By Rev. Michael Mwangi
Senior Pastor, Fedha Church KAG
This is a wake-up call. God is challenging his people.
Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for your light has come.
Chapter 59:9 -10 speaks of the thick and desperate darkness. It is a dark season
Chapter 60 is the glorious rescue from that darkness. light has come – so God tells His people to respond to it, and to arise and shine.
Darkness is for lying down; light is for rising. Darkness is for gloom and sleep; light is for shining. When the light has come, we must respond, and arise, shine.
COVID - 19 pandemic was a dark season, and everything went dark and into sleep mode.
Since the COVID - 19 season somehow people and the church went into a slow gear or some sort of slumber.
Indeed everything went into low gear but it’s time we rise and swing into action.
God has given us his light. The light of 2023. He has allowed us to see the new year.
For your light has come
First, we receive God’s light (your light has come), and then we have a service to perform (arise, shine). You can’t shine until your light has come, but once it has come, there is something wrong if you don’t arise and shine. It's okay to sleep at the night but once light appears in the morning, you rise and go to work.
We must put all the excuses away and swing into action in response to his gift of 2023.
And the glory of God is upon you
We have his presence his glory.
We need to resume our mandate as witnesses of Christ as a church and individual believers making disciples.
We need to rise in action and demonstrate Christ in every realm of our lives.
We need to shine even in our careers with excellence and exploits
God has shown us his goodness by giving us 2023 we must respond by rising up and shining for him
GOD has given us a new year and indeed he has rescued us from the darkness of corona season. We cannot maintain the status quo in the name there was corona season and its aftermath.
Some people sat back, held back, or got paralyzed, they are yet to make a move wako pale pale vile vile (They are in the same place in the same circumstances).
We must rise and shine as an individual and as a church.
We need to rise and make a difference God has already released what we need. It is for us to respond.
Time is now
There is a season that comes, and it is the right season to act or make a move
Ecclesiastes 3
1. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
Right time, right action and you get it right. Things don't just happen, they are made to happen. God is challenging us to realize the moment we are in and arise
There is a shift in the heavens in our favour and we need to arise and fulfill our mandate.
It is important then you discern the season.
1 Chronicles 12
32. from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;
When you fail to act at the right time you miss your moment
The worst thing is when your season comes and you don't realize it.
Some people have slept through their season never to shine.
They miss their visitation and breakthrough moment and thus never make a difference or shine.
Luke 19
41. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it
42. and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
They missed their moment, they didn't realize it was time to welcome their Messiah who was in their midst.
God had visited them and it was time to arise and welcome him and experience the light of his glory.
Some people fail to perceive their moment or the shift in the spirit, they continue in the same momentum.
Maisha kama kawaida ( Life is back to normal)
They continue holding on to the old or the usual. But God wants us to arise and shine.
God in his love and grace at times gives us a wake-up call.
Isaiah 43
18. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
19. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
2023 ni lazima tuamuke na tuangaze
Why do people fail to shine
1. Some people's lives just remain the same or never shine because they don't realize the time to act.
2. Others wait for someone to rise on their behalf, yet God has released all they need to make a difference. They simply need to rise up.
3. Others continue doing things the same way but change is a must if you have to make a difference.
4. Your prayer life must move to the next level if you are to shine to new level
5. Some people hold on to the past and remain there at the place of failure or success.
6. It is time to move on and make a difference.
7. This is why Paul's life was like a star ever shining. He was always in action on the move.
Philippians 3
12. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
God is calling us to Rise and Shine
When we shine, we make a difference. Our lives become examples to be emulated in life be it in our business and careers as well as believers
Are you shining?
Are you making a difference ama (or) are you still in sleep mode?
Believers are the light of the world but are you shining?
Can people around you testify you are born again?
Do you share the Gospel of Christ with people around you?
Most of the time we are like the rest of the people.
It is time we rise and shine for Christ.
As a church, we are called to shine by reaching the lost.
Lighting the world around us with the Gospel. It is time we reach out and make disciples.
In our ministry, it is time we rise and minister with a difference.
Tutoke from bora huduma tufanye huduma bora (We move from doing ministry for the sake of it to ministering with excellence).
In our personal life, it is time we need to rise and make a difference.
In our business and jobs are we shining or making a difference.
We need to rise from our comfort zones and make a difference.
We cannot continue the same way and expect different results.
Some of us have been saying and planning for too long waiting for things to change.
It is never the right time for you but this is the time.
It's time you rise and make a difference.
Don't wait anymore or does anybody else.
Let's do things and do them with excellence that's what will make a difference.
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