Rise Up: A Three Day Devotional by CAINಮಾದರಿ

 Day 2 - Rise Up: “You’re just asleep, and it’s time to leave.”

Written by Madison Cain Johnson

Ephesians 2:6 says that I am seated with Christ in heavenly places. Also, I am very much seated on the couch with a coffee stain on my shirt. To live the Christian life is to live a double life. Let me explain.

In John 11, Jesus had just gotten word that Lazarus had died. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples were confused thinking “why take such a long trip to go wake someone up?” So Jesus clarified,

“Lazarus is dead.”

Jesus was walking the line between two natures, two realities. Seeing with His spiritual eyes, Lazarus was just asleep. Raising a man back from the dead was no more difficult than nudging him awake. But Jesus was not in denial of the earthly reality that Lazarus was dead. We, as Christ followers, must navigate living between two realities: flesh and spirit.

In the very moment of your salvation, you gained a whole new nature. Slowly, daily, you began taking steps to think, feel, and behave like Jesus. But then there are days, when you’re rude. Habits you thought you’d kicked are staring back at you in the mirror, you feel hopeless and depressed, you feel jealousy, you fear the future. You may be tempted to believe that you never truly changed in the first place.

What I just described to you is real! Not in your head. It’s in your body, you can see it with your own eyes. It’s real, but it’s not all that’s real. While fearful, you are redeemed, forgiven. While feeling out of control, you are made righteous, and strengthened in the Holy Spirit. In your weakest moment, your Spirit has more power than you could possibly fathom. Do not let the PRESENCE of a sinful DESIRE make you forget the

FACT that you have been set free!

So what does it mean to Rise Up? It’s the moment you remember that death couldn’t hold you, that nothing on Earth can separate you from God’s, love that you are stronger than these earthly symptoms make you feel. The enemy wants nothing more than for you to be alive, but live out your days in a tomb. But child of God, you are already seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Rise up.

Prayer:

Jesus, thank you for pulling me out of the dark. Help me to walk by faith and not by sight. Show me how to see with spiritual eyes, the truth of how You see me. Let me become so in tune with the Spirit reality that my earthly one fades into the background.

Lord, help to know that if You are for me, who can be against me? Let me rest knowing that I am already seated with you, until I see you face to face in eternity.