release. rise.

it's LIFE DAY. We WIN day. Easter Sunday. Alleluia - He is Risen. He has Risen indeed. thanks be to God!

as i have been praying release ... i have also heard: surrender.
and today, i heard rise.
being the kind of learner or listener that i am, i sought out the definition of these three words -

RELE'ASE, v.t.

1. To set free from restraint of any kind, either physical or moral; to liberate from prison, confinement or servitude.

SURREN'DER, v.t.

1. To yield to the power of another;

RISE, v.i.

1. To move to pass upward in any manner; to ascend;

i think about the release that i have laid down - the fears, the sins, the confession of release, so that i might lie in surrender to the lord.

and as i think about the setting-free that comes and the yielding, i then feel compelled to rise. to declare the increase. to walk with the prospering of jesus christ and his resurrection life.

hallelujah.

it's so not easy to release, because it has meant that i have to stop denying the items i have been hiding away, even from my own daily awareness. hiding the unbelief, the habits of pride, the levels of fear, the depth of hurt and rejection.
but on this triumphant day

i am declaring - i am declaring (!!!) -
release, surrender, and
i am going to rise with the
Messiah who rose again and is Alive!

Go To Dark Gethsemane
Artist: Trinity Vineyard
Album: Hymns

Verse 1:
Go to dark Gethsemane
All who feel the tempter’s pow’r
Your Redeemer’s conflict see
Watch with Him one bitter hour
Turn not from His griefs away
Learn from Jesus Christ to pray

Verse 2:
Follow to the judgment hall
View the Lord of life arraigned
Oh, the wormwood and the gall
Oh, the pangs His soul sustained
Shun not suff’ring, shame or loss
Learn from Him to bear the cross

Verse 3:
Calvary’s mournful mountain climb
There, adoring at His feet
Mark the miracle of time
God's own sacrifice complete
“It is finished” hear Him cry
Learn from Jesus Christ to die

Verse 4:
Early hasten to the tomb
Where they laid His breathless clay
All is solitude and gloom
Who has taken Him away?
Christ is ris’n! He meets our eyes
Savior, teach us so to rise

"Christ is ris’n! He meets our eyes
Savior, teach us so to rise"
this speaks to me.
jesus meets my eyes.
and it is He who has risen.
so i rise with him

Colossians 3:1-4

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."