This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis (ts@godspeak.org)

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                             Rise Up

Rise up, child of Mine, and do not accept defeat any more. I have equipped
you with all you need to be successful in Me, with all you need to 
overcome.  But you must choose to use the things I have equipped you 
with, for they will do you no good unless you use them.  I have given you
armor to protect you in battle, but you must put it on or it will do you
no good.  I have prepared a path before you, but you must choose to walk 
on it, for you will not reach your destination if you do not set out on 
the journey that I have prepared for you.  

So many of My children are confused about My ways. They cry out to Me 
to help them but they do not understand My help and they do not recognize
it or respond to it when it comes.  

They are like the Children of Israel who expected to be given their 
promised land without a battle.  They were not willing to enter into 
their inheritance because it did not look the way they expected. They 
thought I would clear the land before them and they would simply walk in 
to possess it. They did not understand that I fully intended to involve 
them in the process and that through them I would clear the land of the 
giants that were in it.  They were afraid to battle for their inheritance 
because they looked at things through the eyes of the natural instead of 
with the eyes of faith.  I always intended to be with them in battle and 
to make them victorious overcomers, ones who would possess the land I had 
promised to them.  But they looked instead at their natural abilities and 
at their natural resources.  They chose not to fight and as a result
they did not enter into their destiny.  They died in the wilderness and 
their children inherited and possessed the land I had promised to them.

Do not be like them.

If you look at the history of My dealings with My people, you will better
understand My ways.  I call them to a destiny, but I require them to
persevere and to press forth in faith and obedience to possess it. I do
not hand it to them in a life of ease that requires no effort on their
part. I do not want My children to be listless and fat and lazy, that is 
not the type of people I am raising up. I am raising up warriors, prepared 
and trained for battle. I am raising up men and women of faith who can 
face mountains of impossible circumstances and stand firm in the face of
impossible odds.  For you cannot have a great victory without a great
battle, and you cannot win a great battle if you will not rise up to
fight.

Abraham, the father of a great nation, was childless until he was well
past the age of childbearing, until his body was no longer fertile.  Yet
I commanded him to believe me for a son from his own loins.  And I did 
not fulfill that promise until his wife Sarah was well past her child-
bearing years. Why? because I required him to persevere in faith in the
face of impossible circumstances. And I came through for him at that 
time, when he knew it had to be a miracle by My hand, when there was no
possible natural explanation for this.  This is how I do things, so 
that I might receive the glory for My deeds.

Joseph was called to be a senior official, one who governed a nation
with wisdom and discernment, so that he might provide for My chosen 
people in the face of a terrible famine.  I showed him his destiny when 
he was young in dreams and visions. But he did not walk effortlessly into 
it.  First he was betrayed and sold into slavery.  Then he was betrayed 
and cast into prison.  But even in prison I was with him. And even in
prison he persevered; he continued to use what I had given him and he 
continued to operate in the gifts I had placed within him.  And in the
midst of his faithful perseverance, I turned his circumstances and I 
thrust him into the fullness of his destiny. 

Do you think I will do it differently for you? Do you really expect 
My deliverance to be easy and effortless on your part? When you cry
out to me for My deliverance, do you really think that I will preserve 
your comfort as My highest priority?  I will answer your cries and come 
through for you. But do you really think that I will come through for 
you in a way that does not require any effort or action on your part? 

I anointed David as king when he was but a youth.  But there was much
resistance and he did not fully enter into his destiny until many years 
later. Before that he had to flee for his life, he had to fight many 
battles and he had to learn of My faithfulness in the midst of very
difficult circumstances. He did not sit around in a palace, having his
every need catered to.  He learned to war and he learned to fight and
to stand in faith. He had to hide among his enemies, to pretend to be 
insane, to hide in caves, to fight many battles.  In short he had to 
persevere and stand in faith.  And in the place of difficulty, I met him 
and I showed Myself to him.  He came to know Me as the Faithful One, as 
his sword and his shield.  He came to know me intimately and to be filled 
with My Spirit.  He learned to worship me in the eyes of difficult 
circumstances and he became a man of great faith.  And it was after
these things that I thrust him into the fullness of his destiny and
he officially became the king.

My path is not an easy path.  You must learn to know Me as the faithful
one, and the One who will see you through adversity.  You cannot 
experience My deliverance if you do not first experience a difficult
situation that you need to be delivered from.  You cannot possess your
promised land if you do not go in and fight for it.  You cannot learn 
to stand in faith unless you face impossible circumstances and see Me
come through for you in them.  

So child, when you see difficulty or adverse circumstances standing
between you and your promise, do not fear.  I am with you. It is My
desire to teach you to war, to make you victorious in battle and to
sit you in the place of an overcomer. But in order for that to happen,
you must take up the things I have given you and you must use them.
You must put on My armor and you must enter into the battle.  You
will possess your promised land only when you have chased out the
giants that challenge you. But do not fear, for I will be with you.
I will make your hands skillful in the battle.  As you press forward
in faith, I will cause you to know My victory and to see My glory
come into your circumstances.  For I will give you your promised land 
and I will cause you to enter into the fullness of your destiny as
you stand firm in faith and trust in Me.

So, child of Mine, rise up with what I am giving you and do not accept 
defeat any longer.