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Your crown of beauty instead of ashes - Bishop Burton

Your crown of beauty instead of ashes - Bishop Burton

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Good day Resurrection family,

I pray that you and your family are doing well despite all the uncertainties in our world right now. Every week I’m longing to hear about the time when we can legally gather in-person again. However, until then, we need to focus, stay safe and make the best of every opportunity that the Lord gives us.

Last Sunday, I began a new sermon series entitled “FROM THE ASHES.” I want to remind you today what God promised in Isaiah 61:3-4, “and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.”

What a fantastic promise! Notice the phrase “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.”

This week I read a story about a man that we will call Isaiah. Isaiah was born as the youngest in a family of 12 children. They were very poor. He never remembered his father eating a meal with the rest of the family. He had to work long hours to feed his family. One day his father ran off with another woman, leaving his mother to care for all 12 children.

 At age 6, his mother told him through tears that she was going to put him up for adoption along with 3 of his sisters. She told him she had no choice. If she didn’t take this step, they would likely starve.

She placed an ad in a nearby town newspaper, and within 3 days, a couple responded. When the day finally came for Isaiah to leave, he said it was the worst day of his life. They were at the train station, ready to say their last good-byes. He said, “When the conductor reached down to take me from my mother’s arms, I felt something die on the inside of me.”

His new family was very loving and kind, but it was just not the same. Isaiah lived with the constant fear that one day they would give him away too. He grew into adulthood and finally went out on his own. He spent year after year absorbed in his work, trying to bury the deep hurt in his soul

One day something beautiful happened. In a moment of great discouragement, he visited a church, hoping he would hear a word that would boost his spirits.  Little did he know that his life would be changed forever.

The preacher talked about how God loves to adopt people into his forever family. At the end of the sermon, he asked if anyone would like to join God’s family.  Isaiah raised his hand and then went to the altar. At last, the ache in his heart was healed. Jesus told him He would never abandon him, never send him away. After years of turmoil and hate, Isaiah felt loved and accepted. He now had security he never dreamed possible. He felt the Lord saying to him, “Isaiah, I know about that day at the train station. I know how you felt, and I’ve been waiting all these years to adopt you into my family.” Family, there is never a single, horrible memory that our God won’t eclipse with a better one if we trust Him. Like green grass sprouting to recolor a burned-over field, so God brings us beauty from ashes.

Family, I’m sure that many of us throughout our lives have felt the pain of being rejected, overlooked, and hurt. We’ve all stood at a place where the fiery trial of life left us feeling like we have nothing in our hands but the ashes of what could and what should have been. To this, God says, “give me your ashes, give me your painful memories, and I will give you beauty for ashes.”

 

Prayer

Father, sometimes it seems like all I hold in my hands is the remnants of my painful memories. Sometimes the way seems very dark and painful. Father, sometimes I feel like my life has been marked by grief and pain, and I don’t see how my circumstance can ever change. But in the midst of the ashes, I believe and trust you to give me beauty for my ashes.

Holy Spirit, rise up within me. Let your Spirit shine out of every broken place I’ve walked through. Allow your power to be manifested through my weakness so that others will recognize it is You who is at work on my behalf. I ask that you would trade the ashes of my life for the beauty of your Presence. Trade my mourning and grief for the oil of joy and gladness from your Spirit. Trade my despair for hope and praise. Thank you that you are with me in whatever I face and that you are greater than my trials. I know and recognize that you are Sovereign. Thank you for the victory that is mine because of Christ Jesus, and I am confident that you have good things in store for my future. I thank you that you are at work right now, trading my ashes for more extraordinary beauty.

Amen.

Bishop Burton

 

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