Dipping into the Arsenal ~ Armed with Praise

There is a song I learned a long time ago and I can only recall one line. It was going through my head one day and wouldn't leave.

"Put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ..." (Isaiah 61:3)

Put on the garment of praise.

In different versions of the Bible, the wording is slightly different, but the impact is the same. Here are examples:
~ a garment of praise (KJV)
~ a garment [expressive] of praise (AMP)
~ splendid clothes (CSB)
~ joyous praise (CEV)
~ celebration clothes (ERV)
~ festive praise (NLT)
~ spirit of praise (NLV)
~ a mantle of praise (CEB)
~ a cloak of praise (CJB)
~ a covering of praise (YLT)
~ a garment of tehillah (Hebrew word for singing praise) (OJB)

I think we all understand what praise is. This:
~ Expressing warm approval or admiration of and exalting something or someone above all else.
But do we understand what it means to put on a garment of praise?
A garment.
A mantle.
A cloak.
Clothes.
All are a covering, a protection, something to wear.
So we are to put it on like clothing. And in the case of this verse from Isaiah 61, put it on for the spirit of heaviness.
Does praise then protect from the spirit of despair, of heaviness?
Oh, yes it does!
Actually, when you sing praise specifically, it lifts the spirit of:
~ heaviness (KJV)
~ disheartening (AMP)
~ heaviness, burden, failure (AMPC)
~ despair (CSB)
~ discouragement (CEB)
~ broken hearts (CEV)
~ hopelessness (NLV)
~ fainting and heaviness (OJB)
~ weakness (YLT)

You get the idea. Not good stuff. That horrible sinking in your gut feeling. That desperate hopelessness.

And if we understand what worship is, this:
~ Adoration, respect.

If worship is adoration and respect, and praise is the expression of admiration, then praise is the verb that puts worship into action.
Praise and worship. One comes with the other.
And here we see that praise does warfare. It breaks the chains of all that heaviness. The singing of praise breaks it off and protects with its covering.
When we wear our praise, we are covered. Praise becomes a weapon. Our praise becomes warfare.
When we wear that garment, that mantle, that cloak, we are protected from the elements that make us cold, wet, unhealthy; when we wear that garment of praise we are protected from the enemy's attack of our minds and hearts.

So in times like these, pull your coat around you a little tighter. Don't stop offering the sacrifice of praise. Because sometimes it's just hard to praise. Thus the sacrifice. And in doing so, that praise does battle.
And the King is glorified.

"I will be filled with joy because of You. I will sing praises to Your Name, oh, Most High." (Psalm 9:2, NLT)