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“Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” (Romans 13:11-14 NASB1995)
There are people in our world today who profess faith in Jesus Christ who are still spiritually asleep or who have gone back to sleep. Although they profess the name of Jesus with their lips, their hearts are far from him. Many of them never gave their lives to Jesus Christ in surrender to his will and in death to sin and walks of obedience to the Lord in holy living, by the grace of God, and in the power of God. And some (or many) who did have slipped back into spiritual lethargy and in sinful behaviors and disobedience to God.
But this isn’t just speaking of individual people but of people groups, too, such as church denominations which once upheld biblical repentance, death to sin, and walks of obedience to our Lord. So many of them have partnered with the world and with the government and have turned their “churches” and their denominations into businesses to be marketed to the world. And so they have made many spiritual compromises of truth and righteousness in order to gain the world to their gatherings. A very sad reality, indeed!
And I am not saying that God has ever approved of church denominations, because the Scriptures teach against such separations within the body of Christ and against being followers of man instead of followers of Christ. But I believe there have been church denominations which have done good, which have spread the message of the gospel across the world, and which have led some people to genuine biblical faith in Jesus Christ. Yet I see so many of them on a massive spiritual decline so far away from what God intended.
[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]
Today I read a resume of a pastor who has moved up within his church denomination, and it read much like any other business resume filled with all of his secular accomplishments and educational degrees and his business pursuits. And I was thinking, “Where is Jesus in all of this?” And I thought of the apostle Paul’s resume, not the one before he met Jesus, but the one after he met Jesus, and this pastor’s resume was so opposite of that. It did finally say that he taught people to love Jesus, but that was it. Very sad!!
The church (overall, not speaking of every individual) in the USA, and perhaps in the world at large, needs an awakening now! It is barely distinguishable between the church and the world anymore; they are so blended together. So many are teaching a man-created half-truth gospel which is taught from Scriptures removed from their biblical context and made to say what they do not teach if taught in their appropriate context. And they are leading so many people to hell on the promise of heaven.
The church at large in the USA (where I live) needs to repent of their sins of idolatry and adultery and deceptions and manipulations of truth in order to appease people in their sins. They need to lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. They need to rebuke the lies and they need to now follow the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles. No longer should they continue in acts of sexual immorality, lying, cheating, and diluting the gospel, etc. but they should obey God fully with their lives.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
Wake Up!
Based off Ephesians 5:1-21; Revelation 3:1-6
An Original Work / November 25, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead.
Your God awaits you to do what
He says to you.
Be not conformed to your selfish will.
Trust in the Lord. Do what He says.
He will give you victory.
Do not walk in darkness;
Come into the light of love.
Listen to your Savior calling
You to obey all His teachings.
Repent of your sin, and
Christ will shine His love on you.
He waits patiently for you to
Heed His whispers to your heart.
Will you hasten to obey Him;
Not from Him depart?
Live your life from this day forward,
Walking in His love and mercy.
Let Him cleanse you of all your sins.
Dwell with Him today.
Do not insult God’s grace to you.
Do not make light of your sin.
Let the light of His truth come
And free you from within.
Time to Awaken from Sleep
An Original Work / October 15, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
