Wake Up!

 

“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.”

—Revelation 3:2

Does your church need a new alarm clock? Does mine? Have we become so accustomed to dozing that we think we can live in our present culture just as we always have? What do you see as the biggest challenges to our faith and practice? Do we have the strength for a struggle we didn’t see coming? Do we even see the dangers of sin in us and in our culture, as we stare with drowsy eyes? Do we see the lostness? The despair?

When we look at the churches across our world today, we often hear about vibrant places across the globe where God is doing amazing things in and through His people. Unfortunately, many we would look at in our own land may appear awake, but they are merely sleep-walking. Surely, Jesus, our Bridegroom, would say to us, “Wake up!”

Even one of the churches in the Apostle John’s time had fallen into the sleep-walking pattern. When he wrote letters to seven of the congregations in his time, he told the church in Sardis that their heavy-eyed, lethargic patterns would lead to death—unless they would repent and wake up.

We know from Scripture that sleep in a Christian, and in a Christian church, can lead to death. As Puritan writer William Gurnall writes: ¹

Samson was asleep and Delilah cut his locks. Saul was asleep, and his spear was taken from his side. Noah was asleep, and his graceless son had opportunity to discover his father’s nakedness. Eutychus was asleep, and fell from the third loft…Sleep creeps in upon the soul, just as it does upon the body.

We need to awaken to the sin that is silently creeping into our lives and into our churches. We need to awaken to the needs God wants us to see in the world around us. And, we need to awaken to the ways God wants to use us. When we sleep, our enemy Satan can come in unawares and take advantage of us. We can be near spiritual death and not know it.

Will Jesus find us awake when He comes back? If He visited us today, would He find us sleeping or wide awake?

Will you please join me in this prayer: ²

Lord, Your church appears asleep, or at best, very drowsy. We have allowed our eyelids to become heavy, rather than wide open so we can promptly move at Your command. Send us watchmen to warn us. Sound “Reveille” and reawaken Your church. Alert us to dangers that have intruded into our spiritual bed chambers and wait to kill us in our sleep. Stir us up. As You awakened our churches in times past, come again, and reawaken Your people for Your glory. Amen.

______________________

1 From “The Christian in Complete Armour” by William Gurnall, as quoted in Rushing, Richard, editor. Voices from the Past. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. p. 358.

2 From Wilson, Shirley W. “Re”wording Our Prayers for Spiritual Change. Erie, PA: Wilson Publishing, 2011. p. 7.