Are You Going to Stay Here and Die? Get Up and Live.

Before we go any further, I need you to hear this clearly:

God loves you.

Not the church version of “God loves you” that we rush past…Not the version that comes with a list of conditions…But the raw, steady truth:

No matter what you’ve done, what you’ve said, or how badly you feel you’ve messed up—God loves you.

We talk a lot about what God doesn’t like, what God is against, and what makes God angry. But somewhere along the way, many of us started believing that God is mostly mad at us. That He’s holding our failures over our heads, blackmailing us with our past.

And because of that, instead of fearing God in reverence, we fear Him like someone waiting on punishment.

But the Bible still says:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16)

Jesus did not die on the cross so God could stay mad at you. He died so you could live.

From Victorious to Victim

I’ve been in church a long time. I’ve watched the church world shift.

We went from:

• Victory to defeat

• Authority to insecurity

• Expectation to apathy

Not every church. Not every believer. But the body of Christ as a whole has shifted.

There was a time people could not wait to get to church:

• They were early.

• They came expecting.

• They came praying.

• They came hungry.

The church mothers prayed, fasted, and travailed until breakthrough came. We didn’t have Google to exegete the word—we had to seek the Lord for revelation.

Today, many believers are saved, Spirit-filled, sitting in church… and still dying inside.

Dying in the Presence of God

How do you die in the presence of God?

The word is being preached. The Spirit is moving. The altar is open.

And yet, emotionally and spiritually, many are flatlining.

Why?

Because:

• Life has hit hard.

• Disappointments stacked up.

• Church hurt went deep.

• Family betrayal left scars.

• Health issues, financial battles, broken relationships… all piled on.

And instead of moving toward God, we froze in place. We got stuck just outside the gate.

The Lepers at the Gate – 2 Kings 7

In 2 Kings 7, there were four lepers in the middle of a famine.

They were:

• Unwanted

• Unclean

• Isolated outside the city

If they went into the city, they risked being killed. If they stayed where they were, they were going to die anyway.

So they asked a powerful question:

“Why sit we here until we die?”

Some of you are in that exact place.

You won’t fully go back into the world…You won’t fully step into obedience, calling, healing, or surrender…You’re just stuck at the gate.

Hurts from your past sound like:

• “My daddy beat me.”

• “My husband walked away.”

• “My friend betrayed me.”

• “My last church hurt me.”

• “I don’t fit in. I don’t have what they have.”

And so you sit. In the same place. Week after week. Service after service.

Saved, but stuck. Present, but paralyzed. In the house… but spiritually dying.

One Step Changed Everything

Those four lepers finally decided:

If we’re going to die anyway, we might as well do something.

They got up and went to the enemy’s camp. What they didn’t know was this:

The moment they moved, God moved.

God caused a sound in the enemy’s camp—a supernatural ruckus—that scared the enemy away. By the time the lepers arrived, the camp was empty.

No enemy.

But:

• Gold

• Silver

• Food

• Clothes

• Overflow

Everything they needed was sitting in the place they were once afraid to enter.

Here’s the key:If they had stayed sitting, they would have died hungry outside the gate, never realizing that God had already gone ahead of them.

You’re Sitting on Riches

Just like those lepers walked into a camp full of treasure, you are full of treasure.

You have:

• Word in you.

• Testimonies in you.

• Gifts in you.

• Anointing in you.

• Healing, prophecy, intercession, encouragement, wisdom—locked up inside.

But if you never:

• Share your testimony

• Lay hands when God tells you to

• Open your mouth and obey

• Preach, teach, serve, or lead as He calls

…you can literally die full.

Full of unused potential. Full of unspoken testimonies. Full of unpoured oil.

God didn’t anoint you for you to sit and let fear, people’s faces, or past experiences shut you down.

When Life Knocks You Down

I know what it feels like to be knocked flat.

I was married to a preacher. He was my first love. After years of marriage, he stepped out, and the woman he was involved with sat beside me in church for months… and I had no idea.

When he left, I went into a deep depression. I lost my job of 22 years. I took a huge pay cut just to survive. Doors that looked like miracles slammed shut.

I spent a year and a half in a dark place.

But here’s the part that might surprise you:

I didn’t miss church. I still came to intercessory prayer. I was around the light… but inside, I felt like I was sitting in darkness.

I kept waiting for someone to pull me out:

• “Why won’t someone pray me through?”

• “Why won’t somebody see how bad I’m hurting?”

• “Why won’t someone reach down and grab my hand?”

And one day, God showed me:

All this time, you were waiting on people…But you always had the power to get up.

A Closed Mouth Don’t Get Fed

My mama always said:

“A closed mouth don’t get fed.”

Some of you are in a dark place and silently starving.

You won’t:

• Call out to God.

• Ask for help.

• Admit you’re struggling.

• Cry out at the altar.

• Worship like your life depends on it.

You are waiting for a prophecy, a special touch, a perfect moment –but God is saying:

“Open your mouth. Move your feet. Take one step. Get up.”

Deuces to the Devil

At some point, you have to get an attitude in the Spirit.

You have to start saying:

• Depression? Deuces.

• Fear? Deuces.

• Shame? Deuces.

• Unbelief? Deuces.

• “I’ll never be nothing”? Deuces.

• “I’ll always be alone”? Deuces.

You may not have the car you want. You may not live where you dreamed. You may not feel like you’re “there” yet.

But as long as:

• You can put a key in a door,

• You can lift your hands,

• You can open your mouth,

You’re still in the fight. You’re still in motion. And that means it’s not over.

Get Up and Live

So here’s the question heaven is asking you:

Are you going to stay here and die?

Stay in the same mindset? Stay in the same fear? Stay in the same unforgiveness? Stay at the gate when God has already cleared the enemy out?

Or will you:

• Take one step forward?

• Move even with shaky knees?

• Trust God with the next chapter?

• Let Him use what’s in you to bless somebody else?

You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to feel strong. You just have to get up.

Because the moment you move, God moves.

Get up and live. Not halfway. Not barely. Not pretending. But fully, boldly, gratefully—

Walking in the love of a God who never stopped loving you in the first place.