RISE
and pray lest temptation overcome you is the admonition from the Lord's mouth
to His disciples. And rising requires releasing ballast or water from the
ship's hold. As someone (anonymous to
me) was quoted, “An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside
the ship. Similarly, the negativity of
the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you.” The filthy bilge waters of the world is
cresting and falling on us heavily in this hour. Do not allow it into your soul; do not allow
it to permeate and saturate you (lest you sink and not rise). Pray that you be found worthy to escape all
that is coming upon every person that is upon the face of the earth.
Though
it is assured that He will keep His people, His people must keep themselves,
and more specifically, keep themselves in Christ, and consequently, keep
themselves out of the wrath of God (and in the love of God). Disciples are those who discipline themselves;
they are those who say to themselves (like David did long ago), that “I will
set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those
who fall away; it shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I
will know no evil” (Psalm 101:3-4 NASB).
Turn
those TV’s and useless media devices off!
Set nothing worthless before your eye-gates; let it not fasten its grip
upon you. HATE what it does to you, and
do not fool yourselves into believing that it does not affect you, because it
does. The battle is raging and even the
smallest distraction dissipates your spiritual energies. The flood of ungodliness will be impervious
(ultimately) to unsinkable souls, yes, but the constant barrage makes even the
most buoyant of souls to bob up and down too much; and this constant bobbing
moves the eyes off its aim, blurs the vision, and keeps the soul from the
fullness that God has for her.
Doug
Addison, in an article recently released (7/8/2014), called “Prepare to Fly in
July,” said he had a “Deep Blue Ocean Dream.”
He said, “I had a very brilliantly colored dream in which I was swimming
in a deep ocean and came upon a forgotten city at the bottom of the sea. There
were treasures and buildings like the city was still in use. In the middle of
the city there was a sunken whale. The
prophetic representation is that people have been like Jonah. They have a
powerful prophetic calling but ran and got swallowed by a whale. Now many
abandoned prophetic callings are being brought back for others to fulfill.
These are deep callings from God. The result of the Wind from Heaven and
these deep callings will be a new breath of the Holy Spirit into the deepening
of your relationship with God.” This
is a wonderful and uplifting word, but a word which will not see the light of
day if not believed and appropriated.
Consequently
we must RISE and pray to the Lord with the same realization that Jonah arrived
at when he was in the belly of the whale at the roots of the mountains in the
deepest depths of the sea...seemingly forgotten...and certainly no longer visible
to the naked eye. Hmmm...much like the
hidden work of the Holy Spirit! It was
from this place, this tribulated place, this tight and cramped place, this
grave place, that he came to realize that “They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy” (Jonah 2:8 KJV).
The Amplified says it like this: “Those who pay regard to false,
useless, and worthless idols forsake their own [Source of] mercy and loving-kindness.”
The
evil and adulterous generation that Jesus Christ spoke harshly to, those that
cravenly sought a sign from Him, were given only the sign of Jonah the prophet,
and the facts of Jonah’s case: that he was three days in the belly of the whale,
and that similarly, for three days, the Son of Man would be in the grave. Both Jonah (whose name means “dove,” and
which corresponds to the work of the Holy Spirit) and the Lord Jesus Christ,
were brought back from the dead to preach a message of life by way of
repentance from dead works, a change of mind focus and attitude adjustment off
of self (soul life) and her craven needs, to a new way of life that simply
looks to God to fulfill the soul’s legitimate needs.
To
rise from the dead, to rise from the depths of the sea, is accomplished by no
longer paying attention to “lying vanities,” to no longer looking to self (or
self’s idols) for answers. We undermine
the very grace of God meant to help us when we look to ourselves rather than to
God, and that foolish tendency is only eradicated by the work of the Holy
Spirit (which points to Christ).
Nonetheless, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin” is the
remedy...so long as it is taken with the rest of the verse: “But alive to God
in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11 NASB). IN
Christ Jesus and DEAD TO SIN is only accomplished by looking (paying attention
to) Jesus Christ, the author and finisher (the Alpha and the Omega, the
Beginning and the End) of our faith. From
start to finish, He answers, He remedies; He is risen, and we ONLY arise in
Him. He overcame, and we must overcome
in Him.
RISE
and PRAY, believe and pay attention to Him!
Do not refuse Him who speaks from heaven. Indeed, “Take heed to yourselves and be
on your guard, lest your hearts be overburdened and depressed
(weighed down) with the giddiness and headache
and nausea of self-indulgence,
drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to
[the business of] this life, and [lest] that day come upon you suddenly
like a trap or a noose; for it will come upon all who live
upon the face of the entire earth. Keep
awake then and watch at all times [be discreet, attentive, and
ready], praying that you may have the full strength and ability and be
accounted worthy to escape all these things [taken together] that will take
place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36 Amp.).
“When
He [Jesus Christ] arrived at the place [the Mount of Olives, or at the height
of anointing, that place in the garden of Gethsemane where He began to sweat
blood to secure the victory over sin in prayer first, and which culminated in
action secondly at the cross], He said to them [the disciples, those that
followed Him and His words], ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation’” (Luke
22:40 NASB). And “When He rose from
prayer, He came to the disciples and found them SLEEPING FROM SORROW, and said
to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not
enter into temptation’” (Luke 22:45-46).
“Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when
they were FULLY AWAKE, THEY SAW HIS GLORY” (Luke 9:32).
“Let
no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things (immorality,
impurity, greed, and the like) the wrath of God comes upon the sons
of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers
with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light
in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in
all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is
pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate
in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;
for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in
secret. But all things become
visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that
becomes visible is light. For this
reason it says, ‘Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will
shine on you.’ Therefore BE CAREFUL HOW
YOU WALK, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your
time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:6-16).
“To
this end...we pray for you always, that our God will COUNT YOU WORTHY
of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work
of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified
in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord
Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:11-12).
“Behold, I am coming like a thief.
Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that
he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame” (Revelation
16:15).
