“…to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord , that he may be glorified.”
Isaiah 61:3 (ESV)
“to strengthen those crushed by despair who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful bouquet in the place of ashes, the oil of bliss instead of tears, and the mantle of joyous praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. Because of this, they will be known as Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by Yahweh as a living display of his glory.” (TPT)
I was feeling a little disheartened the other day. For absolutely no reason at all, I felt down in the dumps and ready to just give up. I knew I was not believing lies about myself or my situation (I had indeed spent about an hour taking every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ – 2 Corinthians 10:2-6), but my feelings of HEAVY were so intense I just wanted to crawl back into bed! I could not understand for the life of me what the heck was going on.
I had worship music on and I prayed in tongues for what seemed like forever. Of course these things lifted the heaviness a bit, but something still felt “off.” I made declarations and thanked God for everything I could think of, and the heaviness dissipated for a moment, but seemed to return later with a vengeance. So I did what I tend to do whenever I can’t fight my way out – I asked my husband to pray for me.
While praying he began to speak Isaiah 61 over me, that God would give me a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. And that’s when it hit us: Sometimes, heaviness is a SPIRIT!!!!
All it took was rebuking that nasty spirit of heaviness off of me and within a moment I was my happy, joyful self again. What a crazy revelation.
I love words and digging into THE Word, so I did a word study on the words “spirit” and “heaviness/faint” from Isaiah 61:3. Ruwach is the Hebrew word for “spirit” in this verse. And yes, it means exactly what I thought – it’s a SPIRIT.
“Fainting” or “heaviness” is the word keheh, which means dim, dull, colourless, be dark, faint. The Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon says that it represents “a spirit that is broken down.” A broken, dark spirit that brings heaviness and feelings of weakness. Sounds like the devil’s minions to me!
The Bible says that the devil roams the Earth like a lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). I am convinced that he knows that he is defeated and thus he is bitter, twisted and angry. If he can do anything to distract a born-again Christian from everything they are called to, he will indeed do it – and that includes assigning spirits of heaviness.
So what do you do with a spirit of heaviness? I’m so glad you asked.
If you are feeling heavy today for no reason and you have done everything to stand (you have prayed, you have worshipped, you have declared life over yourself, you have taken every thought captive, etc), I encourage you to just tell that spirit of heaviness to leave in the name of Jesus!
Remember that you are seated with Christ in Heavenly places and have been given all authority (Ephesians 2). That heaviness has no legal right to be on you or around you at all, and as an ambassador for Christ and a child of the King, you can tell it to get out of your domain.
The JOY of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and in His Presence there is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11) so do not allow a sinister spirit of heaviness keep you from the fullness of His Presence! Go deep with Him, and break off that heavy spirit. God promises a garment of praise instead. And nothing is powerful enough hold you back from all the promises of God over your life, should you choose to accept them!
Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”
~ Mandy Woodhouse
Restored People Community 