Just recently, Amber & I were trying to capture a lost dog who was in our neighborhood. We took a leash & food with us but it wouldn't come to us. We had no idea who it belong to, but we wanted to 'rescue' it. I took a picture of it & posted it on our local lost & found pets. As we continued on we had to flag cars to warn them of the dog aimlessly crossing over te busy road. So many stopped to help us, along with the owners family responding to my post, and meeting us where we were.
The dog who was scared, ended up where there was no other way out of the construction area, and went in the water for a drink. The owner saw her, called her and she responded to his voice. The 2 of them were reunited.
Each person played an important role such as assisting, keeping the dog away from danger, or knowing where to go to locate the owner, or shining lights into the area, or calling her name. Not one person quit, until 90mins later, she was restored to her owner.
Gary Woods said that 1 of the 3 things that will mark the soon return of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Restoration.
Every week as we pray for family members we are doing our part, we are the search party, working with each and the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to seek that which is lost, to knock on the doors of their heart and to restore them back to the Father. Our prayers and the work of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, hit the mark as we intercede for the lost, which results in leading them to The One, Jesus Christ, their Saviour.
John 3:16-17; Luke 19:10; John 10:7-18; John 14:6
John 3:16-17 AMPC
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. [17] For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.
Luke 19:10 TPT - The Son of Man has come to seek out and to give life to those who are lost.”
Luke 19:10 MSG - For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.
John 10:7-18 TPT
So Jesus went over it again, “I speak to you eternal truth: I am the Gate for the flock. [8] All those who broke in before me are thieves who came to steal, but the sheep never listened to them. [9] I am the Gateway. To enter through me is to experience life, freedom, and satisfaction. [10] A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect —life in its fullness until you overflow! [11] I am the Good Shepherd who lays down my life as a sacrifice for the sheep. [12-13] But the worker who serves only for wages is not a real shepherd. Because he has no heart for the sheep he will run away and abandon them when he sees the wolf coming. And then the wolf mauls the sheep, drags them off, and scatters them. [14] “I alone am the Good Shepherd, and I know those whose hearts are mine, for they recognize me and know me, [15] just as my Father knows my heart and I know my Father’s heart. I am ready to give my life for the sheep. [16] “And I have other sheep that I will gather which are not of this Jewish flock. And I, their shepherd, must lead them too, and they will follow me and listen to my voice. And I will join them all into one flock with one shepherd. [17] “The Father has an intense love for me because I freely give my own life—to raise it up again. [18] I surrender my own life, and no one has the power to take my life from me. I have the authority to lay it down and the power to take it back again. This is the destiny my Father has set before me.”
John 14:6 NKJV
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.