“Awake, awake, Zion; clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive. For this is what the LORD says: ‘You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.'”
Isaiah 52:1-3
Like a loving father, the Lord is calling His children to awake. He is calling them to come out of their deep sleep in which they are subject to the cares of this world. God is telling us to clothe ourselves with power; in other words, arise with the strength of the Holy Spirit, and clothe ourselves with the beautiful garments of continuing praise to our God.
Everything that surrounds God is charged with praise. Even while He was laying the foundations of the earth, the stars were singing to Him, and the angels were dancing (Job 38:4-7). Something similar happened when Jesus was born, when at the moment the angel was announcing to the shepherds who were taking care of the flock, “…Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth, peace to those on whom His favor rests’” (Luke 2:13-14). Those who worshipped on the same level as the angels were “…the children who shouted in the temple, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” (The chief priests and teachers of the law were indignant). “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked Him. “Yes,” replied Jesus. “Have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants You, Lord, have called forth Your praise?’” (Matthew 21:15-16; Psalm 8:2). If we join the text from Psalm 8 with the interpretation that Jesus gave in Matthew 21, this is what we get: perfect praise lifts up solid walls of protection around our lives and our families; we are guarded in God’s fortress, which is the place where the devil can’t reach; and, our lives can rest in assurance because of our praise toward Him. There is a powerful protection from God to us and our families.
The prayer that Jesus prayed from the cross was, “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; You are the One Israel praises” (Psalm 22:3). Through the prophet Isaiah, God said that He came to “provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3). The Lord spoke about the garment that will remove the spirit of sadness and replace it with a spirit of happiness. This spirit causes us to exalt, bless and glorify the name of our God.
Praise guards the church from being infiltrated by the wrong people because praise unmasks those who have unclean spirits attempting to hide in the midst of the congregation.
Praise purifies the heart and removes all the dust of contamination from the world.
Praise delivers and looses the bondages from our necks. I praise God because I was not rescued with money but with the precious Blood of Jesus.
Let’s join with the words of the Psalmist, who said, “I will extol the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice” (Psalm 34:1-2).
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
I had never seen an angel before. What I knew about them was based on the teachings of the Bible, but after five years of serving the Lord, God granted me the great privilege of seeing them. It happened while I was walking on the street; I was attacked and stabbed in my chest. This caused a heart attack, and I was dead for thirty minutes. Right before the heart attack, and after I got stabbed with the knife, I ran with despair. I was only able to run a block before I fell to the ground. Although my physical body fell, my spiritual body didn’t, and my consciousness entered into the spiritual dimension. I saw myself surrounded by thousands of angels. I saw them so vividly, just as you do when you look at any regular person. What had been invisible to me became marvelously visible. These angels were clothed in white, with long hair and shining faces, singing a song of praise to God. The most impressive thing to me was that with each note that came out of from their lips, they produced such a strong, unprecedented feeling of happiness in my heart. It was like an unspeakable joy rising up within me. Although I later asked the Lord to allow me to come back to this world, and He granted it to me, that image has been engraved on my mind with the utmost clarity. I came to understand that in the spiritual kingdom, everyone praises God, that praise produces joy, and that the angels are the ones who guide us into our eternal home.
TODAY’S DECLARATION
“I lift up a solid wall of protection around my life through praise and worship to the Lord.”
Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume Two.
TODAY’S BIBLE READING
Our Bible Reading Plan gives 25 daily readings per month. There is no scheduled reading for today. You can use this time to catch up on any readings you may have missed, or read through previous passages again.
