Consider the parable of the sower. In this parable, the seed is the Word of God and the four types of earth are the people that hear the Word. The scriptures clearly show us that we are seen as earth.

Consider again the following words of Jesus: Matthew 10:34 - Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. The sword Jesus speaks of is that same sword which is the Word of God, which we see coming from his mouth to consume his enemies in Revelation 1:16, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)   We are the earth that Jesus comes to bring a sword to; earthen vessels containing spirit, soul, and flesh.

So when you listen to the Earth Invasion album, let this be one of the underlying themes that drives your understanding, prayer and intercession.

When we sing, "Away, away, away; take us away from the earth; take us above the battle", we want to let our spirit rise above our flesh and see things from a heavenly perspective. We're praying for our minds to be unhindered by the things that are going on in our lives so that we can focus on the things of the Spirit. We're praying for our minds to be freed from the conflict and contradiction that we see between our own lives and what the scriptures teach us.

Paul expressed this in Romans 7:21 - 8:1 - I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Here we see the apostle examine the contradiction between the sin living in our flesh and the desire of our spirits to obey Jesus. We agree with Paul who says, "who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" when we sing, asking the Lord to "take us away from the earth". He sees a law in his members, warring against the law of his mind; this is the battle we sing of. We both find Jesus, who takes us above this battle when we align our wills with his. We ascend beyond contradiction to find that there is no condemnation when we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

When we sing "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done in this earth as in heaven," we are asking Jesus to have his will be done in our hearts. Anywhere that we are not in agreement with him, even in areas that we are unaware of, we ask him to reveal and change. This is why we sing, "I give my mind; take captive every thought that all decisions would be aligned." We continue to sing "I'm casting down what would exalt itself in human wisdom to let the human die," asking Jesus to remove all of those prideful areas of our hearts that hinder him from having his way in our lives. We pray for humility knowing that whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased (Matthew 23:12). The song culminates in us entreating Jesus, "O Son of Man with nowhere to lay your head, rest your head on me," coming from Matt 8:20. Finally we sing, "Hosanna in the highest" to herald this King of Kings into the city of our heart as our only Lord. Thy kingdom come in this earth is a call for Jesus to reign in our minds and hearts.

Likewise, the song Earth Invasion and its Prelude are a call for the mighty river of God to invade our hearts, and take over our minds. Our pastor is fond of teaching us that Jesus doesn't come to take sides, he comes to take over! We call forth the heavenly hosts to invade our lives, and let Jesus take us over.

An interesting aspect of this song is that we enunciate that which the Lord is speaking to us. He calls us to increased faith, without which we cannot receive him. "Stretch out your hand," and, "Stand up and walk." When we sing these lyrics we prophesy the Lord's words to our own bones that we may rise up and receive new life from Jesus. Receiving the river of God is part of what brings that new life to us.

Arise, Shine brings two more important concepts into play. The first is that of the nations. There are many types of nations in our world, and not all of them have physical borders. There are "denominations". There are "imaginations". When the Lord says that the nations will come to your light, you can believe that he's calling our imaginations into the light, to be exposed and dismantled according to his truth. And the next time you read through the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, I encourage you to think "denominations" every time you see the word "nations", and see what kind of revelation the Lord brings to you...

In plain language, this song (and thus Isaiah's prophecy) is about the Body of Christ manifested as the New Jerusalem, a spiritual city on earth that cannot be hidden, and a light to which all of the denominations are drawn and to which all of the kings bow down. And that brings us to the second concept addressed in Arise, Shine, which is that of kings. In our own hearts we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and King. But the vast majority of us (myself included) still have areas of our lives where our own little kings still reign more than Jesus does. If Jesus asked us to give something up, would we do it? If he asked us to do something that would make us uncomfortable in front of other people, would we do it? Not without his grace to allow him to be the only King in our lives! He's into the killing of our flesh, and obedience to those types of things that our flesh hates doing allows his kingship to increase in our hearts. "Thy kingdom come," right? We desire his kingship to increase in us, so that we would be quick to obey his voice and he could lead us with his eyes rather than a word or a shout. So when we sing for the coming of kings to brightness of your dawn, part of that prayer is for all of our little kings to submit to Jesus, who is both the King of Kings and the Light of the World.

Part of this concept of letting him reign as king over us has to do with the fact that when his Word opposes something that we think, even if it's something that the church has taught us in the past, we must lay down our ideas and let him change our theology. On some levels he may add to our previous understanding, and on others we have to entirely let go of that we cling to so tightly and let him replace it. "In the river that is flowing from your throne, I am learning that my life is not my own." How can we sing, "You're the King of Kings and Lord of Lords" without confessing that we are not our own? This song sets music to 1 Corinthians 6:20 - For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. We acknowledge that he's in control of our lives, and then ascribe glory and honor unto him as we declare him to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Finally, a word about Uplifting America, which is to be taken at face value with the following understanding: God blessed Ishmael. God said to Hagar, "I will make him a great nation." (Genesis 21:18)   God also told Hagar, "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude." (Genesis 16:10)   And indeed this has come to pass, for the nation that Ishmael has become is one of those ones that has no physical borders, the nation of Islam. God even gave this nation a vast amount of oil, and he did this according to his purpose. He who has an ear, let him hear. However, in Genesis 16:12, God also told Hagar, "And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." And this too has certainly come to pass. Understand that the phrase, "O, see the hand of Ishmael is risen up against the Son of Man" not only describes what we see around us in this age but also simply reiterates that which the Lord spoke of the descendants of Ishmael thousands of years ago. This is a song about understanding the signs and the seasons in the Spirit. And as the artwork of the album emphasizes, it is most definitely a call to pray for this land. In this case, the land is both the natural land of America and the spiritual land that is our hearts.

For more insight into the teaching that Jesus Christ has endowed us with, visit the Lamb of God Chrsitian Community website.