God's Clothing

Sometimes I don’t know where to go with what You reveal to me, Lord.  Thank you for the blog, for giving me an outlet of writing, more so than just in my journals.  This didn’t make it on our blog, yet.  At least now, I know in part, why You held me off.  I praise You, Lord.  May this bring You glory.  I give you my fingers, hands, mind, will, understanding, mouth, Lord.  You write & speak as You see fit.  I pray, Lord, that You will be seen & heard, not me.  This is for You, Lord.  I love You!!!

From Beth Moore’s “Believing God” Page 26, in reference to Judges 6:34.  “’Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon”.  The Hebrew for ‘come upon’ is labesh, which means to wrap around, to put on a garment or clothe.  The interlinear Bible reads, ‘and the Spirit of Jehovah clothed Gideon with Himself.’ God Himself became both the covering for Gideon’s guild and the armor for Gideon’s victory.”  What an awesome truth!  In Colossians 3:9, Paul tells us “you have taken off your old self with its practices” and verse 12 states to “clothe yourself”.  It’s really that simple.  Here I try & try because I want to please God.  Yet, why am I trying so hard?  Not that I shouldn’t, but I should let God more often, if you know what I mean.  Any attempt on my own to earn my way to God or of my own righteousness, God views as filthy (Isaiah 64:6). The good news is, God has already providing the clothing.  Not only that, He is the clothing!  He took off my old self when I accepted His grace through faith in Christ.  He has literally wrapped Himself around me.  When I feel tempted to take back my old self, I need only remember to depend on God’s strength & let Him clothe me once again.  I need to give up my own strength & rely more deeply on Him who saved me.  Forgive me, Lord, when I look to myself for what I need. 

Here are some characteristics God clothes us in:

He clothes us in His Spirit:  1^st Chronicles 12:18 “Then the Spirit came upon Amasai” 2nd Chronicles 24:20 “Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest.”

He clothes us with salvation:  2^nd Chronicles 6:41 “May your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation.”  Psalm 132:16 “I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy.”

He clothes us with righteousness:  Job 29:14 “I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and turban.” 

Isaiah 59:17 “He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.”

Isaiah 61:10 “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation, and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest , and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

The Greek word for “put on” also means to “invest with clothing”.  We are to put on God’s armor.  Isaiah 59:17 is partially where Paul gets this from.  But notice, in Isaiah, its God putting the armor on.  We are also to put on Christ’s characteristic.  In Colossians 3:12, Paul tells us to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Christ tells us that He will clothe us “with power from on high.”  Luke 24:49  Again, Paul tells us, in 2^nd Corinthians 12:9, that Christ’s power will “rest” on us, when we depend on God for His strength.

Though God reminds me often, though I pray for God to clothe me every day, I fail.  Yet God is patient with me & gives me gentle reminders.  When I think I can accomplish any of this on my own, I am woefully wrong.  The good news is that while I may fail, God never does.  Psalm 73:26 “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  Zephaniah 3:5 is great reminder, “The LORD within her is righteous; he does no wrong.  Morning by morning he dispenses his justice and every new day he does not fail; yet the unrighteous know no shame.” 

I no longer want to be clothed in shame.  I want to be clothed in God’s righteousness.  Only through humble surrender can this be done.  Seems like it should be so easy.  There again, God reminds me, in Romans 12:2, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” and again in 2^nd Corinthians 10:5 “we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.”  Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus”.  I pray you believe when I tell you I am the farthest thing from good at this.  All I know is walking by faith is the hardest, more rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life.  I thank God every day just for putting up with me.  I don’t think about “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable” Philippians 4:8  A good portion of the time, it’s God bringing my thoughts back to Him, not other way around.  Truth is, I can try and try and try.  All my efforts will be of no use.  It’s only Christ in me, the hope of glory, that I am clothed in righteousness, that I stand before God innocent.  It really is amazing grace, my loves.  Titus 3:4 “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

I praise you, Papa God!  You love us too much to leave us in the same condition we came to you.  Apart from You, we are nothing and can do nothing.  It is only through You and in You that we can do all things.  It is when we allow You to clothe us with Your power from on high that we can do Your kingdom work that You have already planned for us.  Thank You for revealing that this comes through prayer, constant communication and a humble posture of sweet surrender, because we want to, when we get to that glorious place of saying, “Lord, I can’t, but You can”.  Oh my sweet Lord Jesus, that Your heavenly power will flow from Your throne of grace and rest upon us.  Forgive our ignorance and obstinance.  Deepen our need for You.  Open our eyes, ears, hearts, souls, minds, will to Yours.  You are the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Thank You, Lord, for forgiving us.  Thank You, Lord, for changing us.  Thank You, Lord, for loving us first and always.  We love You too!  In Jesus holy and precious name, I ask and pray.