The Exchange I

Isa.61:3 (Voice) “…God has sent me to give them a beautiful crown in exchange for ashes, To anoint them with gladness instead of sorrow, to wrap them in victory, joy, and praise instead of depression and sadness…”

Let God transform you by changing you and changing the way you think. How does God use defeat to transform us? I am going to give you an equation and with this equation, I am going to start with the answer. The answer is the end result of where God is taking us. This is what it looks like, this is how we look when God transforms us; ___________ + ___________ = JOY.  The end result of God’s transformation is JOY. But what plus what equals joy? God adds two things together and creates joy for us. In spite of the fact that you may not have won the game you played, you are still filled with joy. That cannot make sense to the world. When you play a game and you do not win, you should be sad or crying. But you are still filled with joy. How?

The purpose for which Jesus came is; Luke 2:10 (NIV) “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.’” (emphasis added). This is the outcome; a Christian life that is not filled with joy really needs to go through this process. Col.1:11 (TLB) “We are praying, too, that you will be filled with His mighty, glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens -always full of the joy of the Lord.”(emphasis added). Confess this out loud, no matter what happens, I will keep going on. Life is going to throw stuff at you, but you will keep going on no matter what happens. 

God does that by doing an exchange. Isa.61:3 “…he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair…” In your life, God will give you beauty for ashes. Everywhere you have mourned, God will bring joy in the Name of Jesus. God will exchange despair for praise. You should normally be downcast because of what is happening in the physical. But instead of despair, you are singing praise songs. It is an exchange and when it happens, people will be totally puzzled just by looking at you. They expect you to be disturbed, but you joyfully praise  God. In fact, you will drive the devil crazy because he is expecting you to despair, but you are praising God and dancing.

But if the devil wants you to despair and you are hanging your shoulders and carrying a long face and lamenting. He rejoices. But your Father is like no, you are a champion, champions do not go about bending down, crying. God is bringing an exchange.

Prayer (song): Who is like unto Thee? O Lord! (2x) Amongst the gods, who is like Thee? You are glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, always doing wonders, Halleluyah! Amen