The Rising Church

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”              Isaiah.40:31

For years, many of us as Christians have sought to go higher with God by studying many topics in the Bible; everything from the lives of the prophets and Kings of Old, to church history and theologies of the end times. All these topics are studied in an attempt to get closer to God, to rise in faith. Yet for so many, their experience has been that they have never quite returned to the heights of joy they knew at the time of their first introduction to the grace of God. In those first days, life had suddenly become all about what God had done for them and they didn’t need a course of study in evangelism or prayer, because the joy in their hearts caused them to pray and share without even thinking about it. They were flying high, they were living life from a heavenly perspective, because they were seeing everything from the perspective of His love for them.

What had given them that power to rise and live and walk at a higher level, to suddenly be able to walk above hurt and walk above abuse and walk above betrayal? What was the teaching they had heard that caused them to rise? Of all the stories and lessons and teachings and messages in the Bible, which one had the power to cause them to rise? I will let the apostle Paul give you the answer from his opening remarks to the Romans.
“..for I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.” (Rom.1:16)”
The power to rise is in the Gospel, in the message about what Christ has done. Here is the power that allows your life to rise; ……The burden of your sin, all your sin, was laid on Christ at the Cross and the righteousness of God was given to you, as a gift! (2Cor.5:17-21).

You rose that day, the day you first believed the Gospel. You rose in your heart, in your thinking, because you left your burden of sin down, at the Cross, because on that day you believed the Gospel, you believed that your sin was no longer being counted against you. If since that day you feel you have somehow lost the joy of your salvation, that you have somehow fallen/sank to a lower level of faith and hope, may I suggest to you that if you rose the day you believed your sin was no longer being counted against you, you sank the day you stopped believing that. You sank the day some well-meaning Christian pointed to something in your life and gave you the distinct impression that God was regretting His decision to forgive you.

No matter what topic you study as a disciple of Christ, you will never find a more powerful, nor a more profound teaching than the simple message of the Cross. Religion, everywhere, is a message about what you need to do for God. The Gospel is a message about what God has done for you. That’s why the most radical message in the world is called the Good News, not the Good Advice. No matter what you feel like today, if you are a Christian, then you have risen with Christ and are seated with Him in a heavenly place (Eph.2:4-6). The work of the Spirit, is to lead us to rise in our thinking, to live from that place of union with Christ and the Gospel is His method (Rom.10:17)

The more time you spend with Christians who cannot see by the Spirit where they have been placed, the more you will be bombarded with good advice, instead of Good News. The best good advice can do is comfort you in the dark. Good News turns the light on. Eagles weren’t made to walk. Get alone with God and listen for His voice. It will be the one that says “Rise”.