RISE UP

Rise Up- (verb) to come to the surface; to arise; to stand up.
There are many reasons for naming the blog RISE UP.
  It's a verb associated with leadership.
    It's a term associated with maturity.
       It applies to all generations, but for me, my generation.
  It also applies to us women.
    That's right, women.
      Not girls, not youngins, or anything of that sort.
 As I learned in Student Leadership University 101, ther comes a point in time where the little girl has to sit down and the woman has to stand up.
    Living the life of a teenage girl does not always make this effort easy.
However, the key to it is the fact that when we hit high (or even middle) school, adolescense tends to hold us back. We fear rejection; the fact that we're young and there are other people much bigger and scarier than us keeps us from attaining all God has in store for us.
  1 Timothy 4:12 - "Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."
Problem solved. We must view ourselves as women or men of God, not youngins or girls and boys. It's about that time (or maybe even past that time) that many of us make the little girl/boy to sit down and the woman/man to stand up.
   But why do I mention women especially? Well tonight, Pastor Michael Catt read an awesome verse that stepped on many of our toes. It goes like this:
   "You women who are so complacent,
   rise up and listen to me;
you daughters who feel secure,
   hear what I have to say! Tremble, you complacent women;
   shudder, you daughters who feel secure!
Strip off your fine clothes
   and wrap yourselves in rags."    -Isaiah 32:9,11.
As women of the church, and for the youth, women of the youth group more specifically, we have to RISE UP, pray without ceasing, meditate on God's Word, LISTEN to Him, and press on in our relationships with the Lord. We must NEVER become complacent, or satisfied with where we are.
We must RISE, PRAY, LISTEN TO GOD, and HONOR HIM with REVERENT FEAR.
First thing to pray for: the men in the church.
  Pray that God would instill in them a passion to live courageous lives and lead with boldness and integrity.
And it is our job as women to back them up with encouragement, and more importantly prayer.
   So let's rise up, and rise up TOGETHER. For where two or more are gathered, God is in their midst. (Matthew 18:20)