Truth Matters

Guest (Male): Today on Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis.

Dr. Cheryl Davis: The Bible says, as sure as sparks fly up, man's days are but few and full of trouble. sixteen We are going to experience loss and we are going to experience trouble. This is inevitable, but the enemy will flee when we submit ourselves to God in worship. When we do this, the Bible tells us that the Lord will give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The only issue is as with all garments, you have to decide whether to put them on or not.

Guest (Male): The word of the Lord is proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah gives us hope for those times when we are confronted with the spirit of heaviness in our lives. Rather than surrendering to the darkness of the enemy, we can choose daily to put our hope and trust in a holy and merciful God who promises to give us the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of the spirit of despair.

Dr. Cheryl Davis: When you put on the garment of praise, we make a choice to worship God rather than to criticize and to complain against him. We can worship with a heart of gratitude in the beauty of his holiness and change the atmosphere in which we live.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Truth Matters, empowering men and women in the Christian faith to teach biblical truth in the culture and the marketplace of ideas using the Bible as a sacred trust of truth in sharing the message of Jesus. Our program host is Dr. Cheryl Davis. Dr. Davis is a wife, mom, speaker, and Bible teacher. She is a graduate with a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. She is married to Thad Davis, pastor of Faith Assembly in Saint Paul's, North Carolina. On today's edition of Truth Matters, Dr. Cheryl Davis shares how the spirit of heaviness we experience is dispelled by putting on the garment of praise, filling our hearts with gladness and thanksgiving unto God.

Today's message is titled The Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness. Let's listen.

Dr. Cheryl Davis: Isaiah chapter sixty-one talks about the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Please allow me to review a few truths from God's word before we get started on the garment of praise. The Bible says that God is good and all the time God is good. The Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes from God above. We know these gifts called children that God has given us are from above. That's what the Bible says, but our children are not always perfect. In him they are perfect, but what I found when they come wrapped in Davis flesh or in the Jones flesh, which is my maiden name, something happens in between the time they leave heaven and our womb.

The Bible says in Psalm fifty-one verse five, Surely I was sinful at birth, surely from the time my mother conceived me. They stop being like God and they start becoming like us. Remember that saying, fruit does not fall far from the tree? Because of their sinful nature, which is quite similar to mine at times, I have learned that the laboring process does not stop at delivery. The labor continues throughout our children's lives. Can I get a witness? To all the mothers that are listening, I'm sure you understand. Motherhood is not for the faint at heart.

It is like serving the Lord. It is some of the most important work you will ever do, the most rewarding work you will ever do, but some of the hardest work you will ever do. Motherhood is one of those things that will force you to depend on God. I cannot imagine going into motherhood without the Lord. I think that this is the reason why so many kids have such struggles because of the parents. This is why I did not go into pediatrics because I felt that I could not help the children for the parents. So when I went into internal medicine to help the parents and the grandparents may be thinking that I could make a difference in children, but I'm talking about motherhood and I talked about this on Mother's Day, but really I think it it applies to every day.

You know, ladies, motherhood for me goes something like this. When my kids are healthy and the train is on the track and everything is going along smoothly, motherhood is actually fun. But when there is a bump in the road and the train goes off the rails or it jumps the track and lands in the woods somewhere, motherhood can be a source of heaviness. Wouldn't you agree? The book of Proverbs describes this heaviness in chapter ten verse one. A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. I'm going to say that one more time because we don't often quote this verse from Proverbs, but a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

This is where I want to spend some time today on the spirit of heaviness. So what is heaviness? Heaviness comes from the Hebrew word kehe. It means dim, dull, or faint. The word faint comes from the word kaha. It means despair, broken hearts, sorrow, or discouragement. It can also mean feeble or weak. A person who is feeling the influence of the spirit of heaviness may feel like the things that they used to do with ease now look overwhelming, like it is just too hard, too big, too discouraging to face. The smallest task can look like a mountain when heaviness is operating.

In modern medicine, we describe this as depression or at a minimum dysthymia. Symptoms of depression look like this, poor concentration, feelings of excessive guilt or low self-worth, hopelessness about the future, thoughts about dying or suicide, disrupted sleep, changes in appetite or weight, feeling very tired or low in energy. Depression is extremely prevalent, causing a host of emotional and physical problems, but behind depression is a demonic stronghold of the spirit of heaviness. Life becomes like a chore and to the one in bondage, it is like going through life like you are walking through molasses. What I'm talking about today are the spiritual issues that manifest themselves in the physical.

The spirit of heaviness manifests itself clinically in the physical as depression. We are taught to go to our physician to get better. We treat the physical with medication without ever dealing with the spiritual root of these issues. Today we are going to get to the root. The Bible tells us that our battles are not in the physical. Our battles are spiritual. Ephesians chapter six verse twelve says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The spirit of heaviness is a member of Satan's kingdom, an evil spirit. There's a military type of ranking order in Satan's kingdom. Some demons influence individuals. Higher ranks have more power and influence. They impact larger numbers of people. Still others are even more powerful and rule over an entire nation. An example of this is in the book of Daniel chapter ten. Daniel had prayed and fasted about the future of his people when the angel finally came to answer his prayer. This is what he said. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one hundred and twenty days, but lo Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me and I remained.

The spirit of heaviness is in this category of a high-ranking spirit. Remember before when I said heaviness means dim, dull, or faint? When you look up these words in the Bible, it is used in Leviticus. In Leviticus with this word, we find instructions about skin diseases and the potential to spread from an individual and become a plague. When the Israelite priests assessed how how dark or how dull the spots of a particular skin disease were and whether or not the spots would spread would determine how he would quarantine the person. Quarantine means put them outside the camp or deem them unclean.

This is a picture or a metaphor of an evil spirit whose influence can, if left unchecked, spread like a plague. The spirit of heaviness can spread like the plague. The spirit of heaviness would be more equivalent to a high-ranking officer in Satan's kingdom. If groups of people yield to the spirit, it has the potential to impact whole cities, regions, and even a nation. Mothers, we can find ourselves being tempted by the spirit of heaviness for a number of reasons, particularly in situations that leave us vulnerable. In Proverbs, as I read earlier, a foolish child is the heaviness of a mother.

In Psalm chapter sixty-nine verse twenty, it says, Reproach has broken my heart and I am full of heaviness. Reproach is suffering or what I described just this week to someone as going through. Wayward children, suffering, grief, loneliness, and the list goes on and on. These things can make us as women a ripe target for the spirit of heaviness to tempt us. There is a certain type of personality that is more susceptible to the temptation of the spirit of heaviness. Most people who are tempted by the spirit of heaviness and manifest depression in the mind and in the physical are fault-finding people.

They constantly find fault in others to where they are constantly let down, isolated, and have a hypercritical spirit. Or they constantly find fault in themselves, expecting the worst outcome of every situation and having low self-esteem or a doomsday outlook on the world. They prepare for the worst of every situation. Typically, that type of mindset is self-fulfilling. You expect the worst and it typically happens because you have that mindset. The Bible says, as sure as sparks fly up, man's days are but few and full of trouble. We are going to experience loss and we are going to experience trouble.

This is inevitable as a result of the fall in the garden. The enemy uses these situations in which we are vulnerable to send the spirit of heaviness alongside of us to tempt us to feel despair, defeat, discouragement, and depression. But the only way that we feel these things is that we yield to the spirit and we agree with it. Listen to me closely. I'm going to say that one more time. But the only way that we feel these things is that we yield to the spirit and we agree with it. The enemy cannot influence our minds or our emotions unless we allow him.

The enemy cannot influence our minds or our emotions unless we allow him. If we yield to this spirit or agree with this spirit, then we allow this demon to influence our mind and our emotions. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. All he has to do is tempt your mind and you agree with him and you are opening the door and opening yourself to be devoured. Where we place our agreement is vital. We need to watch who we agree with because who we agree with, we give power over us.

The Bible says in Matthew, If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall speak, it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven. We need to agree with God. We cannot agree with the enemy and allow these spirits to influence our mind because when he influences our mind, he influences our actions. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Many of us have been through some hard things and many of us are walking some difficult roads right now as I speak that have left us vulnerable to the temptation of the spirit of the heaviness and the attack of the enemy.

The spirit of heaviness is tempting us to agree to discouragement, depression, hopelessness, failure, weakness, sickness, and even death at times. I have been reading about the pastor's wife who committed suicide recently in the county in which I live. She doesn't live within our county. She drove from outside our county, but it made national news. How does someone who have heard the truth over and over Sunday after Sunday choose to end their life? They agree with Satan that it is better to be dead than alive and they act accordingly. Our actions reflect what we believe. So therefore, what do we do?

The Bible has a remedy. There is a balm in Gilead. The Bible is a medicine cabinet for each ailment that we suffer. The Bible's prescription for our weakness and vulnerabilities is that we have to remember that Jesus knows what he's working with. He knows that we are but dust, but we have a perfect high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. The book of James tells us in chapter four verse seven, Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. During these vulnerable times, we have a decision to make.

We must make the decision to submit ourselves to God and resist the devil's temptation. We cannot be double-minded. The Bible tells us a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. When we confess with our lips that we serve God, but in our minds we are agreeing with the enemy, we are going to fall to the temptation of the enemy every time. We will falter and fail and have setback after setback, redo after redo, and restart after restart. We will be unfaithful to the Lord. And this is very interesting and when the Lord revealed this to me, it was like an aha moment.

Agreeing with the enemy can become a habit and habits can be learned by our children. Why do you think our children suffer from the temptation of the spirit of heaviness? Because we are allowing it to come into the house and we are falling to the temptation ourselves. But if we make the decision in our minds and purpose in our hearts to submit ourselves to God and agree with God, we will resist the devil and he will flee. He will flee. Do you understand what I'm saying? If we resist the devil, he will flee. We must submit ourselves in worship.

I heard Reverend Tucker um preach during our revival that Matthew chapter four, that when Jesus responded to the enemy to say it is written that worshiping the Lord thy God and serving him only, then the devil left him and the angels came. The enemy will flee when we submit ourselves to God in worship. When we do this, the Bible tells us that the Lord will give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The work of Jesus Christ was performed on the cross completely. Everything has been done that will ever need to be done so that we can be victorious in this life.

His death on the cross and his shed blood for our salvation made all of this possible. It is by salvation that broken hearts are healed and the captives are liberated. Those that are bound are let out of prison. Those that have ashes get beauty in return and those that have the spirit of heaviness get a garment of praise. By the mere fact of who God is, he deserves our worship whether he ever chose to redeem us or not. But we're not dealing with that. He chose to redeem us. But the fact that he loved us enough to send his only son to redeem us are more than enough reason that we should worship him in spirit and in truth.

So when we worship, he will give us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The only issue is as with all garments, you have to decide whether to put them on or not. To everyone listening, I want you to hear me and hear me carefully. God is not going to get you dressed every morning, spoon-feed you, and send you on your merry way of life. He has placed the garments out for you. You have to make the decision to put them on. But have you ever noticed that sometimes we can get moody when it comes to picking out what we're going to wear?

We can say, You know, I just don't feel like this today. I don't feel like wearing this. You know, some days are a sweatshirt and leggings kind of day. Some days is a business jacket and heels, but we can be moody when it comes to picking out what we're going to wear. And the enemy knows you better than you know yourself. When it is time to get dressed, the enemy is going to come alongside of you to say, I don't feel like getting dressed up today. And I borrowed this phrase from one of um the girls at my church.

She said, I'm going to put on my fat girl comfortable clothes today. But the garment of praise is like a real tight Spanx. It is going to keep the ugly stuff in check. Putting on a Spanx takes work, especially if you got a bit much to stuff into it. Worship is a sacrifice. David said, I will not bring to the Lord that which costs me nothing. When you put on the garment of praise, we make a choice to worship God rather than to criticize and to complain against him. We can worship with a heart of gratitude and the beauty of his holiness and change the atmosphere in which we live.

When God is in the midst, heaviness cannot stand in the presence of worship. The enemy has to flee. When you come in here on Sundays or when you go into your church on Sundays, you have to decide if you will put on the garment of praise. You have to choose to participate. When you're writing down the road in your car, you have to decide if you're going to put on the garment of praise. You have to choose to participate. You can go into this life naked without your spiritual garments and get out there in the world and in the elements where the lion is prowling around and you can allow him to devour you.

But it will be at your own hand and not the hand of God because he has made a remedy and a way of escape. It is by his word and through his blood. But what I want to say today, but as for me and the Davis household, we're going to get up with a song on our lips because he alone is worthy. We're going to get dressed every day with our garments of praise and we're going to serve the Lord with gladness. I have already laid down too much. I have already sacrificed the precious to not go all the way in this thing.

You know, and sometimes I think about how the Lord has changed my life in the last three years and my very identity I've laid down at the foot of Jesus. I've given up too much than to not go all the way. The garment of praise is pressed, clean, and ready to go. All you have to do is put it on and wear it. Let me tell you how it works. The brain cannot respond to gratitude and anxiety at the same time. Gratitude and anxiety cannot exist in the same space in the mind. That is why victims can become so selfish because they cannot produce gratitude.

So when the spirit of heaviness begins to tempt you to feel anxious and overwhelmed, make the decision to put on the garment of praise and begin worshiping and thanking God and gratitude will reduce stress. Practicing gratitude lowers stress hormone levels. The garment of praise will only work if you wear it. It is not good hanging in the closet. The word of God will only work if you read it and apply it. It is not helping you sitting on the shelf. In my closing, I want to quote the famous words of the prophet Elijah. How long will you falter between two opinions?

If the Lord God be God, follow him, but if Baal follow him, who are you going to agree with? Are you going to agree with Satan and allow the spirit of heaviness to take up residence in your mind and now in your bodies and live a life of depression and anxiety? Or are you going to agree with what the Lord and his word says? Take heart, I have overcome the world. Do not fear for I am with you. I am your God. I will strengthen you and I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Do not be anxious for anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I sought the Lord and he answered and delivered me from all my fears. And we know all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. So do not worry saying what we shall eat or what we shall drink or what we shall wear. Your heavenly father knows that you need them, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

No temptation was overtaken you that not common to man. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it. My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness. And I know some of you may find yourselves here or ourselves here in weakness. We've fallen to the temptation of the spirit of heaviness and we may have feelings of discouragement, despair, hopelessness, and being overwhelmed. But his grace is sufficient for whatever situation you may be in.

So it starts with repentance. It starts with repentance from where we have fallen. If in our minds we have agreed with the enemy and we have confessed with our lips that we're serving the Lord, remember I said we have been unfaithful to God. We need to repent of our unfaithfulness and disagree with the enemy and agree with God because in him we move and we have our being. He is a restorer. He is a sustainer of those who abide in him. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He is near to those that are broken.

And today, if you need to repent of your double-mindedness, God is obligated to forgive.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis and today's message titled The Garment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness. In these changing times, there has been one thing that has never changed, the message in the Bible. The truth in God's word stands stronger than ever. Read it for yourself so that you may know and discern what is true, holy, and acceptable in the eyes of God. Friend, if you're searching or confused in what to believe in this ever-changing modern culture, Dr. Davis would like to help you discover and understand what is true and genuine.

You can reach her by email at Cheryl Davis at projecttruthmatters.com. Cheryl is spelled c h e r y l Davis at projecttruthmatters.com. You can also write to her at P.O. Box one fifty-nine, Saint Paul's, North Carolina two eight three eight four. Or you can connect on Facebook at Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. And lastly, if you'd like to hear more of Dr. Davis's messages, The Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis podcast is available on Spotify, Apple, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Pandora, and Castbox. Our website is projecttruthmatters.com. Truth Matters is made possible thanks to the prayers and financial contributions of friends like you and is a production of The Truth Project.