2 Kings chapter 4 records the restoration to life of a woman’s son who had died from sunstroke. Then later on the restoration to the woman of her house and land, after a seven year drought, during which time she had lived among the Philistines. These reveal two different aspects of restoration: the first a restoration through a miracle of God’s power; the second through a royal decree.
Of the recorded miracles of Jesus, half came through his hands and half through his words of authority. This suggests that we should not only expect restorations to come through God’s miraculous power in our lives but also others through authority in Jesus’ Name to proclaim justice, equity and freedom over our families, workplaces, our states and nation.
Elisha the prophet restored the boy through a miracle, and the king restored his mother’s property through a decree. Power and authority worked hand in hand back then and they do so still in our day. We need to exercise both.
Eliphaz counselled Job: “You shall also decree a thing and it shall be established…” (Job 22:28) Such a decree has its origin in human authority. Better, however, is a Divine decree that we declare: “I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me:..” (Psalm 2:7)
What then can we — should we — now declare? The answer is not so much those things God has promised us in the Bible. Not prophetic promises but promises fulfilled by Jesus Christ on the Cross, which then became accomplished facts.
An example is the prophetic promise in Isaiah 53:5, which Peter the apostle records as an accomplished fact; i.e. as having been fulfilled in the sufferings of Jesus, through which Divine Healing was turned from a future promise into an accomplished fact — a Divine decree for every Christian to declare.