Hosanna Restoration Church

Things happen! Troubles come! The battles may weary us, but the key is to keep getting up. The enemy loves to get us to focus on the failure, or the punch that knocked us down, but in all of this, we simply need to keep getting up!

In this passage of scripture, Paul had been stoned and left for dead. It is quite possible that he was dead. Paul knew about stoning. Remember, he stood nodding his approval when Stephen was stoned! But when the believers gathered around Paul; he got up.

He could have just stayed down. He could have thought, “I guess it is only fitting that I go this way with the things I did before I turned to Christ.” But instead, Paul got up. And when he got up, God raised him to yet another level of ministry. He rose with an even more powerful testimony.

Don’t you think it got people’s attention when the word went around that the one they left for dead got up and walked right back into town? I can imagine that there were a lot of people who followed him to the next town to hear more about this God who raised him up!

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Paul tells them they were pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair. He says they were knocked down but not destroyed. They were hunted down, but they were never abandoned by God. They just had to keep getting up until He took them up.

As God spoke to my heart about this scripture, He told me that the lowest I could go if I am knocked down would be the floor or the ground, but when He picks me up, He always takes me through another ceiling. Fortunately for me, I really do not take that much notice when I am punched. He reminded me of when I used to spar with guys on the boxing team. I had no finesse. I would just wade right in and shrug the punches off.

Spiritually, I have probably been punched a lot more than I know, but the floor of my bubble springs me back up. Just as I never worried about physical punches, I don’t spend much time focused on the punches in the spiritual realm either. I know God is there for me so why should I stress out over things.

Believe me, there are lots of things out there waiting to sucker punch you. I have been blindsided often, but those things are nothing compared to the sinking ship I had created for myself before God rescued me. We do not have time to lie around and feel sorry for ourselves. We simply need to keep getting up. So that is the word of the Lord to you today. Keep getting up!