Wake Up!

When we are met with situations everyday that require a sense of urgency and immediacy in the Spirit, we shouldn’t respond with a spiritual nap.

Photo by Malvestida on Unsplash

This week, I’m happy to introduce a new writer for the Kingdom Christians publication! She is none other than my wife of 23+ years, one of the wisest people I know. Jen and I are partners in ministry, so I’m excited to be partnering together in bringing encouragement, inspiration and inspiration to you every week!

Do you remember the headline a couple of years ago about the tragic collapse of the condo building in the sleepy town of Surfside, FL? Some survivor stories I read told of loud noises in the night, and then of residents peeking out and seeing nothing but a drop-off just 10 feet from their door. Then came the realization that something was terribly wrong, and it was time to flee immediately. Many times they had to find a way through rubble to escape, and they helped elderly neighbors along the way.

What if after they opened the door, they stayed in and said something like, “Oh well, it didn’t get me. My condo is still standing. I’ll go back to bed”? 

We would call them insane!

Yet, in the spiritual realm, we can sometimes act like that. We are met with situations everyday that require a sense of urgency and immediacy in the Spirit, and we respond with a spiritual nap. 

I believe the time we are living in now requires alertness and vigilance. Do you see the Church rising from her sleep, shaking off apathy, and leading others in the escape of impending collapse? Let’s set that vision before us and pray into it. 

“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” (Romans 13:11 NIV).

Jesus said to the Church in Sardis, “1 ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2  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” (Revelation 3:1–2).

I’m not talking about the Woke Church. I’m talking about the Church who understands the time she is in and remains steadfast and kingdom-oriented and concerned more with the lost than with fitting in. The Woke Church would not tell people that the condo was falling. They would repaint the landscape, call it normal, and say that this tragedy is not a tragedy. That’s tragic.

I believe we can have our ear to the ground, and hear the loud popping noises that signal collapse. I believe we can be ready to escape and bring others with us. But what does vigilance look like?

When Jesus spoke to the Sardis Church, He said that they needed to do two things: 

1. Remember

2. Repent

3 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. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 3:3–6).

Remember what? Salvation. The Gospel. The cross and resurrection and ascension of Jesus. The point of life! Guard it.

Repent from what? Dead works and self-righteousness (soiled garments). The chains of religion. 

We understand what this means even more when we connect back to the Romans passage. Paul said, “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10), meaning that dead, self-righteous works can never fulfill the requirements of the law. Legalism lacks love. 

The Woke Agenda, though it might appear loving at first glance, operates out of self-righteousness and dead works that will keep you blind to the fact that your building is crumbling all around you. This isn’t love.

11 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. 12 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. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Romans 13:11–14).

Paul tells us to wake up, live in the light, not the dark, and “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires

Living vigilantly means we adopt a warrior mentality. We are aware of the danger of our own temptation and sin (drunkenness, sexual immorality, quarreling, jealousy, are on the list in the Romans passage), we understand what it feels like to get sucked back into “coast mode.” We fight the sin. We flee temptation. 

A vigilant person is humble because he knows how easy it can be to slip into sin. He creates boundaries to keep himself from that slope. Look at that list again in Romans. Boundaries around drinking. Boundaries around relationships with the opposite sex. Boundaries around people or politics or situations that set you off. Boundaries that guard gratitude.

Wait a minute! Are boundaries opposed to freedom? What about walking in the Spirit?

Whatever offers us protection will naturally bring freedom. Boundaries protect. 

Think of the illustration of school kids in a fenceless playground who play but remain congregated towards the center, compared to kids in a fenced-in playground who roam to the outer limits, free to enjoy the space given to them. However, the devil is crafty and brings legalism and judgmentalism into every possible area of our lives. We need to be in tune to the Spirit in regards to our own personal boundaries and not impose them on others.  

There’s an urgency surrounding this. Look at the condo building’s collapse again. After further study, it was found to be deteriorating at a foundational level over time, possibly due to faulty drainage. There are usually guidelines put in place around such things, building permits, code, inspection, etc. But seemingly they weren’t kept up, or they were ignored, or they were glossed over. The erosion took place over time. 

Listen Church. We don’t have time. I know that sounds extreme. But I believe God is waking up His Church so we are prepared for the times we are in and about to enter. In addition to opposition from the world, God will bring an incoming harvest. We cry out for revival, and need to be personally ready for the mess of it. Starting in our own hearts. 

It is easier to stay asleep and complacent, unbothered. Apathy is not love. We need to wake up and find our voice again, warn against the corrosion and collapse you see around you. Help others escape. This is love.

Remember and Repent, Church!

Life and joy are on the other side!

“But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise – let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy – your dew is like the dew of the morning; you will make it fall on the spirits of the dead” (Isaiah 26:19 NIV).

Jen works in the profit and non-profit sectors in leadership development through training and coaching. She is especially passionate to raise up emotionally healthy leaders who are filled with the Holy Spirit, lead from a confident understanding of how God has wired them, see their value and that of others, and bring their best to their sphere of life. Along with Adam Barr, her husband of 23 years, she is co-founder of Inheritance Church and Ministries in Grand Rapids, MI, where she serves as Director of Community Groups. She is also on staff as a leader coach and assessment specialist at Rootstock in Wheaton, IL. Together, Adam and Jen have four sons, one daughter-in-law, and two dogs, and live in Grand Rapids, MI.