TOPIC: Rise from sleep
TEXT: PSALM 65:1-3; Habakkuk 3:2;
INTRODUCTION: Every believer is called (Rom.8:30) into a union with Christ. He is the sole means of spiritual life for anyone who wants intimacy with the God the Father (1Cor.1:9). Jesus assures us that no one can go to the father except through Him. For this privilege, we have to be thankful. However, a lot of believers have forgotten this fact and have sort of slept spiritually by being out of union with Him. It is the union with Christ that brings the glory of the father, and that enables any work for God to be done. To do anything for God, you have to be awake to see what He wants you to do, and this begins in the spiritual realm (John 5:19). God is faithful, in that when He calls a person, and the person is sleeping, He will not leave His promises unfulfilled or His work unfinished, He quickens and wakes the person up. In these times, the gospel and teachings of Jesus have been watered down, made to fit the culture so that we can conform to the world instead of living the radically different kingdom life. The Bible has been selectively reinterpreted, and Jesus has been “domesticated” to fit the personal, political, and cultural views of groups and people. Both Jesus and the Bible have been abused as tools to justify and serve personal, social, cultural, and political agendas. There is also the real danger that we could take Jesus for granted. He is there to serve us and not us to serve Him. He becomes our servant, our tool, our way to deal with life. We are to arise and let the glory of God shine again from us. In His light we must let our light shine to a world in darkness.
1.The process of Rising: As the present world approaches the end times, the coming judgment of God should be part of what believers should think about on a daily basis. It becomes a problem when we forget that He is our Lord (Is. 1:3). The world today thinks God is so far away He does not know what is going on. God is enthroned in Zion and to Him do people give praise and bring their vows or promises (Ps.65:1-3). All peoples pray to the Lord because He hears their prayers God cannot be separated from His doings. They are awesome and He is in control of history. If you are asleep to these facts, you need to be reawakened, and by His power. To be asleep spiritually is like lying in the dust of sin and covered deep in it. It needs a bidding because a person cannot remove the covering by themselves, they need help and prayer. Joshua was bidden by God to go on to possess the land for the Israelites. We cannot shine by our own light, because we have none just like the moon does not have any light of its own. We have none because we are covered in dust (Is.59:9). It is only in the light of God that we see light (Ps.36:9). Reawakening comes by prayer and communication with God (Hab.2:3). Habakkuk prayed for God’s power to be reawakened (Hab.3:2) and every believer should be praying for God’s mercy especially in these times. It was a prayer that acknowledges that what God had done before, He could do it again. I remember over 30 years ago I was dead in trespasses and sins totally oblivious of God, although I had a form of godliness, but I was serving another god. When His power hit me, I needed no one to tell me that He is Abba father as I wept profusely laying on the ground in my living room. It was an experience I would and could never forget from. Every time I fall asleep in the spirit, and I remember His mercy, I am reawakened to the fact that He is Lord by the Holy Spirit, and I surrender to His bidding. He is not far away, and He knows what is going on in your life. His glory is always around to wake you up for any assignment He has for you to do. 2.The result of Rising: To sleep is to be open to tormentors and enemies, to be in a low state such that the enemy can walk over you, to be in the realm of the dead. No wonder Apostle Paul admonishes those that are asleep to rise from the dead (Eph.5:14). The result of rising is as the shining of light, Christ’s light, the glory of the Lord. There is a resurrection as in the vision of the dry bones. They are reawakened as a great and mighty army for the Lord (Ezek.37). When one gets the light of heaven, they do not lie still in darkness but make use of the light to illuminate the world of darkness. It does not allow the believer to loiter, but to spring forth as if from the grave. Like the breath from the four winds, the glory of God breathes life into the sleeping soul. I recall also that when I received Christ, the experience was so powerful I could not keep my mouth shut in any gathering but was very eager to tell people about my newly found Jesus. This happens every time we are reawakened from our sleepy state. I pray that all that are asleep will be energized to come to Christ by repenting of their sins, rising from the dust and shining for the kingdom of God.