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)