Published by admin on 16 Jan 2004 at 05:11 pm
GET UP!
In my travels to minister, no matter where I go, it’s the same old thing, “You wouldn’t believe the trials I’m going through right now. Everyone in my family is sick and my wife just lost her job. We can’t seem to make ends meet.” Or maybe it’s “I just don’t understand what’s happening to me, it seems God has turned His back on me. I feel like giving up.” Or, “Why is God letting this happen to me? I thought He loved me.”
Just today I received a letter from a dear friend who said he feels he will meet me at heaven’s gate to watch me go in, while he will be sent away to hell. This man loves the Lord. And he has apparently been thrown down for the seventh time and just doesn’t have the will left to get up for the eighth time. But Proverbs 24:16 says, “For a just man falleth seven times, and rises up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”
That’s right, a just man shall rise up again when he falls. Can a “just” man fall? Yes, he can. But because he is a just man in God’s eyes, the Lord says he shall rise again. The problem, then, must lie in the fact that when trials come and a man falls for one reason or another, he feels he must not really be a just man after all, because he got knocked down. Nothing could be farther than the truth.
Let me draw you a picture here. Suppose you went to church last week and you worshipped the Lord with all your heart. And if you committed sin, you repented of it and asked the Lord to forgive you. All was well with your soul. Then you went home and as soon as you stepped in your door, a burglar who was in your home stealing your goods, hit you over the head with a baseball bat, knocked you out, half killing you in the process.
Was it something you did? Was it your fault he broke into your home and hit you? Oh, you might try to say it was your fault because had you stayed home, the burglar would not have broken in. But that’s silly. You were not the problem, the burglar was the problem. But yet, when the devil comes to beat you up and destroy you, he will tell you it’s your fault he’s there in the first place. And maybe your brethren and cistern at church, and yes, I meant to spell it “cistern”, as in “cesspool”, will tell you tell you that if you didn’t have sin in your life, the devil wouldn’t be attacking you. But remember, the devil attacked Jesus. Did He have sin in His life? I rest my case.
Jesus said the devil is a thief, who comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Just because the devil attacks you doesn’t make you wrong or unjust. He attacks everyone. He hates everyone, and yes, he hates you. And he especially hates people who love and serve God. If the devil can mess you up, believe me, he will. So what do you do when the devil knocks you down? Get up!
Don’t lie there feeling sorry for yourself and telling every person you meet how God has abandoned you because He has allowed the devil to attack you. Get up! The battle may be hot, but the Bible says the just shall win if they don’t give up. Get up! You aren’t dead yet, are you? If you are, let me know, and I’ll come raise you so you can get up and going again.
The devil knows you are beloved of God. He also knows that if he can get you to believe that God doesn’t love you anymore, or that you are no longer the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, perhaps he can talk you out of your crown of life.
James 5:11 says, “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Did you see that? It says “We count them happy which endure. So what’s it going to be; lay down and feel sorry for yourself, or get up, endure, and be happy? As for me and my house, we will endure to the end, so we may obtain the prize. When we get knocked down, we will get back up. If the devil knocks me down seven times, I will get up eight.
C’mon, get up! Read the back of the Bible. It says we win! And then REJOICE IN THE LORD! You can do it. God’s grace is sufficient for you to overcome any trial. Get up! You’ll be so glad you did when the dust is settled and you’re the last man standing! And you were thinking of giving up????
Remember, the devil is a liar. He says you can’t make it. He says God doesn’t love you. He says you’re a loser. He can spout all the lies he wants. I know the truth. You can do it. You’re a winner. You are beloved of God. He loves you so much He sent Jesus to die for your sins, so you could live forever with Him. And when the devil is thrown kicking and screaming into the lake of fire, you’re going to see it. And you’re gonna love it!