AwakenedSample

A wake up call

We spend a lot of our lives sleeping, both physically and metaphorically. Physically, we need sleep in order to rejuvenate our bodies and minds. Metaphorically, we are often ‘asleep’ due to our circumstances. Like the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, we let the heaviness of situations we find ourselves in take over, and we allow ‘sleep' to overcome us, shutting us down. 

In order to fully engage with what God intends for our lives, we have to fully engage with life itself. We are so often sleep-walking through life, going through our daily, monotonous grind, failing to catch the joy and never fully participating. We get caught up in the rat race, feeling the pressure of a need to provide for family, or earn enough to meet the demands on life. 

This explains why so many of us don’t know what we are called to or what our dreams or gifts are. We don’t value ourselves or our gifts enough to invest in them - we are asleep. Sometimes, so much so that we have lost any awareness of our gifts at all! Unaware of ourselves and unaware of what we carry, we are switched off to the daily opportunities God gives to use our gifts and callings for His eternal purpose. Some of us have never figured out who we are, so our gifts simply fizzle away. 

But it’s time to get back in touch with who we have been made to be. It is an eternally-long adventure of discovery of God’s creation to truly grapple with who we are, each person created uniquely with their own gifts, talents, dreams and calling. If we fall asleep in this, those gifts may never be used for their original intention. They lie like unopened gifts, never really taken out of their packaging to be used, admired or to bless others like gifts always do. 

Some of us need a wake-up call, like a cold bucket of water being thrown on us to fully wake us up. God uses events around us to bring a sense of urgency, a sudden understanding that we need to WAKE UP and interact with our lives more intentionally than previously.  

Many of us view unexpected negative events that happen in our lives as God’s ‘fault’. We struggle with anger towards God, thinking that He caused bad things to take place. But what the enemy intended for our destruction, God can always use for good. Maybe God allows things to happen to us because He is outside of time and can see the bigger picture. Maybe we needed a wake-up call, and the pain along the way is worth it for the impact of having a fully alive partner in the Kingdom.

Once we understand the sense of God’s urgency, there comes a reckless abandon. We find a sureness and a peace that we know that we trust God. He has woken something inside us and it’s now on Him to see it through. Suddenly that surrender comes more easily and the worry we may have had, fades away. 

We shouldn’t underestimate the timing of this sudden wake up call. Often God will have been trying to wake us up gently by bringing people, circumstances, speakers, books and all manner of things around us to try and rouse us. But if we miss it, He may use something more drastic, because He doesn’t want us missing His best for us. He has more life for us to live, but we have to engage with it more intentionally. We don’t accidentally stumble upon His purposes. We have to seek His face, and intentionally commune with Him throughout each day. 

Today, take stock of all that has happened in your life. Maybe you’re in the midst of a major upheaval; take it as a compliment! It means God’s not done - He sees that you can be more! Take time today to seek Him for HIS purpose in your circumstances. 

Enjoy this track Fully Alive from Simcha's new EP Awakened

https://open.spotify.com/track/6BMbm7TaRGp61lcKTkvCL5?si=4PX2jNcbR7GoXqPK9TeHeg

This is an excerpt from Simcha’s full 30-day devotional Awakened, which you can find along with her books music, artwork and community at simchanatan.com