Wake Up the Sleeper: The Watch Letter

Ephesians 5:14-16: Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

This week I heard the words "wake up the sleeper."

It can mean so many things.

But I have a question for us all: If your house was on fire and one of your loved ones was sleeping and not aware of the fire and the flames headed their way, what would you do?

YOU WOULD WAKE UP THE SLEEPER!

You wouldn't want to see them die, engulfed in flames, and lost forever.

So, why don't we have that same urgency when it comes to someone's salvation and life in God? We can see a person laying around doing nothing in the spirit or life, and say nothing. We can see someone walking around with their eyes wide shut, being oblivious to the things and people of God, and say nothing. We can see our children not trying one drop to serve God or simply do what is right and say nothing. But what if their souls are headed to hell fire? Do you really want them to burn forever? They will if we don't wake up the sleeper.

And sometimes the sleeper is who we see in the mirror every day. We can often go through life without wisdom or understanding of the word or what God is saying. Not because we don't have good teaching, access to the Bible, access to the Lord through prayer, and people to help us along the way, but because we would rather be ignorant, blind and sleepwalk than deal with the truth, the real, the work, the sacrifice, the commitment, and the correction that comes with living for God.

We can literally lay around mute in the spirit and paralyzed in the spirit because we refuse to get involved, we refuse to be transparent, and we refuse to go beyond our wants to fulfill someone else's need. So, we sleep on, and one day, if we don't change, we will find ourselves awake in hell.

Sometimes we know we are unequally yoked in a relationship, and know its not right, fellowshipping with the wrong people and things, and know we are compromising, cloaking to hide the truth, and so on, but we pretend to be asleep when the Lord passes by or when the pastor is calling/preaching to not deal with it.

But, everything we don't deal with will just follow us to hell, if we don't repent.

Wake up the sleeper!

Matthew 26:40-41: "And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

When we can't take time out of our day to listen to the broadcast, read the blogs, study the scriptures, pay attention and participate in church, and inquire with God and our pastor on how we can be of service, then we are choosing to sleep - no matter how "woke" we think we are. God asks for so little from us. His commandments are not grievous. He allows us free will. He wants us to choose him and his way, so he draws us with lovingkindness. He ensures that his yoke is easy, but we always seek to do the bare minimum. We will clap our hands a few times and say amen, but we won't testify or be a witness to others. We will put a few dollars in the offering but we won't be consistent with our tithes, seeds, or pastor salary/appreciation. We will bring a dish to a church activity to "fellowship," but we won't check on the saints at any other time because we don't want them to ask for real help.

God only asks us for 10 percent of our income in tithes, and we slow around and act sluggish doing that, but will waste most of our money on so many things that have no real meaning, no spiritual or eternal purpose to them.

Wake up the sleeper!

When I was a teenager one of my favorite movies had a song that came up today:

If you wanna be somebody

If you wanna go somewhere,

you better wake up and pay attention.

If you don't pay attention while you are driving or drive with your eyes closed -- you will wreck. If you never get out of bed, you will accomplish nothing. If you never choose to wake up to the things of God and learn of the Lord, be active in the Lord and find your place in the Body, you will become lethargic (look up this definition).

Last night, in service, Chief Apostle Gunn talked about muscle atrophy. When you don't use your spiritual muscles or use the resources, tools, faith, strength, knowledge, will, etc. that God already placed in or before you, you will become weak and ineffective. And then the devil has you right where he wants you. He preys on the weak. He preys on the sleeper, the one who has no spiritual and watchful eye and is only looking at life through the lens of the flesh because eyes covered in flesh are blind eyes.

1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

If you are always asleep and not paying attention, the devil will walk right up to you and capture you, capture your mind, capture your home, etc. So, imagine if we have children who we allow to sleep all day, or be inactive with God. Imagine what the devil is doing to and with them.

Last night, Chief Apostle Gunn also taught us about how he wakes up early to be with the Lord and doesn't like to sleep late into the morning, so he can be on his watch in the spirit. He says he also uses that early rising time to cancel any assignment of the devil, to curse his plans, and confuse the enemy so that his day goes the way God plans without hindrance. He said the word shows us we can resist the devil and he will flee. That's powerful.

For so long we have thought of it as when you are tempted or faced with an attack of the devil -- rebuke him, but God wants us to be proactive. He wants us to ward off the enemy and shield ourselves before the devil even gets to us. That is what Chief Apostle Gunn is teaching us. He is trying to get us to be active in the spirit early and in advance, and not just be concerned about the things of the spirit when we need God to do something or someone to pray for us.

In fact, in the scripture I shared up top (Matthew 26), Jesus was doing just that. He was praying and staying on his watch to ensure he was not tempted to sin against God or abort his mission. While the disciples were sleeping, Jesus "went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." He was receiving strength from God and guarding himself against the wiles of the enemy. He went back and prayed two more times as the disciples slept on. What if Jesus would have decided to sleep too, or decided he was too tired to pray a little further? Where would our souls be at this very moment?

Lord forgive me, where I have not gone further and been a sleeper.

Today, I needed to have something checked out on my new vehicle (I have got to share that testimony with you all. It is a miracle, not because it's something new, but because of the instruction I received on how to get it and the help that was given to get it.) I could have taken my car to the facility at any time I wanted since there was no appointment, so I planned to sleep in and get some rest due to a long and busy week, but sometimes sleep is not the answer -- it could be a hindrance if there is something you need to accomplish (of course God doesn't want us to be unrested, it's about balance).

So, the night before my husband suggested that we try to get there right when they open. I was not that eager at first. But, I am glad I eventually listened and I am glad he spoke up (we need to speak up to help someone stay on track). When I woke up this morning, I remembered what Chief taught last night and I began to let the devil know I was present and that he had to flee from my day. And following instructions brought much fruit! By being up and there early, and praying, we got helped in minutes and I was able to run some additional errands all before the sun got hot. And after that, I was able to have a more peaceful, stress-free, and productive day all day long today. As I am writing this, I recall Chief Apostle gave me instruction sometime last year to make sure I do not stay up too late so that I can be up early. He said it not only impacts my health and nervous system but also impacts how God wants to deal with me. I failed that assignment. Lesson learned. There is value in ensuring you are alert and ready! We have to remember that rest is from the Lord, so when we need rest, God will ensure we can get it. If we stay on our watch, he will guide us in all things, even sleep.

So, it's time to wake up the sleeper in us and around us!

Please take time to listen to "Be Sober" from 2018's FORREAL RADIO BROADCAST with Chief Apostle Gunn: https://www.thebodyofchristinc.com/listen-in?wix-music-track-id=4625025489436672&wix-music-comp-id=comp-j3hyec8g.