GET UP! STAND UP!
GET UP! STAND UP!
A few days ago, I was suddenly reminded of a song. Well not the entire song as I have no idea what that sounds like, but it was the chorus that kept coming to my mind. This is not a song that I have ever gone out of my way to play or to listen to. But it is a song in the public domain and was very popular back in the day. The song (the chorus) by Bob Marley and the Wailers goes “Get up, stand up stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up don’t give up the fight.” Bob Marley & The Wailers 1973
As the words of this chorus kept ringing in my mind, I found myself energized and knew that this year 2024 I was going to have to stand up for my rights. You see, when Jesus Christ was crucified and just before He gave up the ghost, He cried “It is Finished!” This cry was saying to all that Jesus had paid the price for all our sins. He had also redeemed us from the curse of the law. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). Galatians 3:13 KJV
In Deuteronomy 28, from verse 16, therein is found a heap of curses for not keeping the law. Those curses are scary. I pray that none of us will operate under any of them in Jesus name. Now God has done the greatest thing ever by sending His only Son to come to earth and die in our place. The curse of the law is now null and void for everyone who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and personal Saviour. Therefore our default should be open heavens and blessings all the way. Yet this is not always the case. Many believers live life from one misfortune to another. This should not be so. Though the scriptures tell us that we will experience trials in life, we are not expected to remain there. We should pass through and not camp there.
So how do we get up and stand up for our rights? How do we hold on to the victory that Jesus paid for with His life, with His precious blood? We should never give up; we should be consistent in the place of prayer. We cannot afford to leave things to chance. This is not a case of what will be, will be. This is what the bible says: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said. “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you he will see that they get justice and quickly. However when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith in the earth?” Luke 1: 1 – 8 NIV
So maybe sometimes we pray and we feel that God is not doing anything, please do not give up. That adversary is the devil and he only wants to frustrate us but our God is a Righteous Judge. And He will always judge in our favour. Let us wait for Him. We must learn to stand up to the devil. In case he forgot, let us remind him that Jesus reigns and is seated on high. That “God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth.” Philippians 2:9-10 KJV
This year stay on top of your game. Stand up for what Jesus has already done for us. God has given us a gift of righteousness and we are now the righteousness of God in Christ. Therfore the devil has no right to keep us oppressed or depressed. We must stand up and bash the devil with our arsenal of gratitude, joy, laughter, praise, prayer, thanksgiving, and worship.
GET UP AND STAND UP! DO NOT GIVE UP!
OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS©