ARISE

For the past few weeks or so, the word "arise" has been stuck on repeat in my head. I hadn't paid much mind to it. Not that I was, or am, ignoring God or anything. 

Typically, I have to keep a note in my phone of the things that God reveals to me. God's timing is not my timing, a concept that took me a while to grasp, so sometimes it takes time for everything to fall into place. While I have these random bits and pieces of one situation, in the midst of waiting, He sometimes reveals new things to me. That being said, I can't just spend all of my time concentrating on that one bit of information, or I will miss everything else. Oh, and plus, I have the attention span of a goldfish. Keeping a note of everything just allows me the comfort of organization. He never fails to amaze me when He does finally reveal the situation in its fullness. 

Early last week, I saw a TikTok with the audio derived from a sermon I had seen months ago. In all honesty, most of the people who have come across the audio on TikTok are unaware of the full power the message holds. Many of you only like it because it's motivational. Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts has a sermon titled "Girl, get up". The scripture of reference is Luke 8:49-56. In a nutshell, Jairus' daughter has just died. When Jesus finally came onto the scene, he was laughed at for believing that she was just asleep. The family's faith was little to none, but it didn't stop Jesus. Instead, he grabs her hand and says, "Child, arise". And "her spirit returned, and she got up at once" (v. 55a).

Once again, I took note of the irony, and I went on about my day. I actually started a new book over the weekend. The book itself isn't considered "spiritual" or anything. It's just this random book that managed to catch my eye. But, as it turns out, it wasn't that random. The service dog's name is Jericho. And me, with my goldfish attention span, my thoughts started to wander to the wall of Jericho in the Old Testament. If it's curiosity that kills the cat, I would have been dead a long time ago. (Thank you God for not making me a cat.) I put my Kindle down and pick up my Bible, flipping to the the book of Joshua. I'm assuming that God must not have liked that I brushed the word, "arise", off so easily because there it was again. "Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving them, to the people of Israel." (Joshua 1:2) THE LORD SAID THIS TO JOSHUA. So I was like, "Okay God. I hear you. What do you want me to get from this?" Silence. I'm pretty sure He sent me to voicemail because all I heard were crickets. Like, "Jasmyne, I gave you what you needed to know. This is on you." Okay, okay, Lord. 

Not knowing where to turn to next, I googled the term. I also looked into the Hebrew translations. "Arise" means to be stirred up; to get up; to be awake; to prepare for action. Still, crickets. Not knowing what next to do, I also searched the occurrences of the word in twelve different translations. 256 times, if you're curious. But there it was, in another chapter of Luke. I was like, "Okay, okay. We're getting somewhere." In Luke 5:17-26, Jesus heals a paralytic. Long story short, these men were so desperate for the healing of their friend that when they couldn't just walk up to Jesus because of the crowd surrounding him, they dropped the paralytic man in through the roof. And you want to tell me that who you're friends with doesn't matter? You need friends in your life that will carry you, in your paralyzed state, to the feet of Jesus. Don't get me started on that though, or this whole ordeal is going to carry on far longer than you anticipated. The passage doesn't end how it started, with the man still paralyzed. 

In verse 23, Jesus questioned the religious folks as a rebuttal to their own. "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --he said to the man who was paralyzed -- "I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home." And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God." (v. 23-25) He had two choices: listen to the voice of man, or listen to the voice of Jesus. What if the man decided not to even try? You want to do great things in life? ARISE. That man would have never known that he had the ability to walk had he not tried. You cannot change the world from the confinement of your own bed. Yeah, I get it. It's comfortable. It's soft, and warm. When things get tough, we can just pull the blankets back over our head. We can pretend that everything else doesn't exist. But it does. And God is stirring something up inside of you for a reason. Arise.  

When vapors arise, they move to a higher place. You want to go to the next level? Arise. Are you willing to get out of your comfort zone and trust God? There is a spiritual shift taking place. Are you awake for it? It's going to take you rising up against all odds. It's going to take you into unknown territory. Get up anyway. Get up off of your butt and do the dang thing. 

How is God telling you to arise and build His Kingdom?