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"ARE YOU AWAKE OVER THERE!?" – August 16, 2001 Ephesians 5:13-15 – "...everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says: ÔAwake O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.' Watch, then, how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise..." Luke 9:32 – "Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw His glory..." We've talked before about the analogy of salvation as waking up from sleep. As people who have not yet seen or received Christ, we are like sleeping people, not aware of the reality around us, so we can't fully participate in it. This morning as I was getting ready for work, I was still mentally out of it. I was doing this and that but wasn't fully "there" yet. Liz said, "hey, are you awake over there?" I sort of answered her. I was "sort of" awake over there. This is what I'm talking about in our spiritual lives. "Are you awake over there!?" Most of us as Christians aren't totally awake to God in our every-day lives. We're basically out of bed, but aren't walking around fully awake. This is our "job" - to be "awake to God" and His presence in our lives. We must do what belongs to "awakeness" in order to fully participate in what He is doing. I believe that God is always, without ceasing, talking to us and doing things in our lives. It's just a matter of our being aware of that - awake to that in order for it to do what it is intended to do in us and in others. Below are a few spiritually analogous ways to think about the results of walking around half-awake - think about these things - about your life. Also, there are some suggestions on things we can do to help cultivate a state of awakeness in ourselves. What is the result of this state?
How do we wake ourselves - or stay awake?
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