Monday, January 9, 2012

Jesus Culture - Awaken Me



Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you- rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness [all] peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon you [O Jerusalem], and His glory shall be seen on you. Isaiah 60:1-2

Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are those servants whom the master finds awake and alert and watching when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself and have them recline at table and will come and serve them! Luke 12:37

Accordingly then, let us not sleep, as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake (alert, watchful, cautious, and on our guard) and let us be sober (calm, collected, and circumspect). 1 Thessalonians 5:6

Therefore He says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine (make day dawn) upon you and give you light. Ephesians 5:4

Behold, I am going to come like a thief! Blessed (happy, to be envied) is he who stays awake(alert) and who guards his clothes, so that he may not be naked and [have the shame of being] seen exposed! Revelation 16:15

2012! God has been telling me that this is the year of arising and awakening for the church. Those two words have been consistently in my spirit. Jesus' return is closer than it has ever been, we must be advancing His kingdom on earth, it is what he has told us to do, to go and preach and disciple, but we cannot do this if we're wrapped up in bed sheets.

We have been partaking in too much of what the world has offered us. We have feasted on the world's delicacies and now we are sluggish and sleepy. We must put our flesh back in check and keep our minds sober.


This is the year for the church to shine! To be set apart, to be passionate about living out the gospel, the greatest news there is!  Why are we so matter-of-fact about our faith? I believe its because most Christians aren't experiencing God the way He has offered himself to be experienced.  
We aren't hearing from Him because we are not taking the time to listen, 
we are not prophesying because we do not recognize His voice, 
we are not living healed and healing others because we have such little faith, 
we are not bold because we aren't letting the Holy Spirit do his work. 

We live as though we've been abandoned and its all up to us.  That is not true.  Jesus is the only one who has died for the whole world's sins and He is the only one who is alive and He is living in us!  Buddha, Muhammed, Krishna, John Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, they were probably great guys but they didn't die for anyone and they aren't alive today! We have real power in our faith! We have a living God!
I am excited to see the church rise this year.  I'm excited to see religion die this year.  My generation and those following me don't want religion, we don't need more people to shout "Jesus loves you" at us.  We need examples of God's love and power.  We need to see a substantial difference between the lives of a Christian and the lives of others.  The church needs to arise to the position to which she's been called, then the world will be banging down our doors desperate to receive this life that we have through Christ.


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