I have a friend of mine named Carmen, who shared with me one time that we affect our development emotionally if we do not learn to crawl before we are forced to walk. Crawling is an essential part of our development as people.

We as the body of Christ have been crawling for a long time, for God has brought us through some deep valleys, across some rough rivers, and led us through some dry wildernesses. But it was all needed for our development.

Now it is time to not just walk, but to run. Not for the sake of speed, but as a sign of wisdom that was gained in the early developmental stages of the body of Christ. We cannot remain on our knees crawling along through life, we must stand up on our feet.

The apostles and prophets understood the call to stand up. The prophet Ezekiel said when he encountered the spirit of God he fell face down and the Spirit of God told him to stand up, so he could speak to him. The apostle Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 6 to stand and keep on standing. The apostle John saw visions of God and fell down, but the angel told him to stand up. There is biblical precedence for us to stand up.

We are being invited to the next stage of our development as the body of Christ, it is time to stand up; To walk; and to run. Stand in your identity, walk in your authority and run with wisdom. Proverbs 4:11-13 says, “I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble. Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life.”

Friends progressing through development is what freedom feels like. Stand up, we have ground to take, people to serve, love to give and receive. Crawling felt like mobility, but wait until you start walking and then running, it is a whole new way of advancing the kingdom of God together. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org