Welcome!
Date: Thursday, August 05, 2010
Today: Dressed for Witness, Worship and spiritual Warfare
Passage: Isaiah 61: 3 NIV
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. (emphasis added)
God who created the man and the woman put them in the Garden of Eden, and provided them not only food, but also clothing!
An animal was sacrificed. It represents the sacrifice of the lamb of God on Calvary, which took care of our sin
Clothing is a person’s identity. In the Old Testament, we can see that the garment or the robe of a person had a great significance
Joseph had a beautiful coat that his father Jacob presented him, and his brothers even hated him for that
One of the areas we get into friction with our young ones is about what they wear, more than about what they eat, read or see!
When Jesus was crucified, there was a great demand for his dress!
In the parable of the “lost son” in Luke 15, we see the father putting a new robe on the son
Now that he is in the house, he needs to dress accordingly!
We can see that God clothes us for witnessing, worship and for (spiritual) warfare
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Gal 3: 26-27, NIV)
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1: 8- NIV)
We see the two baptisms here-baptism into Christ and baptism by the Holy Spirit
When we witness about Christ to others, they also see our lives, not just words
When we are “in Christ”, we are clothed with Christ, and people will be able to see Christ, when they see us
Secondly, he clothes us for worship!
He gives us a garment of praise! (Is 61:3)
David, once removed his royal dress and put on a garment of cotton, and worshipped God (2 Samuel 6:14-16)
His wife Michal did not like it!
The garment of praise, is a garment of meekness and holiness
It is not something that everyone may appreciate
We need to first get rid of the masks and other garments of pride and ego, to put on the readiness for worshipping God, even forgetting our surroundings
You might have seen Choir members with uniforms
All people look alike, in their dress.
In the presence of God, all people are alike. When we go to worship God, we are not going for a fashion parade or to display our best costumes. (!?)
Thirdly, we see that God puts on us the dress-the full armaments for spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6)
You don’t see a soldier going for war with their casual dress!
Why do they need to be dressed in a certain way? Why can’t they wear any dress and carry their armaments?
A soldier is expected to have a dress code!
He represents a nation, not himself
Don’t forget! We represent a kingdom-the greatest kingdom ever-the kingdom of God!
Dressed for Witnessing, Worship and Spiritual Warfare?
God bless you!
BG
Prayer: Lord, let me be clothed for witnessing, worshipping and for spiritual warfare. Let others see you, when they see me. Help me to get rid of my costumes, and be real. Amen