I began to recognize a pattern. It started out with reading Jonah, then continued as I went back to Genesis, Exodus, and other Old Testament books. Soon I was researching the New Testament books and noticed it in Acts with several people, and all the way to Revelations. When God is ready for his prophet, disciple or apostle to do something, He says, “Rise” or “Go”, but always with the same intention of that person literally and figuratively getting up and becoming actively involved in God’s work. It is then time for that person to act on God’s behalf and get up and go!

With Jonah, the word of the Lord came to him and said, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Jonah did indeed rise, but he went the opposite direction, towards Tarshish, to avoid doing what God had told him to do. The circumstances surrounding this story are incredible to say the least, but God’s will was done by Jonah in spite of Jonah, but because of Jonah’s reluctant yet eventual obedience, the entire city was spared judgment, for the time.

The patriarch of the Old Testament is Abraham. In his younger days, the Lord God said to him, “GO from your country and your kindred and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you….” So Abram went, taking his wife, but leaving everything else and his former life behind, and traveled far away as the Lord had told him, not knowing what their future held. If he hadn’t obeyed the Lord, Jewish history would be a very different story!

Look at Moses. God chose him to be the savior of the enslaved Israelites to Egypt. He said, “Go and gather the elders together…Go back to Egypt, see that you do all the miracles that I have put in your power…”. Moses took his brother Aaron, his wife and children, and obeyed God fully by returning to Egypt, performing miracles and signs of God, and setting his people free from their slavery. If he hadn’t, those 400 years of enslavement would have continued and kept the Israelites from their purpose of proclaiming God’s powerfully strong hand, of their moving into the promised land of Canaan, and of being the great nation that would eventually bring forth the true Savior of the world for many!

There are many more instances of God telling a man to go, get up, arise, and to do. To name a few are Jeremiah; who was told to arise, dress himself for work, and speak everything that God commanded him to say to the people of Jerusalem. He did, so the Lord protected him from the many who tried to silence and kill him for his judgmental words from God. Then there’s Ezekiel the priest, whom God called the ‘Son of man’. He told him, “Go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them….Fear them not ..Arise, go out into the valley…”. Every strange act that God had Ezekiel do was for the purpose of displaying to His people how unfaithful they had been and what God’s response will eventually be. No matter how bizarre a thing the Lord asked him to do, Ezekiel was obedient in doing so, because if he hadn’t, the Lord would have given him the same judgment that the people were to receive. Obedience in God’s calling is critical to our continued faith and God’s purposes.

In Acts, Philip was told by an angel of the Lord, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” And he rose and went. He encountered an Ethiopian eunuch riding in a chariot who was reading Isaiah, and didn’t understand it. The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him, and asked if he understood what he was reading. The Ethiopian answered, “How can I unless someone guides me?”. He invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Philip told him the good news about Jesus. Now, if Philip had not obeyed immediately even one of the two commands to GO, this eunuch would not have been explained the gospel of Jesus! Who knows how many he was able to share with upon his return….

It is important to get up, to rise up, and to go wherever the Lord or the Spirit of God tells you to go. You have been given a mission for the Kingdom of God, and it is your time to get up from rest or other work and fulfill the task that God has given to you.

Saul, who was renamed Paul, was given a mission after his blinding encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus: “Rise and enter the city…” Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. But at the same time, another man named Ananias was being given a similar instruction from the Lord: “Rise and go… and look for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying. Lay hands on him so that he may regain his sight.” So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent me to you that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately Saul regained his sight, Then he rose and was baptized. If either man had not obeyed the Lord, the church of Jesus the Christ would not have spread so quickly and with such vigor. What Saul/Paul brought to the table was his knowledge of scriptures that had been fulfilled by Jesus, and his personal encounter and experience with Jesus who showed him who he really is! Paul became one of the key leaders of The Way, the beginning of the church of Jesus Christ and of Christianity.

These examples of obedient men to the calling of God to get up and go, and speak His words to the people are but a few. As God does not change, He is to this day asking us, his servants and children, to go, to rise, and to speak on his behalf.

Let’s see what Jesus had to say when it was time to act for the Kingdom of God. Here is a collection of Jesus’ “Go” and/or “Do” commands:
1. Go and sin no more. (woman)
2. Go and tell John (the Baptist) what you have seen and heard…
3. Young man, I say to you, Arise. (he had been dead)
4. Go in peace.
5. Let us go across the the other side of the lake. (to the disciples)
6. Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.
7. Go in peace. (yes, again)
8. Child, arise. (she had been dead)
9. He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. (disciples)
10. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.
11. Go your way (on ahead of me); I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. (disciples)
12. You go, and do likewise. (show mercy to your neighbor)
13. Go and tell that fox (Herod)…I cast out demons and perform cures and on the third day I finish my course.
14. Stay dressed for action, and keep your lamps burning.
15. Go and sit in the lowest place…he who humbles himself will be exalted.
16. Go and show yourselves to the priests…as they went, they were cleansed. (10 lepers)
17. Come, follow me.
18. Go into the village in front of you..and untie the donkey colt..
19. Stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape… (end days)
20. Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.
21. Rise, let us be going..
22. Go to my brothers and say, I’m ascending to my Father and your Father…”
23. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me.
23. Bring some of the fish that you have just caught. (disciples after fishing)
24. Come and have breakfast. (disciples eat on the shore)
25. Follow me. (to Peter after resurrection)
26. Go therefore and make disciples of all all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Have you heard the Lord telling you to do any of these things? If not, perhaps you’re not tuned in to the voice of God, or maybe you’re just not listening. True, it might not your time yet, but know this: every one of God’s children, who are also His servants, need to be prepared. If you are resting now, get ready. If you are at work already, watch and listen for what else you can or should do.

When God calls, it is a call for action, not a time for idleness or apathy.

Food for thought: Doing the Lord’s work typically involves more than one step, but it always begins with taking the first step.
God’s timing may appear delayed according to man’s, but God’s schedule is always perfect for His purposes.

Fun facts: IN 1996, the World Tramps Congress in Argentina declared May 2nd to be The International Day of Idleness.

Photo by: Kari Wiseman – Hiking Up a Wooded Dirt Trail