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SLEEPING ALREADY?
Are you asleep and don't know it?
by Ron Horner
For weeks and weeks we shopped, decorated, cooked, partied with friends and family, attended special events, and prepared for the Christmas holidays which simply came and went all
too quickly. Days later came the New Year's holiday...then, back to work. The exhaustion of the pre-Christmas schedule and the downtime our bodies require just to get rested from the hustle and bustle sometimes has
another side effect...we forget to wake up. Spiritually speaking, we may still be napping.
Is it sleepy time?
We have such a tendency to get into some routine and just settle in and step into status quo. This tendency really
has to be resisted right now. There is a sleep mode the enemy would like to set up in the church right now to get us lulled into a passive position. Just when you've been given tremendous direction from the Father
and given new insights for the year, to settle in so soon is a slick and subtle stratagem of the enemy, albeit an effective one.
Years ago revivalist Roberts Liardon preached a message entitled "Progression Breaks Regression". The premise of his message was simple: You must take and maintain an
aggressive posture against your enemy if your are to make substantial progress in your spiritual life. Unless you are progressing, you are regressing. There is no "Park" on this transmission - it's either
Forward or Reverse.
Why be aggressive?
Another strategy the enemy has used involves getting us to think that we don't have to be aggressive. Just love the
Father and the devil won't bother you. Biblical record seems to indicated Jesus experienced quite a bit of resistance and had to be quite aggressive against his enemies and I'm sure He loved the Father.
If I don't give him power he won't have any?
The devil may have gone a step further with some to get them to think that "he
doesn't have power if I don't give him power". That sounds really good on the surface, but history has proven that ignorance of an enemy doesn't mean the enemy cannot impact your life. Look at the history of
many of the European nations (and the United States as well) during and prior to World War II. If this principle is true in the natural arena, it's likely true in the spiritual arena. Ignore-ance is not bliss...it's
foolishness.
Does the devil even exist?
Still another strategy is to simply question whether a devil even exists at all. Whether you like it or not,
whether you choose to pick up your weapons or not, a war IS raging and casualties are resulting on both sides. Your lack of involvement -- your choosing to sleep instead of awakening to the cry of battle -- will not
result in you being overlooked by the enemy (whether you believe he exists or not). Your belief in him is not necessary for his existence. This enemy you may doubt exists will come in and mow you down like a
weed-infested yard. It's time you got out of your pajamas and got into the appropriate battle array. An enemy exists who is not intent on sitting still. If we really believe the mission of Jesus as summed up in 1
John 3:8 which says, "For this purpose was the son of God manifested -- that He might destroy the works of the devil...", then we must get out of bed, get out of our pajamas and get into battle array.
Souls are in the balance and our slumber is impacting their eternity. It's time we stepped up to the battle line and became the soldiers he has designed for us to be.
Friendly Fire?
Another effective strategy has been to get us aiming our guns at each other and killing each other off (whether
physically, reputationally, or spiritually). In military terms this is known as "friendly fire", but if you are the victim of it, nothing about it is friendly. Instead of trying to bring the light of the
gospel to a hurting world we are busy focusing on some doctrinal issue and making massive mountain ranges out of theological molehills. We are wasting our sermons on bashing the latest pet teaching we don't like
while men, women, boys and girls are slipping into a Christless eternity. We are also wasting our time bashing other pastors or Christian leaders, most of whom we have never met, but we are quite willing to make
assumptions without ever following the biblical mandate to go to the one with whom you have ought (Matthew 18). This slander ought never to have a place in the church. A quick study of the word slander in the New
Testament will show that the word slander is the Greek word "diabolos" - also translated satan, or devil. It is the one who accuses. The best thing you can say about slander is that it is "devil
talk". If you are slandering another believer (or another person in general), you are cooperating with the devil (who is your enemy) and aligning yourself with him. If you have done this, you need to deal with
it. Slander should have no place in your life. Stop cooperating with the enemy and begin overcoming him.
Do you understand that it is not a question of whether a battle exists or not? The question is: "Will you choose to fight, or choose to be captured or overcome by your
enemy?" Wake up believers - resist the tendency to fall into a state of laziness or inactivity. Couch Potatoes for Jesus has been disbanded! It's time to take our place in God's Army!
Hurting people await...will you be awake enough to find them?
For a printable version, click here.
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