Isaiah 61:3 – “To console those who mourn in Zion, 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.”
As a believer you have an unseen enemy. You are engaged in a spiritual conflict. The enemy will attack your mind, your will, and your physical body. This enemy comes against you to keep you from growing in your walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
In II Corinthians 11:3 the Apostle Paul reveals that the enemy corrupts the minds of individuals. He hates “Christ in you.” When you invited the Lord into your heart you became a new creation in Christ Jesus. The Bible teaches in Colossians 1:13, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
When you became a believer the enemy lost a subject in his kingdom. You became his enemy. Therefore, he will come against you with every weapon at his disposal. He has a number of weapons in his arsenal. He uses fear, worry, accusations and oppression to hold people in bondage.
Perhaps one of his best weapons is discouragement. I believe that Isaiah is referring to this in Isaiah 61:3 as the “spirit of heaviness.” You learn in that passage that you overcome this by putting on the “garment of praise.” David Wilkerson writes, “The spirit of discouragement is Satan’s most potent weapon against God’s elect. Most often, he uses it to try to convince us we’ve brought God’s wrath upon ourselves by not measuring up to his holy standards.”[i]
There are three very important things you can do to overcome discouragements. They are as follows:
1. You bring your proclamation into alignment with the Word of God.
· Revelation 12:11 - “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
· Hebrews 10:22-23 – “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with with pure water. Verse 23 – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
2. You bring your prayer-life into alignment with the Word of God. To bring your prayer-life into alignment you learn to pray the scriptures.
· 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
· 1 Timothy 1:18 – “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.”
3. You bring your praise into alignment with the Word of God.
One of the most effective ways to overcome the enemy is to learn how to give praise to God and use it as a weapon against your enemy. Psalms 150:2 reads, “Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!”
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