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;’

DAILY READING; Acts 5:17-42; Deuteronomy 25-27; Job 16

Joseph Stalin, the former dictator leader of the Soviet Union was born as a frail child, to a father who was a cobbler, and a mother who was a washerwoman. At age 7, Stalin contracted smallpox, leaving his face scarred.
A few years later he was injured in a carriage accident which left his arm slightly deformed.
Because of his scarred face and deformed arm, the other village children often mocked him terribly, instilling in him a sense of inferiority. Because of this, Stalin grew up bitter and developed a cruel streak for those who crossed his path. He also began a quest for power to be feared and respected by others.
Stalin’s mother, a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, wanted him to become a priest and got him enrolled in Tiflis Theological Seminary in 1894.
Though he at first did well in school, it seemed he also began to develop deep hatred for Christianity and religion in general. Things became worse when he came in contact with Messame Dassy, a secret organization that supported Georgian independence from Russia. Stalin left school in 1899 and chose not to return home, but rather devoted his time to the revolutionary movement.
In 1901, he joined the Social Democratic Labor Party and worked full-time for the revolutionary movement.
As he rose in ranks in the party, the feelings of bitterness and vindictiveness from his childhood continued to fester. And when his time came to rule Russia, the negative emotions in him found full expression.
Stalin was very Anti-Religion, particularly Anti-Christian and he murdered tens of millions of Christians, and destroyed many historical churches and cathedrals.. Many synagogues, and mosques were also shut down or destroyed.
While executing his destructive plans, on March 5, 1953 Stalin suddenly died after a massive stroke that paralysed him and made him speechless.

Sometimes, people pass through awful, painful tragedies in life that seem to justify their harboring hatred and unforgiveness.
But, allowing bitterness to take root in the heart can lead to deadly consequences.
Living with bitterness, self-pity, anger and resentment will only poison a person’s heart and shorten their lifespan.
The Scripture says ‘offenses will come’ but we shouldn’t make the mistake of holding on to them. Don’t go through life focusing on what people did to you, rather learn to let go of the past and move on.
You cannot undo the past, but you can do something about the present and future.
Certainly, we cannot allow bitterness and anger to take up valuable time, energy and space in our lives.
One of the key strategies of the devil is to keep people depressed through past traumatic experiences, so as to weigh them down with the spirit of heaviness.
But Isaiah 61:3 tells us that the spirit of heaviness needs to be exchanged with the garment of praise.

As believers, we must avoid anything that tries to weigh us down spiritually. This is why it is important to forgive people no matter what they have done to us.
It does not really matter why someone may choose to hurt us, what matters is that we recognize that forgiveness is a necessity.
As we draw close to the end of this year, it is a good time to look back and make a deliberate choice to forgive anyone who has hurt us. The forgiving process means letting go and leaving all judgment to God.
When we realize the vast extent of how much Jesus has forgiven us, it will make it easy to forgive others.
As we learn to let go of hurts, the spirit of heaviness will lift from us and we will receive the garment of praise that will enable us to truly worship God in spirit and truth.
In this season, as we surround ourselves with high praises, certainly the joy of the Lord will be our strength and cause us to ride upon our high places!

PRAYER: Lord, by Your grace I overcome every attempt of the enemy to create heartache, depression and bitterness in my life. Rather, I receive the garment of praise to enable me to always worship You with Joy and gladness in Jesus Name.

QUOTE:
Illuminate your world for you are a star destined to shine. WORDBITE 222.

Shalom!

@GOODHEART- EKWUEME .

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