Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
My joy is your strength. And you can do all things in Me for I strengthen you. And how do I strengthen you? With the anointing.
To comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. Isaiah 61:2-3.
And that is the anointing, the oil of joy. The anointing lifts the burden and destroys the yoke and only the anointing with the oil of joy can do that. You are under the same anointing as your head, which as the Body of Christ your head for direction and revelation is Jesus. And I tell you what I anointed Jesus with, the oil of joy.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows. Hebrews 1:9; Psalm 45:7.
When Jesus opened the scroll of the prophet Isaiah as He begun His public ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth, He told you about the anointing that was on Him,
The Spirit of the Lord LORD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD. Isaiah 61:1-2.
He was announcing good news, the mending of broken hearts, liberty to captives, freedom to prisoners, and a jubilee where all debts are forgiven as paid, lands are returned, and slaves are set free. And how was He doing it? By the Holy Spirit and the anointing—the anointing of the oil of joy. And in that same passage of Isaiah, in the very next verse, is the prophecy that He will give you the oil of joy instead of mourning and the mantle of praise instead of a weak and fainting spirit, like a smoldering wick. Fan it into flame by praise!
O You who are enthroned (dwell) upon the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they trusted and were not disappointed. Psalm 22:3-5.
I dwell with people of praise. I am enthroned upon your praises, in other words, praise takes you up high above your enemies right into My throne room to the very throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Praised be the LORD I exclaim and I am saved from My enemies. Psalm 18:3.
Praise from your mouth releases joy and the anointing of joy is your strength. The power is in the praise because it is your mouth releasing the anointing of joy. Death and life, mourning and joy, are in the power of your tongue.
You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38.
I anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and POWER. What gives that power? Joy. My joy is your strength and it is your strength when you speak certain words from your mouth. Let Me show you. Harness your tongue to power.
From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. Psalm 8:2.
Strength is established by your mouths and you can be as simple as an infant or a nursing babe and put down your adversary and make him cease, as well as all whom he has taken captive to do his will against you.
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. 1 Peter 2:1-3.
You grow and develop on the milk, meat and honey of My Word as you advance from My good Will (milk) to My pleasing Will (meat), to My perfect Will (honey) for your life. But the strength comes in the speaking out of the Word, but it must be released in a particular way to take down the adversary, the enemy of your soul, Satan also known as the devil, the dragon, and that serpent of old.
“From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength.” Jesus quotes this passage in His earthly ministry as the justification of the praises the children are singing of Him, but He explains more of what strength is.
And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have perfected praise?” Matthew 21:14-16.
Joy is established by releasing it from your mouth in praise. The anointing is released and increased in joyful praise using My Word. And that makes the mantle of praise fall on you instead of spirit of weakness, fainting, and fear (the smoldering wick of your spirit goes ablaze).
Remember that as Elijah departed this life on earth in a chariot of fire Elisha had asked for a double portion of his anointing? And as Elisha watched him go up, Elijah’s mantle descended down to Elisha, the double portion anointing on his life, and that mantle had power in it.
He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over. 2 Kings 2:14.
The double portion anointing. Elisha did double the miracles of Elijah, for Elijah had left Elisha work to finish up for him. Jesus is the firstborn of many brethren and He told you that you would do the works He did and greater by the Spirit in you and on you and by His Name for He still has work to do on earth and He has passed the mantle to you. And you saw Him go up to return to His throne with Me, and I raised you up with Him, and the mantle fell on Pentecost. And what did all it fell upon do? Began praising My mighty works. Their tongues were harnessed for power! Acts 2:11.
And that was not limited to the disciples in the upper room on the fulfillment of Pentecost. It now happens for every believer who is baptized in the Holy Spirit, Jew or Gentile. Remember Cornelius, the Roman centurion that I had send for Peter to come to his home to tell him the good news of Jesus?
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Acts 10:44-46.
The mantle of praise had fallen and the weak, fainting, dying (like a smoldering wick) spirits had become strong in Me, for My joy is your strength. They had all become a new creation in Christ and the evidence was the mighty power of praise going forth from the newly born again believers against the enemy!
And the more the enemy attacked the early Christians the bolder they became and could not but be filled with JOY and the Holy Spirit—anointed in the Holy Spirit and POWER.
When you feel weak, listless, and are fading away, you have been letting in unclean spirits of fear and depression, it is time you stood up and put on the mantle of praise. Then watch the anointing flow down from the Head onto the Body so that your cup overflows and you spill out strength like a flood that takes down the enemy. Praise in trials so confuses the demon so badly that they begin fighting each other to keep territory, just like happened for Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah as they marched against the enemy singing and shouting praise, “Give thanks to the LORD for He is good, His love endures forever, forever is His everlasting love!” And by the time they got to the lookout over the enemy camp every one of their enemies was dead, having fought against one another instead of against Judah.
From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. Psalm 8:2.
And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have perfected praise?” Matthew 21:16.
Strength and praise are one in the same. Make sure you are speaking strength, make sure you are singing praise.
The Spirit of the Lord LORD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me . . . to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. Isaiah 61:2-3.
How are you using the anointing that I poured in you and on you when I gave you the gift of the Holy Spirit? Fan that gift into flame and stop quenching, grieving, and ignoring My Spirit, and release the POWER in you. And how do you do that? Simple, release your tongue from complaining, blaming, shaming, grumbling, and all other idle words and negative talk to speak strength, to speak praise, to give the Spirit utterance from your mouth. Flood the earth with the knowledge of My glory like the one hundred twenty believers did on Pentecost and set off a flood and a fire that brought 3,000 to be born again that day, and another 5,000 soon after, and today so many that you cannot count them, but I know each and every one of them by name. I know those who are Mine, I know those who love Me, I know those who have hearts towards Me. And how can you tell? Look for the praisers, look for the radiant face. They are always out on the front lines.
Jehoshaphat knew where to put the praisers in his army, right out front to lead the way. And there was a reason I always had the tribe of Judah march in the front. That was the line of the son born in praise. Yes, Leah was the first person to praise Me in the Bible and she did it over the son I gave her that she named “I will praise the LORD,” Yehudah. Judah. And from his line came David and Mary, both praisers and song writers. And of course, Jehoshaphat was of the tribe of Judah too. And Jesus was descended from the tribe of Judah according to the flesh, so you who are in Jesus are too. The praisers. Isn’t it time you took up the mantle of praise?
I love you. Don’t be silent when the enemy comes, use the atomic bomb of praise. The mantle of praise makes you look like superman to the demons, more than a conqueror, a hero with the strength of an army. Go in your strength for I am with you, dwelling on and enthroned upon your praises. So, above all, watch your words, make them Mine and fashion praise. Even an infant can do it.
At that time Jesus, full of joy in the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Luke 10:21.