Tag: Awaken From Spiritual Slumber

¹⁴ So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. ~ Joshua 9:14

The people of Israel had just entered their Promised Land. The Gibeonites heard all about what Joshua and his army were doing to the other cities in the land, and they were afraid. So, they came deceptively and tricked the elders of Israel. They showed them worn-out clothes and shoes, stale bread, and worn-out wineskins and told them they had come from a very distant country.

The elders believed what they heard, confirmed by what they saw, and they made a peace treaty with them. They gave those men their word without input from God. Three days later, they heard that those same men had tricked them and that they were actually their neighbors.

Now that these elders had given them their word, they could not break it because they swore it before God.

The key, or the problem, rather, was that the elders did not consult God about the matter.

Christians today make the same mistake. They make alliances with people they should not make alliances with. They go to places they should not be at. They accept favors from their enemy without even knowing it. Because they make these decisions with their flesh. They sample the wares. They look with their own eyes and listen with their own ears, but they don’t consult the LORD their God.

Spiritual laziness and prayerlessness have become the downfall of today’s Church. The Christian thinks with their flesh, driven by their greed and desire. It is like Jesus said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan, for you do not have the things of God in mind, but the things of man.

So, the next time you have a decision to make, consult God. Before you forge unauthorized relationships, consult God. Before you fall for the biggest lie of the century, consult God.

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¹² Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. ~ Philippians 2:12^NLT

I saw a short of a devout Muslim man whose wife had just given birth to their first child. He explained that he was so scared of evil eye and, therefore, losing the child that he didn’t tell anyone, even his mom, that his wife was pregnant. This made me feel so sad. This man is a devout Muslim who prays daily, goes to the mosque, fasts, knows his Quran, but there’s nothing to protect him from evil eye with all that he does. Think about it.

We Christians are promised to be covered by the Blood of the Lamb, a hedge of protection built around us, angels of God concerning us, the prayers of Jesus Himself for us, and the authority of the name of Jesus to cast down and tear down all manner of evil spoken against us, yet we don’t even pray once a day for 10 minutes. This man isn’t even promised eternal life by his god, yet he’s devout to his god. Whereas Christians are promised eternal life and more, but we don’t give God the time of day.

We as Christians get so caught up in the love of God that we forget that there is likewise a wrath of God, which then makes us complacent. This complacency renders its users useless in the art of winning souls and disciplining the nations. True, God is love. True, it’s His love that saves us and keeps us, but never forget that that same love can turn to wrath if trampled upon. Therefore, serve the LORD in the beauty of holiness and work out your salvation with much fear and trembling.

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me. Please help me never to forget my purpose or to become complacent. Give me the strength and the boldness to be a witness for You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁴⁵ A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. ~ Luke 6:45^CSB

I remember being in university, and a friend of mine told me that they were starting to subconsciously take the LORD’s name in vain when something happened, and they didn’t like it. I don’t remember what my response was or what happened after that, but I remember her saying that. See, at the time, we weren’t living our best Christian lives. We were listening to secular music and filling ourselves with darkness for a period of time. During that time, her subconscious had become darker than light.

See, it wasn’t that we were only filled with darkness that was the problem, but it was that the darkness began to spill over because it had grown more than the Light. As humans, our soul is a vessel that will either have good or evil. It will either be a light or a shade. The state of the Church is much like my friend was while we were acting like heathens.

The Church has a form of love for God, but we don’t fill ourselves with Him; we fill ourselves with the world. And if we seek out God, it’s only on Sunday mornings. Monday through Saturday, God doesn’t hear a peep from us; Sunday morning comes around. We show Him a few moments of our time, and then we’re back to being with the Devil until next Sunday.

Our thoughts are a reflection of our hearts. If it’s filled with foul language, anger, lust, etc., it’s because those are the things we’ve been feeding our hearts. If we want to change our thoughts, we need to change our hearts. How? Repenting of everything we’ve done that we weren’t to do and then replace it with Godly action. We do this by spending time in prayer, worship, and Bible reading daily. We fill ourselves with the good things of God and not the evil things of the world.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fill Up On The Good.

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³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸ Then He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” ³⁹ And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” ⁴⁰ And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And He said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? ⁴¹ Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴² Again, for the second time, He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³ And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. ⁴⁵ Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” ~ (Matthew 26:36-46)

Have you ever been woken up earlier than usual and gotten the feeling that maybe you should pray, but slumber is pulling you back, so you shake off the feeling and give into a few more hours of precious sleep? That’s how I’ve felt these last couple of days, especially, but this morning something changed. Right after I got this feeling, a thought entered my mind:

Arie, what are you going to do when you stand before me, and I ask you why you never prayed when I woke you up?

To say the least, I woke up immediately and started praying. What a frightful thought to stand before the LORD God and have fallen short. No, we’re never going to reach perfection on this earth, but there are things that many of us don’t do that we can do. The majority of us, myself included, struggle with praying for more than 30 minutes straight when Jesus made 1 hour the minimum. Many of us struggle with reading our Bible every day or setting and sticking to a time to worship every day.

These are some of the bare minimum that Christ is asking of us. He gave us everything and still pours out blessings upon blessings, some of which we don’t even realize He’s given us, yet we struggle to give Him an hour of our time a day. Why He loves us so, I’ll never know, but thank the LORD that He does.

Dear LORD, I’m sorry for all the times I’ve given You less than my best. I’m sorry for all the times I chose something else over You. Please forgive me for each time I’ve fallen short of Your bare minimum requirement of me. Please help me to crucify my flesh every day and to feed and nourish my spirit-man so that I might be able to give You more than just the bare minimum, but my absolute best. Thank You for never giving up on me, and for giving me chance after chance after chance, especially when I don’t deserve it. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁷ Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” ~ Matthew 2:7-8

Lies and deception came forth from Herod because of the fear of the news he had heard. Today, the elites haven’t changed. They tell us lies and try to deceive us. People in power will lie and steal and deceive to hold on to the power and wealth that they have.

It was no different back then from how it is today. Herod claimed He, too, wanted to go and worship the infant king of the Jews as well. When secretly, he wanted to murder Him and remove all threat of a king coming to dethrone him.

Jesus is still a threat to people today. They still want Him dead. They still try to kill even the memory of Him. They still say they will not have this Messiah rule over them. They still refuse to make from in their hearts for Him. Their no vacancy sign shines brightly that there is no room in this inn. Why? Because in Jesus, there is freedom. The power and authority that the elites think they have on this earth is threatened by the true power and authority that Christ Jesus has.

So, they will lie and try to deceive those who come to worship the King, just as Herod tried to deceive the wisemen that came to worship baby Jesus. They say that they are for worshipping the Christ, but they know a better way. They begin changing the way Christ demanded to be worshipped. They lie to the believers and followers of Christ and try to lead them astray so that they won’t be dethroned. So that the people never find the true Messiah.

This Christmas season, don’t allow anyone to separate you from the King of kings and LORD of lords. Don’t allow anyone to deceive you in any way. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart, hoping that you will let Him in so that He might dwell in You and through You. Do you have room for him tonight?

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Dethrone The Elites.

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¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ~ John 3:16-19

I recently watched a clip of a cathedral hosting what they called a ‘Beyonce Mass.’ During this mass, they sang Beyonce songs as if they were worship songs to God. The woman who brought the sermon for the mass also teaches a class at seminary entitled ‘Beyonce and the Bible.’ Today’s Church is full of celebrity worship. We know more about Beyonce than we do about God.

The Church loves John 3:16 but refuses to read past that verse. Because the moment that we do, we see the Truth. Yes, Christ came to save the world and not condemn it, but the world already stands condemned. Why? Because the world doesn’t accept the Light (Jesus) because of the love of darkness. The Church today loves darkness. We try to incorporate it every chance we get. We see it as freeing and progression, but sin isn’t freedom. Sin is a harsh slave master. It demands absolute and total submission. And one day, it will collect on the soul that it has imprisoned with shackles and chains.

The only freedom is in Christ Jesus. There is no freedom outside of Christ. Why? Because outside of Christ is just darkness. Christ is Light. Christ is freedom. Christ is life. To choose anything else would be to willingly choose death.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the times I chose the world over You. Please forgive me for all the times that I darkness over light. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I might have a spirit of discernment to discern between light and darkness. Good and evil. Truth and lies. Thank You for not leaving me in darkness but for leaving the 99 to find me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹⁰ And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. ~ Matthew 24:10-11

Throughout the Scripture, there are prophecies after prophecies about how many will fall away and betray one another. Not only will they betray one another, but they will hate one another. This isn’t the world that these prophecies are about; this is the Church. Because these prophecies also tell us that many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. Is that the world they are leading astray? No, of course not. The world is already astray; it’s the Church that will be led astray.

And do you know why they are led astray? Because they don’t read the Bible for themselves. Christians have no clue what is in the Bible. Some have never ever read the Bible for themselves. This is why so many of us will be so easily led astray.

And as we are seeing even now, the false prophets who speak on behalf of God tell the Church that they can live any old way they want, and God will still accept them. Why will God accept whatever they give Him? Because they say that God is desperate for followers, so He has no choice but to take what He gets. He’s just a pushover who just loves and accepts everyone.

That is not the case at all. God demands that His Great Name be feared and respected. He is not a desperate housewife. He is Almighty God—a Mighty Warrior. God is a great King. He is God of all gods. He will not accept half-hearted worship and halfway sacrifices. Therefore, God will not accept our lukewarm worship.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for not spending time reading Your Word as I should. Please forgive me for not giving You the reverence, worship, honor, and glory that You deserve. Please teach me to love You the way that You deserve. Help me to dwell in Your love. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. ¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. ~ Revelation 3:16-19

It’s the weakness of the Church that brings on the Great Tribulation, so do you suppose that we will be kept from what we ourselves have caused:

• By our Pride.
• By our prayerlessness.
• By our lack of holiness.
• By our alliance with darkness.
• We have become lovers of self rather than lovers of God.
• A proud and stiff-necked people.
• Who love to tickle ears and have our own ears tickled.

We fool ourselves when we think we are so holy because we have hundreds of thousands of adoring fans, sitting in beautiful expensive buildings sitting on soft pews, and sipping our lattes, but Jesus said that we are:

• Wretched
• Pitiable
• Poor
• Blind
• And naked

And He counsels us to buy from Him:

• Gold refined by fire so that we may be rich.
• And white garments so that we may clothe ourselves and the shame of our nakedness may not be seen.
• And salve to anoint our eyes, so that we may see.

This last day Church is not all that we are cracked up to be. We are like the Pharisees and Scribes of Jesus’ day, for we honor God with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8).

Dear LORD, thank You for Your grace and forgiveness. Forgive me for not making You the center of my life. Forgive me for putting other things above You and for not giving You the love, respect, and reverence You deserve. Teach me to buy from You all that You have counseled me to. Please guide me in my journey to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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²⁸ “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. ~ Matthew 21:28-32

I recently heard the testimony of an ex-gang member who found Jesus while in solitary confinement during his rather long prison sentence. He went from a life of gang violence from the age of 11 to finding Jesus in solitary at 18. When he found Jesus, he didn’t take it for granted. He put everything on the line to follow Christ. Everything, including his life. I read how he talked about not only reading his Bible and praying daily in prison but also fasting. He would stay in his cell and pray and read his Bible as the other inmates went to the cafeteria for lunch.

He was what one would describe as an undesirable. A murderer. A thief. Nothing short of a terrorist. But when he found Jesus, everything changed. So many of us who grew up in the church have never even fasted a single day. This young man grew up in violence and never even went to church as a kid, but as he got saved, he studied to show himself approved. This isn’t a new phenomenon either. There’s a real sadness in this truth that we who grew up in the church experiencing the love of Christ oftentimes take it for granted, while those who would be categorized as the undesirables of society seem to rarely, if ever, walk away from grace when they find it.

We who grew up with Christ should be paving the way for them. We should be teaching them how to eat meat, but we ourselves can barely even handle milk. Imagine if we stopped looking at ourselves the way society sees us and started looking at ourselves the way God sees us. We’re all saved the same way, by the redeeming blood of Jesus. We all have to say the same prayer of repentance regardless of how many sins we’ve committed. Our past doesn’t matter. How good we think we are doesn’t matter because we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. If we could just grasp the weight of our sin and how much Christ really has done for us, we would all be seeking God the way this young man did from inside the walls of his prison cell.

Dear LORD, please soften my heart towards You and Your Word and Your Kingdom. Help me to seek Your face above all else. Renew in me a right spirit and crucify the flesh that tries to hold me back. Give me a heart for You, oh God. Mold me into a vessel that can be used by You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹¹ They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. ~ Jeremiah 8:11^NIV

The understanding of prophecies that have been locked up for 1000s of years is now being released in our generation. Prophecies are being fulfilled, and the stage for the end is being set right before our eyes, yet many will still say there is peace. Why? Because things have been bad before. Each generation has thought they were the last. And if it is the end, we’ll meet Christ before things get bad anyway.

These are the people who are usually in places of authority, from pastors of large churches to family patriarchs and matriarchs. People we’re supposed to trust without hesitation or reserve are the same ones steering us in the wrong direction because of Church Tradition and self-denial. Israel had the same problem. Their leaders and men of authority were preaching peace when destruction was banging at the door. They were preaching all will be well, when death was unlocking the lock.

Too often, we don’t get the preparation needed in order to withstand the coming trial and tribulation because we’re too busy not questioning those in authority around us. The greatest apostle who ever lived, Paul, was checked every day by the Bereans to make sure what he was saying was true. This didn’t offend Paul; it impressed him.

This world is coming to an end. The signs are all around us, but in order to see them, you have to read your Bible and seek the Truth of God and not somebody else’s truth. If you seek someone else’s truth or even your own truth, you will miss the Truth of God, and you’ll be swallowed up by the coming destruction that is banging at the door.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for not seeking Your Truth the way I should. Open my eyes that I might see and give me ears that I might hear so that I might not be unaware of the times. Teach me to pray, worship, and study Your Word that I might strengthen my body and prepare for the time of trial coming. Please let me not be caught unprepared and asleep when that day comes. Use me, LORD God. Mold me into whatever vessel will best serve and further Your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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