A recent article in the UK Telegraph reported a strange phenomenon occurring in a tiny little village in Kazakhstan. For some mysterious reason, for the last two years residents of this small town have suddenly been falling asleep and remaining unconscious for days! 25% of the 600 residents have experienced this horrifying phenomenon.

Symptoms include weakness, impaired speech, extended slumber or extreme drowsiness, and long memory gaps. The unexplained sickness will strike at any time without any warning, and will cause its victims to sleep anywhere from a day to an entire week. There may be a link to Soviet era uranium mines nearby, but as of yet the mystery remains unsolved.

Like those Kazakhs who become unconscious for days at at time, Christians sometimes suffer the same thing in their spiritual lives. If you’re anything like me, sometimes you appear to be alive and awake, but your heart is numb, dull and asleep. When we neglect our hearts, we become spiritual sleepwalkers.

Paul says in Romans 13 …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.

Here are three ways to wake up:

First, nothing jolts us better than listening to preaching of God’s Word that puts the focus on his glory and the supremacy of his son, Jesus Christ. It’s always good to learn practical tools for our daily lives from the Bible; but nothing splashes cold water on our faces and gets our heart pumping like a fresh vision of God’s glory and the splendor of our Savior, Jesus. It’s like the Holy Spirit turns a switch inside us and unleashes life. It’s amazing to know that God is eagerly waiting to communicate with us. Listening to the conversation he’s already started through the preaching of his Word is the first way to wake up.

Second, our response to what he communicates to us is manifested through personal worship. When we focus our attention on the perfection, power and love of God, our hearts start warming up and filling with life, and we are compelled to respond in worship. Worshiping God is like exercise for the soul. It gets our blood pumping like running a lap around the track. If we are not worshiping, we are asleep.

Finally, we desperately need to fellowship with other believers, confess our struggles and sins and then remind each other the grace that comes through Christ. This is what it means to minister the gospel to each other. We need this because it pulls back the shades from our hearts and lets the light of Christ pour in. This draws us out of isolation, shame and fear, the lethal ingredients that put us to sleep.

When these three things are missing from my life, there’s a good chance that I’m sleepwalking. Nothing wakes us up and energizes us like hearing from God, responding in worship, and then sharing it with each other. Let’s wake up this week!

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#39: Humility (Pt. 4)-It's Just Common Sense