

The night before the resurrection looked like the end, but God was just getting started. Living with faith and expectation doesn't mean you'll never doubt or struggle. But it does mean you refuse to stay in despair.

It means you keep lifting your eyes, keep trusting in the character of God, and keep moving forward even when it's difficult. Renewal begins in a heart that says, "God, I believe you can restore me, and I'm ready to see you do it. " So today, choose to live like God is not done.

Speak life. Pray bold prayers. Keep showing up.

Let your faith and expectation create the atmosphere where miracles can happen, where dead things come back to life, and where the restoration you've been waiting for finally arrives.