The deadly cost of a spirit of slumber amongst Christians

With God, we have the promise of a life that is abundant, full of His divine joy, hope, power and purpose. The Bible also warns us against falling into a spiritual “coma.” We can look like active Christians but in reality, we have dozed off spiritually and are “about to die.” When we keep turning a deaf ear or a blind eye to the Holy Spirit and grieve Him by the way we live, God will eventually send us a spirit of slumber to put us to sleep permanently – unless we choose to repent and strengthen what little faith we have left. An affliction of spiritual slumber can also manifest physically, with symptoms such as falling asleep during sermons, frequent forgetfulness, and constantly feeling lethargic, no matter how much sleep we have had.

(See Chinese versions: 简体中文 > 沉睡基督徒的致命代价 | 繁體中文 > 沈睡基督徒的致命代價)

 

Romans 15:13 ESV May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Revelation 3:1-3 ESV  “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Romans 11:7-8 ESV … The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”

Ephesians 4:30 ESV  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Spiritual slumber can afflict individuals as well as entire church bodies, as we can see from Paul’s reminders to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica.

Roman church	Romans 13:11 ESV  Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
Corinthian church	1 Corinthians 15:34 ESV  Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Ephesian church	Ephesians 5:14 ESV  For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Colossian church	Colossians 4:2 ESV  Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
Thessalonian church	1 Thessalonians 5:6 ESV So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

Evidence of a spirit of slumber

Just as we tend to doze off after our stomachs are stuffed with too much food, we too can start to fall asleep spiritually as our hearts are stuffed with the things of this world, rather than God’s Word and His Spirit.

Luke 21:34-35 ESV  “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life… But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Romans 13:11,13-14 ESV  Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep… Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

This brings upon a spirit of stupor or slumber (Romans 11:7-8) that causes:

• Deafness: Hearts that hear Bible teachings, but lack the ability to understand spiritual truths and mature in faith, or discern between good and evil, right and wrong | Hebrews 5:11-14 NLT There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
• Blindness: Hearts that see God’s teachings and works, but are blocked from experiencing God’s personal salvation and power through the Holy Spirit | 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ESV But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
• Stupor/dullness: Hearts that can discuss God’s Word intellectually, but do not understand His saving truths and therefore, forfeit His saving grace and healing as a result | Acts 28:23-27 ESV … From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: “‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

When we are not alert, sober-minded, or prepared, Satan will come like a thief to rob us of God’s abundant life. Dozing Christians don’t resist the devil or put up a fight.

John 10:10 ESV  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

James 4:7 ESV  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  

Here are some examples of how this may look like in daily life. Spiritual slumber will vary in severity from one person to the next.

Spiritual life	We struggle to believe everything that is in the Bible. We start to feel drowsy whenever we start to read the Bible or listen to sermons (but not when we engage in other activities.) Our prayers and worship songs feel like lip service, and do not move our hearts. We feel disconnected from God. We cannot see visions or dream prophetic dreams. We lack passion for God’s Word, His kingdom and His will. We are stuck with fleshly patterns of the world. “I attend church as a routine, but I can’t say I sense God’s presence inside me. I struggle to stay awake when I listen to the teaching of God’s Word and don’t remember what has been taught. I serve in church but I am anxious that people will discover what is really going in my private thoughts and personal life. I have sins and addictions that I can’t seem to break free from. I also find it hard to believe all the works of God listed in the Bible, it all seems too “spiritual” and incredible for me to believe. If I am honest, things of the Holy Spirit make me feel fearful and unsettled. I don’t want to think about them, I prefer to focus on what I personally like hearing.” 2 Corinthians 4:3,6 ESV  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Timothy 3:7 NIV always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Physical life	We feel sluggish and lack energy. Our speech can be slurred or slow. Our eyes appear droopy and sleepy. We have trouble getting out of bed in the morning sometimes. We feel drowsy, no matter how much rest we take. We fall asleep at any time and this is not because of a medical condition. Our immune system feels like it is fighting something. No amount of exercise and nutrition can help boost our energy for long. “I am generally fit and healthy, but yet I always feel sluggish. No amount of medical, health or nutritional advice has helped me shake off this lethargy. I wasn’t born this way. These symptoms crept up on me over time.” Matthew 26:40-41 ESV  And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Emotional life	We are emotionally “unconscious” and can’t feel our emotions. We feel emotionally indifferent or apathetic to things. We live silently with a sense of “deadness” or “hopelessness.” “My emotions feel foggy. Others may laugh or cry but I don’t feel anything. It can be embarrassing sometimes. I don’t feel genuinely excited or enthusiastic about things. I wonder if I am normal. Some people have told me that I could be depressed.” Ephesians 4:18 ESV  They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
Mental life	We are unable to think clearly and respond during conflicts. Our mental reflexes are delayed. We can come across as slow or dim-witted even though our mental capacities are fully functioning. We make choices in life that we regret. Our memories seem to be fading. Chunks of our past seem to be missing from our mental “hard drives.” “My mind feels like it is under a fog. It can be an effort to express my ideas.” Romans 1:21 ESV  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Ephesians 4:18-20 ESV  They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
In real life	We are mistakenly perceived to be slow, passive, and dull. We have a habit of procrastinating and may delay or even skip significant life events. We don’t seem to prosper in life; physically, emotionally, or mentally. God’s blessings are constantly being robbed from us. Something seems to hold us back in life in general. We lack enthusiasm and joy. “Others see me as a quiet, pensive, and relaxed person but the truth is, my life feels stifled and hindered. Living feels monotonous and I just wait to finish one day after another. Something is missing but I can’t put a finger on what it is.” Deuteronomy 28:15,29 NLT  “But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you: … You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.

Some keywords for spiritual slumber include:

Bewildered, blurred, closed off, clouded, confused, darkened, dazed, depressed, dim, dosing, drained, drowsy, dull, idle, impaired, indifferent, insensitive, foggy, lethargic, muddled, muted, numbed, passive, shutdown, sleepy, slothful, slow, sluggish, slumber, stupor, stupefied, tired, unenthusiastic, unclear, unconscious, weary.

God’s judgment  

As we see from the symptoms listed above, spiritual slumber can cripple entire church bodies. We are weak in our faith, don’t exemplify the power of Christ, and are unable to speak God’s truths boldly. We are neither hot or cold.

Revelation 3:15-16 ESV  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Isaiah 29:9 ESV For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).

Slumbering Christians profane the mighty name of Jesus Christ through our indifference towards and rejection of God’s power in our lives. The most disturbing fact about dozing, lukewarm Christians is that God already considers them “dead” to Him (Revelation 3:1-3) and has destined them for punishment. 

2 Corinthians 13:4-5 ESV  For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Exodus 20:7 NLT  “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. 

Revelation 3:1-3 ESV  “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

How a spirit of slumber overcomes Christians

God is patient and gracious, unshakable in His love for us. It is why He keeps knocking on the door of our hearts and gives us many opportunities to turn back to Him. It is only when we repeatedly choose to follow the dark ways of this world instead of Him that He eventually removes His Light from our hearts.

Psalm 145:8-9 ESV  The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. 

John 3:19-21 ESV  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Spiritual slumber does not happen overnight. Just as we doze off to sleep, spiritual slumber happens in stages. Hopefully, we are light sleepers and can be woken up easily.

What may come as a surprise is that the “darkness” that the Bible talks about can be so rampant and “normalised” in today’s society that most of us have become spiritually blinded and indifferent to them.

Here are a few examples.

1. Numbing ourselves in response to emotional pain

Just as physical coma is a response to brain injury, spiritual coma can be related to our emotional injuries. Rather than go to God to confess our pain and ask Him for comfort, healing and rest, we numb our long-sustained pain by spacing out, refusing to feel, or distracting ourselves. Instead of hearts that are soft and tender, we go into a sort of deep freeze emotionally.

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

1 Peter 3:8 ESV  Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

Some of us turn to sleep as a numbing mechanism, “turning off the lights’, so to speak, in order to escape distress. Rather than offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God, we “train” our bodies’ senses to switch off and go to a place of unconsciousness. Over the years, a spirit of slumber takes root and enslaves us, sending us to sleep at any opportunity – particularly when the Word of God is being preached.

Romans 12:1 ESV  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 6:16 ESV  Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

For temporary relief or momentary highs, some people turn to alcohol, drugs, workaholism, pornography, or mindless online surfing in search of “salvation.” As we continue to choose self-rule and self-comfort, God will eventually give us over to our choices. The Message version of Ephesians 4:17-19 puts it this way; we lose touch with God and with reality and can’t think straight anymore, and subsequently fall into all sorts of perversions.

Joel 1:5 ESV  Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.

Ephesians 4:17-19 MSG  And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.

As we shut our hearts down, our minds and bodies also start to suffer. We begin to grow exhausted from holding down our emotional duress and carrying the heavy burden of our sins. Our bodies experience unexplainable aches and pains. We feel lethargic and apathetic, find it hard to concentrate, and lack enthusiasm for life in general.

Psalm 38:3-8 NLT  Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins. My guilt overwhelms me—it is a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins. I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief. A raging fever burns within me, and my health is broken. I am exhausted and completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart.

Also, see Drunkenness opposes the Holy Spirit.

2. Unconfessed sins

Another entry point for a spirit of slumber is a pattern of blinding ourselves to our own sin.

Isaiah 29:9 ESV  … blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!

We try to soothe our guilty conscience by watering down God’s Word and quenching the Holy Spirit. We run away to indulge in various activities that bring fleshly relief, but no real deep peace. Eventually, the Holy Spirit will leave us to stumble around in our spiritual darkness.

Proverbs 4:18-19 ESV  But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

3. Choosing falsehood and lies

We can also unwittingly blind ourselves by accepting whatever we are told by Christian teachers or prophets without testing it with the Holy Spirit. We fall for falsehoods that dim our spiritual understanding. We can do this by picking the pastor, church, devotionals, and bible resources that “sound right” to us, rather than diligently study the Bible for ourselves and asking the Holy Spirit to lead us to the truth. This is a picture of spiritual slothfulness.

2 Corinthians 11:4 NLT  You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.

Isaiah 28:15,29:10 ESV … for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter”… the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep…

2 Timothy 4:3-5 NLT  For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.

John 16:13 ESV  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  

Proverbs 19:15 ESV  Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger.

This is how many Christians have allowed Satan, who often disguises himself as a minister or spiritual guide, to slowly lead us into falsehood, purely because we have not stayed alert and “tested the spirits”. Satan does not need to openly attack or challenge church communities, he simply lulls the spiritually complacent into a stupor so that we are no longer a threat to his evil schemes.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 ESV  For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

1 John 4:1-3 NLT Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God … if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

Satan can also lead us into falsehood by tempting us to lie habitually; either to others, to ourselves, or both. The devil tries to fill us with fear so that we are afraid of telling the truth.

As children, all of us have feigned innocence, ignorance, and indifference at some point, in order to deal with stressful emotions or to get out of trouble. We may have even told outright lies. As we grow older, we learn to sugar-coat our lies by calling them “white lies,” “half-truths,” “alternative realities,” or “another way of looking at things” and make it part of our normal behaviour. The world may tell us this is okay but the Bible labels us as “belonging to the devil, the father of lies.” The Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth, will not tolerate anyone who lies. As we keep shutting our eyes to the truth, we go spiritually blind permanently.

John 8:44 NIV  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 15:26 ESV  “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

Also, see Denial as a defence mechanism destroys.

4. Idol worship in our families

Most times in Asia, we don’t think twice about paying homage to our ancestors, bowing before altars, participating in temple rituals, maintaining family or village shrines, consulting fortune-tellers, or eating food offered to idols. Idol worship within one’s family is a very common chokehold that demonic spirits use over unsuspecting people. A curse of “blindness and confusion of mind” falls on entire families of idol worshippers. Spiritual eyes remain closed and minds stay shut.

Isaiah 44:15,17-19 NLT  Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire. With it he warms himself and bakes his bread. Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god to worship! He makes an idol and bows down in front of it! Then he takes what’s left and makes his god: a carved idol! He falls down in front of it, worshiping and praying to it. “Rescue me!” he says. “You are my god!” Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think. The person who made the idol never stops to reflect… Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?”

Deuteronomy 28:15,28-29 ESV  “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways

People that choose to follow Jesus Christ will not be “participants with demons” or be yoked to people who worship idols. We forget that this is a form of spiritual prostitution and that God will not tolerate adulterous people. If we refuse to turn away from worshipping idols that have no breath or power, we will eventually be put to sleep.

1 Corinthians 10:20 ESV  No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 

2 Corinthians 6:16 NLT  And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 

Hosea 8:4,9:1 NLT By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have brought about their own destruction … For you have been unfaithful to your God, hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, worshiping other gods on every threshing floor.

Jeremiah 51:17 NLT  The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.

Also, see Breaking generational curses.

5. “Covenants” with death

One other way we are overcome by spiritual slumber is by agreeing to choose death over life. We can make a “covenant with death” simply by thinking thoughts such as, “It is better for everyone if I am not around anymore,” “I wish God would take me to heaven early,” “life is painful, death is peaceful,” “dying is better than living.” This gives evil spirits tacit consent or permission to come against us at any point of our lives.

Isaiah 28:15,29:10 ESV  Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement… For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep…

Deuteronomy 30:15-17 ESV  “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.

Sometimes, our agreements with death can be as innocuous as singing along to songs with lyrics that glorify death or fantasising about death. Many Christians are unaware that they also yoke themselves to a spirit of slumber by admiring zombies, role-playing certain characters that glorify death, participating in games of sorcery to exchange souls or call upon dark powers etc. Rather than admire Jesus and choose the abundant life He has prepared for each one of us, we blindly dabble with the occult and death. The deeper we delve into such activities, the more the light of life in our spirits is snuffed off.

John 10:10 ESV  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 8:12 ESV  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Also, see Death wishes must be renounced.

Time to wake up

Most of us fall into spiritual slumber as a result of deception. Without a clear-headed and unfiltered understanding of God’s Word, we can all easily go astray and fall prey to an evil spirit of slumber. To regain lost ground, it is crucial that we are prepared to fight for our souls and remove all footholds that the demonic spirit of slumber has used to slip in.

Here are some loving suggestions.

• First, please confess and repent to God for forsaking Him | Revelation 2:4-5 ESV But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
• Seek counselling from God-fearing believers for our emotional injuries, so that we are strengthened and will readily forgive our offenders | Proverbs 12:18 ESV There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
• Repent of all the sins we have accumulated against ourselves in Jesus’ name e.g. idol worship in our families, covenants with death, lying, drunkenness, unforgiveness etc. | Romans 13:11-12 ESV Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
• Turn away from a pattern of sinning | 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 ESV Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
• Openly expose corporate sin in the church | Ephesians 5:8-15 ESV for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
• Study God’s Word carefully so we remain in His light, stay sober-minded, and grow in spiritual maturity, faith and love |1 Thessalonians 5:5-8 ESV For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

Lastly, it is imperative that we stay accountable to a community of God-fearing brothers and sisters-in-Christ that are spiritually “awake” with eyes that see and ears that hear. Together, we can help each other stay awake. Jesus has repeatedly warned that He can return at any time and that we need to be ready for Him, rather than sleeping and caught off guard. There will be no longer be any second chances at that point, we will all be put under Jesus’ judgment, as His very sobering warning in Luke 12:35-37,45-48 states. Praise God there is still time to wake up and repent.

Luke 12:35-37,45-48 ESV  “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Matthew 24:42-44 ESV  Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Mark 13:33-36 ESV  Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Testimony: Witchcraft in business brings spiritual slumber into the home

“When praying with a prayer minister, the Holy Spirit pointed out that my father’s work was intertwined with a company that made products used for witchcraft and gambling. This business relationship allowed in spirits of witchcraft and occult into our family. I was led to confess to God that my father had unknowingly promoted Satan through his work, and cut all ungodly soul ties with the company and broke off the yoke of any curses upon the family in the name of Jesus Christ.

This helped me to understand why I would frequently see my father, an active church leader, falling asleep at church. At home, he also frequently fell asleep watching television. A spirit of slumber had entered into our home and my father’s spiritual life due to his business dealings. Since my father, the spiritual head of the household, was in slumber, this allowed ungodly influences in our household to take root. I am so thankful the Lord showed us this root to the spiritual stagnation we experienced at home and that the name of Jesus Christ is to be exalted at home at all times.”

May this sharing be a blessing to you as you seek to love God with all your heart and stay wide awake by obeying His Spirit.