When I Fall – I Shall Arise

All of us at one time or another in our Christian walk have stumbled and fallen into temptation. We’ve all made mistakes. It’s during those times that the devil loves to paint a picture so black that it seems impossible for us to recover. But we must not ever give up or quit. God is bigger than our mistakes!

It is the same as when a child is learning to walk. When my oldest daughter, Jerriann, was about seven months old, she took her first steps. It’s thrilling for a parent when a child begins to walk, and I’ll never forget those first steps she took. We were all sitting on the living room floor, and Carolyn was holding Jerriann up. She was standing there shaking and grinning. I knew she was thinking, “I want to walk,” but she couldn’t get her legs to do it. When Carolyn let her go, she stumbled over and over again.

But I didn’t say, “Oh my, she’ll never walk! What’s the matter with that kid?” No, it was all a part of the process. She stood there shaking while I was across the room saying, “Come to Daddy.” Finally, Carolyn let her go and she looked at me and started to walk, but her legs looked like rubber.

There’s something about children – when they stumble and fall, they get up. She would crawl over to something and pick herself up, but she was still determined to come to Daddy.

Finally, after a step or two at a time, she made it over to me. She walked!

It must be thrilling to God the first time we take steps of faith. It must be thrilling when we finally get up and say, “I’m going to walk by faith.” We may fall, but there ought to be

something on the inside of us that says, “When I fall, I shall arise!”

The most natural thing to do after falling is to get up. We shouldn’t lay there and wallow around in pity. In Jeremiah 8:4, the prophet said that when a man falls, shall he not arise. You may have stumbled, but get up. One day you’re going to walk without stumbling, so get up when you fall!

Micah 7:8 says, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy. Did you know that the enemy rejoices when you fall? Satan rejoices when you fall, when you give up, when you become discouraged, and when you refuse to do what you know to do. He laughs. He laughs at you when he’s convinced you that there is no reason for you to go on. He laughs when he’s convinced you that your mistake is too big for God to correct. The enemy rejoices, and it is the most hideous laughter you’ve ever heard.

I heard the devil laugh at me one time, and it made me mad. It was in the early years of my ministry, and I was down and discouraged. I had just come home from a meeting, and I could sense something was wrong. It felt like a dark cloud was hovering over my ministry. I prayed, and I sensed something was wrong internally. I found out that my finances were being mismanaged, and bills were not being paid.

I discovered some letters from radio stations saying we were behind on our radio bills. Then I found some nasty replies written to these radio stations. My office manager had written them and said, “Sue us.” I couldn’t believe it. This person that I had trusted was writing nasty letters on my letterhead.

Of course, I had to deal with that situation, and it was very difficult. I felt like a heel. I owed several thousand dollars on a radio bill alone, and I had not even known it. The devil began to tell me what a failure I was. He told me how ridiculous it was for me to preach prosperity when I owed three months worth of bills.

Just about that time the telephone rang, and it was Brother Kenneth Copeland. I was full of fear and really didn’t want to talk to anybody at that moment. He said, “Jerry, what are you doing?” I said, “Believing God.” I was not believing God. I was worrying!

He said, “That’s the reason I called. God has you on my heart, and I’ve been praying for you.” He said, “God showed me that you’re going through a hard place, and I’m praying for you. I just want you to know I’m standing with you, and you’re going to come out of this.” I told him, “Thank you, I appreciate it.” That was the end of our conversation.

I didn’t want to talk about it to anybody. I was down. I had fallen, and I was thinking about quitting when I suddenly heard laughter. It was the most hideous laughter I had ever heard in my life. I didn’t hear it with my natural ears, but I heard it with my spirit. I heard Satan laughing at me. He was rejoicing against me because I had fallen, and I was refusing to get up. I had accepted all his lies, and I had begun to believe I was a failure.

When I heard Satan laughing at me, I began to get mad. I rose up, took my Bible, and

screamed at the devil. “You’re not going to laugh at me, and I will never give you an

opportunity to laugh at me again. You’re not going to laugh at me – not after what Jesus did at Calvary. I refuse to allow you to ever put me in this position again. If anybody is going to laugh, it will be me laughing at you.”

All of a sudden, I was ready to fight the devil. I went to the office, wrote a letter to all those station managers and apologized. I shared the circumstances with them and promised that I would have my bills paid in 30 days. There was no way I could do that in the natural. As I was writing the letters, the devil said, “The money won’t come. Now you’ve told them they will be paid in 30 days, and it won’t come. I’m going to laugh at you again.” I said, “No, you won’t. In the name of Jesus, they will be paid in 30 days.”

The thing that was hurting me most was that I had built my ministry on integrity, and now it was being challenged. The devil was saying that I had no integrity. I thought all those station managers believed I had no integrity. But in 30 days every bill was paid, and the station managers either called or wrote me and said, “You don’t know what it meant to me for you to write and let us know your circumstances. When the money came, it caused us to appreciate your integrity even more.” I got that last laugh!

The devil loves to rejoice over you when he thinks you have given up and he’s put you in a position where you’ll be willing to accept the failure that has come in your life. I believe the devil even laughed at Calvary. When Jesus cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) Laughter began to ring out all through hell! The devil really thought that God had turned His back on Jesus. He thought Jesus had failed in His mission to redeem mankind. All of Satan’s imps thought they had defeated Jesus. When Jesus said, It is finished (John 20:30),

Satan’s kingdom rejoiced.

But God got the last laugh! For the Bible says that had they (the princes of this world) known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8). Satan didn’t know that he was being set up. Just about the time the rejoicing in Satan’s kingdom had reached its peak, Jesus arose from the dead. The Bible says He spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:15). He took the keys of death, hell, and the grave. He stripped Satan of his armor, and God got the last laugh.

Your enemy may be rejoicing over you now, but if you take hold of what I’m sharing

with you, you’re going to have the last laugh. God doesn’t enjoy the devil laughing at Him, and He doesn’t like him laughing at His children.

When you’re down, weary, and counting everything as a loss, Satan’s kingdom begins to rejoice. However, when you determine to get up, the laughter stops. I had to determine to get up on the inside before I could get up on the outside. Now when the devil says, “It won’t work,”

I start laughing. I know I’ve got him right where I want him. He knows the manifestation is

about to come. He doesn’t want you to receive from God, so he starts applying more pressure. I learned years ago that when the greatest pressures come on me to give up, that’s a good

indication that Satan has just fired his best shot, and if this one doesn’t get me, he’s finished.

The most natural thing for you to do when you fall is to get up. If you keep lying there in self-pity, the enemy rejoices. But you can turn to the enemy and say, “Enemy, I have fallen;

however, rejoice not against me, I shall arise!” This should become an anthem in your heart.

“WHEN I FALL, I SHALL ARISE!” The two are linked together. The cycle is not complete until you
arise!

Did you notice the Bible says when ye fall into divers temptations (James 1:2) Nobody purposely enters into temptations. You fall or stumble into them. Nobody purposely falls off a curb or stumbles walking along the street. I fell off the platform one night when I was

preaching. There wasn’t any need for me to lie there and say, “I fell.” I jumped right up and kept

preaching just like it was part of the program.

It’s time for you to get up! You may have fallen, but you should get up. It’s time to arise.

So what if you’ve made mistakes; so what if you’ve failed. Tell the devil, “I failed, but I shall arise!”

Micah 7:8 goes on to say, when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. You may be facing your darkest hour, but the Lord shall be a light unto you. The Lord said this to me, “I want you to tell the people that I always come in their darkest hour.” If you’re discouraged and ready to quit, your enemy is rejoicing against you. But when you arise and tell him, “When I fall, I shall arise, and when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me,” he shuts up.

You might say, “But brother, you just don’t know how many times I’ve fallen.” It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve fallen or how many mistakes you’ve made. Proverbs 24:16 says, For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again. It doesn’t matter how often you’ve missed it; you shall arise.

²³The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. ²⁴Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

Psalm 37:23-24

If you’ve lived by faith, then you’ve fallen. I would rather take a step and fall than sit around doing nothing. At least when I fall, I know I can get up.

It’s not over because you fall; get up! Brush yourself off and keep going. The just may

fall, but they shall arise. The Lord will not let you be utterly cast down.

I want you to remember that all of us have failed at one time or another. We’ve all made mistakes. The greatest men and women of faith have fallen. Yet there is something on the inside of them that says, “Get up!” Make this your attitude, and you’ll find Satan will never be able to keep you down.