Budget Cut vs. Pay Raise

The tempter sought to lodge self-pity with my soul regarding my knee.

"Can you believe God would do this to you?" he whispered Monday night. "Just when you have so much to do. And now you're going to suffer with this for the rest of your life. The rest of your life, mind you. Just think how you have been weakened."

I turned to the Lord. "Lord, it feels like my natural strength has gotten a budget cut. I no longer have the resources I used to have. What do I do about it?"

"A budget cut on your natural strength is a budget increase of my grace," He replied.

A big smile spread over my face and self-pity fled. All the more reason to leap! This is not like a budget cut after all! It's like getting a pay raise. I excitedly anticipated the extra measure of grace that God would provide through this situation. For the first time in my life, I could sense a tiny measure of what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

It also reminded me of the no-holds-barred promise of 2 Cor. 9:8. Count the words "all," "every," and "abound."

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

~ ~ ~

I did get my knee checked out on Tuesday, and the doctor said my MCL was sprained. Yes! ONLY a sprain! That means I don't need to have an MRI, surgery, or even an x-ray. I just have to keep it immobilized for a few weeks and wear a brace for a few weeks after that, and it will heal. Praise the Lord! What a relief! So I won't suffer with it for the rest of my life. Hooray!

A chance to leap

I think I totally weirded out my parents on Sunday. I leaped for joy, a pitiful little one-legged leap that was nonetheless full of joy and worship. And I choose to rejoice and thank God for this circumstance, because it is a chance to experience more fullness of His abundant grace.

Sunday afternoon after church, we had the most wonderful opportunity: A man from church took us out on his boat to water ski on a nearby lake. Ah! It was so much fun! I had water skied once before, when I was 15, so I didn't really know what I was doing, but I was able to get up on my feet on my second try, and we zoomed off down the lake. Pretty soon I discovered how to cross back and forth across the wake of the boat, and before long, the daredevilry in me came out and I was jumping as high as I could when I would go over the wake. (Don't get any ideas of this being anything dramatic or impressive--I was not strong enough or skilled enough to get much air.)

But I wiped out, and my left ski acted like a screwdriver on my leg, twisting my knee in a rapid jerk. Something popped. I fell limply onto my back with a moan, holding my knee. The boat circled back around to get me, and my dad helped me climb up the ladder on my good leg. I spent the rest of the time sitting in the boat with my left leg stretched out on the seat and became the official photographer while my siblings performed dramatic and daring exploits on the water skis and the slalom ski.

Mr. Long, the owner of the boat, dazzled us all with his exploits on the slalom ski.

Dad looks on with interest and pride in his athletic kids

So now I'm hobbling around, enjoying the support of a borrowed knee brace. I suspect it's a case of "there goes my knee forever."

Sunday night when I got home, I verbally thanked God and did the best leap for joy I could manage. My dad saw me and didn't know what was going on. "Just be careful, now," he cautioned me. I smiled to myself, leaping in my heart, looking forward to what God is going to do.

Dependence

Today I got up to the front of the chapel in our testimony time and said, "I'm so excited, I can't contain myself from telling you this: Today is the best day of my life, because it is the first day I am truly living by grace and wholly dependent on God."

Dependence on Jesus every moment--conscious dependence, looking to him for exactly what to do and say. This is a revolutionary way of life, one that I often wanted to try to accomplish in my own strength, but failed to do. But it's not me who does it (or does anything). It's HIM. And discovering how to live this way is literally blowing my mind.

One test, Mr. Ludy said, of whether you really have died to self or not, is if God asks you for some sacrifice and you are able to give it instantly without hesitation or putting up a fight.

Last night I was saying to the Lord, "God, this is so amazing, and this Christian life is so worth living, I will give up anything or make any sacrifice for you in order to move closer to you in it."

"Okay," He said. "How about 3 hours of prayer a day?"

You would think I would have gulped. I would have expected to half faint at the idea of doing something that drastic. But I instantly accepted. I got up at 3:10 this morning and prayed, and I haven't even felt tired today, which is HIGHLY unusual, because almost every day, I've taken a nap at lunch time because I was so tired, and today I didn't even get that, and I was completely alert and engaged.

He really does provide EVERYTHING you need in order to fulfill his commands. He gives you the spiritual resources and the physical resources.

GOD IS SO AMAZING!!!

Grace

We had a message on Grace this morning.

I don't know about you, but I have always been fuzzy on the meaning of grace. I have heard the pat definitions ("unmerited favor" etc.), but I have never been able to articulate what exactly GRACE is. What is this thing that is so important that Paul begins almost every epistle with "Grace and peace to you"? What does it DO for me, and how does it WORK, and why is it useful for my life?

Ohhhh, how we have forgotten what the apostles and the true believers have known all through the centuries!   Eric Ludy says this in his book, The Bravehearted Gospel,

"The gospel has been reduced to a message merely about forgiveness while the idea of regeneration and transformation seems almost totally forgotten. Grace has become simply a gigantic hug from God and is no longer the muscle of God brought to earth to aid the weakness of men and to give them strength. Faith has morphed into this bizarre idea of "honest doubt" and has lost its essence of rock-solid unwavering confidence in the ability of God to perform that which He promises. Holiness has transformed into moralistic tyranny for the soul and something to be avoided at all costs. Righteousness has been redefined to mean an unreachable standard of perfection. Purity has become nothing more than a legalistic attempt to stay away from things and thoughts that God knows we won't be able to abstain from anyway. Love has become unconditional acceptance and tolerance of sin."

And here at Ellerslie, we are being taught the triumphant majesty of these truths. They're all right there in the Bible--but yet, we have redefined them to the point where no one can actually live by them any more. I shudder to think of a quote from the youth pastor at a church we formerly attended: "It's possible to be a totally apathetic Christian. You can be saved and on your way to heaven, and yet never bear any fruit." No! We have forgotten what grace is!

I love how Eric put it. Grace is "the muscle of God brought to earth to aid the weakness of men and to give them strength."

God gives me His grace so that I can actually LIVE this impossible life! For the Christian life is literally impossible to live in our human strength. The commands of Christ are too high to ever be carried out. No one can do it--but HE CAN. And by faith, we can look to him and get the strength (grace) that makes it possible for us to obey these impossible commands. "Be holy as I am holy" is impossible on the level of walking on water, yet Christ lived out the perfectly holy life, and He lives in us, and in His strength, we can actually gain the victory over sin.

This is incredible! Every day I feel like saying "Whoaaaa" out loud in our sessions, or like going up to the front to do a couple of leaps for joy that all this stuff in the Bible says is actually... true. (Whaddya know about that?) So at the risk of looking ridiculous, I'll just do a couple of leaps here on my blog, because I'm literally this psyched.

I knew God was going to do great things in my life here at Ellerslie, but I didn't realize they were going to be THIS amazing.

Spiritual Athlete

This morning's message by Mr. Ludy was so amazing, it left me so inspired that I went up to my room and did a couple of little leaps. 

He was talking about fighting against sleep. Basically, he said it was possible to actually resist the claims of tiredness from your body in order to fulfill Jesus's commands. I have never heard anybody say this before--but when we look to Jesus in faith and surrender our bodies to Him, He calls the shots. He is now our master. So tiredness from our body is not something we have to listen to any more. 

I went up to my room after the session to pray and try this out. At lunch time I'm always craving a nap. I had about an hour, and I started praying all pumped up and excited about this. I wanted to really wrestle in prayer for the entire hour. But it didn't quite work out. 

I started praying and ran out of things I could think of in about 5 minutes. It was noon. "God, you're going to have to help me here, because by myself, I'm not going to be able to do this," I said. I had been pacing energetically back and forth in the room, but now an overwhelming desire came over me to just sit down on the floor. I sat on the floor and I got a whole stream of prayer requests that kept me busy for what I was sure must have been about 30 minutes. I looked at my watch. 12:10 pm. Only 10 minutes had passed. 

10 minutes! Oh no! How will I ever survive at this rate? I must make it until at least 12:30! I asked God for his help again but I think I dozed off sitting there on the floor. I woke up and it was 12:20. "I give up," I thought to myself. "I'm getting into my bed." So I climbed up to my bunk and slept until 1:05, when the alarm rang and I had to get up to go to the next session. 

I was so disappointed in myself. Sleep overcame me and I didn't even fight it. If I had, things might have been different. But as it was, it was the first defeat I had experienced since coming here. 

It's amazing how sleep is the area that, for me, is the absolute hardest thing to overcome. The flesh stakes its claim there and will not let go. It will be SUCH a testimony to God's power and the life-changing opportunity that is in Christ if I can truly overcome this monster.

But at least for the first time in my life, I'm told it's possible, by someone who likes sleep at least as much as I do, who had to fight HARD to conquer it, and who actually overcame. 

Rushing Wind

Today there was an air of expectancy in the room as Mr. Ludy came up and opened with prayer. The solemnity of his manner, the great hush that fell over the room, portended the move of God that was to come.


He said only a few words. He read Ezekiel 37:1-14 (the vision of the valley of dry bones) and a couple of other Scriptures.

Even as he spoke, it was as if a flame kindled within me and started my heart on fire. I knew the presence of the living God was in our midst. I knew God was going to do great things.

Then he played a recording of a Keith Green song called Rushing Wind. It played, and we collectively fell on our faces before God. The song ended, and we continued prostrate before God. No one got up to speak or interrupted the move of God.

We wept. We sobbed openly. I was on the floor, kneeling with my face bent to the ground, and I was literally shaking, tears flowing freely, as God dealt with my heart and I prayed. God was reaching deep within me for something that had been a part of me for many years: fear of man. Fear, debilitating fear, that had kept me from witnessing on the metro in Madrid, that had kept me from witnessing over and over and over again on different occasions in the past, that had paralyzed me and hindered me from fulfilling God's purpose in my life. 

And God spoke to me. "I want you to say a prayer aloud," He said. 

And I started arguing. "Do you really want me to do that? What if that's inappropriate? How am I supposed to do that? What am I going to do?" 

I realized that triumph in this one occasion would symbolize the triumph over fear that God wanted to offer me for the rest of my life. Fear of what people will think, fear of saying the wrong thing or being inappropriate or being rejected, fear of following my own way, of making up my own idea of what God wanted me to do, fear of opening up my mouth to speak.

I was willing to do it, but I when it came to actually praying out loud, I found myself shuddering with the violence of my flesh's effort NOT to comply with God's command. I was still bent double on my knees on the floor, and I trembled, my hands clutched at the floor, my fists clenched and unclenched, and my eyes squeezed out the hot tears. I knew I must obey. And somehow, finally, after all this time, after many, many opportunities God's mercy had shown me, I opened up my mouth to speak.

"Oh Lord, I make that my prayer. Send your mighty rushing wind among us. My soul looks to You, Lord."

That was all I said.

That was all I had to do.

And oh, the peace that flooded my soul. A tremendous calm took over. I knew that God had dealt definitively with this long-existent troublemaker.

Again there was no session. We prayed, testified, wept, and confessed for the rest of the morning.

But I feel that the best is yet to come. This was a little manifestation of God's power and presence, but one day, soon, I expect that God is going to do an even mightier work among us. I am praying for the Spirit of God to fall with even greater power in our midst, to change lives and set us free and literally alter the course of the world through the difference that these men and women will make as they go from here.

Spiritual Growth

It's hard to describe the intensity of our forward progress as each one of us is trained, convicted, challenged, and moved closer to Jesus here at Ellerslie. Sunday morning, Mr. Ludy preached a powerful message on forgiveness, and Monday morning in our first session, he opened up the microphone for anyone who wanted to share a testimony of what God has done in their life.

He has opened up the microphone before for 10 to 20 minutes on various days, for people to share testimonies or confess sins that are burdening their hearts. But Monday, the stream of testimonies continued for hours, all throughout the duration of the morning session. We closed for lunch and resumed for the afternoon session, and the steady stream of people continued through the entirety of the two hours in the afternoon.

There were tears, there were confessions, there were people declaring their forgiveness for their parents or other people and praying a blessing over them, there were breakthroughs, there were prayers.

But I don't think anything was as powerful as when Marvin got up to share. He walked to the front and took the microphone with the look of a man going to his death.

"All of you are talking about forgiving your mom or dad," he said, "and it makes me a little bit envious, because I never had one." Marvin grew up in the foster care system and lived on the streets in Florida. He gave a short testimony of how the Lord had been breaking through in different areas of his life since he had been here at Ellerslie, and then he said softly, "I don't really know what I'm doing up here, because I still haven't forgiven my mom for lying to me for 14 years, telling me she was coming to get me, when she never did." And then this great, tough, cool man began to weep.

The effect on us as the body was unforgettable. Almost all the girls were in tears, and we were all praying for him to be able to get the breakthrough. Mr. Ludy went to his side and began to counsel him, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't see how he could forgive. He was afraid he was wasting all of our time. Mr. Ludy posed the question to us. "Is this wasting our time?" A resounding "NO!" rose up from every throat. One by one, the guys began to walk up to the front to surround him in silent support, until every man in the room was gathered around this one member of the body who was struggling.

Us girls were praying, laboring, with a grief that was inexplicable except as an evidence of the burden God's spirit was placing on our hearts for him. I felt a wrenching, burning sadness, as if I could feel the child's pain and loneliness, as if I myself was experiencing the agony of waiting for a mother who never came, as if I was entering in for a moment into the feeling of what it's like to be an orphan. I have never labored in prayer in such a way, but it was as if a wall had to come down in Marvin's heart, and God was using all of us to help to pull it down. 


The minutes ticked away unheeded. I have no idea how long we simply prayed for Marvin, until the breakthrough came, and he got victory. Praise be to God for His mighty work! 

Hot and dry

The weather here in Colorado has been scorching... daily temperatures in the 100s, bright sunshine, and super dry air. So I've been drinking a lot... I mean, a LOT of water!

Okay, so in Tennessee, it's humid enough that just by breathing you practically get hydrated. Not so here! At home I drink like maybe, 2-3 cups a day.

I upped my intake to 6 cups here and it still wasn't enough.


I upped it to 9 cups. Still not enough. 


I upped it to 12 cups. Still not enough. 


I upped it to 13 cups. That was about right to keep me hydrated and happy.  So I've been drinking approximately 13 cups a day this week. That's 104 ounces! 


Jesus said, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:13-14).

But how many of us fail to up our Water intake, even though we recognize that we're spiritually thirsty, parched, dry, dehydrated, constipated, have a headache, and have a sore throat? We need more of Jesus. And if we're still somewhat dry, we need still more. And if that's still not good enough, we need still more. Here at Ellerslie, I have been drinking deep from the well of everlasting water, I have been saturated, soaked, drenched with Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and more Jesus. We focus on Jesus. We look for Jesus. We learn about Jesus. We draw analogies about Jesus. We are pointed to Jesus in every single message. Jesus is lifted high, and HE SATISFIES.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matthew 5:6

Talitha Cumi

Niña, a ti te digo, levántate.
Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

I have broken through the dark night of the soul into the dawn of a new day. 

I have been raised to new life. 

I was saved--and even fruitful--before, but I have entered into what Hudson Taylor terms "The Exchanged Life." 

I knew God was going to do this during my time here at Ellerslie. I just didn't know it was going to happen this soon. 

I am changed. I am alive. I press on for more of this Living, abundant God who is so sweet and dear and satisfying to me. 

¡Gloria a Dios!

Glory to God!

Faith on Facts vs. Experience

On Wednesday morning, we heard a stirring message by Eric Ludy called The Anatomy of Faith.

He presented the relationship between Faith, Fact, and Experience. Fact is the eternal, unchangeable reality of God’s Word. Because God said it, it cannot be changed or altered in any way. Faith must look to fact and fix its gaze firmly on God’s word, disregarding all other voices. However, the enemy will try to get us to turn around and look at Experience. This includes our feelings, emotions, anxiety, lethargy, and grievance. If we turn around and heed the voice of experience, we are turning our back to the voice of God. 


In the Christian life, doubt is heeding the voice of experience, while faith is heeding the voice of God. “No diakrino!” was the ringing call we learned to cry out. (Diakrino is Greek for "doubt.") In order to have constant faith, we ought to build a default wall against the claims and appeals of experience. "Your track record is so bad, you have no hope that you could ever change," experience says. "This situation is hopeless. Why try?" "That looks so tiring, there's no way you could have energy for your normal life if you spent the night in prayer." We ought to determine ahead of time that when experience talks, we are automatically not listening. 

Consider the truth of the Word of God. Can God ever lie? When God says something, will it not come to pass? Even when Experience tells us it's impossible, we can always bank on the Word of God to come through. Case in point: John chapter 11. Jesus hears that Lazarus is sick and says, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." There's your Fact. Jesus gave His Word, which cannot be broken.

Four days later, it would have been pretty hard to train your gaze on Fact (Jesus's word) rather than Experience ("By this time he stinketh.")

"Uh, Jesus?" Mary and Martha might have said. "We have a little problem here. Lazarus is, um, already dead. I don't see how I can go by your word when, uh... it's a little too late. My experience is telling me that your word couldn't be trusted this time."

No Diakrino!

Jesus comes in with the stirring declaration that has given hope to people through the ages: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live...Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" (John 11:25, 40)


No Diakrino! 

"Lazarus, come forth!" He says, and Experience crumbles into dust as the man wrapped in grave clothes emerges from the tomb.


Jesus's word can be trusted. He is the God of the Impossible. He is the one who can bring life from the dead. He is never at a loss when the deck is stacked against Him. Look steadily at the facts of His word and heed not the voice of Experience, though it clamor ever so loudly in your ears. 


No Diakrino!

God is on the move

We are hearing the truth proclaimed here like I have never heard it proclaimed. All the books I have read by the old-time preachers, all the classic, historic Christianity I thought was only experienced by dead people, is alive and well here.

There is a stirring in our midst. God is on the move. The power of the Gospel is wreaking havoc on Self and Sin among us, and it will only be a matter of time before we collectively fall on our faces before the living God, pass through the dark night of the soul, and emerge into the dawn of the other side.

The sense of anticipation is high. This is the birthplace of heroes of the faith.

Rise up early in the morning

After exploring all the verses on rising up early, the Lord really convicted me of the fact that I have forgotten to make this a priority lately, and I wanted to do a little bit of further study on this topic.

So here are some of the things I gleaned about it. (See yesterday's post for the list of Scripture references; I'm not going to re-list them all here.)

Men & women of God who rose up early:

• God himself, 2 Chr. 36:15
• Abraham, Gen. 21:14, 22:3
• Isaac, Gen. 26:31
• Jacob, Genesis 28:18
• Moses, Exodus 8:20, 9:13, 24:4, 34:4,
• Joshua, Josh. 3:1, 6:12, 6:15, 7:16, 8:10
• Gideon, Judges 6:38, 7:1
• Hannah, 1 Sam. 1:19
• Samuel, 1 Sam. 9:26, 15:12
• David, 1 Sam. 17:20, 29:10,11
• Solomon, Song 7:12
• Elisha & his servant, 2 Ki. 6:15
• Jehoshaphat, 2 Chr. 20:20
• The prophets, 2 Chr. 36:15
• Job, Job 1:5

If I want to follow their example and live the high-caliber kind of Godly life that they did, here is one aspect that they all had in common. I would do well to emulate it.

The purpose for and effect of early rising

• Repentance. See Genesis 20:8. As soon as King Abimelech knew that Sarah was Abraham's wife (not just his sister), he got up early and made it right, giving her back to Abraham. As a result, God forgave him and healed the plague that had fallen on the people.
• Obedience. See Genesis 21:14. Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac. He didn't delay, but got up early in the morning and got busy doing what God had said. As a result, God blessed him abundantly. See also 1 Samuel 17:20. David obeyed his father Jesse's command to bring some victuals to his brothers, rising up early to go. As a result, he arrived in time to hear Goliath's taunt, which was also done early, and God gave him a great victory that day.
• A journey. See Genesis 19:2, 21:14, 31:55, Joshua 3:1, Judges 19:5, 19:8-9, 1 Samuel 1:19, 29:10-11. See Judges 19 for the horrible consequences of not getting an early start on a journey.  
• Worship. See Genesis 28:18, Exodus 24:4, Job 1:5, 1 Samuel 5:3-4, 2 Chronicles 29:20. Interesting to note that even the pagan worshipers of Dagon got up early to do their acts of worship. And we can't make it on time to an 11:00 am Sunday service?
• Delivery of God's message. See Exodus 8:20, 9:13, 2 Chronicles 36:15. In these instances, God specifically instructed that someone get up early. When God has something to say to someone, He doesn't dawdle around until evening before He finally gets around to telling it. (Notice what happened when Jonah tried to circumvent this process. Things didn't go too well for him, did they?)
• War. See Joshua 6:15, 8:10, Judges 7:1, 9:33, 1 Sam. 17:16, 2 Kings 3:22, 19:35, 20:20. In each case that it mentions they got up early, God's people won the battle.
• Love. See Song of Solomon 7:12.
• Self-advancement. See 2 Sam. 15:2. Absalom rose early and sat in the gate, and it says that he stole the hearts of all the children of Israel. While we would not do well to emulate his example in general, it still shows the success of his strategy, and in areas where we want to get ahead, early rising would not be amiss.
• Meeting with God. See Exodus 34:4. When is God ready and waiting to give us a feast of His presence, and why is that precisely the time that we least like to come?
• Hearing from God. See Judges 6:38. Gideon needed clarity and confirmation of God's will, so he got up early in order to see what God would say by way of the fleece.
• Clearing out evil from one's midst. See Joshua 7:16. When Achan sinned and caused the Israelites to suffer defeat at Ai, Joshua didn't delay, but took early action to get to the root of the problem and stamp out the evil. As a result, God gave them victory in their next battle at Ai.

Observations about early rising


Getting up early represents eagerness to do what you are getting up early to do. It says you are committed and interested in making it happen.

It symbolizes that you will do everything necessary to ensure the success of the mission--but on the other hand, if you can't even get up in the morning to do what you are supposed to do, it portends poorly for how you will handle it when obstacles come your way.

In order to get up early, you have to be disciplined, and the kind of disciplined life that is able to forego a bit of sleep is the same kind of life that will be able to rise up and conquer in other important battles.

In the flesh, you can find it in yourself to get up early for a flesh-gratifying experience, but when it comes to something that will strengthen the spirit, your flesh would rather die than get up early. This is why you can consistently get up early to go to work, or get up at 3 am to go on vacation, but fail to do the same thing when it comes to personal devotions or an emergency prayer need. Only by walking in the spirit will you be able to get up early for something spiritual.

Rise Up

Don't give up; rise up!

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, I looked up the phrase "rise up" in Scripture, and I was surprised to find how often it appears in Scripture.  The phrase "rise up" appears 67 times, "rose up" appears another 104 times, and there are many more inexact phrase matches such as "rise ye up," "rise," or "arise" that use the same Hebrew or Greek word translated "rise up." 


There are two main Hebrew words translated "rise up." One is quwm (Strong's #6965), which is translated "to stand up," "to rise up," "to arise," "to raise," "to establish," "to stand," "to perform," "to confirm," "again," "set," "stablish," "surely," "continue," "sure," "abide," and "accomplish." It appears 629 times and is usually translated by one of the first four translations in this list (498 times combined). 


The other word is shakam (Strong's #7925), which means "to rise up early" and appears 67 times. 


So do you think this concept is important to God? I can't list all the Scriptures here, but I was blessed by what I discovered. (I know it gets long to read through all the verses. I debated cutting some of them out or just listing them by their references, but I figured if I included the verse, then you could choose whether or not to read it--and it would be easier to read the verse if it was right here than to have to look it up somewhere else.)


In many cases, the command to "rise up" involves conquering an obstacle in order to accomplish a task.

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. Neh. 2:18

Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. Josh. 8:7

And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. Num. 10:35

Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered. Deut 2:13

Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. Deut. 2:24

Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them. Ezr. 5:2 

And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. Neh. 4:14 

Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand. Mark 14:42

Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? Luke 5:23

But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Luke 6:8

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. Acts 3:6

There are also a number of verses that say, "Rise up early." This is what God has been trying to get me to do for 6 years now, and I never knew how often it was listed in Scripture.

And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. Gen. 19:2 

Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. Gen 20:8

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. Gen. 21:14 

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Gen. 22:3

And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. Gen. 26:31 

And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. Gen. 28:18

And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place. Gen. 31:55 

And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Exod. 8:20 

And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. Exod. 9:13 

And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Ex. 24:4

And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. Ex. 34:4 

And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. Josh. 3:1 

And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. Josh. 6:12  

And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times. Josh. 6:15

So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: Josh. 7:16

And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. Josh. 8:10 

And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. Judges 6:38 

Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. Judges 7:1 

And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou shalt rise early, and set upon the city: and, behold, when he and the people that is with him come out against thee, then mayest thou do to them as thou shalt find occasion. Judges 9:33 

And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel's father said unto his son in law, Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way. Judges 19:5, 8, 9

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Judges 21:4 

And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. 1 Sam. 1:19 

And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 1 Sam. 5:3, 4

And they arose early: and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. 1 Sam. 9:26

And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 1 Sam. 15:12 

And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 1 Sam. 17:16

And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. 1 Sam. 17:20 

So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel. 1 Sam. 29:10, 11

And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. 2 Sam. 15:2

Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart. 1 Sam. 29:10

And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: 2 Ki. 3:22  

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 2 Ki. 6:15

And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 2 Ki. 19:35

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. 2 Chr. 20:20  

Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD. 2 Chr. 29:20 

And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 2 Chr. 36:15

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Job 1:5

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. Song 7:12 

On the other hand, there are five negative instances of rising up early. (How quick we are to rise up early if it's to do our own will! And yet, when it comes to doing God's will, how often and how glibly we quote Psalm 127:2 without thinking of the weight of evidence in Scripture for early rising.) 

Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! Isaiah 5:11

He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. Pro. 27:14 

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Ex. 32:6 

And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. Num. 14:40 

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:2

You rise up because you love the Lord.

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Song 2:10

I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. Song 5:5 

Don't think you are the only one who has to rise up--your enemies are constantly rising up against you--which is all the more reason for you to rise up yourself and prevent their schemes.

LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Psalm 3:1

The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. Deut. 28:7

So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. 2 Ki. 16:7

But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities: Deut 19:11

If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; Deut 19:16

False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. Psalm 35:11

Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually. Psalm 74:23

When enemies rise up, the Lord is able to scatter and conquer them.

And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. Ex. 15:7 

For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me. 2 Sam. 22:40 

And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 2 Sam. 22:49 

Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Psalm 17:7

He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Psalm 18:48

Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. Psalm 44:5

Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Psalm 59:1

Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. Psalm 92:11

For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. Isa. 14:22

For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Isa. 28:21

Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; Jer. 51:1

We ought to oppose those who rise up against the Lord. 

Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? Psalm 139:21

Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Psalm 94:16

Beware if someone is unwilling to rise up: Maybe it's because they have something to hide. 

And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images. Gen. 31:35

Or maybe it's simply because they're idle. 

Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Isa. 32:9

Rising up is a sign of honor. 

Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. Lev. 19:32

Just like you can rise up to do good, you can also rise up to do evil. 

And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Deut. 31:16

Good advice if a ruler rises up against you: 

If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences. Ecc. 10:4

God might punish you by making you not to be able to rise up, or by allowing someone weak to be able to rise up against you.

They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. Amos 8:4 

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. Lam. 1:14

For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire. Jer. 37:10

Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Psalm 140:10

The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. Amos 5:2

The Lord says, 

Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. Isa. 33:10

Let us also rise up, in the power of the God whose Spirit dwells within us. Let us move closer to His likeness. Let us labor, "striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." (Col. 1:29)