Greetings and welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you once again for giving us this time to come your way, to minister God's word and to spend a few moments in prayer. This week, we are talking about being robed with righteousness. Today, we look at the garment of joy. Isaiah chapter 61 and verse 10, ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; My soul shall exalt in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.’ Isaiah chapter 61 is a prophetic chapter announcing comfort, restoration and the coming of the Lord's deliverer, the anointed deliverer. The Hebrew word here ‘garment’ is ‘matia’ which means to wrap or to cloak or mantle. It refers to an outer garment which covers everything else. It's the first thing that people will see when they look at a person. In ancient Hebrew culture, clothing was a direct reflection of the person's internal nature or social status. The old garment, when people were grieving in sin or ruined by disaster, they wore sackcloth and put on ashes on their heads and it signaled hopelessness. In the new garment, God does not just comfort us in our sadness or our weakness, He completely changes our clothes. He replaces those heavy sackcloth and garments of despair with a beautiful garment of joy and praise. In ancient times, it was customary for a grieving people to wear sackcloth and ashes. But the garment of praise is the opposite of sackcloth. It is brightly colored with arraignment indicative of celebration. The Christian standard Bible translated as splendid clothes. But think of this, we, you and I, as believers are wearing the splendid clothes of joy. At the beginning of Jesus's ministry, He visited the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth and there He reads from the passage of Isaiah chapter 61. And after He reads this messianic prophecy, He handed the scroll back and to the attendant and shocked the religious leaders by saying, "Today, the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Jesus boldly proclaimed that He was the one who would take out that garment of sackcloth of ashes and pain and of fear and negativity and sin and He says He will put on that garment of joy. Putting on a garment requires action. While God provides the clothes, we must choose to put them on daily. Actively choosing to praise God for who He is even when circumstances look bleak, recognizing when a spirit of despair or performance or anxiety is trying to settle on you and intentionally trading it for God's promises, recognize that Jesus's primary mission is to exchange that heavy robe or that heavy garment and sackcloth for a garment of joy. Joy is not the absence of trouble; it is the presence of God transforming you in the midst of the trouble. In Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse 10, he declares the joy of the Lord is your strength. The context here is key. The people are weeping because they realize that they haven't kept God's law. Nehemiah tells them to stop crying and celebrate because God's grace is going to change the situation. Those who know the joy of the Lord, wear a garment of praise and are always seeking to praise and enjoy the presence of God upon their lives. They're busy serving, loving, praising God in every area of our life. They want every moment to count for eternity because they have discovered the joy of working hand in hand with God. Are you and I wearing this garment of joy? Let's pray together, Father, we thank you for your word and your promise, that even the midst of trouble, the joy of the Lord will be our strength. We pray that we will put on this garment of praise and joy. No matter what situation that we may be in, we will trust in you. We will put our hope in you because you love us and we thank you, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
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