WAKE UP AND GET GOING!

Where are you in your relationship with God?  Do you have a way of gauging your position spiritually?  Can you even tell how much progress you’ve made in the past year?  Do you have a spiritual map that tells you where you are now and where you want to go?  When you have identified these two reference points, then you can decide how you are going to get from where you are, to where you want to be.  In order to do this, you must be spiritually alert and awake.  You must be sensitive and obedient to the Holy Spirit.

Hear how the Lord instructs us in Ephesians 5:14 (the Amplified Bible); “…Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine (make day dawn) upon you and give you light.”  Verse 15 (NIV), “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  In these evil days, we cannot afford to waste precious time, fooling around.  In these verses, God is warning us against spiritual slumber.  But how, you may ask, does a person sleep spiritually?

WHAT IS SPIRITUAL SLUMBER?

 “Arise from the dead” implies that when you sleep spiritually, you are deadened to the things of God.  Rather than being sensitive to the Spirit of life, a Christian who is sleeping spiritually is more in tune with the things of the flesh, with carnal and natural activities.  Such a person is drifting along; they have lost their sense of direction.  For example, if you had never been to New York City, and wanted to fly an airplane there from Toronto, you would need a map to guide you.  However, if you neglected to use the map and just headed in whatever direction the wind was blowing, you would soon end up where you never intended to go!  Such is the case of a believer who is sleeping and drifting.  He could even find himself going back to doing things that he had left behind after he was saved.

Spiritual slumber can also be characterized by a lack of spiritual fervour.  Romans 12:11 (NIV) states that we should “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.”  It takes sustained effort for us as believers to stay on fire for God, and to keep from succumbing to lethargy and weariness.  No one is immune from this danger.  That’s why Ephesians 5:15 warns us so clearly to be very careful how we live, not as fools, but as wise. 

USE THE WORD TO LOCATE YOURSELF

 In Matthew 26 we find some good examples of victims of spiritual slumber in the eleven disciples who went with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane (Judas Iscariot, the twelfth disciple, had left to betray Him).  When do you think Jesus needed the disciples the most in His ministry?  If ever there was a time, it was just before He was arrested and crucified.  Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him.  After all, that was the reason why He came to earth.  He also knew, that His disciples needed to be prepared for what lay ahead.

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’  But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.’  Peter answered and said to Him, ‘Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.’  …Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!’  And so said all the disciples.  Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’ “  (Matthew 26: 31-33, 35-36)

It was a good thing that Jesus did not depend on these false assurances of loyalty from Peter and the other disciples.  If Jesus would have had to depend on those guys to carry out His mission on earth, all humanity would have been doomed!  Jesus the very Word of God Himself, told Peter that before the rooster crowed, he would deny Him three times and Peter still did not believe it!  Obviously, Peter did not have an accurate estimation of his spiritual condition.  Not knowing the true state he was in, made him over confident. 

An accurate estimation of yourself, can only result from seeing yourself through God’s eyes – through His Word.  Jesus told Peter what his report card was going to be.  But Peter had an element of pride in him, and could not accept Jesus’ words.  He assured Jesus that even if the others fell away, he would not!

STAY AWAKE AND PRAY

 “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch with Me.’  He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’  Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What?  Could you not watch with Me one hour?  Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation (‘temptation’ here means tests, trials and tribulations).  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ “ (Matthew 26:37-41) 

The term ‘watch’ implies spiritual alertness and vigilance through prayer.  Jesus wanted these three men to pray with Him.  Often the Holy Spirit will quicken you to do some things that your flesh may not want to do.  He may ask you to spend more time in prayer, or make some changes in your life.  He may tell you to stop doing this, or to do more of that, or even to start making preparation for some upcoming changes in your life.  If you fail to obey the Holy Spirit’s instructions, or if you allow your human reasoning to take over, disappointment or calamity may result. 

For example, do you pray every time the Holy Spirit prompts you to pray for someone?  Do you call or visit people when He tells you to?  Failure to yield to promptings like these is called spiritual density, insensitivity to the Spirit of God. 

From this passage we can learn that we need to pray and get the victory before the testing comes.  Jesus had asked him to pray, and here we find Peter sleeping, the very one who not too long before, had told Jesus that he was willing to die for Him.  If ever there was a time that He needed to pray, and to have His disciples join Him in prayer, this was it.  Jesus had brought them along to pray, not so much for His sake, but for theirs.  It is obvious what kind of spiritual state Peter and the other disciples were in.  There is a time to sleep and a time to pray.  But their flesh was too weak to enable them to yield to the things of God.  Unfortunately, such is the condition of many Christians today.  Circumstances always catch them by surprise.  They are always asking God, ‘Why?’, ‘When?’, ‘What?’, ‘Where?’; never knowing the will of God for sure. 

KNOW GOD’S WILL AND PURSUE IT

 After you got saved, God didn’t take you to heaven immediately.  He left you here on earth for a purpose.  He has called you to do some things, and you have a ministry to fulfill – every believer does.  Jesus is our perfect example in seeking, knowing, and fulfilling God’s will for our lives.  You must make the same kind of commitment that He made, to always do His Father’s will.  Jesus prayed in Matthew 26:39, “not as I will, but as You will.”  He realized that this His death, burial and resurrection would be the fulfillment of God’s purpose for Him.

There in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was evident that Jesus was prepared for everything that was about to happen.  He hadn’t spent His time just hanging around, or shopping, or simply having a good time.  Jesus kept spiritually in tune every step of the way, He stayed in prayer and knew exactly what He had been called to do.

“And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples.  Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.  Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ “  (John 18:2-4)  Jesus had a head start on the devil; he wasn’t going to spring any surprises on Jesus! 

“Well, that was Jesus” you may say, “How does all that apply to me.  After all, I’m not the Son of God.”  John 16:13 answers that very clearly; “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…and He will tell you things to come.”  That doesn’t mean that you will know everything that will happen in the future.  But we as believers, should know the things that God has called us to do, and we should fulfill our calling.

There is however, a preparatory process that will bring you from where you are to where you ultimately want to get – to fulfilling God’s purpose for your life.  The life of Apostle Paul is a good case in point.  He had already been in the ministry for several years before the Holy Spirit said, “separate (or set apart) to Me Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work to which I have called them.”  Paul didn’t start out in ministry doing what God had called him to do.  He started by obeying Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might”.  He continued with that until the Holy Spirit saw fit to put him into what He had been preparing him to do all along.

Even in the natural, when a five year old child says he wants to be a doctor when he grows up, he doesn’t immediately start taking anatomy and physiology classes, neither does he start examining cadavers.  He starts by attending elementary school, high school and then he enters the university to begin medical school.  It is the same spiritually.  If you don’t successfully complete all the preliminaries, you will never get to the place where you are doing the main thing.  God will not promote you ‘on trial’, and push you forward to the next level!

ALWAYS BE WILLING

 Let’s pick up the passage in Matthew 26 from verse 42.  “Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’  And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.  So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  Then He came to His disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting?  Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand.’  And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people…Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him…Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.”  (Matthew 26:42-47, 50, 56)

By praying the same thing repeatedly, Jesus was surrendering His will to the Lord.  This was a prayer of consecration or dedication.  If you are ever going to do God’s will, you are going to have to pray, ‘Not my will, but Your will be done Lord’.  And you will have to pray it many times during your life.  However, this was the only place in the four Gospel accounts where Jesus prayed this way.  So don’t get the impression that this prayer of consecration is to be prayed indiscriminately in every situation.

For example, we don’t pray ‘Lord, if it be Your will’ to get someone saved.  We know from the Bible that God’s will is that everyone should be saved.  Neither do we pray that way if someone needs healing, because we know from His Word that God’s will is that all should be healed.  But when it comes to what God has called you and I to do, it is not expressly written in the Bible, and so we have to be willing to do whatever it may be that He might ask us to do.  You can’t give God preconditions for following Him – “I’ll only follow you if…”  If you have such an attitude, then you haven’t laid everything on the altar yet, and you will never be fully satisfied in life until you do. 

One young man knew from the time he was saved that God had called him to preach.  Unfortunately, he had the unfounded fear that if he ever fully surrendered his life to Him, God might send him to China as a missionary.  Because he didn’t want to go there, he decided not to get too close to the Lord.

As the years passed, he managed to avoid the call of God, but life was becoming more and more miserable for him.  One day, he found himself in a service where the power of God was moving.  There he repented of running from God, and made a commitment to yield himself fully to His will – even to going to China!  No sooner than he finished praying that prayer of consecration, he heard the Lord telling him (in what seemed to be an audible voice) that He had never even wanted him to go to China!  God just wanted to know that he was willing to go there, or anywhere else!  Imagine all those years that man had wasted avoiding God, just because he was not willing.

It is important that we keep a willing heart, and that we never let natural things and activities dull our sensitivity to the voice and direction of God.  We must stay alert in the spirit.

DON’T LET YOUR FAITH FAIL

 “And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”  (Luke 22:31-32) 

God had a plan for Peter and Jesus knew that the devil had his plans for him too.  Satan had planned to ‘sift’ Peter as wheat.  ‘Sift’ means ‘to pulverize or break down closely by testing’.  When Jesus had prayed ahead of time, He had prayed not only for Himself, but also for Peter and the other disciples.  They had fled and Satan thought he had them, but Jesus had prayed them through.  They were bound to come back like a boomerang!  Jesus took His responsibility for His disciples seriously, that’s why He said to the Father in John17:12, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.  Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”  

Peter failed as a person, but because of what Jesus did for him, his faith did not fail.  He repented of his denial of the Lord, and became a leader in the early church!  The good news is that though we may fail, our faith need not fail.  You might say that things turned out great for Peter and the others because it was Jesus who prayed for them.  But remember that Jesus is in you, and your prayers for yourself or for others, can be just as effective!

IN CONCLUSION…

 Before Jesus left the earth, He knew His report card.  You too should know your report card before you leave.  Determine where you are spiritually right now.  Then start drawing closer to God, by desiring the things of God more than you do the things of the world.  Increase your spiritual hunger; desire to know God more.  Don’t allow natural things to take the place of spiritual things in your life.  What you desire, and how much you desire it, is a thermometer to measure your spiritual temperature.   Are you hot or cold?

Consecrate yourself to God.  Tell Him that you are willing to yield all to Him; that you want His will to be done in your life, not yours.  Ask God to take away anything that would stand in His way.  He won’t just ask you for the sinful things in your life.  He will also ask you for things that are not sinful in themselves, but which might be hindering you in some way.  He asked Abraham for the most precious thing in his life – his son Isaac.  When Abraham gave Isaac to God, God gave Isaac back to him in the form of a whole nation!

If you are ready to wake up, and ready to move on to that place of greater glory and greater blessing, then pray this prayer with all sincerity: “Not my will Lord, but Your will be done.  Anywhere you want me to go, I will go.  I will do whatever You want me to do.  I will live the way You want me to live.  Father, I consecrate my life to You, I yield myself to You and depend fully on You.  I refuse to sleep.  I will stay alert and be sensitive to all that You are doing in this day and age.  I will follow and fulfill Your plan for my life.  In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”  Now wake up, and get going!