What it means to Arise?I luv this=)

It's really amazing. I was looking for a picture that could fit in to my previous post, "Arise! to the call that God has called you to" and this was the first webpage I happened to stumble upon. It's lovely. I luv it very much. Even if it's long, if it's good, it wont take you long yeah?=)It seems like God is calling our church to Arise to our call for this season!
What is ARISE?  Well, it is more than a word - it is a Word that was spoken by God over our Student Ministry at TCAT!  The word itself has so many meanings.  In fact, when we received this word from the Lord we set out to find out exactly what it meant.  We learned that the word “arise” was used over 142 times by various authors in almost every book of the bible.  The original Greek word for “arise” is EGEIRO.  That word is where we found what we were searching for- Our Calling!

EGEIRO is a verb used in multiple forms with various definitions.  First of all, it means to “stand up” or to leave a state of inaction for a life of action.  This verb is used in Matthew 8:14-15, “When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was in bed with a high fever. But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her.  Then she arose and began to serve Him.”  This parallel is obvious.  God is calling us to a state of action.  He is telling us specifically to quit worrying about what other’s think, or about ourselves for that matter and really begin to focus on His plans.  When I was 18 years old the Lord called me.  I was afflicted by sins of the worst nature, but when he touched me I was healed, and after a time, He called to me with a message that said, “It is time, ARISE!”  After that moment, my life has never been the same!

The next meaning that we are given of this “EGEIRO” word is “to arouse from sleep, to awake.”  I know that no one likes to wake up in the morning.  The truth is that most people would sleep to lunch if they could.  In high school, I used to have a very interesting morning schedule.  My brother and I grew up with this very combative nature towards each other, and it showed each morning.  The day he bought a shock collar for his dog was a very bad day for the both of us.  It became an instrument of awakening…Imagine the sensation of your leg jolting upward due to electric shock as you're welcomed to a new day!  Waking up is not easy.  Now, to answer the call to “ARISE” in the sense of this word is taken the exact same way for us.  So many of us are snuggled into the warm fuzzy blankets of our comfortable lifestyle.  We don’t want to be aroused into action, but that is EXACTLY what God is speaking over us!  He wants for us as a ministry to leave our comfortable lazy lifestyles and seek to serve Him each day.  Almost daily, the Lord speaks this message to me: WAKE UP BRIAN, LEAVE YOUR SLUMBER! THE NIGHT IS GONE, THE DAY IS COME! ARISE!  We, as a ministry will answer this call!

“Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?”  “Who may stand in His Holy Place?”  The truth is that none of us, not one, is righteous enough to ascend to God’s Holy place.  Not on our own anyway.  That is why this God-breathed name is such a high calling.  It is used literally to call us forth from the world to ARISE into the place where God dwells.  Do you want to get to the place where God is?  I mean REALLY want to see Him?  How badly do you crave Him?  In Rev. 5, John, the author, said that he saw 7 scrolls that held the secrets of God, and there was an angel there proclaiming “Who is worthy to break the seven seals and open the scrolls?”  John wept and wept because there was no one worthy!  You see, he couldn’t understand God on a new level and it absolutely broke his heart.    He has made us righteous, but holiness is our choice!  Mother Teresa says of Holiness, “it is nothing else but a resolution made, the heroic act of a soul that surrenders to God.”  It is the conscious choice to ARISE above the world, to leave it far behind.  I remember this summer climbing Mount Shasta in California.  We camped at 10,000 feet in the clouds.  During the night a storm rocked the sides of our tent and blew the walls against our face.  We slept about 2.5 hours in thin air.  It was white-out conditions and we were low on water.  As we plunged our bodies up the mountain, we could focus only on one thing, the summit!  I had to make a conscious decision each step of the way just to keep from turning back.  I would count out ten grueling steps, then stop and breathe until I couldn’t feel my pulse pounding against my temples any longer.  At one point, I literally fell asleep on my feet for about 45 seconds and had a dream about being in the Chic-Fil-A drive-thru on a warm sunny day.  Then, my friends, Jim and Harris, lifted me by my armpits and helped me start back up the mountain.  We fought some of the worst mountain conditions possible just to reach the summit, and we made it together.  Do you see it?  We answered the mountain's call to ARISE, to ASCEND!  It took everything we had, but turning back was no longer an option for us.  Answering God’s call to us IS a HEROIC ACT OF THE SOUL!   I am answering it with all of my heart, and I pray that I will be followed closely by hundreds of students from Tuscaloosa! 

The last meaning of the word EGEIRO that defines our ministry is “To ARISE from DEATH to LIFE.”  This is the word that was used all through the Scriptures when Christ raised the DEAD, “EGEIRO!”  Jesus called them forth, just as He is calling us forth!  For those who don’t yet know Jesus, He is calling and He alone has the power to set you free and give you life!  You have to begin by answering that call.  Just like when Jesus called Lazurus from the grave…Lazarus could have heard Jesus, and thought to Himself, “Well, I kind of like it in here.  It’s comfortable- and besides, my grave-clothes don’t stink TOO bad.  No thanks Jesus, I think I’ll just stay in here and rot for a while…”  But, he didn’t do that.  Instead, He AROSE and came forth into new life, and Jesus told him to take off his grave-clothes and put on a new robe!  I have found that I sometimes just want to wallow around in my old rotting stinking life, instead of just simply putting on the new robe, and ARISING!  I have to consciously and with much effort peel away the old shabby wreckage from a life without God and robe myself anew with the cleanliness and holiness that Christ bought for us on that tree!

Now, this whole “Arise” thing sounds wonderful and all, but how will we actually answer this Call.  Well, that is where our Lifegroups come in to play.  Each member of our student body has the opportunity to plug in to a small group led by a college student.  These groups meet together, study together, pray together, play together, and most importantly, serve together!  Our leaders are designing ample opportunities to serve (which is what Christ commanded in the Great Commission…Matt. 28:18)  They will answer the call to “go” by serving in elderly homes, soup kitchens, underprivileged medical clinics, and alongside of hurricane victims!  When we take the focus off of ourselves and began to serve “the least among us,” we will truly begin to see the heart of Christ.  We will ARISE!

                                                       (taken from the webpage of The church of Tuscaloosa)

Arise!! To the call that God has called you to!

Shin Ying asked me yesterday, "What does it mean to Arise?" I asked the Lord this morning. And this is what He told me. So this is specially for you=)He really loves you!

This was what Rev Col Stringer preached to us yesterday. Calling the church to Arise to a higher level of spiritual realm. He emphasize too that Arise is also associated with the glory of God(Ezekiel 3:22-23).

I asked myself this question too while he was preaching. How to arise? What do I have to do?Then it becomes of works.Hee~I wanted very much to know it as this was something the Lord has been speaking to me and many others I think...to come up to a higher level.

And the Lord really did answered me. Read along with me, and I really hope you catch it!For it is so powerful=)

"Let's take a look at the life of Joseph. He went from being the favorite in his father's house, pampered on every side, to being slave in a foreigner's house. You don't think he rose to the position of overseeing Potiphar’s house in a day, do you?Absolutely not! Israelites were like dogs in the eyes of the Egyptians, who fancied themselves far more sophisticated and advanced than any other society in the earth. No, Joseph started with the most menial of tasks. He applied himself to these drudgeries, performing them with a spirit of excellence, to the glory of God, and God honored him by causing everything he touched to prosper. So of course Joseph got promoted.

You may know the rest of the story. Potiphar’s wife took a liking to him, and when he refused to respond to her advances, she accused him of rape and had him thrown into jail. But even there he decided to be the best convict that he could be. Again God honored him, and Joseph was promoted.

Joseph set his sights on maintaining a godly attitude and being an excellent servant, though surely he must have chafed under his seeming reversal of fortune. He decided to learn the necessary lessons and come out the victor. He put his hand to the grindstone and used what he had—his ability to serve—where he was. He flourished in the midst of his trial and, by God’s grace, made something out of the lot that has been given him. And because of Joseph’s obedient and willing attitude, God blessed him. He himself proclaimed, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Taken from how to be blessed and highly favored by Michelle McKinney Hammond

Deaconess Karen preached in DARE last Saturday on the story of David and Goliath. How did David a shepherd boy killed a man who is many times his size. Here are some of the things she said,

“Use what you got in your hands…every little small things. See God in every small thing=>setting you up for Goliath…As you study, a spirit of excellence will arise in you…Was David being a Shepherd boy exciting? “

Both Joseph and David did the best what they knew to do. Were their task interesting?I doubt so.Were they doing the same thing everyday?Just imagine for yourself what would a shepherd boy be doing daily, a servant, a convict...You will be grateful for where you are now, wont you?=)

Someone wrote this to me the other day,

I was watching a cartoon, and one of the characters said, 'All my life I had been searching for the Best Place - a place where we would be accepted, where we could rest. But as I searched I began to realise that maybe there is no Best Place for me to find. I have to create the Best Place for myself. Now I know that the Best Place is not a place, but it is in my heart.'

Here’s what the Lord told me.

When you do something with a consciousness of doing it to the glory of the Lord, a spirit of excellence will arise in you. And this is how you arise to a higher level.

It does not have to be big projects but just simple things that are before you now. When Joseph was a servant, he did everything to the glory of the Lord a servant would do. He would brewed the coffee to it's best, tidied the king's chamber without any spot...whatever it is, we know that he did it well because he was term an excellent servant.

Oh the Lord just told me this. Many a times we want to be excellent in our studies, to be the best. But you know, when you live a God-conscious life, doing it to the glory of the Lord and not man, a spirit of excellence will arise in you. Do you see it?It’s a spirit. It comes on you.

Even when Joseph was in the jail, he became the best convict! What happens after that?He got promoted! He went up to a higher level. He “ARISE”!

When you help your mum to wash the plates, your boss to do the unnecessary work, dun grumble..hehe. do it happily for the Lord. At when you catch that spirit, promotion is near you!

Arise, God’s beloved to the call he has called you to!=)Live a life that glorifies Him.

Daddy God

Bro Kenneth Hagin said, in fact Jesus appeared to him one time and Jesus told him… "If my people will learn to be led by the Spirit I will make them rich”

(Taken from Pastor Prince sermon, 6thMarch2005 Abba-The Name By Which You Are Protected)

This sentence just came alive to my spirit as I was listening to it yesterday. I thought then that this simple truth was just so powerful. This morning, as I opened up to my Children’s Bible, my eyes fell directly on Romans 8:14, a verse I highlighted some time back. It says,

“The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them”

Wow. The moment I saw it I knew I’ve found the key…it says that those who are led are His children! Children is the key to all His riches, amen?=)

He then showed me a picture of a kid in the supermarket with his father.

What usually happens or what would a child do when he realized he is lost?

What would be his first reaction or thoughts? It would be his dad. Why?Because his dad was the one who drove him there & brought him in. Only the dad knew the way home. Only the dad knew whose the child belongs to.

Who would have recognized the boy's voice. Only his dad will.

Now picture the same kid lost. His first thought wasn’t his dad.

He starts looking for a map so that he could find his way back. Or he looks for someone familiar and asks if they knew the way home. Wouldn’t that sound silly.

That’s really what we do sometimes.

When we’re lost in a situation, we turn to books or to our close frens for a solution or a way out to our situation.

How easy it is for the little boy to just call out “Daddy, Daddy!”

And his dad will come running to his rescue. If he’s tired, the dad will be more then willing to lift him up on his shoulder or carry him. The boy now rest and “walks” like His dad. Faster than his tiny footsteps.

When you’re in a hopeless situation, cry out to Daddy God. He recognizes your voice. He knows you by your name and calls you His beloved son and daughter.

The name “Abba” leads you to a place of safety. He leads you home. His home is where His treasure is.

I love what Pastor Prince mention during last bs.

Abba, Daddy IS a prayer. How beautiful.

We are all His children, and when we recognize and cry out “Abba, Daddy!” he leads us to His riches!=)

Grace IS with us!=D