AWAKE!

"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

In the first few days of 2016 I had an opportunity to travel to Wolverhampton, England, where I was asked to teach in a Bible School and preach in evening services for a pastor friend of mine. As I prepared my messages, I specifically heard God telling me that it was time to call the people to AWAKE! God took me to Revelation 3:1-6, where the letter written by John to the church of Sardis is found. As I read this passage again, with eyes as if reading for the first time, I began to see clearly what God was saying to the church I would be sharing with, but also to church as a whole.

It is recorded that in the history of the city of Sardis, the city had been captured twice before while sleeping, both in 549BC and 219BC. Was it coincidence that now, years later, they were being called out for sleeping again? Truth be told, the church at Sardis was going through the motions. From the beginning of John's writing we read that the church had a reputation for being alive, but in reality was dead. The church had at one time had a fire, but now they were on cruise control and simply leaving an image that they were still following hard after God. The truth was that they had allowed too much of the world to come in and now they were living off of the reputation of the good old days. If we were to be honest, how many of us does that define today. How many of us were at one time sold out for God, but along the way began inviting sin in? To the outsiders we may still appear to be godly, but to God we are seen as dead.

To this church, and to people who fall into the same definition today, the answer was given...WAKE UP! I love how in the New International Version there is an exclamation mark. This isn’t a nice suggestion, it is a urgency. WAKE UP! Stop being dead. Stop living off the 'used to be' reputation of the past. WAKE UP! Give what is being said here real attention. God is telling people that He sees what no one else sees. He sees that the church is skating by. He sees the inside areas and they are death. WAKE UP! To this urgent plea God then adds to strengthen what remains and is about to die. It is time to restructure your life before it is too late. It is time to refill what has been lacking. It is time to retake action and be that positive reputation again that you used to be. Shake off the dust that has sat on you and remember what God has given you. Come out from the cloudy fog that rested on you and now begin to obey God's Word, and repent from the allowance of things you have let come into your life. If you chose not to, you will be robbed from. So that this does not happen, God is saying to re-engage in the intimacy you once had with Him.

When are we going to stop hitting the snooze button on our alarm clocks? I am guilty of this. I know my alarm will go off at 5:00am every weekday. I set it at that time so that I can allow myself time for devotions in the morning before the rest of the house is up and moving. But there have been many days when 5:00am comes sooner than I want it to. As a result, I hit the snooze button. then I hit it again, then again, then again. Before I know it, I have hit snooze so many times that now I am late to get in the shower, let alone spend time in devotions. But with every press of the snooze physically I am pushing the snooze spiritually. God is calling me to WAKE UP, and I am choosing to remain under the covers.

One of the greatest pictures God gave me in illustrating this point was that of a defibrillator. Having being trained in using one, I know that you must clear the people away from the action before allowing the machine to charge the patient. But how many of us could use a good dose of Godly defibrillating? Just like the church of Sardis, we are on the verge of death in the path that we are going. Just like the church, we have a reputation of godly living, but we are on the verge of death because of our sins.

If you, like me, are serious about coming back to life, then make this your prayer: God, I pray, place the paddles of Your defibrillator on my heart and AWAKEN me. Bring me back from the death of my sin. God I cry out to You and ask that You would forgive me of my sin. God I make the choice to obey You. I chose to remember what I have received and heard from You. AWAKEN ME God, before it is too late.