Rise Up

Such an appropriate title for my blog after the Falcon's game.  With their defeat this weekend, the word for the dirty bird is to rise up.  For me, these words bring to mind much more than a football team.  When I hear them, I immediately think of my daughter.  She claimed the song Rise Up as her own before she left the country to go into the mission field for a year (I have shared the lyrics at the bottom of my blog).  As each of us look around, we can see so many people around us who seem to be down on life.  Even for some of us, it is our day to be down.  There is a powerful message in these two words.  God is calling each of us to step out of our life's circumstances and rise up for Him.  When Jesus left His father's side to come to earth and die for our sins, He had to rise up and leave the riches of heaven and the love of His Father.  2 Corinthians 8:9  "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."  He walked away from Heaven for our sakes.  Also, when Mary became pregnant with child Joseph, her fiance had to rise up and stand beside her.  Matthew 1:23-25  "'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' -- which means, 'God with us.' When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."   When Jesus approached the disciples and told them to follow Him - they also had to rise up.  Matthew 4:18-20  "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”  At once they left their nets and followed him."  On the day of the crucifixion of our Lord, He made the choice to rise up for us.  He didn't call a thousand angels who could have rescued Him from His death.  Instead, He rose and did His Father's will.  Luke 22:42  "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

What does it look like for us to rise up? Maybe it means to take a stand for what we believe in.  Maybe it means to elevate our faith over everything else clamoring to be a priority for us.  It doesn’t mean you have to pack up your house and move. But it does mean we may have to pack up some negative thoughts or behaviors that separate us from God. Following Christ means walking in his footsteps, even when it means we walk away from comfortable, familiar situations into the great unknown of faith. Walking by faith means answering the call to rise up and follow, even if we can’t see the destination.  Where will our journey take us? Are we running to meet Christ? Are we walking? Staggering? Limping? That’s OK, sometimes this journey is not easy. Sometimes we need others to hold our arms and help us walk. It doesn’t matter, as long as we’re rising up. Because one thing is for sure: standing still won’t get us any closer to Christ. Rise up and follow.

Lyrics to the song "Rise Up"

When you see the road ahead
That you've been down before
When you're halfway to nowhere
And you can't pay the toll

You're hanging onto mercy
Withered on the vine
With your feet on the ground, your head in the clouds
And your heart on the line

Open up your eyes…

You've got to rise up, rise up
When this life has got you down
You've got to look up, look up
When you search and nothing's found
My eyes have seen the glory of the love that's here and now
It's coming down
So rise up now.

When you're told that day is over
Long after the sun goes down
And your mind it keeps on racing
At the dreams that don't come 'round

When you don't know how to surrender
Cause your whole life's been a fight
When the dark holds you and you can't break through
Cause you haven't seen the light.

Open up your eyes…

You've got to rise up, rise up
When this life has got you down
You've got to look up, look up
When you search and nothing's found
My eyes have seen the glory of the love that's here and now
It's coming down
So rise up now.
Yeah rise up now,
Oh rise up now.

And all the lambs roar like lions
And all the prisoners breaking their chains
And all the poor find their treasure
Cause heaven is coming this way.
Rise up, rise up
When this life has got you down
You've got to look up, look up
When you search and nothing's found
My eyes have seen the glory of the love that's here and now
It's coming down
So rise up now.
Yeah rise up now,
Oh rise up now.