In the new testament the word sleep is used mostly to describe physical death, but Paul also used it to describe spiritual sleep. In1Cor11:29-30 Paul says "For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep." He's not talking about food poisoning, he's talking about improperly celebrating Communion, and maybe he is using 'sleep' meaning death, but he may also be talking about spiritual death; the hardening of the heart, the coldness to Gods word. Look around and you will see the sleepers, their spiritual life in a fuzzy state of numbness as they mouth the familiar words at service, lip sync the hymns and eventually drift off.
I was like that, I knew that Jesus was my savior *yawn*, I knew that the Bible is God's word *yawn*... For years the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear "Wake up, time is growing short!" And for years I rolled over and spiritually went back to sleep. If the Holy Spirit can manage a 2 by 4 I think that's what He took to my head one day and I finally woke up and everything changed...
Now as I read the Bible it's not just a cool book, even though I knew it was God's word, now I know that it's God's word and every time I re-read a chapter I see something new. So many times I think to myself "You should have seen that before." (God's throne has wheels? Really? Youbetcha! Check out Daniel 7)
There's so much I need to know, there is so much to learn, but deep down I feel that there is so little time left for us. And as I look around I see so many people around me spiritually asleep, in both meanings that Paul used the word sleep: spiritually unaware, and spiritually dead. It's like an asomatous version of the poppy field scene from The Wizard of Oz. But now, thanks to Jesus, I'm awake. Still a bit groggy but I'm overjoyed to know that I'm walking with God, and not just sleepwalking.
My motto, Per Fidem Intrepidus, means "Fearless Through Faith". My courage isn't my own, it comes from the Holy Spirit, it's my faith in God and my personal savior Christ Jesus that calms my fears and allows me to move forward in this fallen world. Personally I'm afraid of a lot of stuff, but having the faith that Jesus adopted me as his little, sin filled, brother keeps me going.
Join me in my blogged journey, to celebrate being awake and shake the shoulders of the nappers, to thank those that help with my walk, to share the blessings in my life, and to point out the heresy and false teachings that infest our world and act as spiritual nerve gas. I hope to blog twice a week, maybe more as the Holy Spirit moves me.
