God is giving us a marching order and the marching order the Lord is giving us is: Arise and shine! Arise and shine! That is a command of God.
In this article, the Holy Spirit will be leading us into three (3) critical areas which we must arise from as children of God in this season. And I pray that as we listen to the voice of the Spirit, we will be changed and transformed. The Holy Spirit kept pressing a Scripture in my spirit; He said, ‘he that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches’. And so, I perceive so strongly within my spirit, that this word is not just a word that we should put on our shelf and archive of words that we have heard this year. This is a marching order for the fulfillment of destiny, and the fulfillment of purpose: Arise and shine!
We're going to start our observation from Isaiah chapter 60:1, It says; “Arise, shine; for your Light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you”. It is not just an advice; it is not something that you are asked to do i.e., Just give it a consideration: it is something we must do, it is a must, it is not might: it is a must. Arise! Wherever you are, whatever position you are, there is a marching order from the King of Kings: arise! Arise from whatever situation you have found yourself; arise from whatever place you are right now.
Verse two says; “For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” It is when you arise that the LORD will arise. The Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you. It is definite that His glory will be seen upon you if you will arise.
If you have doubted anything in your life, please don't doubt the Word of God. The Bible says in the Book of Numbers, God is not a man that He will lie. He does not tell you a lie; He has never lied to anyone. He will not tell you a lie. Whatever God has told you; it is true. The Bible says His promises are Yes (it is in the affirmative) and they are Amen (it shall come to pass; let it be so in Christ Jesus.)
For behold; look around you, the world is dark. He said the darkness shall cover the earth. So, the darkness is a definite article, there is a darkness that is prevailing, there is ‘the darkness’. There is different between a darkness and the darkness: the darkness talks about a personality; it talks about an entity. The company, which means it is a definite company, wherever you go to, you will find the company.
So, the darkness the Bible is talking about in Isaiah chapter 60:2 is the darkness, not a darkness: It says; “The darkness shall cover the earth (it is definite) and deep darkness the people; He said “but”: but means there is an exemption here. Some people will be separated from the darkness, some people will be taken out of the darkness, and some people will experience a different experience. And he said, but the LORD will arise over you; What will make you have a different experience is that the Lord will arise. When you arise, the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And he said, the Gentiles shall come to your Light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
So, if you read down to verse 22 of Isaiah chapter 60, you will see the things God said will come to you by the function of His Light. You will see the things God said you will experience by the function of His glory that will be seen on you. And all these things listed here, is not a joke, and it is not a lie: for God is not a man that He will lie; God is the truth. He said the words that I speak to you, they are Spirit, and they are life.
I don't know how many years God has been speaking to you, I don't know the things that you have seen and heard that God said you will do in your life; but God is telling you the precursor: what would be your posture; that will create God’s posture is that you must arise. And that is our focus: arise and shine!
I want to read Isaiah chapter 60:1 in the Amplified classic version, it says; “Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you—rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your Light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!”
Arise does not mean just stand up. It means that there is a consciousness that you must be separated from. There’s a sub-consciousness that you must exit from. He said arise from the depression and prostration; when somebody is frustrated, the person is lying down.
For many people, life and circumstances have laid them down, and God is saying arise from that posture. Don't let circumstances keep you down; arise! I don't know what people have done to you; I don't know the kind of disappointment that you have experienced, but God said I know the thought that I have towards you, says the Lord; they are thought of good and not of evil, to give you a future, not a prostration: to give you a future and a hope when you arise. Arise from the depression. Why is this depression there? There are three (3) Ds we are going to consider which we must arise from.
#. Number one is depression: Arise from the spiritual depression. Many of us, the things that God wants to do in our lives are so great and phenomenal but we are depressed. God does not use depressed people. God does not walk-through depressed people. The glory of God does not come on depressed people, you must arise from depression.
And many of us, our depression is both spiritual, emotional and physical. You have seen how people are living large and you are depressed. They removed fuel subsidy and you are depressed as if you are the only one in Nigeria. Remember, Nigeria comprises of over 200 million people and it is not only you they remove subsidy for; don't be depressed! Arise from depression. That's why I said God is giving us a marching order as a body of Christ.
Arise from depression! Why are you depressed? Somebody said he's not doing again, please, if that person is not doing again, there are many people that will do as the Lord allows them. If somebody says, I am not employing you again, go away; there are many people that God can raise to help you. When Elijah was by the brook Cherith and the raven was bringing bread, meat, hot from the cold and he was drinking from the brook. And one day, the brook dried up and raven did not show up. The Bible says and God commanded Elijah to arise. So, Elijah arose from a dried brook.
Some of us, the Word of the LORD coming to us is for us to arise from a dried brook. Arise from the visitation of the raven and go to Zarephath for I have commanded a widow to feed you there. Arise from the depression that circumstances have made you to lie down in. Arise from the circumstances that have kept you down. That's the word of the Lord. Arise to a new life; there is a new provision in God. How do I know this? The Bible says the mercies of God are new every morning. Jesus taught us to pray, He said in this wise pray: Lord give us this day; this day that they have removed fuel subsidy, this day that it looks as if everything is skyrocketing, this day that it looks as if nothing much is happening in our life. Give us this day our daily bread: meaning there is daily provision in God. Yesterday is gone, today is here; trust God for today. Arise from depression!
Why do people get depressed? They get depressed because the devil condemns them, their conscience condemns them. You look as though you are not good enough for God. And it is because you are not good enough that God brought you out. Paul said, have you not considered in your calling that there are not many nobles? There are not many affluent people in your calling?
Romans chapter 8:1-2 says; ‘Therefore’, when a Scripture comes like this, you will know that what is about to utter is important. “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Why are you depressed in condemnation when the Bible has brought the good news that there is therefore; from this time forward, from this time that Jesus has put-on all your sins, He has taken away all your infirmities, now that Jesus has become the propitiation of our sins. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law. He said ‘there is therefore’.
What do you believe? In the past, there was condemnation, but now; there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free (has made us free) from the law of sin and death.
Why are you depressed? Depression is a bondage; be set free! The Bible says, whoever the Son of God has set free, is free indeed. Why are you allowing the devil to hold you bound? Why are you in the condemnation, and bondage of the devil? For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made you free from the law of sin and death. So, you are free. In Christ Jesus, you are free. Because you are free, arise!
The reason many people don't pray is because of spiritual depression. Am I good enough? When I pray, what difference will it make? When I pray, will the prayer even go pass the ceiling? And because the devil has kept you in that spiritual depression, you will remain there and you will not be free. You will not arise and so you will not shine. It is arise and shine! Not arise or shine.
It is arise and shine! Meaning that, one precedes the other. If the devil keeps you from arising, you will not shine: it is in the Scripture. If the devil can hold you back from arising, you will not shine. And that is why he's going around with the spirit of condemnation, to keep you in depression; and you must arise from that depression. Whatever spiritual, emotional, or physical depression you are in, arise!!
I want to read the same Romans chapter 8:1 in the Amplified classic version. It says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ.” The reason you are depressed, is because you think you are wrong in Christ. You can't be wrong in Christ; the later part of the Scripture says, for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh.
The reason why you are still depressed is because the flesh is pompous and rude. When you sin and come short of the glory of God, the humility of your spirit: recreated spirit in Christ Jesus will make you run to the throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy and say God, I have sinned and come short of Your glory: this is me, filthy as I am, forgive me, wash me clean with the blood of Jesus, that's what you will do in the Spirit. That is how the dictates of the Spirit works. But when you walk in the dictates of the flesh, you are there all by yourself, pompous with pride and depressed in it. Why? This is because the flesh is telling you, you're already wrong, just continue in your “wrongness”. You have done something wrong so why should you go to God, is it for God to punish you again, just continue in it; you’ve missed it already: it is a lie of the devil, it is not true.
The Bible says that whoever comes to God, He will by no wise cast away. It is a lie from the pit of hell that you wrong your Father and you think your Father would never forgive you, that He will disown you: no! God is not like that; He does not disown His children: whoever comes to Him, He will by no wise cast away. That is why the Bible says we should come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain. It is depression and the lies of the devil that will not make you come to the throne of grace. It is the dictates of the flesh that will not make you come to the throne of grace.
When you have gone wrong, you go back to your Father, you don't run away from God; you run to Him. It is the devil that lies to you to run away from God, that you have already sinned and there is nothing to be done that God is too holy to behold you; no! When He's beholding you in Christ Jesus, what He is seeing is not you; He is seeing Christ in you. That's why the Bible says, Christ in me, the hope of glory.
The Scripture started with; there is now, therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ. It is when you are outside Christ, that there is condemnation. If you are in Christ: you have not disowned Christ, there is no condemnation for you. You are free! You come to your Father, and you ask for forgiveness; and you allow the Holy Spirit to dictate your very steps. Praying in the Spirit is praying according to the leading of the Spirit, the Bible says as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
#. Number Two: Darkness. We need to arise from darkness. He said, arise, and shine for your Light has come. For the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. Verse two, he said, for behold, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people. You need to arise from darkness. The Bible says concerning Jesus; He said for those who sit in darkness have seen a great Light. You need to arise from darkness. And another word for darkness that I want to use is weakness; because inherent in darkness is weakness.
Isaiah chapter 52:1, “Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you.”
Another word for arise is to awake; get out of bed! Stop sleeping with depression. Stop sleeping with darkness. Get out of the bed of depression. Get out of the bed of darkness. Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. Another word for the uncircumcised and the unclean is darkness. The uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you; why? You are awake. When you are asleep, they will come to you; but when you are awake, they won’t come to you.
Awake! Awake! Another word is arise! Arise! Put on your strength; shine! Get out of the bed of darkness; arise from darkness! Arise from it! He said, behold, darkness shall cover the earth. The earth we are in is laden with darkness: put on the television, walk around the streets, go on the internet; darkness is freely advertised. But, for us to shine, we must get out of bed of darkness. Don't accept darkness. Don't sit in darkness. Don't lie in darkness. Get out of it. For God to use us in our generation to do the things that He has proposed to do, we must arise out of darkness.
Second Corinthians chapter 12:10, “Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” What was Apostle Paul saying here? He says that he takes pleasure in the things that Jesus Christ has taken over him for. Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, he said the life I now live, I don't live it by myself; I live it by faith in the Son of God that loved me and gave Himself for me. Now, who is the Son of God that I have been crucified with? He is Light.
John chapter 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through Him and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men”. Outside Christ Jesus, men sit in darkness. I don't know where you are seated. If you are not seated in Christ, you are sitting in darkness.
So, when the Bible says, arise from darkness, arise from any other place outside Christ, if you are sitting anywhere outside Christ, arise! In Psalm chapter one, the Bible says, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly: when you see the counsel of the ungodly, it is darkness. Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Verse two, but his deLight is in the law of the Lord; his deLight is in the Light. And in his law, he meditates day and night. Arise from darkness!
When you give yourself over to the dictates of the flesh, you are in darkness. For us to shine, we must arise from darkness: and that is the marching order of God to us. When you are out of depression, also arise from darkness. Get out of bed, don't romance darkness; it is not a place you should be found, because darkness will introduce weakness into your life. Remember where we read in Isaiah 52:1, Awake! Awake! Put on strength. If you don't awake, you won't put on strength. You don't put on strength lying down, arise!
#. Number Three: We must arise from death. Ephesians chapter 5:14, “Therefore, he says, awake you who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you Light.” What is death? Death is that place where there is no life. Arise from that place where the life of God is not there. Arise from the dead! Awake, you who sleep! If you are in a place where the life of God is not there, the Lord is saying; arise!
When God was speaking to Adam and Eve, He gave Adam the command, He said, of all the trees of this garden, you can freely eat: but He said the tree in the midst of the garden; don’t eat of it. For in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. God used two words; freely and surely. Freely, for everything that will give you life. Surely, for what will bring death. Meaning that, outside life is death. God said in the day that you eat of it, it won't be far-fetched: the day you eat of the tree in the midst of the garden, you will surely die. And many of us are still playing hanky-panky with that instruction. There are things that God is saying don't do and you are doing; it is surely death, and many of us have done it and we're in that zone of death; but God is saying, arise!!!
How did we arise out of the death that Adam brought all of us into? The Bible says, and through the first Adam came death but the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. So, if you stay where the first Adam stayed, you are staying in death. Death is the place where there is no life of God; when Eve ate the fruit, she felt like there was nothing; we didn't die. There are many people walking in the world that they are dead men walking, why? They are in the zone of the first Adam. The only thing the first Adam brought was death; anybody in Adam is in death. And the command of God is arise from death! Arise from living according to the dictates of the first Adam, come alive unto God again.
Why Jesus came, is to bring us alive to God again. Adam died in God; the death we're talking about is not physical death of the body. We're talking about being alienated from the life of God. You cannot shine when you are alienated from the life of God. When you are separated from the life of God, you cannot shine. What makes you shine is that you are joined, you are in alignment, you are in union, and you are one with the life of God. Awake! You who sleep, arise from the dead and Christ the last Adam will give you Light. Remember John chapter 1:4-5 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Finally, Colossians chapter 3:4, “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Are you seeing the correlation between this verse and Isaiah chapter 60? When Christ, not if Christ but when Christ who is your life appears; when Christ who is my life appears, then I also will appear.
What does that mean? I will shine: I will also appear with Him in glory, I will also shine with Him in glory. This is the marching order of God to us. If we want to fulfill the mandate of God in our time and in our season, if we want to experience the glory of God; Jesus came to undo what was done in the Garden of Eden. Jesus came to restore the life we lost. Jesus came to give us the Light we lost. Jesus came to give us the freedom we lost. And that is why arising from these three (3) Ds depression, darkness and death is being restored back in Christ. When Christ our life appears, then we also will appear with Him in glory.
