A number of years ago, a friend wrote a book about breaking out of religious mindsets. The book opened with a dream about people from his church asleep in a dormitory, with a green, noxious gas slowly enveloping them. The vicar’s wife was trying to wake people up so they could escape before the gas killed them. Some awoke and left quickly, but others didn’t want to leave the comfort of their duvets and died. In the dream, the green gas represented religious mindsets that were opposed to true intimacy with Jesus.
As we approach this year’s fast, I’ve been reminded of this, and I believe God is calling the church in the UK to WAKE UP, to throw off everything that so easily entangles us, and to increasingly consecrate ourselves to him.
In John 11:11 Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up.” I believe Jesus is saying this again over his church.
On the first Sunday of the year, Christine brought a word from Galatians 6:9:
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
I’ve also felt drawn to these verses while preparing:
Ephesians 5:13–14
But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Romans 13:11–12
And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.
I believe one of the enemy’s strategies against all of us is to keep our attention on other things—to keep us pursuing comfort and ease rather than taking our place in the fight for God’s Kingdom.
Proverbs 6:10–11 and Proverbs 24:33–34 tell us what happens when we give in to this.
So as we start our fast today, I want our first day to focus on ourselves.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you:
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Where am I asleep? Where am I not seeing the strategy of the enemy to distract me?
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Like Joanna shared on Sunday, where am I allowing fears to hide unseen in my life?
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Like Kevin shared on Sunday, where have I neglected to maintain my relationship, and now I’m carrying weakness that I need to go back and correct?
Holy Spirit, as we embrace our weakness in fasting, we invite you to wake us out of our slumber and help us become all that you want us to be.
