Wrap Yourself In The Beauty of The Lord
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Wrap Yourself In The Beauty of The Lord
Wrap Yourself In The Beauty of The Lord
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, To give unto them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they might be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Isaiah
I would like everyone to think about this past week or so. Just take a moment and take inventory. If we would sit down and analyze this past week or the weeks of the recent past. We would see highs and lows. If we wrote down all the highs and lows, then let us itemize them. To itemize them, let us add an emotion to them. The lows would carry heavier weight because the emotions of our low times are harder to bounce back. The high times do not usually last near as long the down times.
Do you feel:
REJECTED
LIMITED
A FAILURE
NO CONFIDENCE TO DO WHAT YOU FEEL CALLED TO DO
FAIL AT EVERYTHING YOU ATTEMPT
AFRAID YOU WILL FORGET SOMETHING
AFRAID OF BEING A STUMBLING BLOCK BETWEEN SOMEONE AND WHAT GOD MAY WANT TO DO IN THAT PERSON’S LIFE
These are feelings are something we all experience. We may feel completely alone from time to time, but we are not.
AFRAID OF BEING A STUMBLING BLOCK BETWEEN SOMEONE AND WHAT GOD MAY WANT TO DO IN THAT PERSON’S LIFE
My prayer for each and everyone of you is that today you would set a new goal for yourself.
I AM OK WHETHER I AM IN A GROUP OR ALONE. GOD IS MY MAIN SUPPORT. GOD DEFINES ME.
#1 - Turn to God.
We must turn to God during our times of low experiences and not away from.
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
This is the first step in wrapping yourself in the beauty of the Lord. He offers up salvation. It is up to us to accept it.
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9
#2 - Trade In Our Ashes For A Crown.
In the Old Testament, when someone was faced with something devastating or a deep depression, they would rip their tunic and sit in ashes. The ashes represented the lowest point they could find themselves. Our ashes would be the negative emotions that you may have experienced in the recent past during the low times.
So what are these emotions that you may have experienced in the recent past ?
Do you feel:
REJECTED
LIMITED
A FAILURE
NO CONFIDENCE TO DO WHAT YOU FEEL CALLED TO DO
DISAPPOINTMENT
LOSS
AFRAID OF BEING A STUMBLING BLOCK BETWEEN SOMEONE AND WHAT GOD MAY WANT TO DO IN THAT PERSON’S LIFE
These are all things that can multiply ashes in our life. These ashes get into our eyes. They make it hard to see the blessings of the Lord. The vision can be clouded to the beauty of the Lord in our life. You may ask what beauty when it seems everything is going wrong. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal saviour then the beauty of His righteousness is already at work in your life.
The beauty that we are trading for in refers to a very special headdress or a crown. This is something saved for royalty.
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
What about our ashes?
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
Genesis 3:17
The Roman soldiers took the thorns and thistles and braided them into a crown for Jesus Christ to wear. Jesus took the curse and wore it himself in order to give us a crown of righteousness.
an
We cannot earn God’s favor, but he will take our sadness, our depression, our bad experiences and give us a beauty meant for a king and queen.
#3 - Trade in our Sorrow for Praise.
The oil of joy in is gladness, exultation, a state of happiness with a focus on making sounds and expressions of joy. We must verbalize our joy in the Lord to give up our negative feelings.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
We trade in our heaviness for a garment of praise. This is not just any garment. This is a rags to riches kind of story.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Jesus Christ took our rags and bore them to the cross of Calvary and He gave us His riches.
Conclusion
The Lord is so good to us. We do not deserve it. He showers His blessings on us. He wants us to give Him our ashes and in exchange He gives us His Beauty and glory. We need the help of the Lord to let go of our ashes and embrace His Beauty. Hand over your broken heart and welcome the new beauty.
We want to show the glory of the Lord everywhere. In spite of our past experiences, His mercies are new every morning. We need to let go of the past. Jesus Christ did not die a horrible death for us to live in the past. He came to give us a hope and a future. To give us a new life that the name of the Lord would be glorified.
We need to verbally declare His praises everyday no matter how we feel. We need to start our day praising and end our day praising. We need to completely give our past to the Lord and not allow any of it to come back.
1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
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