Sermon # 44 - Clothe Yourself With Strength Series

We read in Isaiah 52:1, “Wake up, wake up, O Zion! Clothe yourself with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer.” (NLT)

All of us are aware that the elephant is a huge and magnificent animal, among wild animals. Have you ever wondered as to how this mammoth animal with such great strength, which can just about pick up anything or anyone with its trunk and trample them, can be controlled by a mahout with a small cane or be kept in place with a simple chain around it’s leg. The reason for this is that this enormous animal, has been led to believe a lie that it has no power, and that it has to stay in subjection to this man who has subdued it. In order to bring the elephant to this place of amenability, what the trainers do is that they restrict the movement of the elephant by putting it inside a huge wooden cage, and tie it with ropes so as to prevent any sort of movement. This process which is termed elephant crushing, brings the elephant to the point of being crushed in its spirit, getting domesticated, and thereby submitting to human control. Once the process is over, though there is no cage, the elephant is now classically conditioned to believe that it is incapable of exercising its strength or power.

Many of us as children of God have forgotten the fact that we are made in the image of God with the potential to do great things for the Lord, and have rather made ourselves believe the lie that we are incapable of accomplishing anything. We are content to accept life as it comes, and have therefore settled in for the mundane. To those who are in such a predicament the word of God from Isaiah 52:1 comes to quicken us, and to wake us up so as to be clothed with strength from on high.

Have you noticed how though a policeman may be well built, when he is in civil clothes, no one will respect him. However, when the same cop is in uniform, he will be highly respected. This is what the Lord is offering to us that we too be clothed with his strength, and to adorn the beautiful apparel that He wishes to gift us with. Instead of running along with the humdrum of life, being entangled with all kinds of hardships, which are brought into our lives by Satan, the Lord calls us to be set free to live the purpose filled life that He has called, and ordained for each one of us.

When the disciples encountered the storm, while all of them were gripped with fear, the Lord Jesus was fast asleep, because He knew that He had the authority to calm the raging storm. The word of assurance from the Lord to His children, is that He is able to remove, and destroy the yoke of bondage that has been placed on our shoulders, no matter what it is. The Lord wants to liberate His children, and is not pleased to see them struggle with any kind of bondage that is wearing them down. Our prayer to the Lord must be that He deliver us from every yoke of bondage that hinders us from serving the Lord, from leading normal lives, from bringing glory to the Lord be it sickness, poverty, weakness, conflicts or opposition so that we can go forth with the freedom that God has in store for us.

David was distressed

We read in 1 Samuel 30:6a, “And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters.” (ESV)

David was in a serious predicament for his own people were plotting to stone him, and had turned against him. This was the same David who with a small stone had brought down a mighty giant. He was a brave and mighty man of valor. The situation that David encountered was so intense that what he needed, was a shield to defend himself.

Maybe there are those who are faced with a situation similar to what David was challenged with. There are people who are waiting, with stones in their hands, ready to hurl at them- stones that could cause hurt, accusation and insult. Sometimes we are required to bend down and willingly take these blows, but at other times we will have to stand up to face them with the courage and strength that the Lord endows us with. The word of God exhorts us to resist the devil, so that he will flee from us. For instance, when the enemy is trying to destroy the peace in our families we must stand up to rebuke him in the name of Jesus. Many are just content playing the defensive with the shield in one hand, but the Lord is admonishing us to also take up the sword, which is the word of God in the other, so we can be offensive to thwart all the schemes of the enemy, and come forth victorious. Let us not believe all the lies of the devil who like the mahout who subdues the elephant, wants to subject us to his evil control.