Many people focus on falling but few talk about standing up. This is also the same in many church messages—more are about the crucifixion than about the resurrection. I believe this is part of our human nature.

Resurrection is greater than the new birth, because without the resurrection there would be no new creation, no new birth.

It is important to know that Satan bruised the Messiah on the heel (crucifixion) but the Messiah crushed Satan’s head (or skull), defeated him, and took the keys of death and of Hell from him. Jesus was risen. Satan can no longer lock people to Hell and kill them, unless they allow him to do so.

A person who falls must get up. It is very unnatural for someone to fall and stay on the ground, especially when the person is not wounded. When someone falls, he or she should shake off the dust and stand up. If he or she stays laying on the ground and will not stand, this is worse than the fall itself. This would be quite abnormal for a person to stay on the ground.

The words “stand up” or “get up” are very common words in all languages.

I myself have had many experiences in falling and getting up. Here are a few I want to share:

We were skiing in the mountains. My children were small. We were racing to see who could get to the bottom of the mountain first. Of course dad (me) always won. They got an advantage head start, but I have longer skis and I am somewhat heavier than my children, so I went faster, but we all went quite fast.

Down at the lower part of the mountain, we began to slow down. Instead of going down straight, I started to turn to the right and to the left. I did not realize that my daughter Michelle was close behind me. I came toward her and we collided. We bumped into each other very hard. Both of us were on the ground. My goggles were pushed into my face and I got a small wound on my nose but the most damage occurred when I could not catch my breath—the collision had knocked the breath out of me. I waited for a few minutes to recover. Michelle was okay but her breath was knocked out of her as well. People were watching us on us from the chair lift. I had a headache so it didn’t matter to me if they were watching us.

Once I caught my breath, I stood up and continued to ski to the bottom of the hill. It would be strange for me to lay on the hill, in the snow and pity myself. All who fall will eventually stand up. Michelle did make sure that I was okay and I was. For years now we have learned to fall properly. Now I tell my small grandchildren that there are two things every skier must learn: 1) Do not cry when you fall and 2) You must learn how to fall properly as to not hurt yourself.

Here’s another story. I was at home and went to remove a dry tree which had fallen on an electric line. I cut the tree into small pieces. I carried the pieces to the garage and had the chain saw in my other hand. I lost my balance and I fell. It’s a good thing that I learned how to fall correctly on the ski hills. I did not hurt myself—just my ego because I felt like I looked stupid falling. When I got up, my first concern was to see if anyone had seen me. I pretended like I never fell before. I was ashamed, so hurried to get up

I did not whine and did not feel sorry for myself.

Those are just a few of my stories about falling and getting up.

There are many other incidences of people falling and getting up, but more in the spiritual sense. Many fall into sin, they mess up. But God has shown us how to get up. Religious people magnify Satan and do not talk about getting up when they fall. Repent and stand up, people! It is amazing how God can forgive our trespasses—we almost cannot comprehend it.

We see how a small child learns how to walk. They may fall many times before they start to learn—they fall, stand up, fall, stand up. Nobody pays attention to this and nobody wonders why they do this. Yet if someone sins, they fall morally, then everyone talks about it—as if those who talk about it are perfect saints. Even the newspapers and media talk about how people fall—it is endless. They will talk about this so people will buy the newspapers.

There are people who stand in judgment toward their brothers and sisters, judging them when they fall and keeping them down on the ground. Christians often keep in their memory when others fall. They like to collect them like precious jewels. They never were trained to help their brothers and sisters to get up and to build them up. This is because they were negatively programmed to focus on the failings of others. It is as if they are wounded soldiers, left to die on the field by their fellow soldiers. By leaving them, not helping them up, they are adding to the wounds of the fallen soldier. Those wounded and left will die. This is the same with brothers and sisters in Christ. Many who fall never recover. They backslide and never return to God’s camp.

The Bible teaches us that if there is a conflict between brothers, or if one brother has ought against another, they should come to that brother, tell them and win him. It teaches that we should build him up, restore him and renew him (Matthew 18:15). The religious man will always find a reason to become a burier of his brothers.

Many Christians talk about their brothers behind their backs. Instead they should restore him immediately. Most of the time that brother already knows that he has fallen.

There are Christians that are troubled by the sins of others. They meditate on these things. They always think about it and repeat it. This casts a shadow on the entire assembly of believers. There is no light there. Yet they really only hurt themselves.

There was once a young dynamic teacher of the Word who was preaching and teaching. Gathered to hear him was a large crowd. The podium was a semi-circle which allowed him to walk from left to right and back. He miscalculated the walking distance between where he was and where they had the musical instruments. He accidentally fell onto a $600 drum. Oops. He looked around like he did not understand why he was in the drum. A lot of people were concerned that he had hurt himself. Many people were shocked, others stood up to see better, others were laughing because it was rather humorous. Can you imagine the surprised faces of those who were there to hear the preacher?

After he recovered from the surprise of falling into a drum, he went back to the podium and continued teaching like nothing had happened.

After the meeting an older lady approached the preacher. She said to him: “Brother you fell.”

“Yes but I got up,” he said.

“But you fell into the drum, brother,” she continued.

“I know I fell. Everybody saw it,” he said. “I fell into the drum, so what?”

“But I am old and have been going to church a long time over 60 years,” she said, “but I have never seen a preacher to fall into a drum."

So she talked and insisted on continuing to focus on the fall.

Just like this lady, many people only see the fall and do not focus on standing up. Without end people insist on meditating and talking about falling. They talk to others spreading the information about the fall. This even happens in large assemblies of people.

One brother, about 35 years ago fell morally and people continue to think about it, talk about it and continue to judge that brother.

If you know someone who has fallen, help him to get up. Help him or her get clean if they are dirty. Help heal him if he is wounded. Do not talk to others about it. Talking to others about the situation does not help heal that wound. It stops the healing process and produces more pain, thus preventing the wound from healing.

Our words are often the reason a wound cannot heal.

Let say someone is going to a church service and falls in the parking lot and stays on the ground, not wanting to get up. If you were to see this, you would say “Sister stand up.” She responds by saying “But brother I fell.” Then you ask, “Why don’t you stand up?” To this she says “Brother you do not understand, I fell.”

The next afternoon you return to attend church and you see that the woman is still on the ground and has not stood up. What would you think? This would be strange. The natural thing to do is to get up when you fall. Oftentimes people look for sympathy and offer excuses when they fall. Many times people think others don’t understand them.

If you fall, stand up and do not talk about it.

Years ago when I was teaching about healing, one sister told me she did not want to be healed, because she would lose her health pension.

As we will help people get up, we will see our churches grow.

If you fall, get up. God has seen you fall, you know you have fallen and others have most likely seen it as well. God wants you to walk as you did before you fell. Forget that you fell, and continue to walk. Do not stay on the ground. Ask for forgiveness and get up.

When I fall, I get up and stand and my enemy will not rejoice (Micah 7:8).

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