The Bible says in Psalms 68:19; "Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits". And in Psalms 19:1-2 the Bible also says,
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork, day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge."
It is the will of God that we achieve profit and have sufficient benefits in every good and godly thing we do in life. In Matthew 6:11, Jesus Christ admonished us to ask for daily bread during our prayers; "Give us this day our daily bread." Our “daily bread” means our daily needs. Jesus said so because God is always willing and ready to supply our needs. God takes care of His creatures; He feeds us, cloths us, provides for us, gives us wisdom, reveals knowledge to us, and also protects our lives and belongings. Isn't it amazing that God does all these things for us? Unfortunately, these daily blessings and benefits elude many people, while the majority of people lose these benefits even after they have received them.
In the book of John chapter ten, verse ten, the Bible says, "The thief does not come except to steal and to kill, and to destroy."
There are specific facts about thieves that we should know;
1) A thief comes without notification.
2) A thief comes to rob you of your goods and belongings.
3) A thief can do anything to get what he wants, even if it means killing someone.
4) A thief is cruel and wicked.
5) A thief sees stealing as a business and not an act of evil.
6) A thief comes each time he noticed that something good has come into someone's life.
7) A thief is not mindful of your loss. He is mindful of his gain. Etc.
These ungodly characteristics of a thief or thieves should call for your attention, and equally awaken you into realizing the damages the Devil might have done in the lives of many people, and the destructions he may still cause if you slumber in sleep and merry in relaxation without praying down the mighty hand of God to put an end to these evil operations of the Devil.
It is the nature of Satan to steal. If he succeeds in stealing, it becomes easier for him to kill and destroy. This menace of Satan and his cohorts have reduced the potency of the virtues which God deposited in the lives of His people, and also render the destiny of many people useless. Satan has robbed many people of their salvation, gifts, talents, marriages, jobs, businesses, properties, and even their lives. It is not by accident that someone who used to be good, suddenly becomes evil. There is a high rate of divorce in the world today because the Devil has stolen the love of many marriages. Many spiritually active people suddenly became spiritually down because Satan has stolen their spiritual strength and effectiveness. God thinks and plans good for us, and He is always good to His creatures. But Satan vowed to steal and destroy this divine generosity given to humanity, and he is determined to continue these wicked acts with great aggravation. Therefore, you must be mindful of whatsoever the Devil has stolen from you and quickly seek recovery through divine intervention. Jesus Christ has purchased the redemption and restoration power for us. Therefore, we have to make of this divine power effectively in active exercises, both in prayer and works to enable us to recover all that we have lost.
No one enjoys losing something good. A pregnant woman is never happy when she experiences a miscarriage during pregnancy or loses her child after birth. Businessmen and women feel so sad whenever they fail in any business venture. In sports, no team feels happy whenever they lose a match or tournament to their opponent. In Luke 8:43-48, the Bible recorded the story of a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years. Because of her painful condition, she was so restless and unhappy that she had to sneak through the crowd and touched the hem of the garment of Jesus Christ so she could be healed and be free from her infirmities. The question here is, "Why did this woman take such drastic decision, even when she knew she could be rebuked by the people around Jesus Christ, and her action could be seen as encroachment?” The truth is that this woman had lost so much in life, and she didn’t want to continue loosing. In the past twelve years, she had lost so much blood, so much money, many friends and relatives. These are quite enough for someone to be distressed about, and that was how much virtues and blessings Satan stole from this woman before she encountered Jesus Christ.
Generally, we set goals and targets virtually in everything we do in life, and whenever we experience loss instead of gain, we feel so sad. The Bible says that "God loads us with daily benefits." We are destined to be the beneficiaries of God's goodness and not losers in any of our good and godly quests. We are encouraged to make more efforts when our works yield profit. But when we keep losing and losing despite our commitments towards our goals and visions, it makes one feel like quitting even when the future is very bright. Satan understood how frustrating it could be to lose what you suppose to get, that is why he chose "stealing" as one of his major schemes, and he is wickedly executing this evil plans in the lives of many people without any thought to relent.
The hope we have irrespective of what we have lost in life is that we have the potent power of God and also reserve the right to recover the things we have lost, no matter how far, how big, and how expensive it may be. God is still in the business of recovery and restoration, even unto the end of the earth. If you have lost any precious thing and it looks as if you won’t succeed in life, don't be down-casted, there is hope for you.
DIVINE WORKS OF RECOVERY IN THE LIFE OF JOSEPH
The story of Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, is an excellent example of how God recovers and restores our losses. It is an exciting biblical event that contains intriguing revelation knowledge of how God recover and restore His people. Joseph was a man whom God revealed the greatness of his destiny. Out of excitement, he related his dreams to his parents and his siblings, thinking they would rejoice with him. To his amazement, his parents and his siblings did not regard his dreams. The dreams which God revealed to Joseph sounded so fascinating in the ears of his brethren. Therefore, they doubted the possibility of such dreams coming to fulfilment. Joseph's family members came against him instead of encouraging him. As a result of this maltreatment, Joseph lost many things in the journey of his life because he was antagonized by his biological family members who supposed to be a source of encouragement to him.
Let's consider the things Joseph lost in the journey of his life.
1) Joseph lost parental love and care (Genesis 37:31-34)
2) Joseph lost his relationship with his brothers (Genesis 37:35)
3) Joseph lost his good health (Genesis 37:24)
4) Joseph lost his garment of many colours (Genesis 37:23)
5) Joseph lost his friends (Genesis 37:2)
6) Joseph lost his first job in his father's house (Genesis 37:2)
7) Joseph lost his second job in Potiphar's house as a governor (Genesis 39:3-6)
8) Joseph lost his garment of governorship in Potiphar's house (Genesis 39:10-16)
9) Joseph lost his freedom of movement because he was put in prison (Genesis 39:20-21)
10) Joseph "temporally" lost his value as a great man (Genesis 39:20).
Despite all this quantum of losses which were painful experiences in the life of Joseph, he had two things that upheld him and helped him to fulfil his dreams;