I WILL ARISE! [PART 2]

By Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
 New Wine Church, London

Sunday 15th January 2012

Foundation Scripture: Isaiah 60:1-3; 

Last week, we understood that the phrase ‘Arise and Shine’ is a divine imperative and that embedded in that imperative is the anointing and empowerment to fulfil it. We learned that we cannot arise on the outside unless we first arise on the inside. Even though life may knock us down, we always have a choice whether to stay down or to get back up again because as children of God, we are not made of giving up stuff; we are made of bouncing back stuff. We understood that we must arise from our slumber, our fall, our sitting position and even from our standing position. This was a look at the ‘ought to’ of arising; today, we are going to go one step further, and look at the ‘how to’ of arising.

Let us first try to get a better understanding of that word ‘Arise’. In the Old Testament, it comes from the Hebrew word quwm; which means to get up, to stand up, to stir up, to lift up, to succeed, to become visible, to establish, to confirm, to ordain, to strengthen or to make good. So when God says ‘arise’, remember He’s saying ‘you arise’; or in other words, you get up, you stand up, you stir yourself up, you be lifted up, you succeed, you be established, you be strengthened. ‘Arise’ means a change of posture and a change of position.  ‘Arise’ means move from where you are to a higher level; it’s time for promotion; the last year’s ceiling is this year’s floor. ‘Arise’ means God is doing a new thing in your life. ‘Arise’ means it’s a new season and it’s a new day. ‘Arise’ means there is a higher place to go; it means stand up, step up and take your place; move from the bottom and come to the top; it means step out of obscurity and into the limelight. ‘Arise’ means move from the back and come to the front; step forward and claim your inheritance and occupy your rightful position. ‘Arise’ means fulfil your destiny; embrace all that God has prepared for you.

I’m sure you already know that when God wants to take you to a new level, usually He has a part to play but He expects you to play your part. When you consider the mandate to arise, there’s perhaps no better example than the resurrection of Jesus which is referred to in the Bible in both the passive sense and the active sense. In some places such as Matthew 17: 22-23 and Acts 2: 32, the Bible says He was raised from the dead; or God raised Him from the dead whereas in other places, such as Mark 9: 31, the Bible says He arose from the dead. Likewise for you: God will raise you up, but at the same time, He expects you to do your own part and to arise. Today, I want to share with you four powerful things that you can do in order to arise:

Raise Your Thinking: Your thoughts are the gatekeepers of your life.  You will never rise above your thinking and you will never be greater than your thinking allows. Proverbs 23: 7 says ‘For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.’ Your thinking creates the boundaries of your life and determines your possibilities. Your life will move in the direction of your most dominant thoughts. Your thoughts therefore have the power to shape and define your life. If you want the quality of your life to improve, you must first improve the quality of your thinking. If you want to rise higher in life, you must first rise higher in your thinking. If you think you can, then you can.  If you think you can’t, it’s very simple – then you can’t. There are no real limitations in life.  The only limitations that exist are the ones we create with our thinking. In Genesis 11: 6 in the account of the Tower of Babel God said, “now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” If you can conceive it, you can achieve it.  If you can believe it, you can receive it.  If you can see it, you can be it.

The trouble is that most of us never really pay serious attention to the way we think. Everyone has what I call an internal dialogue. For most of your waking hours, you’re talking - if not verbally, you’re speaking internally. Usually, when your mouth is shut, you are talking in your head; most of the time, to yourself.  I want to encourage you to learn to pay attention to what you’re saying to yourself. Are you speaking life or death?  Are you speaking victory or defeat?  Possibility or impossibility?  Romans 12: 2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  If you want your life to change, you must change what you are thinking and how you are thinking. How do you renew your mind?  That word ‘renew’ means to exchange.  So to renew your mind is to change the contents and the activity of your mind. It means to fill your mind with the thoughts of God; think of yourself the way God thinks of you. Speak to yourself the way God speaks to you.  Believe in yourself the way God believes in you. It is important to raise your thinking because your thinking will affect every aspect of your life: your self esteem, your attitude and your people skills are all a product of your thinking. You raise your thinking by training your mind to think positive thoughts. Sometimes, your mind gets unruly and begins to run riot.  But you must discipline it and force it to focus on the right things.  Philippians 4: 8 instructs us to think on the things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy. Colossians 3: 2 tells us to set our minds on higher rather than earthly things. You have control over what you think; and if you learn to set your thinking on the right things, your life will follow the pattern of your thinking.

Raise Your Expectation: The dictionary defines expectation as the prospect of future good. Expectation is the breeding ground for the miraculous.  Proverbs 23: 18 says ‘your expectation shall not be cut off’ and therefore you can be sure that your life will follow your expectations.  If you expect good things, you will get good things.  If you expect victory, you will be victorious. If you expect defeat, don’t be surprised if all life brings you is defeat because you set the programme with your expectations. To be honest, saying raise your expectations is just another way of saying raise your thinking because your expectation is a product of your thinking.  Again, the trouble with most of us is that we’re not expecting much; no wonder we don’t get much. We have allowed our expectation to be limited and distorted by our past experiences and our present circumstances. But listen to how Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 2:9: ‘But as it is written:"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." God has so much more in store for you than you have ever experienced or even imagined and so don’t ever allow your experiences to determine your expectations. No matter how bad things may have been in the past, God has a glorious future in store for you. Your expectations determine your goals and your goals determine the decisions you make. Your expectations determine the demands you place on life and the demands you place on yourself.  If you are not expecting much, you won’t ask for much.  If you are not expecting much, then you are likely to settle for anything that comes your way.  The book of James says ‘You have not because you ask not’ and I say “You ask not because you expect not”. In life, you don’t get what you deserve; you get what you expect and what you demand. A man without expectations is a man without vision and without purpose. A man who has no expectations is a man who is not preparing for opportunities. When you are expecting guests for dinner, you prepare for them.  Likewise, when you are expecting great things to happen to you, you prepare for them. When your expectations in life rise, you also rise with them. How do you raise your expectations?  By setting them.  Every morning when you wake up, learn to set your expectations - make a deliberate decision that it is going to be a good day; and good things are going to come your way. Start your day with great faith and great expectation.  Expect people to go out of their way to help you; that you will be in the right place at the right time.  Expect to get the promotion and for doors of opportunity to open for you.  Expect to excel in your career and to rise above the challenges of life. Expect all the lights to turn green for you; to get the best parking space; to get that discount at the store; to be upgraded on the flight. You may wonder why I am encouraging you to set your expectations on what seem to be little unimportant things - well that’s where you start training yourself and then you can go on from there and expect greater things. Hebrews 11: 1 says faith is the substance of things hoped for.  Another definition for hope is confident expectation. Therefore, faith is the substance of your confident expectation. The truth is God always meets you at the level of your expectation.  If you don’t expect things to get better, then they probably won’t. In the ministry of Jesus, He often said ‘Let it be to you according to your faith.’  That’s another way of saying you will get what you expect. One of the reasons why people fail to raise their expectations is they don’t want to be disappointed. But I’d rather have great expectations and be disappointed than have no expectations at all. It is not wrong to fail but it is wrong not to try at all.

Raise Your Perspective: The dictionary defines perspective as a mental view or prospect; a way of regarding situations and judging their relative importance. Your perspective is your point of view; the way you see life – the angle from which you look at situations.  Your perspective is the glasses through which you see life. So the big question is how do you view life? Do you go through life feeling like a loser or like a winner; like a victim or like a victor? Somebody once said if you cannot change what you’re looking at; change the way you’re looking at it. You will always move in the direction that you are looking.  If you’re looking forward, you will go forward.  If you’re looking back, you will go backward. If you’re looking down, you will go down.  And if you are looking up, you will go up. In Genesis 13, after Abraham was separated from Lot, he must have been downcast but the first thing God said to him was ‘lift up your eyes’ - in other words, change your perspective and if you notice in verse 17, after he lifted up his eyes, then God told him to arise.

Before you can go up in life, you must first look up in life.  Before you can arise, you must first lift your eyes. What you see and how you see will eventually determine what you become. In Jeremiah 1, God asked Jeremiah “What do you see?” In fact, He asked the same question seven times throughout the Bible. He’s asking you the same question today: “What do you see?” Do you see your problems or do you see your promise?  Do you see your mistake or do you see your miracle?  Do you see your test or your testimony? Do you see your adversity or your advantage?  Do you see your trial or your triumph? To be honest, there is nothing wrong with seeing both at the same time.  But the question is which one is bigger in your eyes?  That’s perspective!  In Numbers 13, the 10 spies came back and said “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so were we in their own eyes.” It wasn’t wrong that they saw giants; but it was wrong that they saw themselves as grasshoppers rather than giant killers – that’s perspective!  The way you see life will determine the way you see your enemy and the way you see yourself. If you’re finding it difficult to raise your perspective, then give yourself some visual aids. Put up a picture of something that reminds you of where you want to go. When Jacob wanted the flocks to produce striped and speckled offspring, he placed a picture before them; and they became the picture of what they saw. You too will become the picture of what you see; the manifestation of your perspective.

Raise Your Praise: It’s a very simple principle really; if you want God to raise you up, you must first raise Him up. Your praise and your worship have the power to lift you to unprecedented heights. Isaiah 40:31 says ‘But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.’ When you wait on God, either in praise, or in worship, or in prayer, or in fasting, the power of God will lift you up like an eagle. All through scripture, people have used the power of praise and worship to rise above their circumstances and their limitations. When all else fails, just lift your voice in praise, and watch God lift you up. God cannot resist the worship of His people.  Whether it is by the wall ofJericho or when they are facing a formidable enemy or when they are locked up in prison - praise always gets God’s attention.