I WILL ARISE!

By Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
 New Wine Church, London

Sunday 8th January 2012

Foundation Scripture: Isaiah 60:1-3; Micah 7:8
Last week, we reminded ourselves that each of our lives is the answer to somebody’s question; and the solution to somebody’s problem. We reminded ourselves that each of us was created to be a problem-solver, an answer-bringer, a light-bearer, a difference-maker, a glory-carrier and a world-changer. We learned that God placed us here on purpose and for a purpose; and that He made us exactly the way He wanted us. There is a unique treasure hidden within each of us, which the world is waiting for. As the light of the world, we have been called and empowered to make things clearer and make things more visible in the world.   We learned that in order to shine our light we must look after ourselves, release ourselves and that we must celebrate ourselves.  The phrase ‘Arise and Shine’, we reminded ourselves is not a suggestion or an encouragement but a command, a divine imperative, a divine mandate that must be obeyed.
As you go through the Bible, you will find many places where a verse or passage begins with a verb – an action word. Here are some examples: ’Rejoice!’; ‘Be bold’; ‘Be strong’;  ‘Believe’; ‘Be holy’;  ‘Pray without ceasing’;  ‘Love your neighbour’; ‘Renew your mind’; ‘Forgive’.  When you find such passages, you must understand that God is giving you a direct instruction; and that He expects a corresponding response from you. So when you see ‘Arise and shine!’ the implication is ‘You arise!’ and ‘You shine!’ And the appropriate response from you should be “I will arise and I will shine”.  Why is it important that we respond this way?  Because embedded in the imperative is the anointing and empowerment to fulfil it. So when you refuse to respond appropriately, you deny yourself the opportunity to walk in power and victory in that specific area of your life.   When God says ‘Arise!’, He is not considering your own ability; He is considering the power and anointing that is impregnated in that command, ‘Arise’.
This is the reality: life will knock you down.  However, you must make up your mind as to whether you will stay down or get back up again. Even when you are standing, God still expects you to arise.  Why?  Because if you do not arise, you cannot really shine; and the world cannot come to your light.  I have come to discover that you cannot arise on the outside if you do not first arise on the inside. As a matter of fact, this is the place where arising begins.  And this is the powerful thing:  as long as you can arise on the inside, no force from hell can keep you down on the outside. Yes, like I said earlier, life will knock you down sometimes.  But you have a choice to make – whether you stay down or get back up again. Once you make the decision to arise, that power has not been manufactured from hell that is big enough to hold you down. The trouble with most of us is that we allow what is happening on the outside to dictate how we react on the inside. But as a child of God, your posture and attitude should be the exact opposite: First you decide how you must respond on the inside, then your external circumstances will line up with the decision you make on the inside. Some of you have heard me share the story of little Mary in the past; but here it is again:
 Little Mary was travelling on the bus with her mum.  Mary was so excited that she stood up on her seat and started to jump up and down. Concerned for her safety, Mary’s mum told her to sit down.  Mary simply replied ‘No’.  After several attempts to convince Mary to sit down, Mum got frustrated. She saw that the bus was approaching a roundabout and that if Mary did not sit down, she would fall over and possibly injure herself.  So Mum grabbed Mary by the arm and forced her to sit down. A few minutes later, Mary who had been quietly sitting, tapped her mum on the arm, and said; ‘Mum I am sitting down’ to which Mum replied ‘Good girl’. Then Mary continued; ‘Mum I am sitting on the outside, but I am standing on the inside’.
When life beats you down, look life in the face and say; ‘I may be down on the outside, but I am rising on the inside!’ Today, I would like to share with you four specific situations from which you must arise:
Arise From Your Slumber: Ephesians 5:14 says ‘Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."  To slumber is to be in a state of inactivity, dormancy, lethargy, or negligence. Most of the time, the enemy attacks us when we’re in a state of slumber.  This can be spiritual slumber, mental slumber or even emotional slumber. (Matt 13:24-25) When you slumber, you are not conscious of what is going on around you.  You do not know what time it is.  You lack discernment and understanding. However, we must be like the sons of Issachar, who had an understanding of the times and knew what they ought to do. All through scripture, we are admonished to be sober and vigilant because we have an enemy who does not slumber nor sleep. (1 Peter 5:8, Romans 13:11) In Acts 12, Peter was sleeping in prison, chained to four soldiers when the angel of the Lord woke him up and said to him ‘Arise quickly!’ That was the beginning of his deliverance – Similarly, I decree that your deliverance has arrived today! “
Arise From Your Fall: Micah 7:8 says ‘Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise’. There are many reasons why people fall: People fall because they trip, because they slip, because they are pushed, because they are knocked down, because they are too weak to remain standing or simply because they were careless. Whatever the reason for which a person falls, there is something within all of us that wants to get right back up. It is not natural for a person to fall and just want to remain down there.  The moment you fall, the first thing you want to do is jump right back up. Even animals don’t stay down when they fall unless they are seriously injured or dead. If this is the case in the natural, then why do people fall morally or spiritually and make up their minds that they just want to stay in that fallen state? As a child of God, you do not belong down there.  Whatever the reason for your fall, God wants you to get right back up again. No matter how many times you have fallen, no matter how long you have fallen, God will never count you out.  The only reason you will remain down there is if you make a choice not to get up. Proverbs 24:16 says ‘For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.’    Remember the Prodigal son in Luke 15?  He went as low as anyone could go - having once enjoyed the blessing and comfort of his father’s house, he was now struggling with swine for food - talk about falling from grace! But the Bible says he came to his senses and he spoke to himself – listen to what he said: ‘I will arise and go to my father (Luke 15:18)
The devil doesn’t know what to do with a believer who refuses to stay fallen.  Sometimes he says to himself: ‘That was a heavy blow – this one is never getting up again’. But when he says that, he’s only looking at your flesh.  He does not understand the resilience of the human spirit. He does not realise that you are not made of giving up stuff; you are made of bouncing back stuff. Listen to how Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 ‘We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed’    One final thing; sometimes you fall, and you don’t have enough strength to get up on your own.  Well that is no excuse to remain there – just call for help.  Ask other people to lend you their strength and help you to get back up.

Arise From Your Sitting Position: It is not always wrong to sit - as a matter of fact the Bible says we’re seated together with Christ in heavenly places. But sometimes, God calls us to get up, to stand up, to arise because it is time for action. When you hear such a call, it becomes a sin to remain sitting. You see, a sitting position is a position of relaxation and a position of resignation. You cannot fight, move forward, advance or protest from a sitting position.
2011 has been called the year of the protest.  This was the year in which all over the world, ordinary people rose up and said ‘Enough is enough!’ It started with what is now commonly known as the Arab Spring which began in Tunisia, then on to Egypt, then Libya and then on to several other Middle Eastern nations. Then we had the student riots in London, then ‘Occupy Wall Street’ and the August riots in the UK. The point is ordinary people rose up and said ‘We refuse to continue to be oppressed by wicked people’. Sometimes, this is the way we too ought to be:  We need to stand up, stomp our feet and say ‘Enough is enough! - We refuse to continue to be pushed around by the enemy’. And even though it may appear that you are sitting on the outside – taunt your enemy by telling him ‘I am standing on the inside!’
There are two stories from the life of David that readily come to mind: In 2 Samuel: 12, we read of the death of David’s son.  While the boy was ill, David fasted and prayed and asked God to spare his life. But the Bible tells us that the boy died.  When David heard of the death of the boy, his response shocked the people around him. 2 Samuel 12:20 says ‘So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate.’  Why did David respond like this?  He knew it was time to leave the past behind and look forward to a new future. Some of you here today have lost something or someone very dear to you.  And perhaps God is saying to you ‘It is time to arise and embrace the new thing that I have for you.’
In 1 Samuel: 30, David and his men returned to their camp in Ziklag only to find that it had been raided by the enemy.  Their wives and children had been taken away as captives. The Bible says the men wept until there was no more strength in them.  In fact, David’s men were so upset that they wanted to stone him. But in the middle of all this, the Bible tells us that David encouraged himself in the Lord.  That is the picture of a man who is sitting on the outside, but standing strong on the inside.
Arise From Your Standing Position:  There are some people who are saying ‘I am not slumbering, I have not fallen and I am not even sitting’.  Well, this message still applies to you. Even when you are standing, be assured, God is still calling you to arise. You see, God loves you the way you are but He loves you too much to leave you the way you are. As believers, God is always calling us to rise to a higher level.  No matter what level you are in life, there is a higher place for you in God. God wants you to release you from the success and the greatness of the past in order to embrace a new level of greatness and success.
Our God is a next level God and we are next level people. The enemy of today’s success is yesterday’s success.  The enemy of today’s greatness is yesterday’s greatness. Do not allow yourself to be stuck in the place of past achievements.  God has greater things in store for you; but you must be ready to arise. In 1 Samuel 16, we read of when God instructed Samuel to go to Jesse’s house and anoint one of his sons as the next king of Israel. After the initial parade, when Samuel sent for David, he made a statement in verse 11 – he said ‘we will not sit down till he comes here’. (1 Sam 16:11-12) But notice what God says to Samuel in the very next verse; ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!’ Remember, Samuel was not even sitting.  But God was calling him to a higher level of authority and influence for the sake of David the next king of Israel.
There are some of you today, even though you are standing, God is calling you to a new level of influence and authority for the sake of the next generation. The question is will you answer that call? Will you arise?