Joy and Praise

As I wage battle in my own fight for joy…

As I seek God for that “joy unspeakable and full of glory”…

“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not,

yet believing,

ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:”

~1 Peter 1:8

The Lord puts this verse in front of me:

Isaiah 61:3 “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.”

I find this… God “gives… oil of joy for mourning, and garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…”
People focus so often on the ‘beauty for ashes’ part that precedes these words, and so little attention is given to these following words.

Think about these… the oil of joy… the garment of praise…

When Moses anointed Aaron as High Priest, he anointed him with oil and adorned him in new garments.

In the New Testament oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit which indwells each believer and new garments represent the righteousness that covers those who abide in Christ.

Mourning brings to my mind the mourning for our sin. It grieves us, as Christians, when we sin. Sin brings a heaviness of spirit. When I repent of my sin, God forgives, and my gratitude for that forgiveness turns to praise… for His forgiveness that washes white as snow.

God truly does “forgive and forget.” He treats us as if we never did anything wrong to begin with. He doesn’t say “I forgive you” and then abandon us in case we might sin again… because He knows we will sin again. He knows it and still loves us and STILL wants to be in our lives, in our every moment with us… Emmanuel ~ God with us.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,

who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

~Romans 8:1

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not,

yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:”

~1 Peter 1:6-8

Does Emmanuel live in you today? Won’t you Choose Him as a gift for yourself this Christmas?

Be filled with the oil of joy and put on the garment of praise today!