Open Heaven 6 November 2023: While Men Slept III
MEMORISE: “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:6 (KJV)
BIBLE READING: 1 Thessalonians 5:5-9 (KJV)
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Read Yesterday’s Open Heaven Devotional here
Death is likened to sleep in (1 Corinthians 15:51). In other words, a believer who is spiritually asleep is actually in a state of spiritual death. 1 Thessalonians 5:5-9 tells us clearly that we should stay awake spiritually, be watchful and sober. Matthew 24:42 says you must stay awake and be watchful, for you do not know what day your Lord is coming. Romans 13:11 encourages us that the Lord’s coming is nearer now than when we first believed.
Some believers keep going in and out of spiritual sleep. They feel it is normal to be cold and hot. I pity such people because their end is not usually good. A good example of this is Samson, who slept and woke up a number of times but the last sleep put him into the hands of his enemies. You may have slept a few times before and woken up again; however, you had better stop because there is always the last time a man would sleep and wake up to find himself being tortured by the enemy. If you used to love God with all your heart, but recently, other things have been competing with Him in your heart, then you are sleeping. God is saying to you like He said to the Ephesus Church in Revelations 2:4-5, “Return to your first love”. Ephesians 5:14 says if you awake, Christ will shine on you again.
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. – Ephesians 5:14
Beloved, get back to your first love now. Put away those sins that easily beset you. Go for a retreat, look for fellowships with genuine believers, make a habit of spending quality time daily in prayers and Bible study. Jesus is ready to shine on you again if you are willing to wake up and get back to Him. He loves you and He is calling you back home. Don’t let the devil or anyone else hinder you from going back to the One who loves you enough to die for your sins. When He shines on you, everything the devil stole during your time of slumber shall be restored and you will become a better person at the end of the day.
KEY POINTS: Spiritual sleep gives the devil an opportunity to fight and defeat a person. Be spiritually alert always.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: John 11-12
Thank you for studying today’s Open Heaven – While Men Slept III – written by Pastor Enoch Adeboye
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Open Heaven 6 November 2023
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