It's time to Arise!

During a time of sung worship at church recently, Lizzie shared that she felt God wanted to speak to us as a church through the sound of the trombone that was being played.

She reminded us that in Old Testament times, the people of Israel would communicate to each other in times of battle through the sound of the trumpet. A certain trumpet sound would mean retreat, another would be victory, yet another would be the instruction to “charge”. She encouraged us to listen to the instrument being played in church and to hear what God might be saying to us in the midst of our battles.

As I don’t feel in a season of battle, I nearly switched off, but as the trombone began to play I heard one very clear word: ARISE. Now I didn’t actually know what that meant in practice and looked up a few Bible references on Monday morning, including from Song of Songs chapter 2 v10 - ‘My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me”’ but didn’t quite know what to make of it.

I then drove to Reading to meet my sister for lunch and as we walked round a beautiful lake, she shared, unaware of my thoughts, that she was preaching that Sunday on a passage in Judges 5v7 -“Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel” and in particular the words “until I arose”.

She explained that she hadn’t been sure what it meant ‘to arise’ until she saw a big banner on the way to our lunch which said: JESUS SAVES and felt very clearly from God that He was calling people to rise up and share the good news of the Gospel. She preached the following Sunday on God’s call on us as Christians to wake up, rise up and take action. She shared that this could mean praying for breakthrough, pursing justice where there is injustice, shining God’s light in darkness, or speaking up for those who cannot advocate for themselves.

The call to arise is about allowing God to wake us up and propel us into action, where we’ve been stagnating, where we’ve been numb, where we’ve been holding back, where we’ve been living for ourselves, where we’ve been hiding.

I have felt God’s call on me this year to pray, pray, pray. This word ARISE reminds me that my battles are to be fought in prayer this year. I have also felt Him leading me to rely on His Spirit for guidance and wisdom.

Is God calling you to ARISE? Where might He be calling you to wake up and take action? How might God be leading you to pursue justice? When might He be inviting you to shine His light? For who might He be telling you to pray?

It’s time to ARISE!