To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:3
We’ve all been there, disappointed, discouraged and depressed. Oppressed with fear, stress and anxiety. Most times over things that we simply cannot control, yet we are negatively affected by them. So what is a Christian to do? The first thing is to consider is what we’re listening to and watching. What we hear and see affects us more than we realize. Negative things we hear and see plant seeds that are powerful and can quickly begin to grow fear and anxiety, which in turn produces us to lose our focus and peace.
We have two choices, we can go the way of the world, or we can put our trust in the only One who is fully trustworthy our Abba. Isaiah tells us that He wants to give us beauty for our ashes and to anoint us with oil to heal our broken hearts and calm our minds and restore our peace. The way we do that is to put on the garment of praise. Praise is like a warm blanket enfolding us and protecting our hearts and minds from the affects of our circumstances.
What we think about becomes our focus and when we change our focus we change our outcome. There is a powerful true account of a railroad worker who accidently got locked in a refrigerated car overnight. He yelled for help until he couldn’t yell anymore. He pounded and kicked on the doors and walls until his fists were bleeding and shoes were destroyed. As he was freezing he found something to write with and left a note for his family telling them he loved them. Unfortunately he was found dead the next morning. but it wasn’t from freezing. You see, the refrigerator unit wasn’t working it was in for repairs. However he did die from signs of hypothermia because he thought himself into believing he was freezing. Proof our words and what we think have a powerful affect on us physically, mentally and emotionally. So keeping our focus on Jesus who is our Peace is of upmost importance and the best way to do that is to remember to give Him praise and the heaviness of this world will fade away.
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