“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:11-12
Like you, I have dreams that I long to see fulfilled. Although, some of those dreams are personal, most have to do with walking in the ways of the Kingdom. I long to see the lost come to Christ. I have a deep desire to see others not only begin the journey with Jesus, but to see them made whole through the finished work of Calvary. I long to see that wholeness walked out in my own life as well. The good news of the Gospel is that these deep desires are not the kind of dreams that are fleeting, but they originate and are kept aflame through the presence of the Holy Spirit. These are not fantastical dreams that flutter away at the first sight of morning, no, they are the kind of dreams that ignite a passion for living beyond yourself.
So what is it that keeps us in more of a dream state than walking in the realities of the purposes of God? To put it in the words of Tozer, maybe we have areas in our lives where we are spiritually asleep. In his book, “Rut, Rot, or Revival” Tozer writes this:
Notice Ephesians 5:14, “Wake up oh sleeper, rise from the dead.” This verse is often spoken to sinners, but it was not written to sinners. Ephesians was never written to sinners. It is not a message to sinners at all, but a message to one of the best churches in the New Testament. Yet, the writer says, “Wake up oh sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Some of the Ephesians were in a somnolent condition; that is, they were morally good but unenlightened. They were religious but unannointed. It is perfectly possible, for a good faithful loyal church member to be spiritually asleep – being in a state that parallels natural sleep.
He goes on to say: Likewise it is possible to be a Christian, to be in the church and yet be asleep spiritually. Then you have to be wakened suddenly. You will probably be ashamed of yourself, frustrated and disconcerted and say, “What’s the matter with me? All this time I was almost awake, but not quite.”
In Luke we see the same thought as the Lord’s inner circle were taken up with Him on the mountain where they were to witness the transfiguration. Before the revelation, Luke 9:32 says, “Now Peter and his companions were overcome with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with him.” Like the church in Ephesus, these were not men who were disinterested in the things of the Lord. These men were the inner circle of the Lord himself – the three closest to him. The greek word for fully awake in this passage is diagregoreo. Dia meaning thoroughly and gregoreo meaning to awaken. The implication is that the sleeping apostles were shocked into full alertness at the manifestation of the Lord’s glory.
So what am I trying to say? I desire to be fully awake. I desire to see the dreams of my heart come to fruition. I dont think they are my dreams. I think they belong to Jesus. However, I know that things are not automatic and the Lord has called us, His church, to surrender our will to Him so that we may become what He has intended. How do we do that? We ask to be clothed in the armor of light. The light that we need is the Light of the World shining forth within our hearts to search out any darkness and overtake it so that we might be jolted into being fully awake, or to whatever extent that is possible this side of eternity.
It’s the first day of a brand new year. My New year’s resolution is this: Lord, make me your instrument to advance your Kingdom however you see fit. Search my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me that would keep your dreams from becoming reality through my life. Awaken me from any slumber that I simply do not see. Speak these words deep into my being, “Awake oh sleeper, rise from the dead.” Will you join me?
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