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The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,2
to proclaim the year of the LORD'S favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,3
and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
Isaiah 61
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Most people would have very little problem accepting this crown.
This Crown, however, is a little more difficult to swallow.
When tragedy strikes as it has in our Nation many times and as we know the Bible to be true, we are merely on the very precipice of suffering, with regards to end-time events unfolding, why do we automatically gravitate towards blaming GOD, and not recognizing that we live in a FALLEN world, a world marred by sin? Beloved, when the first humans sinned, they brought upon humanity AND Creation the consequences of sin. Disobedience opened the door to tragedy. Tragedy was not something Shakespeare created. Tragedy found its origin in man's disobedience. So what does God ensure us about tragedy? He ensures us that though it has found an access point it WILL have an END.
There will be no tears or sadness in the life to come. That's something to shout about right there! But also, right now, God tells us he will give Beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning...RIGHT NOW. Look at this scripture in reverse:
That God may be glorified That God may show YOU as the planted of the LORD That GOD may testify through YOU against the evil unleashed in the world through SIN To SHOW Lucifer he HAS some OAKS of righteousness, STRONG, MAGNIFICENT, in RIGHT STANDING with GOD
Who Have found PRAISE, The OIL of JOY, and took the ASHES you wanted to crown them with and instead created a CROWN of BEAUTY These planted Ones are Consoled BY GOD that MOURNING & weeping may endure for a night, BUT JOY does COME.
Guess what? Satan will NEVER be granted JOY,PEACE, RIGHTEOUSNESS in the HOLY GHOST!
Jesus bled for every hurt, pain, tragedy, and offense we would every encounter. The chastisement of our peace was upon him! He was wounded and bruised so that we could be healed! THAT is good news!
Whether your tragedy has been relational, physical, mental, emotional, environmental, or financial, Jesus has made a way for gifts of beauty to rise up from the ashes of tragedy. I pray this for you today:
Father,
Thank
you for YOUR BEAUTY that we continue to gaze on. Thank you for your
desire to CONSOLE us, not point fingers at us. We know the real enemy is Satan. He is always looking for a way to uproot Your Oaks of
righteousness. But I thank you for every vessel PLANTED by YOU. I pray
that they will not be shaken by the times in which we live. I pray that
the OIL of JOY will be poured in today and heal the sad, wounded places.. I thank you for freeing from the garment of heaviness
today and cloaking your people with the GARMENT of PRAISE. You want us
to turn our gaze to YOU because everything about YOU is praise worthy.
We praise You, we love You, we adore You, we thank You for the Beauty of
Your Countenance. Open our eyes and empower your people to grasp your Word in the middle of tragedy. We trust you to pull Beauty out of the Ashes of our life! It's in
Jesus Name we Pray, It is SO!
