How's that for a verse on getting up from your sleep?
I thought that waking up felt like dying. Death to self, get up, put away your tiredness, even though it feels like you can't possibly stand it.
But here, it says awake and arise from the dead. Waking up is not dying--waking up is living! Going on sleeping means to go on indulging the flesh, investing in sin and death.
Awaking and arising from the dead--synonymous.
If I get up out of bed when my alarm rings, when all I feel like doing is flopping right back onto my pillow and falling asleep for another hour, then it represents that I am walking in the resurrection life that Jesus has given me. That is literally what it takes for me to deny the flesh's insatiable hold on more sleep.
Awake, and arise from the dead.
Awake, and arise from the dead.
It's a simultaneous thing. In order to awake, I have to walk in the resurrection life, and by awaking, I prove that I am risen with Christ.
"And Christ shall give thee light." Even at 5:00 in the morning, before the sun rises, the light of my life, the sunshine of my soul, is Jesus.
"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall." Malachi 4:2
Do I trust Him to bring the light? My dead, dark, sleepy soul cannot produce its own light. The alarm rings, and I don't see or feel the burning glow of spiritual light, so I retreat back to where it's comfortable, under the covers. But He is always trustworthy. I can expect Him to bring the light. I can count on it. When I burrow back into the covers, it says, "No, Jesus, I can't trust you to bring me light today." But I could have trusted Him. Often He asks for obedience before He brings the blessing and life and sweetness of His presence. It takes faith to obey. Going back to sleep, for me, is rooted in unbelief. It takes faith to get up earlier than I "need to" in order to come into His presence and pray before I absolutely have to get out of bed for necessaries like shower and breakfast.
God is zealous to build my faith, so He keeps pressing this issue to a point until I walk in consistent victory.
It wouldn't be sleep in everyone's life, but I suspect there is some area for each person that is absolutely impossible in the strength of the flesh, that God will point to and correct until there is victory. The main reason why I am posting all the nitty-gritty details of this private struggle is that I trust it will be a help and a guide to some other dear sister who finds that she must apply the gospel to herself in an area of weakness in order to find victory. If this is you, take heart, and don't give up the fight; pursue Jesus and allow Him to pinpoint the area of your life and work on it. Let Him build your faith, and look at your particular "sleep" issue, not as an unfortunate command that always results in defeat, but as an invitation to discover the true victory and life that only He can bring.
Another sister...perhaps, such as me. Thank you, dear Rebekah. These posts have been very timely when Jesus led me to them, and challenging.
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