Nehemiah 2:18 - "Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So, they strengthened their hands for this good work."

The theme of our retreat of this year was “Rise up”

Christianity began when our Lord Jesus Christ rose up from the grave to defeat death.

The devil will always try to push us down. But we need to rise up everyday in order to not allow the devil to triumph over us.

The Scripture identifies the areas of our life in which we need to daily rise up in order to have a victorious life:

• Arise and Wash Away Your Sin

Acts 22:16 - "And now why tarries thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

In other words, wash away your sins by being obedient to the Word of God – arise, confess your sins, and be obedient!

• Arise and Pray

Luke 22:46 - “Why are you sleeping?” he (Jesus)asked them (disciples). “rise and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Arise and pray because prayer strengthens us to defeat the enemy’s tactics - tactics that push us down with temptations.

• Arise and Give

Luke 11:8 - "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.."

Arise and give - share our blessings to our fellow brothers and sisters who are in need.

• Arise and Walk

John 5:8 - "Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked."

The bed represents our comfort zone. The man has seen many people change, but he was never changed. What is our comfort zone? Be willing to leave our beds and walk for the kingdom of God.

• Arise In Unity to Serve the Lord

Acts 2:14 - "Then Peter stood up (Arised) with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd."

People are waiting for to hear from us.