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Beauty for Ashes

 


Isaiah 63:3 “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"

Ashes are the remains of something that was burnt, for example a book that was burnt to ashes. Ashes represent loss, pain, darkness, disappointments, bitterness, and suffering. Ashes represent a time of lamentation and deep sorrow in the bible.

In these trying times, many have lost loved ones, many have had to say goodbye to family and friends too soon, many are struggling to stay alive because of the effects of diseases and pain, many are going through financial crisis, many have lost dreams, many have lost hope, many have lost jobs, many have lost businesses , may have lost investments, many have had to work through the fire and are carrying ashes the ashes of what was before. But God has promised to replace the ashes for beauty.  

Exodus 28:2 ‘And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty’ God wants to beautify us again, he wants to put on us a garment of glory and beauty, take the example I gave about the book that got burnt for instance. God wants to give you a brand-new book and make it even more beautiful than the one that got burnt, but we have to let go of the ashes of the old book. God wants to take away the ashes and give us beauty, He wants to decorate our lives with His beauty and His glory. God wants to use us as His masterpiece to show forth His glory and beauty.

My dear beloved in Christ who are facing deep battles and trials remember that God is greater than any enemy we face in life. We must not fear, when the enemy succeeds in bringing us to a place of fear, we become obsessed with that thing which we fear, then we become oppressed by the enemy and end up becoming depressed, this is the ultimate plan and desire of the enemy.

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world." Jesus encourages us to cheer up, because He has overcome the world. We must believe and trust God, we must hold on to His word and believe that He will do what He says He will do. We must never doubt that He is good, and that He is working things all out for our good. Jesus has overcome the world and so have we, because our lives are hidden in Christ Jesus. For he has assured us in His word in Psalm 34:19 that ‘many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all’.  Sometimes we want to hold on to the ashes in our lives, but God wants us to give them all to Him so that He can exchange it with His beauty.

 

 

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