Shifting heaviness with praise
From an article in Heaven in Business
Lisa van den Berg, who works for Heaven in Business, was really struggling with heaviness. She was feeling the weight of everything that’s going on in the world right now and needed God’s help to do something about it.
She had spoken to a close family member whose medical specialty put them on the front lines of looking after patients who are very ill – and the facts of their circumstances look dire. As the relative poured out her heart to her, it all was all too real and as they finished talking, she felt so overwhelmed with the gravity of the situation that she just burst into tears.
She prayed, “Lord, what’s going on? Why, the sudden crying and feeling of despair and hopelessness, when I was feeling OK 10 minutes ago?”
As she was thinking it through, the Holy Spirit brought a scripture to mind that talks about a ‘spirit of heaviness’. She was experiencing the effects of that heaviness and she found the words referred to Isaiah 61:3, "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.".
The way to get out from under the heaviness was to replace it with a garment of praise and so she asked, “Lord, what does a garment of praise look like in this situation?” She remembered two songs that specifically mention the word ‘praise’ and played those, with tears coursing down her face, singing praise to God from the bottom of her heart and with all her might. And, because it’s not possible to sing praises to God and the atmosphere not shift, she found herself with a huge grin on her face by the time she was done.
The facts of the situation were still very real, but the Truth of ‘who my God is’ had become her reality. She found herself in total awe of what God had done for her. The way He had turned her tears into joy and her heaviness into praise, in just 10 minutes.
She encourages us to…
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Be aware: Ask Holy Spirit to help you be cognizant of what’s going on so that you don’t have to sit under something that’s not yours. Let the posture of your heart be one of relying on Him to help you be aware of all that Heaven has to bring to the situations you’re in. He loves to help!
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Talk to Him: God loves it when we ask Him questions so that we can hear the wisdom of Heaven about a circumstance. What He has to say about things is way bigger and better than anything we can think of ourselves, so why not take Him up on the invitation to talk it through?
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Follow His leading: Whatever you hear, see, remember or feel as you talk to Him, follow the trail of breadcrumbs that He leaves. Because you’re doing this with Him and relying on Him to lead you (Proverbs 3:5-6), you can trust that it’s Him showing you the way.
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Take action: Do what you feel led to do and see the amazing power of the Truth, bring the reality of Heaven into your circumstances on Earth.
Read the full article here.
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From an article in Heaven in Business, 08/12/2020