Wake Up, O Sleeper!

The LORD has been speaking to me about all the many people who are spiritually asleep in this time. And He began to make it very personal to me as He showed me how easily I give in on some days to the temptation to "just veg" and watch a movie with John, forget about starting our day reading His Word or even blow off the little voice in my ear telling me that my body needs some exercise! 

Apathy has overtaken us on many levels. Perhaps this happens when we come face-to-face with the reality that we want to contribute to the good and make changes in our government, only to find that we aren't even in a constitutional republic anymore and there is no avenue for us to take. Perhaps apathy sets in when we get excited about sharing the Gospel with others around us, and for the most part no one wants to hear. 

So as I've been pondering those thoughts, the Spirit has led me to several scriptures that have really shaken me awake! I do believe that we really ARE in a season when God wants us to come out of our apathy, pursue a deeply close relationship with Him, and begin to follow the instruction he wants to give us. It is to be a season of awakening spiritually slumbering people - and it starts with us!
 
Isa. 52:1
1 Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!

This verse illustrates for us that to be awake is to be clothed with strength, splendor and light in these dark days!  It is to shake off the “dust.” We are covered with apathetic dust particles. The Lord calls to us, "Free yourself from your chains!"  I think we are chained by this modern world of DISTRACTIONS. Cell phones, Facebook, Instagram, TV....these are all things that keep us chained and prevent us from spending intimate time with the Lord. Let's take a look at Matthew 25:5-9:
The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. "At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'  Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'  " 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'"
 
ALL the virgins  became drowsy and fell asleep!  That is the season of the past few years - a time of spiritual slumber. But then there is a midnight cry, a great blast of the shofar, when Yeshua, the Bridegroom comes, and they all awaken. The virgins who did not have oil in their lamps desperately seek those who DO have oil and beg them "Give us some of your oil!" But those who do have oil reply, "Go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves." This used to be very astonishing to me and I could not understand why, as a Spirit-filled believer, I would not be willing to share my oil with someone who has none. Then the Spirit showed me what this oil represents - the ONLY thing I couldn't give my sisters and brothers even if I wanted to: A RELATIONSHIP WITH YESHUA. He showed me that each one has to cultivate that precious, intimacy with the Lord for themselves and they cannot get it from someone else.  The virgins who did not have enough oil in their lamps, and then were prevented from going into the Kingdom with Jesus, the Bridegroom, had been lazy, asleep for a long time, and maybe even disinterested in knowing Him. 
 
Matthew 26:40: Then Jesus returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Yeshua was in the garden waiting for those He knew would come  to arrest Him.  He wanted His disciples to be near Him, close to Him, sharing this agonizing time with Him. I wonder, is that US?  Is our slumber keeping us from sharing some incredible, cross-bearing time with our Master?   Our scarcity of oil prevents us from yada- knowing HIM and his ways. Yada is the Hebrew word for "knowing" your spouse in deep intimacy. It's time for us to wake up and seek Him!
 
Proverbs 6:9-11
How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
       When will you get up from your sleep?
  A little sleep, a little slumber,
       a little folding of the hands to rest-
 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
       and scarcity like an armed man.
 
Being spiritually lazy results in poverty - financially, physically and spiritually. Dry, thirsty, uninterested, without faith; unprepared for His coming and caught like a thief in the NIGHT.   Ephesians 5:13-16 says, "But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Messiah will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."
 
We live in evil (dark) days.  Messiah calls, “Wake up O Sleeper! Rise from the dead!  Apathy sets in, there is no desire (or time?) to want to study His Word, and spend time with Him.  I confess that when one day sort of melts into another, with little change and no variety, I become lax and find it hard to invigorate myself and motivate myself to spend time with my Heavenly Bridegroom. But He tells us that when we DO SPEND TIME WITH HIM, HE WILL SHINE ON US AND THEN WE WILL REFLECT HIM TO OTHERS!
 
Mark 13:32-37: But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.  It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
 
This is, as you know, something I've always loved to do. This blog is called "Doorkeeper Watch" because I truly do love to watch what is occurring in the world and track it with the Word of God. In this way we can glean important insight as to where we are in the Bible prophecies we've been given. And in this way, we will not be found sleeping when He comes. Remember that the Bridegroom came while  five of the virgins were out looking for oil from somebody else and they MISSED HIM!
 
A beautiful verse in Song of Songs  2:10 says, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with Me.  See!  The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.” Winter in this text referred to spiritual barrenness. The Lover calls, "Now winter is over, come with Me and participate with Me in this great harvest!"   Song of Songs 2:14-15:  "My dove in the cleft of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face.  Let me hear your voice.  Catch for us all the little foxes that ruin the vineyards." This is Yeshua (the Lover) saying, “Show Me your face.”  That means, “Look up!  I’m here, near you – let me hear your voice – TALK TO ME!”  The phrase "catch all the little foxes" is a  Hebrew idiom for distractions.  What constantly distracts you from spending time with Him?  
 
Song of Songs  5:2 says, "I slept, but my heart was awake.  Listen!  My Lover is knocking:  'Open to Me, my sister, My darling!'” Think about that for a minute: "I slept, but my heart was AWAKE."  What does it mean to sleep with your heart awake? I believe it means that the Holy Spirit will speak in dreams and visions – or a voice in the night.  Be ready with a journal!  Have your spiritual ANTENNA UP!
 
Job 33:14-18
14 For God does speak—now one way, now another--
       though man may not perceive it.
 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
       when deep sleep falls on men
       as they slumber in their beds,
 16 he may speak in their ears
       and terrify them with warnings,
 17 to turn man from wrongdoing
       and keep him from pride,
 18 to preserve his soul from the pit
       his life from perishing by the sword.

I want to be heart-awake from now on, all through my days and all through my nights. I believe that time is growing very short and if we are still slumbering in apathy, we may miss some very glorious and exciting things that the Lord has planned. 

Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor! Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned!  Free yourself from the chains on your neck! 

And be sure to have plenty of "oil" in your lamp!