| Written By Administrator Friday, 17 July 2009 |
"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon
you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you." (Isaiah 60:1,
2)
Thick darkness covers the whole earth. The world disintegrates rapidly and
its inhabitants live in total uncertainty. In the midst of such chaos and
confusion, a distinct message resounds through the skies, a clear word
echoes from Heaven: "Arise"! God is calling His people to arise and shine
as bright lights and offer hope to a lost and perishing humanity (Matthew
5:14 to 16; Philippians 2:15).
This is not the time for sleep and slumber. Look at how the Lord Jesus
responded to His sleeping disciples in Gethsemane: "Are you STILL sleeping
and resting?" (Matthew 26:45). Notice the surprise in His question! He
expected them to have acted differently because He thought that they would
have grasped the seriousness of the situation and understood the time that
they were in.
We must arise. We must shine. God is depending on us to bring light to the
peoples around us. The world may not have access to the Bible and it may
never read the Word of God. But we would do well to remember that we can
convey its message and contents through our words and deeds (2 Corinthians
3:2). We are living editions of the Word of God!
We have a great responsibility. We must get out of our own little world and
think of God's concern and compassion for those around us. Many Christians
are crying over their own problems even after several years of coming to
Christ. How can we help others if we only have time to think about
ourselves? Away with such childishness! (1 Corinthians 13:11).
We need to make it the goal of our lives to please the Lord alone. Many
have still not decided on who will be their Master. They have one foot in
the 'world' and one foot in the 'Word'. The Head of the Church does not
tolerate such lukewarmness (Revelation 3:16). The reason Christ "vomits"
such people out of His mouth is because a person who is either hot or cold
can be helped but a lukewarm person is totally useless!
We need to become useless to the devil, not to God! Satan must look at each
one of us and say, "This Christian is really use-less because I can't employ
him to carry out my purposes and designs". "Do not offer the parts of your
body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to
God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts
of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness" (Romans 6:13). "Be an
instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared
to do any good work" (2 Timothy 2:21).
God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in
Christ (Ephesians 1:3). We are "equipped with everything good for doing the
will of God" (Hebrews 13:21). Jesus completed the work of redemption on the
cross and now we are called to believe in that finished work and thereby
experience the riches of our glorious inheritance (Ephesians 1:19; 2:6, 7).
We need to believe God's word so that we may see His glory manifest in our
lives (John 11:40). We need to exercise our authority over Satan so that we
may triumph over the powers and plans of wickedness (Luke 10:19; Colossians
2:15).
Arise and pray (Luke 22:46). Arise and obey God (Acts 22:16). Arise and
get right with people (Luke 15:18). Arise and work (John 4:35). Arise and
shine (Ephesians 5: 14).
ARISE NOW!
