Declaration Of The Praises Of God

Isaiah 61:3b  “and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.”

We all dress according to occasions. We have office wear, function wear, etc. If we dress out of place, we look out of place. 
In the same way, the Bible talks about a garment of praise and a spirit of despair. 

Job 16.15 I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.
Job had dressed in sackcloth as he was in mourning over the death of his family and all his losses. Even his wife gives up on him. He buried his brow in the dust as he lost everything that he had built in his life. 
God promises to replace our sackcloth for a garment of praise! 
Jacob gave his son, Joseph, a coat of many colours to honour him and set him apart from his other brothers. The Israelites had a tradition of gifting special garments as a form of appreciation and honour. 
Sometimes when tough situations come our way, we tend to complain and be bitter. But we need to replace that with praise. 

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

We are His special possession, we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood. According to Jewish history in the Bible, a royal king cannot be a priest and a priest cannot be a King. The only exception to this was David. He was able to become a royal priest. But that was not acceptable to the people.

However, God has made us both, just as Jesus was! We are both royal, and priests to God.
Melchizedek was also a person like this. We don’t follow Aaron’s priesthood, but we follow Melchizedek’s priesthood- a royal priesthood!

All of this is so that we may praise God’s goodness. We need to pluck out our spirit of despair and be filled with the attitude of gratitude and praise. This is the garment of praise!
We shouldn’t hold in our praises and be stingy with worshipping God. It was this powerful praise in a trial situation that set Peter free while he was in chains in prison.