Foundational Truths

The Cross

At the heart of Christian life is the Cross of Jesus Christ. At the heart of our faith is the Cross. At the heart of all effective Christian ministry stands the Cross.

The Cross is the focus of God’s greatest provision for us. Here we can be reconciled with Jesus and with our Abba Father. The Cross declares His incredible love and points the way to an exchanged life, giving Jesus all that we are and receiving in exchange Himself and all that He has done for us. Here lies the doorway to an abundant, joyful life on earth as well as the glorious knowledge of eternal life.

The Cross is powerful. It under-girds all that we do at Restoring the Foundations. As we come to the Cross and lay down sin, we receive forgiveness and experience release from guilt and shame. Because of the Cross, curses are broken. Against the truths of the Cross, we measure and expose ungodly beliefs that have infiltrated our minds and crippled our lives. The love shown through the Cross assures us that Jesus cares about healing our broken hearts and lives. Because satan was defeated at the Cross, Jesus gives us authority over demons and triumph over death itself.

Come to the Cross and feel the heartbeat of God.

Scripture References: (1 Corinthians 1:18)

God’s Loving Design

God’s creation magnificently reflects His person and His character. From the very beginning, God infused His love and provision into laws and principles governing how we are to relate to our surroundings, our neighbors, and especially Himself.

It’s relatively easy to recognize physical laws. The law of gravity keeps our feet on the ground. In the emotional and social realms we intuitively know that focusing on the negative can cause us to become withdrawn or depressed. Perhaps you’ve even heard sayings like, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar!” or, “You reap what you sow.” These sayings simply recognize God’s laws in operation.

God’s moral laws guide how we relate to God and to our neighbors. From the beginning, long before Moses authored the first five books of the Bible—the Law, Cain and Abel both brought a sacrifice to God. Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek. God’s moral law also applies today, to Christians. Understanding how God’s laws apply to us will help us appropriate lasting healing.

God’s laws have not changed because God’s character has not changed. But, how we relate to God’s laws fundamentally changed when Jesus died on the Cross. Jesus Christ fulfilled, not abolished, the law. Our life is found in Christ and our righteousness before the Father is His. As believers, we are not exempt from God’s laws which govern His Creation; but, we relate to these laws through Jesus.

We are under grace. This grace empowers us, through the Holy Spirit, to fulfill the law, to produce the fruit of the Spirit. Our source is not in ourselves in order to earn our way into His presence. Rather, our source is from above so that we can come to our Heavenly Father in confidence based upon the finished work on the Cross.

God’s law and His grace provide us many promises. Quite often, they are conditional. If we do this, then God will do that. If … then. Consider 1 John 1:9; if we, as Christians, confess our sins, God will forgive and purify us. This is an if .. then promise. This promise, filled with the grace of a loving and forgiving Heavenly Father, is available to believers. It is based upon our position in Christ, upon grace. We simply make these promises our own by fulfilling His loving conditions.

Scripture References: (1 John 1:9; 2 Chronicles 7:14)

Four Unchanging Laws

While there are many laws governing God’s creation, several are foundational to Restoring the Foundations ministry.

Sowing and Reaping. Planting a garden can be enjoyable, even predictable. If we plant tomato seeds, we expect to reap tomatoes. God has designed each species so that when their seed is sown into fertile soil, the seed reproduces its own kind. Sowing and reaping also applies in our own lives, our relationships with others, and our relationship with God. We can sow either positive or negative seed in every circumstance.

Law of Multiplication. As we sow and reap, God has designed us to be fruitful and multiply. Whether it is more fruit or more sons, God is the God of multiplication. Unfortunately, we often have more faith for negative seeds than we do for positive seeds. Dwelling on fears and worries makes it easier to expect bad things than good and our harvest from negative seeds is frequently greater than our harvest from good seeds. Ungodly beliefs multiply negative seeds. It is possible to stop the negative planting and multiply positive seeds by renewing our minds with Godly beliefs that reflect His truth.

Time Before Harvest. Every type of seed takes time to bear fruit. A human pregnancy takes about nine months while an elephant takes two years. God has ordained a rhythm, a cycle, an elapse of time between seed time and harvest. As we change our ungodly beliefs into godly beliefs, we need to expect a passage of time before we see evidence of the new harvest. As good seed is planted, things in our life and our relationships will begin to change for the good.

Believing in Your Heart. What we believe in our heart dramatically affects our life for good or for bad. Our belief system impacts our prayers and the answer to those prayers. In fact, the things we believe in our heart tend to come out of our mouths. Restoring the Foundations ministers are trained to identify the ungodly beliefs we have and life’s hurts which negatively impact our heart. We can then apply the law of believing in our heart to further the blessings and promises of God.

Scripture References:(Galatians 6:7-8)

Mark 4:20 (NIV)

“Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:20

Genesis 8:22 (NIV)

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Genesis 8:22

Mark 11:23-24 (NIV)

“Truly[a] I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:23-24

Forgiveness

Forgive. The word can strike terror in our heart. How do I? How can I after all that has happened?

Perhaps you have suffered unspeakable harm; perhaps you are the one who inflicted the pain. The events may even seem to justify a lasting resentment—against another or yourself. Justice may cry out from the pain but mercy cries out to our God. And, God requires forgiveness.

Forgiveness is bedrock on the pathway to healing. Biblical forgiveness flows in three essential directions: forgiving others, receiving forgiveness from our Heavenly Father, and forgiving ourselves. As long as unforgiveness is present, God’s hand of protection, mercy, and restoration is hindered at best and, at worst, halted.

While we must make a decision to forgive, forgiveness is more than a decision; it must come from the heart. That takes God’s grace, it takes God’s healing. We can’t always start by forgiving from our heart, but we can begin by making the decision to forgive. Then as we enter onto a healing pathway, our decision to forgive will be more and more from our heart, and the wounds of our heart will be more and more healed.  If we persevere, God can and will bring us to the place of wholehearted forgiveness.

Scripture References: (Colossians 3:13)

Matthew 18:35 (NIV)

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:35