Encouragement

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ARISE AND SHINE

Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise and shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.”

Arise can mean different things to different people, depending on their situation. Arise to the dead means resurrection, come back to life. We can see this in Mark 5:35-36. To someone who is asleep, “Arise” has a different meaning, ‘Arise’ simply means, wake – up, as we find Ephesians 5:14 some of us are asleep, spiritually.

Arise means get into action. How do we know! If we look at 1 Samuel 15:11-12, when Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint somebody as king. He saw all the sons of Jesse that were present, but couldn’t find the chosen one. He asked: “Are these all your sons? Jesse said” Oh, there remains one who is in the bush, Samuel said “we will not sit down until you bring him”. So by the time they were bringing in David, everybody was still standing! God said to Samuel “Arise anoint him for this is him” so, if they were all standing when God said ‘Arise’, then, it means, get into action.

What about those who are already walking, already living? Arise to the one who is already walking means “begin to run” in 1 Samuel 17:38, the Bible records that when Goliath drew nearer David arose. He hastened to battle. Walking is not enough you have to run: what about those who are already running? Arise means, ‘fly and go’ Isaiah 40:31 says “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run and shall not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint”.

Those who are flying don’t need to worry about mountains and obstacles, for they fly high above them. What about those who are already flying? What does “Arise” means to them “Arise means, go higher’. In 2 Cor. 3:18, the Bible says, But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord”

What exactly does the word ‘shine’ means? It has several meanings, but let me mention only a few. The first one is fulfill your purpose because the purpose of light is to shine. So when God says, ‘shine’ He is saying, the purpose for which I have created you, must be fulfilled. In Gen. 18:9-14 the angel of God visiting Abraham asked him, “where is Sarah your wife? He answered, that she was behind the tent. Then the angel said, “tell her, that nine months from now, she will have a child” but Sarah laughed ‘saying’ “I am too old” the angel replied ‘I am not interested in whether you are too old or not”.

The second meaning of “shine” is to excel Daniel 6:1-3 tells us about something that happened in a certain kingdom where Daniel was supposed to be a slave. There were one hundred and twenty nations in the kingdom. Because an excellent spirit was found in him, the king sought to set him over the whole realm.

Elisha was just like one of the sons of the prophets, but when Elijah left, the Bible says that the sons of the prophets came together and bowed to Elisha, saying, “the spirit of Elijah comes upon Elisha” (2 King 2:9-15). David has seven other brothers, but God rejected all those, though they were big, strong and handsome. David was ordained king in the midst of his brethren.

Shine, also means, an opening of the eyes. When Jesus met Bartimaeus in
(Mark 10:46-52) He asked, “what do you want” He answered “that I may fulfill my potentials, I want to receive my sight”. Not only talking about physical eyes, but also, spiritual eyes, in Psalm 119:18, David said. “Open thou my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law”. He wasn’t physically blind.

But, do people who excel have anything common? Well, here are a few from the scriptures, which we can study;
In Daniel 1:8 Daniel said, “I am not going to defile myself with the king’s food, nor with wine “Daniel was saying he was not going to join those Christians who are positioning for settlement. An average Africans knows what I mean by settlement (corruption, bribery etc). He said he would not join the multitude to do evil. Let the people around you know where you belong.

When Elijah was going on the last lap of his last journey, by the river Jordan. He said to Elisha, “ wait here”. Elisha answered, “As the Lord liveth, I will not leave thee” the Bible says the fifty sons of prophets stood afar off, to watch. Those who always stand afar off, to watch, hardly excel. They will not be involved and therefore cannot excel. But in the case of Elisha, although, he did not know how to cross the river Jordan, he insisted he was going.

In Samuel 17:32-37, we find David saying to everybody when his people were running from Goliath that he would go and fight him. Why? Because, he dared insult my God, these men were courageous, principled determined and focused.

Arise and shine is a command from the Commander-in-Chief of the hosts of heaven. The psalmist in Psalm 24:7-10, calls Him the Lord who is mighty in battle, the king of glory. It is the Lord of lords. My prayer is all of us will shine and shine until the glorious day. Halleluiah.

If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maranatha
(1 Cor. 16:22).


© 2004 – Aduwo Samson Olufemi
e-mal: [email protected]
Lagos Nigeria
[email protected]

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