oil of gladness

Tuesday, February 4, 2014 (6:28 a.m.)

Blessed Father,

THANK YOU! I came out here to You thinking words like: apathy, sadness, heaviness of heart. I read in Your Word. I thumbed through a hymnal. I followed every lead and here it is! Found in the Illustrated Bible Handbook.

Blessed Father God, I confess to You the cloud of mopiness I have felt under. I confess to trying to will it away. Ignore it. Actively fight against it. All to no avail.

But then You led me to ♫Jesus, I Come♫ a hymn of which I am most unfamiliar. Oh, but it is singing loudly to my heart!

I followed the connective verse ( Isaiah 61:1) back to The Life Recovery Bible. There is life in this chapter. Promise. Hope. So I checked the “Handbook” to see what it had to say. That's when I smiled. A real smile. Genuine. Wholehearted.

Father thank You. I felt the shift inside myself. A release. A freedom. Under the title The Ruins Rebuilt I was directed to read Luke 4:16-20, where Jesus claimed to fulfill the words of Isaiah 61. And the words that unbound the clench on my heart.

“The prophet promises that through Him [Jesus] the oil of gladness will cleanse away the ashes of mourning when the devastated city of God is restored (verses 1-6).”

The oil of gladness. Profound words! Profoundly hopeful words. Thank You Father. Thank You for sending us Your Oil of Gladness, to cleanse away the ashes of mourning. Empower and enable me to accept and delight in Him, becoming a beacon on His behalf. I love You and long to serve You well. Thank You. I Love You. Amen.

(286 words ~ 8:04 a.m.)