“Recovering What Was Lost” (The Refill)
Pastor Jim Lowe III
Sunday Morning, 9:30am Stream 01/18/26 (3rd Sunday Message)
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{All scriptures are NIV84 unless stated}
2026: The Year of the Comeback!
If someone asks:
Here is our foundation scripture:
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
If God’s people who are called by his name will:
Position themselves differently. The Lord Will Heal
How Will He Heal?
Through Restoration and Replenishing.
“In 2026 If We Turn More To Him, We Are Believing He Will Restore What We’ve Lost and Replenish What Is Empty!”
Now that we’ve gotten it all out… let’s break it down fully.
Because we are talking about restoring and replenishing… this series will be titled
The Refill
and the message for today:
Message Title:
“Recovering What Was Lost” (The Refill)
Let’s go back to our foundation scripture and start in v13.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Let’s talk about this scripture.
We explained last week that this was a future promise. So the Lord is saying to Solomon:
“If situations happen…here’s what you do, and here’s what I do.” Last week we talked about the rain.
Let’s talk about the next thing. Commanding locusts to devour the land.
What Do The Locusts Represent?
The bible says when the Lord “commands the locusts to devour the land.” This is something that we can see often also.
Instead of the rain that waters our effort.
the Lord giving a blessing to the work we do… The Locusts represent loss of the things we labor for. Examples:
If You Feel You Are Doing Everything Right But Still Losing Ground, It Could Be Something Eating Your Reward!
This isn’t the same as rain.
The rain is slowing the crops from growing. slowing your efforts from producing.
Locusts deal with what you have produced being “eaten.” Or diminished
The bible talks about the power of locusts specifically.
In Exodus there was a plague of Locusts…
but we didn’t see how devastating they can be.
Joel talks about how dangerous these things really are.
Joel 1:2-4
2 Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? 3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. 4 What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten.
This is saying that it’s constantly depleting.
When the giant locusts have eaten… then come the young locusts…
The things that are GOOD for you are eaten:
What are things you have that can be slowly eaten away? It’s not just about “food.”
When it comes to being spiritual…
Examples of Locusts:
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Continued Trauma That Holds Us Back
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Anxiety/Fear
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Constant Miscommunications/Conflicts With Others
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Good Friendships/Marriages Under Attack
These things were strong at one point…
it’s like something has eaten away at them slowly but surely.
Joel 1:6-7
6 A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. 7 It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.
It has taken things you never thought it would take.
Locusts have the teeth of a lion… more ferocious than expected.
It has laid waste to what was produced.
Examples of Locusts:
These things talk about loss of time.
the effort that once created major returns for you. now returns little.
because the time is eaten away.
The days go too fast…because at the end of the day you feel like you’ve gotten very little done.
Locusts Don’t Necessarily Stop You, They Keep You Where You Are!
They keep you in states of repetition…
you wake up and do the same thing… but getting nowhere.
And it’s not just your current days…. the future is in question.
Joel 1:10
10 The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails.
We also have other examples of how things can be taken from us. But they DEFINITELY can hit us in our pockets also.
Haggai 1:6
6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
Planted much…
you did the work…
but it yielded little crop.
NOT because it didn’t grow… but because it was eaten.
This gives us other examples.
Examples of Locusts:
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Unexpected Bills
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Inflation
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Medical Expenses
-
Job Loss
These things that constantly eat at the things we’re trying to produce.
What USED to produce seems to disappear… or like something is draining.
Losing Isn’t Always Because Of Poor Planing. This Is An Opportunity For Us To Return To The Lord So He Can Replenish Us!
Now that we get an idea of what these look like… Let’s talk about how to deal with them.
Just like last week.
Pressing Through Loss Requires More Than Prayer - It Requires Better Positioning!
So let’s go back to our scripture:
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Now that we’ve talked about rain. what that looks like.
Let’s begin to look at the blueprint. When you suffer loss.
Loss = 1. humility -> 2. pray -> 3. seek -> 4. turn around = forgive heal again from last week
This Year If Something Feels Like It’s Missing:
-
Lower Yourself
-
Look Up
-
Live Different
James 4:8 {from last week}
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
If we return to him - he will make things right. Let’s talk about HOW the Lord will heal our land.
I prayed quite a bit and asked the Lord HOW he will heal our land.
There were two words given to me for this.
{2026: The Year of the Comeback}
Restore and Replenish
This week we’ll talk about the second one.
How The Lord Will Heal:
Replenish:
Replenish - What Has Been Used Will Be Refilled!
What you’ve lost can be returned to you.
Psalm 107:99 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Those who are thirsty have used up their water. Those who are hungry have used up their food.
it doesn’t just say he satisfies them with water and food. with good things!
He can give you more than you asked for!
There Is Nothing You’ve Lost That God Can’t Replenish!
In Joel from earlier….
after the talk about the locusts… how they ate everything.
Joel 1:10 - The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails.
The Lord responds very easily with what he will do.
Joel 2:19
“I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully;
The Lord is saying that thing you lack… he can directly resupply!
Enough to satisfy you fully!
Replenishing Is God’s Answer To Seasons Of Loss!
But our God doesn’t just replenish us with things… he replenishes US.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
Inwardly…
as we position ourselves.
WE are bing renewed.
Isaiah 40:31
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Their strength will be renewed… It will be replenished.
Those who have hope in the Lord… the more they give out.
the more they get back.
So what are we believing for?
Things We Are Believing The Lord To Replenish This Year:
Strength, Faith, Finances, Self-Worth, Drive, Productivity, Relationships
These are just some examples! But this is YOUR story!
What Has Been Robbed From You? We Are Believing In 2026 You Can Get It Back!
The Lord says plainly he will give back to us what we’ve lost!
Joel 2:25
25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you.
The Lord is saying that return is possible! But he won’t JUST return it.
Proverbs 3:7
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
Fearing the Lord will bring health.
he will replenish and restore health.
The Lord Doesn’t Just Give It Back, He Causes It To Overflow!
But one thing great about our God… If you position yourself correctly:
he won’t just return what you lost he will also protect it!
Malachi 3:10-12
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty.
He says if you honor him. doing what is right…
he will not only overflow what you have… but he will protect it from being taken!
What’s yours is yours!
We just have to position ourselves better!
Loss Is Real - But It Is Never Final With God!
So how do we get this?
Returning to him…
positioning better.
Joel 2:12
12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Just like in Chronicles…
return to him… seriously…
stop playing with me.
Joel 2:13
13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Rend your heart…not your clothes.
don’t just change your clothes like you do every day. if you’re gonna change anything…
change your heart.
get serious.
Zechariah 1:3-6
3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty.
Someone has to make a choice to bring it back.
2026 Can’t A Comeback For You Until You Fully Come Back To Him!
So the question is….
If The Lord is going to do amazing things for you this year….
What Are You Going To Do Differently?
PLEASE make sure to come out to our small groups on Wednesday. There is a LOT to break down…
There is a LOT the Lord has shown….
There IS a lot to recover…
and WE need to position ourselves to do it.
