Awakest, Thou That Slumbereth!

I wrote the following article in May of 2004 for the Omega Church & Ministries Center newsletter.  Although that was a while ago, I feel led to post that here today because much of the churchworld is asleep. 

I pray that this message is a blessing to you and encourages you towards self-examination.

“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Romans 13:11 

We all know that there are many passages in Scripture warning about the consequences of sleeping at a time when we ought to be awake.  Jesus admonishes us to be vigilant, to be sober, to be watchful unless His return catches us unawares. I have always taken these warnings to heart…so I thought. That is, until this past week.

Let me provide a little background. I was a very religious Catholic when I heard my first tape from Omega Ministries over 9 years ago. Although I had never heard the truth of God before, somehow instinctively, I knew that what I was hearing was the truth. Immediately, I began to thirst for more. I couldn’t learn enough, study enough, pray enough, etc. Other than work (and even while there) I spent my time in fastings, prayer, and study; anxious to learn more about this God that I was now beginning to see for the first time in my life. There was a new life being birthed in me that needed to be fed, and I was happy to oblige.

True to His Word, God drew nearer to me and began to reveal more of Himself to me over time. As the years flew by, the demands of life increased - my husband, children, jobs – but God saw me through it all. No siree! Out of all the problems I could have, slumbering was certainly not one of them. I had no time to slumber!

Yet, I made a big mistake. Somehow, I began to equate “slumber” with inactivity. I thought that those who were “sleeping” were basically those who were doing nothing…people who were lazy…but I couldn’t have been more wrong. That is when God directed me to study sleepwalking.

Webster’s defines sleepwalking as:

The act or an instance of walking or performing another activity associated with wakefulness while asleep or in a sleeplike state.

You see, sleepwalkers are active. They are doing things. From the outside looking in, they have every appearance of being awake. However, they are technically asleep.

Please hear me when I say that this same thing can happen to you spiritually! You can walk through life with no consciousness of your real spiritual condition, in a dream-like state, believing that you are what you are not. You can be active in your church, praying, fasting, studying, and all the while be sleeping spiritually. How do I know? It happened to me.

How in the World Did I Get HERE?

One of the common characteristics of sleepwalkers who are awakened is that they experience momentary confusion. This confusion stems from the fact that they thought they were in one place, but wake-up to find that they are actually someplace different, and with no recollection of how they got there! If you can imagine how disconcerting that is, then you have a good idea of how I felt last week, when God began to awaken me.

Until then, there were certain things that I just knew about myself.  I knew that I loved the Lord.  I knew that I wanted to serve Him with all of my heart.  I knew that I appreciated Him for making me who I am.

Don’t get me wrong. I knew I still had things that the Lord was working out of me, but being part of a strong, teaching ministry, I felt equipped to move on in the Lord. Yet the problem was not with what I knew, but with what I didn’t know. DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ALLOWING WHAT YOU KNOW TO BE CONFUSED WITH WHAT YOU ARE.

The Lord allowed recent situations to show me the truth of where I was, and one of these incidents was a disagreement with my husband. It was in essence a war of the wills. After this incident, my husband insisted that we listen to a Derek Prince tape on demons and deliverance. So we began listening to a message that I had probably heard at least 10 times before. But this time, it was different. As I listened to Minister Prince describe the workings of witchcraft and spiritual control, I didn’t see my mother-in-law…I didn’t see my mother…I saw myself!

All the knowledge in the world of what I was “supposed to be” hadn’t gotten rid of that spirit of rejection within me that was still vying for power, still fighting for attention. This is why the acceptance of others meant so much to me, why the slightest criticism seemed to cut to the core, why I contested authority instead of submitting to it. I wasn’t functioning as a ‘whole’ person in Christ because I was still nursing the hurts from my past.

This began the unveiling of my sleepwalking state as God forced me to see myself in ways that I haven’t before, and yes, even acknowledging things that I hadn’t previously wanted to see. When I finally came to myself, I was nowhere near where I thought I was. I had been claiming victory in areas of my life where I was actually still very much in bondage. I was trying to “move on” in God without addressing the ties that held me back. The result was a spiritual stupor. I was on a treadmill running at full speed, yet my amount of activity blinded me to the fact that I wasn’t getting very far. Worse, I allowed my activity to mislead me into thinking that I was progressing.

How Do You Know if You Are Spiritually Sleepwalking?

There are several characteristics that the medical world uses to describe sleepwalkers, however, if you examine these in a spiritual light, you can see some parallels.

Inability to Discern

“And said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” Luke 22:46

Sleepwalkers tend to display a lack of awareness, lack of responsiveness, and inability to recognize people, even though the person’s eyes are open.

Sleepwalkers have their eyes open, but are unable to respond to, or perceive, their own surroundings. In the spiritual realm, this represents a loss of spiritual perception. The leading of God’s Spirit is not as detectable as it once may have been, and as a result, discernment diminishes. Left unchecked, the result is spiritual blindness.

You have eyes to see, but cannot see.

Repetition

"While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." Matthew 25:5

Sleepwalkers can routinely perform repetitive activities such as eating, opening and closing curtains, getting dressed or undressed, etc. even while being asleep the entire time.

Do you find yourself just “going through the motions” with God? Have the things of God become repetitive to you? Instead of being THE focus of your life, God becomes just one of many things on your “To Do” list. You continue to do the mechanics, but your heart and mind is less engaged.

Unresponsive

“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.” Mark 13:35-36

Sleepwalkers are also typically unresponsive to attempts at arousal, and speak incoherently until awakened.

Are you de-energized when it comes to things of God? Yes, you know the times in which we live. You are aware of the level of deception being released on the world, but you just can’t muster up the energy to respond. In fact, you feel sort of removed from it all. There is no real urgency about it.

No Remembrance

“Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” Jeremiah 2:32

Most sleepwalkers have no memory of the event after it is over.

Of course, sleepwalkers are not asleep all of the time. There are times when they are awake and alert, but at those times they have no remembrance of what was done while sleepwalking. It is possible that you may have moments of clarity and revelation, but be completely oblivious to the times when you are spiritually ‘tuned out’ to God. As a result, you may go in and out of a dazed spiritual state and be none the wiser.

Frequent in Times of Stress

“For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.” 1st Thessalonians 5:7

When the body is enduring physiological or psychological stress, sleepwalking is more likely to occur.

It is in times of stress that sleepwalking is most likely to occur. I think this is why Jesus warns so much against slumbering in relation to the end-times. As the pressures of this world intensify and things grow darker, the likelihood of slumber increases. It is a form of escape from dealing with the realities of life.

What is it, Really?

If you start to think about it, how is such a phenomenon possible? How is it possible for your body to be active and you are completely unaware? Who has control of your body at times when your mind is not consciously engaged? It is a spirit! With God, it is the Holy Spirit; outside of Him it is a demonic spirit.

"For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.” Isaiah 29:10

Why does the Lord pour out the spirit of deep sleep? Because the people are drawing near with their mouths and honoring Him with their lips, but their hearts are not in it (verse 13).

Unresolved and unrepented sin opens the door. Unforgiveness, pride, lust, gluttony, self-consciousness, fear...the type of sin does not matter. That is why it is so important to examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith. Don’t let your salvation become something you dream about, or dream away. The day of your salvation is now!

Maybe you read this article and can see some of yourself in these words. Maybe you have been wondering why you are almost comatose when it comes to finding out and doing God’s will for you in these last days. Maybe you are starting to feel as if you are becoming a part of that Laodecian Church. If so, I can only tell you what God has told me, “Wake Up!”

“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” Isaiah 52:1-2

Don’t think that God will just remove this spiritual haze from your life. Cry out to God for deliverance. Examine your life and see where there may be areas of compromise with sin. God promises that when we wake-up, He will give us the light we need to be revived.

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Ephesians 5:14