Crown of Beauty, Oil of Joy & Garment of Praise

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  Are you dressed in joy?!

            Periodically, we need to go through our closets and give away clothes that don’t fit or that we don’t wear for one reason or another.  It’s always nice to start fresh with a clean, uncluttered closet and even nicer to add a few new pieces to our wardrobe. 

            In Isaiah 61:3, there are some beautiful additions mentioned that we all could use to make sure we are “dressed to bless”  as representatives of Christ.  Isaiah talks about these joy-blessings:

“ ... to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy 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 was speaking mainly to call the nation of Judah back to God. But should we not all desire to draw closer to Him by valuing the symbolic “gifts” that he mentioned in this verse:  

·         A Crown of beauty (to replace the ashes)

·         The Oil of joy (instead of our mourning)

·         A Garment of praise (to negate our despair over things that are beyond our control)

Each of us has things hanging in our spiritual closet that we need to get rid of…Worry, depression, discouragement and ugly thoughts which are tainted with bitterness, anger and resentment. They can steal our joy!

  Ask God to help you refresh your closet with garments of praise, a crown of beauty and lots of sweet aromatic Oil of Joy.