Originally published Saturday, 16 December 2017.
Do you know what it is to stand up for your faith?
It's like standing up for the kid getting taken advantage of on the playground, except the kid is you.
It's like standing up in the court of law to speak justice, because you know it’s what needs to be done.
It's like standing up at a sports game and cheering wildly because you have love for a team.
It's like standing up full of sin, like the woman who committed adultery, and allowing Jesus to forgive you.
It's like standing up against all the chatter of opposition to telling it to shut up and sit down.
It's like standing up and putting your hands on your hips and saying, “That's not what God says, so no way.”
It's like standing up and speaking out God's truths over the ample lies that surround you on the daily basis.
It's like standing up and fighting, through prayer, for a sister going through a killer-of-a-hard time.
It's like standing up and saying, "No, I will not lay down."
It's standing on the solid rock of Christ.
It's knowing that that very rock is unmovable, unbreakable and unwavering.
It's deciding in your heart that since Jesus was strong enough to bust out of the grave, He will be able to take you right out of your dark circumstances to move you into His light. This is standing strong.
Where do you need to stand strong?
Certainly, there is a time for mourning, crying and wrestling. There is a time. But then comes a day to say, “It is my day to bust out of this tomb of self-pity and dejection and to move into God's light. It is time for me to stand up and say no more. No more will I be tossed like a boat of doubt, or on the waves of nauseousness or by the words of mankind. No more will I listen to the opinions of old replay or the questions of the enemy circulate. No more. Today is my standing up day. May standing up and moving out day."
In what way do you need to stand?
"He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Cor. 15:4
Jesus had every right to count man's offenses, bad words, religious spirits, hurting words, whips and mockings. He could have dwelt in that tomb of despair for a long, long time. He could have said, "Forget them, they did me wrong." He could have let death come over us. But Jesus didn't.
He stood up to the power of hell taking aim to bring the kingdom of God down. He stood. He stood up to take his seat at the right hand of God.
"When the Lord Jesus finished speaking to them, he was taken up into heaven. He sat down at the right hand of God.” Mark 16:19
God calls us to stand today. He calls us, today, to rise into his heavenly perspective. One that does not count the offenses of man, the injuries of yesterday, the tears we can't move past, the people we can't reckon with, the memories we can't distance, the worries we can't alleviate... certainly, all that is there. God knows it. We know it.
There it is. We've seen it. We've seen it every day, for a long, long time. But what if we chose to stand up and walk past it?
The choice is ours.
We can either give in to the weights of the world, or we can rise up and give it to the God who holds the weight of the world in His hands?
We can trust the resurrection life, Jesus. He is resurrection. In all ways. All the time. With all power.
Take a stand.
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