REFERENCE TEXTS: Prov.24: 16-18, Ps.37:23-24, Micah 7:8 and Isa.42:9

INTRODUCTION

I welcome all of you on board the ship “MV JESUS”. Jesus is the captain of this groove ship, so sit tight for a fantastic voyage and watch the compass to know when we arrive at the destination port. You are welcome once again in the name of Jesus!

I will start with this story: when I was a little boy, one old man in my village once told me that life is like a bicycle wheel with its assembled spokes. The entire wheels represent the world we live in and its revolution path, while the spokes represent the individuals in the world. As the world revolves, the effect is exerted on the individual. As you press the bicycle pedal, the revolution of the wheel causes those spokes at the top to move down and the ones down will come up. The same is true of human life.

This is the reason you will notice that there are people who acquired so much wealth and later lost almost everything at a certain point and some people move from zero wealth to great wealth. The people you knew who were buoyant and rich last two years may not be as buoyant as you might think this year because they have naturally given way for others to make it to the top. But as the cycle of life revolves they that have fallen will rise again to the top and so, when I FALL I SHALL RISE AGAIN.

Hear me brother, hear me sister: It does not matter the number of times you have fallen in your business, it does not matter the numbers of years you have been sick and down, it does not matter the number of times you have failed your professional exams, it does not matter the length of time you have been out of job, it does not matter if you have failed morally and the devil is saying to you that you cannot make it again. Beloved, I have good news for you:  you will rise again, you will make in your business and your career this year, you will experience clean bill of health, and you are coming out of that exams with good grade this time.

Beloved, just incase you did not know, I want to tell you what the bible say and just incase you have forgotten, I want to remind you that Prov.24: 16 says that “for a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity” (NKJV).

You may have been down but that does not mean that you will remain there. There is assurance that you will rise again as a child of God. That sickness is not unto death. The elders are praying for you and God will raise you up again. Hear this: “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up” (James5:15).

You are coming out of that sickly condition. Yes! Your business may have been down for the past 5-10 years and you have been eating from hand to mouth. You are unable to pay your house rent. You are unable to pay your children school fees. You are unable to pay your light and security bills. Hang on beloved. Don’t pack your bags yet and don’t throw in the towel for you will rise again. The Bible says in Joel 2:25-26, “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you and my people shall never be ashamed” (NKJV).

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE DOWN?

When you are down spiritually, financially, emotionally and health wise, you need to:

CHOOSE THE VOICE OF FAITH –Mark 11:22-24

You will choose the voice of faith by changing your words. What you say is what you will receive. What you believe is what you will have. What you will receive is directly proportional to your faith. Your change answers to your level of faith. The voice of faith will propel you to rise again when you:

• Prophesy the right things- Ezekiel 37:1-14: you need to prophesy to your situation for a change. Talk about where you want to be and not where you are currently. Speak things that are not as though they were. Rom.4:17 say… “That God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did”. Release that prophetic voice into your situation and heaven will give you a supernatural assistance.
• Cease from speaking defeat over your life: All hope is not lost. The fact that you are down does not imply a defeat. So, do not speak the language of defeat but keep testifying the goodness of God in your life. Rev.12:11 say, “And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they love not their lives unto the death”.
• Take on the language of victory -2kings4:8-25: Don’t talk about the way you are right now rather talk about the way you want to be. Speak as a victor just as the shunamite woman. It is well. I am a success; I am a victor and a champion. Rom.8:28 say, “that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”.

Speak victory because God is ordering your steps and very soon you will rise again.

Hear this: “the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand” (Ps.37:23-24).

• Give God the right of way: There is correlation between what you say and what God does. What you say and believe is what God will do for you. Your word has to be in agreement with the word of God. Ps.91:2-3 says, “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Him, I will trust. Surely, He will deliver you from the snares of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence”.

There is a relationship between I will say and what He will do. So if you do not say things in agreement with His words, He will not do. As for me I will say of the Lord: you are my deliverer, you are my healer, you are my provider, and you are the strength of my glory.

GOD CAN CHANGE SITUATION FOR YOUR RISING

There is nothing too hard for God (Jer.32:17, 27). He changes times and season (Dan.2:21). A day is a thousand years and a thousand years like a day in the eyes of God (2Pet.3:8). You  may not be able to re-live your childhood, but God can make the rest of your life so rewarding and so fulfilling that it makes up for lost opportunities in your past. Do not loose hope because you are rising again.