Isaiah 61:3(NLT) To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.
Mourning, despair, sadness or grief is one of the key strategies of satan and he knows that with sadness or mourning, God is absent and when God is absent, we become a cheap prey in his hands. Many people today are sorrowful because of the situation of life in which they find themselves. While some people may be saddened because of their current state of health, others are grieved because of lack of finances. As children of God know that the devil steals our joy to make us victims and he calculates mourning or despair for us because he knows no one can stop the fiery acts of God when man is giving God quality praise. When we praise, we enjoy the gift of joy from the Most High God. As we praise rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice when the devil wants you to cry, sing when he wants you to mourn and dance when he wants you to lie down. Psalm 30:11 says “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;” We should not go about in life wearing a sorrowful face in self-pity, not even when we are confronted with the challenges of life. because God has turned our mourning into dancing.
I love today’s Scripture, in it, God promises to give us a crown of beauty to replace our ashes, joyous blessing and festive praise instead of sorrow. Isaiah 61 is the passage of Scripture that Jesus read in the synagogue to announce the launch of His public ministry and to proclaim the Lord’s Favor(Luke 4:14–21). In Jesus we see beauty coming from the ashes . This is the very reason why Jesus came to earth! He came to proclaim the good news of God’s Love, His Desire for freedom and His Promise of complete restoration to a fallen world! He was the One who came to bind up the brokenhearted and offer redemption and forgiveness. Christ was to be the Comforter, Jesus was sent to comfort all who mourn and who seek to Him. In John 16:33, Jesus told the disciples to be of good cheer because He had overcome the world. He who bestows the oil of joy instead of mourning gives us hope even in the midst of our darkest of situations. Jesus came to bring us hope in the darkest of circumstances. Today and beyond Jesus Christ shall flood your heart with unspeakable joy. Your joy has come, and it shall come in full measure in Jesus’ Name.
Beloved, never allow any circumstance to make you question the presence of God in your life. Be cheerful because Emmanuel is with you and learn to see God’s Beauty. Thank Him for your beautiful life. Listen to worshipful music, read the Word, and renew your thoughts to bring them into line with what God says you are. No matter what you have gone through in your life, no matter how much your life feels like a heap of ashes, the promise of God is that He will replace the ashes of your life with a crown of beauty. You are the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness. You’re God’s beauty, His icon, His express image, and the outshining of His glory. You radiate His splendor. God will do all this for His people, that they may abound in the fruits of righteousness, planted as the unshakable and unmovable oak tree. Hallelujah! May God give you eyes to see this amazing truth today in spite of the circumstances that you may be facing and give you beauty and gladness in Jesus’ Name.
O Lord, I reject the spirit of heaviness and I ask for the grace to always maintain my joy in Jesus’ Name.