“Arise, shine; for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1 NAS
“For this reason He (Jesus) says, “Awake sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14 NAS
It is definitely time in this world’s present spiritual darkness for the Body of Christ to rise up and shine! However in order to rise up we must first wake up and sadly I think a large portion of the church is sound asleep, dead asleep according to the verse above in Ephesians.
In the natural when the day begins to grow dark and night is falling, our physical bodies begin to grow weary. As the evening progresses and it becomes very dark we are ready to put our pajamas on and go to sleep in our nice comfy bed. Sometimes we even fall asleep on the couch or in our favorite easy chair.
I am not an early riser, never have been. I’m just not wired that way. When I was a child and had to get up to go to school I never woke up on my own. Each and every morning my mother would come in and gently nudge me saying, “Rise and shine honey” or “rise and shine sleepyhead.” I would usually groan something in response and go back to sleep. I don’t know how many times she would actually come in and say that to me before I got out of bed.
I think many of us in the Church are doing just what I did naturally as a child. We have become so overwhelmed, so discouraged in these days of raging insanity and spiritual darkness we are presently living in, that we have checked out and gone to sleep in spirit. Some are dead asleep and unresponsive to the voice of the Shepherd trying to wake them up.
God wants to restore His presence to the Church but we must wake up and seek Him while He may be found. We have a job to do in these days but we need to be awake to do it! We must come together as the Body of Christ and fearlessly speak to the darkness and the people living in darkness. Yours might be the only voice they hear speaking truth to them. Don’t let Satan or anyone he tries to use against you silence your voice. Do not be a silent believer. You can become a fearless and bold believer as you follow Christ because He will put fearlessness and boldness in you.
You see what you are looking for, and that is why we must ask and look for the presence of God. We must seek an intimacy with Him. We will find Him if we look for Him.
“When You said ‘Seek My face’, my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord I shall seek.” Psalm 27:8
“Do this, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” Romans 13:11
Mary Anne Pientka
Heartgate International Ministries 