Ashes for Beauty for Ashes

Every day, I do my best to listen to at least 1 sermon and it’s usually Joyce Meyer. I’m not perfect and may miss a day here and there. I do admit I grow weary of routine very easily.  Only the enemy would place guilt on me for my imperfection. I’m not perfect, only He is and the only reason I’m made perfect is what Jesus did on the cross. Instead of feeling guilty, we rejoice at what we are in Christ and bless up!

Last week, while listening to/watching Joyce Meyer’s sermon ‘Anger Management pt. 2’ nothing really “clicked” with me till about 25 minutes in. I didn’t choose this sermon particularly for any reason other than going in order of my podcast. So, around 25 min, Joyce starts speaking about roots of anger – abuse of any kind and growing up in an angry household. Both (all) of these I experienced growing up and when I was 22 (I’m 30 now) I started having anger problems and didn’t know why. I started abusing drugs and alcohol and eventually myself and other people. Only by God’s grace have I been healed of abusing drugs about 6 years ago and alcohol about 3 years, when I met my now husband. The hate towards myself and towards others took a little bit more time to work out because I used drugs and alcohol to “cope” and taking those things out of my life made it hard to deal with my emotions and negative thoughts. My parents are amazing people and I’ve come to forgive them and all the people who hurt me growing up and love them the best I can now as they are. People sometimes can truly be products of their environment without even knowing it. I’ve known about God my whole life, I went to Christian school till 8th grade and went to church consistently till I graduated high school. After high school, I got a little crae-crae. I should be dead or in jail, but God has a plan for me and I’m so grateful He loves me as I am and has always seen potential in me even when I never saw it in myself. God is so cool and relevant – He doesn’t always use supernatural voodoo to help us back to Him – He sometimes uses practical ways and other people. He is truly a God of “audacious restoration” (2 Kings 6:1-7; Deut. 30:11-20).

Around 30 min, Joyce reads from Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 in HSCB is entitled the “Messiah’s Jubilee.” The word ‘Jubilee’ in Judaism and Christianity is a “special year of the remission of sins and universal pardon.” Jesus is the Messiah and this chapter is a Messianic prophecy of restoration through Jesus and the Holy Spirit (to come after Jesus’ work was complete). There are many acts of restoration in Isaiah 61 but four truly captivated me-especially v.3 because of what Joyce says along with it, ” you can’t have the beauty and keep the ashes.” I then came to realize how much I want the “fruit of the Spirit” but was still giving authority to my “ashes.” And even though I’m more peaceful and calm then I was a year ago, I still have work to do. God is restoring me and v.4 is confirmation saying, “They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations; they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.” If people grow up in angry households, as Joyce says, they can be restored from “the devastations of many generations.” We all can hold baggage from our family in our DNA without even knowing it. We must become aware so we can release it and replace it with the Truth.

V.6 is the third personally outstanding act of restoration – claiming us as His “royal priests” (1 Peter 2:5 & 9) under the new covenant Jesus brings. [Next quote from my Life Application Study Bible in NLT, I couldn’t find a link for it.] “Under the old covenant, God ordained the priests of Israel to stand between Him and His people. The priests brought God’s word to the people and the people’s needs and sins to God.”  We can now seek God and His word on our own and have a personal relationship with Him. The last and final act…of restoration (hehe) is v.10. It speaks of a “garment of salvation” and a “robe of righteousness.” Jesus brought us salvation, but salvation (as spiritual “clothing”) is more than one part as confirmed in Ephesians 6:10-17. We’re not righteous by any means but we are made righteous in Jesus. He clothes us in His righteousness and God sees us as righteous.

Let me know in the comments if this means anything to you. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a restful day!