Easter Monday can be a real let-down. That’s almost oxmoronish. It’s not that families have returned to their respective homes or that several inches of snow suddenly covered the crocuses and ruined that smooth transition from Easter to Spring.
It’s, “How do you top the resurrection of Christ?” After singing all of the great hymns and contemporary anthems of the risen Jesus, it’s easy to have a let-down especially when puffy snow has just erased all of the outlines of your gardens.
There’s something in me that simply says, “Arise!” It comes from deep within.
It’s as if Braveheart is incessantly riding back and forth on his charger in front of his men before battle and his words stir up their hearts and squash their fears. They stand to their feet and a great battlecry erupts.
Arise!
There’s certainly scriptural basis for using this word. But it’s only partly “knowledge.” It’s guttural in nature. When there’s no gas in my physical or emotional tank, “Arise” gets me running - if only on fumes.
Whether it’s the doldrums, let-downs, crisis, or impossible odds, I must arise.
Jesus both showed the way and is the way. That’s why the way isn’t an out. It’s always an up.
PORTAL TO HEAVEN: Sometimes portals are push-throughs and a determined trust that thrusts us through cloud-cover like a plane after an overcast take-off. Once above the clouds, it’s all sun. But we must first “arise.”
he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you…That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead….Let God arise… ‘Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you’
Romans 8:11 NIV, Ephesians 1:19 NIV, Psalm 68:1 NASB, Isaiah 60:1 NASB