GET READY TO ARISE AND WALK FORWARD

Ever found yourself stuck in the cave of life's problems? have you ever gone to work or school and end up getting the worst possible news ever, throwing you into the darkness of captivity, confusion, sadness, and feelings of despair?

By Angeline M Duran Santiago

There's a story in the Bible of a town that was suffering, in the last minutes of survival, dying, ready to become extinct. People had given up and just at that last hour when most of the town had decided to lay back and die, a word from the Prophet came to tell them it was all about to change. Perhaps some doubted while some believed. To those who refused to see it as possible, they were told, "Oh, you're going to see the Lord bring this town and these people out of their desperation, their needs, their hunger and their hurt. You're going to see it too. But, because of your unbelief, you aren't going to enjoy the moment of breakthrough and joy."

Now, in the midst of this chaos and smell of nearby death, there were four lepers, of course, outside of the town, because if you know your Bible history, lepers were the outcast of the day, unwanted and unworthy to step inside the city walls. They knew the condition inside the town. They knew they were all waiting for death to just take them away. But, they didn't see their signed death warrant as their end. They looked at their difficult situation and all of a sudden, just at that last moment something happened.

They got sick and tired of being sick and tired. They got fed up with being kept on the outside. They got disgusted with the condition of their lives. They got tired of accepting their life of leprosy, disease, hunger, being signaled out, being kept away from others, and being the unwanted. They got filled with the kind of anger that is I guess, a good one. It made them become bold. It made them pull up what remained of their ragged clothing, and it made them go into a battle mentality. They decided to go forward.

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die?" 2 Kings 7:3

I don't want to share the whole story because it's too long. But this I do want to share. They went forward. They began to move. In the midst of their dying spirit, their spirit came alive. They began to take small steps. They were starving, thirsty, hurting, and exhausted. But, they moved forward. 

"If we're going to die, then let's at least die trying to find a way out, to see what is up ahead, to find what we need, to never give up..." You fill in the blanks.

 

To me, God is saying, "Yes, you are in the midst of a crisis. You have become the unloved, the outcast, the hated ones. Yes, it's true, problems and situations have come upon your head and you only see despair and no way out."

To me, God is saying, "Get up! Get up and move forward! Take a new step. Move ahead. Don't stay in your coffin. Don't remain in your condition. God has promised a blessing, to release freedom and a breakthrough! God has sent His word to set you free and make you a blessing."

These men, little by little, began to walk. And, what happened? 

They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. 6For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, "Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us." 

God used their lifeless footsteps and those in the nearby towns heard the footsteps of an army. God used each painful step forward to echo thunderously into the nearby towns causing them to flee for their lives and thus providing what these men needed. 

Can you and I get ready to move forward?
God wants to use our footsteps to loudly thunder across the cities and towns, across and into the desperation of our situation. God has made provisions but we have to get up and go for it. Can you allow God to use you even in your weakest condition? Even in your sickness? Even when you barely have enough to buy food for the week?

God's plan is a great plan! Will you believe it today? I choose to hold on to what He has promised! Lord, I know that I am like those lepers. I am in great need in so many areas of my life. Still, I rise. I get up and move forward. I choose to have faith in your promises and your ability to make a way where there is no way! I believe, regardless, if I believe alone. Use my feet, my voice, my life and thunder across the heavens with my life as I move forward believing in You, God of my breakthrough, my blessings, my life.