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New Beginnings?

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C.S. Lewis: You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.

Often time a new beginning includes a new ending. C.S.Lewis also wrote: Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars.You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.

The prophet exhorted a backslidden Israel to begin again by stating: ...the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit…Isaiah 61:3

But what was the context of this prophetic word? Isaiah 61:1-4 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,3 To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion—to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit—that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.4 And they shall rebuild the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. AMPC

Endings are hard to begin. Much like the monkey bars we’ve got to desire to rise to the challenge by climbing, or jumping to grasp the first rung. I can’t recall the last time I climbed and crossed some monkey bars. But I can remember the last time I did a pull up. The thing about pull ups is that they pull back and after slamming out the desired repetitions I am a lot less enthusiastic about jumping up to grasp that bar. Joel 2:32 reveals something about God we all need to be reminded of: And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

If there is a spirit or demon of heaviness then we can rest assured Jesus has a deliverance ministry for this affliction. Joel 2:32 promises that those who call on the Name of the Lord shall not only be saved but delivered. It’s high time we ascend those monkey bars again as a child of the King and change the ending of our lives with a new beginning – a new rung in the ladder that ascends into God’s Presence. You will only ascend through His Praise. Put that garment on, button it tight, and take a leap. Ask Jesus to bind up and muzzle the spirit of heaviness, and grant you Grace and the Power of His Spirit – to praise and worship Him. Ask Him to restore the Helmet of Hope in His Salvation.

A History of the Jerks: Bodily Exercises and the Great Revival

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Douglas Winiarski, University of Richmond, April 9, 2018 writes: Between 1799 and 1805, the backcountry settlements of the early American frontier blazed with religious excitement. From western Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, middle Tennessee to the Carolina piedmont—but especially in the Bluegrass Country of Ohio—tens of thousands of frontier settlers gathered for multi-day, open-air religious meetings in which teams of Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian ministers preached from morning until late at night. Ministers claimed to have converted thousands at camp meetings during the first decade of the nineteenth century. From innovations in theology and hymnody to church organization and denominational proliferation, the Great Revival played a decisive role in the development of early American evangelicalism and the southern Bible Belt.  The revivals also stimulated the development of innovative new religious practices known collectively as the “bodily exercises.” Men and women in the throes of conversion collapsed to the ground, then rose up and began dancing. Others lay insensate for hours, enraptured with dramatic visions of heaven and hell. Camp meeting participants barked liked dogs, scampered up trees, engaged in trance walking, ran headlong through the woods, faced off in mock boxing matches, and burst into uncontrolled peals of holy laughter. Observers witnessed people speaking in unknown tongues and claimed to have heard music issuing miraculously from the chests of young converts.