**This is a life movement that I hope you will join me and other young adult women in RISING UP! and making Jesus famous in our life — in 2012. Here is the string of posts on this topic.
We’ve prepared our hearts to go low before GOD ALONE as we RISE UP! and make Him famous in our life. Though the physical stance of kneeling or posturing face down before Jesus strikes the world as weird, the concept of bowing down before something really isn’t alien. In fact, we do this every day to things like our televisions when we center our life around must see t.v. as I very often do. {working on this at the moment}. There are many gods in our lives in which we inadvertently pay homage to at the detriment to our relationship with Jesus. But the people in our life who don’t know the Lord don’t see this as a problem.
Neither did the people of Babylon when King Nebuchadnezzar commanded the entire country to bow before a golden image in worship of this king…this man. {Daniel 3}
Three brave YOUNG men stood standing in blatant defiance as the entire country fell on their face before this idol, fully aware of very dire consequences to their RISING UP rather than going low before anything other than their Almighty God.
HOT FIRE
A consequence they accepted and believed their powerful LORD would deliver them from, one way or another.
The large golden image towered over a field of Babylonians. Loud noises of “worship” rang out that qued the bowing low of every countryman. The sun blazed and the HOT FIRE roared ready for anyone in defiance. Everyone fell face down to the ground, trying to get even lower for fear they would be seen as not bowing down.
Can you see these three YOUNG men silhouetted as you pan over the feild of Babylonians?
Can you hear their heart beating in prayer toward the LORD they faithfully serve, trusting His protection?
Thrown into the fire, not a lick of the rage singed their bodies. God delivered. King Nebuchadnezzar astounded and changed his tune, praising the God of these YOUNG men.
Though our risk of a raging fire should we RISE UP! for God alone is not realistic, there are consequences when we
~ put an end to a destructive relationship
~set physical boundaries with our boyfriends
~go against the grain and stand up for someone in our office which others put down
~use our time and money in ways that serves the Lord when our friends head to the mall
~change the way we spend our Friday nights
People will look at us weird. They might stop calling to see if we want to hang out. We might have to endure heart break.
There are very real consequences when we decide to RISE UP! and worship GOD ALONE.
Are you prepared?
The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. {Psalm 145:14}
Let’s take some time to discuss. Leave a comment with some challenges and consequence that you might see arise when you decide to RISE UP!
I really enjoyed this post, particularly considering what the “hot fires” in my life are – yes, I am afraid of friends not calling to hang out, yes I am afraid of being ‘weird’ if I don’t party or feel comfortable with an overtly physical relationship with a guy – I need to get OVER it and stand up for what I believe in! Yeesh, I feel sort of silly (my potential trials are really not all that difficult…) and inspired all at once. Thanks!
I am so excited about being in this group! I am in the last year of my 20’s :-( but, I too don’t like resolutions as I think it’s setting myself up for failure. However, I have things I want to accomplish this new year and last year of my 20’s. This being said, standing up for God is one of those things! I have always been a leader, not a follower. When I was 16 and 17, I worked all the time. My friends didn’t have to work and were always going to the lake or just out, they would call me and of course, I would say No to tag along with them, so eventually, everyone quit calling……Now, my focus is on God and what I can do to share his love, promises, mercy, grace and all that comes with being a Christian. Thank you, Sara for creating this group and I hope your book is finished before Sept so I can read it while I am still in my 20’s :-)
Praying for you as you write!
Karri!
So glad for you to join in! I love how you shared that your focus is on how to let others know about God’s love, mercy, etc. Good stuff!
BTW, my book is out in June…just in time before your birthday. :)
Oh, please, what tripe! More baggage for insecure women to obsess over.
Sorry you feel that way. Would love for you to join in on the conversation…
Leanna– I too am sorry you feel this way ……..
I have to tell you that I’m quite secure but as a Christian, I always want to grow. May I ask, since you seem to not be a believer, how you happened to come across this website? As Sarah said, I’d love for you to express yourself here. I will be Praying for you!
Sarah – yay! I’m so excited to read it! I love P31 & all you ladies! Glyynis, Melissa, & Wendy are three of my favorite mentors & Christian women! I am loving “she speeks” and your VLOG as well! Your vision is Inspiring & I look forward to getting to know you & growing as a Christian with you! Praying for you!
I am excited about this as well. I am willing to go through the “Hot Fire” I am willing to RISE UP and live the life I am meant to live in my God’s arms. TODAY… I am willing! :) Thank you Sarah I am really enjoying your blog as well as your Facebook posts. Many blessings to you and your family! :)
So glad you joined in!
There are always challenges to doing things differently than what others are doing so that we can rise up and be who we are called to be. I love that you are doing this Sarah!
I am changing behaviours yet again in my life so that I can fully RISE UP!
I can’t wait to hear more about the changes you are making. This makes God smile, too!
Yes, it only gets harder when you get low and spend more time with God. At least this is what I’ve experienced when I am more God-focused. The temptation and self doubt usually increases for me when I am more focused on Christ and digging into the Word more.
Gosh, yes, setting physical boundaries with the bf is harder than I ever thought it would be! I don’t think ANY book on Purity can quite prepare you well enough to stand up against sexual temptations when they come…not even in a Christian relationship. My bf and I have not had sex, but I’m pretty sure there have been moments where we’ve both thought about just doing it for a split second and then realized that we needed to respect God and each other before our own desires ultimately. It’s a definite struggle (especially already being in your twenties and being unmarried like me) and I’m still fighting HARD, but I know ultimately that God has a plan for sex and marriage in my life just like HE has a plan for every other area of my life.
Unfortunately I’ve also had to walk away from quite a few friends and groups (like a church band) because the things they were focused on/watching/talking about went against the grain-of-God.
It’s never easy to walk away and RISE UP, but at least we aren’t alone while doing it! I’m very excited to be able to share my struggles and triumphs with a group of like-minded-and-very-loving twenty-somethings here on your blog, Sarah. And I’m so excited about the upcoming release of your book! =)
(I apologize for being SUPER-RANTY!!)
Sarah! So glad you “ranted.” LOVE IT! I’m sure there are others feeling the same way. Keep doing the hard thing my friend, God will bless you for RISING UP!
Love this, Sarah. Right now I’m struggling most with the consequences of using my time and money to serve the Lord. It’s hard to know when taking the time (even the money..like catching a movie or going out to dinner..even just the cost of driving somewhere) to invest in a friendship is important (and I believe it is) and when there are more important places for me to be/more important places to give. It’s something I’ve really had to turn over to God recently & trust where He leads me. Still, it’s hard to know when to say ‘no’ & when to make the extra effort to let my friends know I love them & want to be part of their lives. :)
Hey sarah this is so true in my life. my friends look at me differently. I need god’s help to rise up more to make him more famous in my life. As i was reading your post i remember the song by mathew west it is called”Sellout”. We are all sold out for the King!!…Actually from the day i stopped worshiping the ‘idols’ in my life and started to bow down only to the king of kings He started to use me in a mighty way…He has made my life beautiful..When you know who you are in Christ you won’t bother about the comments or what people think about you…thats what i’ve learnt in my life…:)
Ranjitha! So glad you shared that Matthew West song, I’m headed over to check it out. Thanks for committing to RISE UP!
This was my first time on your blog and I LOVED it. I am just starting out on my journey. I have been a Christian all my life, went to church and have been baptized but I have never really sat down to have a relationship with God. I have some beliefs but I am just now excited and striving for a closer relationship. I am scared to tell my friends and be so open about it for fear of being alone. I know that I am not truly alone and that God is always with me and that is all that matters, but it’s still scary and hard. I love that my family is so supportive. But I still feel alone in this journey. I also feel like I have missed out on so much by not focusing on God. I am excited to read your blog and see all the comments that hit close to home. I am also in my last year of my 20’s and excited about GOD. I have had a lot of trials in my life and when I turned to god in the past I pulled through stronger, but then I would turn my back again and fall. I have been struggling with all the demands of nursing school, which has made me want to push God aside and concentrate on studying more, which I did my first semester(did great but was so stressed out and unhappy) this semester I am turning to god first and always make time for him. What is funny is that I have done amazing this semester so far and I have been more a peace and happy. I work load is even crazier than before but I feel like I am on top of the world with all of Gods help. Now I am rambling but I was inspired to respond, which I usually do not do. Thank you. D
Diane! So glad you found me. Keep finding your courage to share Jesus with your friends. I think sometimes we feel intimidated and think they will take it the wrong way. But, you never know when the Lord will lead you to say just the right thing at just the right time that will make all the difference in the world.
hugs!
I love this story of the hot fire to be used as punishment, but god using it to show what provision He can make and show WHAT EXTREME faith these men had. I just cannot even begin to imagine being put in a situation like that where you see that, and know that in the literal, physical sense, no good should come from it and to our knowledge, the fire would mean death. But God works in such a way that he uses it to test and prove what strong faith these men had and that He COULD bring them through it and protect them to come out even stronger and with an even greater faith and love for their God that even before.
A challenge for me tends to be where God would want me to invest and spend my time, as a couple other gals mentioned. At this age there are so many things via’ing for our time. My husband. Work. Church. Friends. Commitments, etc etc etc. The question I keep having to come back to is where does HE want me to INVEST my time. When I am saying yes to something, although it may be good, it may NOT be His best for me at that time. I’m trying to learn to recognize that and rise up in making choices that allow me to invest the time He has given me instead of simply “spending” it.
Some challenges I face to Rising Up is truly being who I was made to be in front of everyone. God has given me the gift to sing. I want to sing for His glory and honor, but I am afraid that I will not be liked or I think people will think I am better than them or trying to be. I know if I don’t sing totally for Him the consequences could be the gift taken away or He will not be recieving the praise that is due to Him and Him alone.
I want to Rise Up and give God the glory through my gift of singing.