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I hate sleep. I’m afraid I may miss something.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I “get it” and I get it.
I know that, too. God’s design and all that. It just chaps me a little that somebody who lives to be 90 will spend 30 years of their lives physically unconscious… and then talk about “sleeping in” as if it’s a life goal.
What’s even more disturbing, though, is how easy it is to be asleep when our eyes are open. Spiritually oblivious to a world of life and movement and transformation and possibilities – all ready and waiting… for the awakened spirit.
Snapshots of Awakening
February 3, 1970. In a small Kentucky Christian college, students showed up for what they thought was a routine chapel service. It was anything but. What was supposed to be an hour-long service lasted for 185 hours round the clock. And the lights never went off in the chapel until Ju [click to continue…]
It was a surprising experience – seeing old friends, and people I had said good-bye to almost ten years earlier in that south Mississippi town. I was surprised at the warmth of their response. I was surprised at the depth of their respect for me. I was surprised at the intensity with which they prayed and expected good things from this youth retreat I was to lead. I was surprised at how many names I remembered, and how natural it still felt to love them – even though I had not seen them in so long a time.
Needless to say, there was a rush of memories. Like the time I borrowed Don’s reel-to-reel tape recorder, and he said to me at least three times, “Please lock it up in your office.” I forgot. Don didn’t. He went back to check the church the next morning, and there was his tape recorder. (Pause here to shudder).
There were memories of the homes where we held Bible studies. Memories of the King’s Inn – the Christian coffee house we started (the sign still hung outside the deserted building).
I also was reminded of the married adult retreat I was asked to help lead while I was there – and wound up being the only single person on the trip. This really entertained everyone when the other retreat leader was doing his session on marital intimacy. I was not amused. [click to continue…]
For thus says the high and lofty One — He Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, but with him also who is of a thoroughly penitent and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the thoroughly penitent [bruised with sorrow for sin] (Isaiah 57:15, Amplified)
God is a life-giver. A God of revival. He revives the spirit of the contrite (literally “crushed”) and the heart of the broken. He is the God who raises from the dead.
But He can’t raise us if we aren’t dead.
My flesh, on the other hand, is content with half-life measures. [click to continue…]
Job sites can be noisy places. The clanging of tools, the heaving groans of loud masculine voices, and the hacking or high-pitched grinding of cutting instruments all suggest that something is being built with earnest.
There is another kind of construction, however, that makes precious little noise. But the effects are powerful and completely necessary. In the Day of the Second House, none of us can move forward without it. I’m talking about the inner construction – the molding and shaping of character and spiritual power.
It does no good to rebuild the outward structures without taking a tough look at the inner priorities and attitudes of the heart. That’s what’s so ridiculous about somebody facing a crisis (remember the Sunday after September 11, 2001?) by scurrying off to a church building they haven’t darkened in months. The building or setting is meaningless unless it’s occupied by a transformed heart.
So while our friend Zerubbabel was busy governing and building a temple, his partner, Joshua, was facing some building of his own. But this high priest was facing down his own broken walls, burned gates, and impossible mission. Joshua was engaged in a battle for his heart, and for the soul of his nation. Here’s how the prophet Zechariah described this internal battle:
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, “ The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, ” Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by. (Zechariah 3:1-5)
Every man or woman who is serious about spiritual life and victory faces similar battles. Our destinies, as well as the destinies of others, hang in the balance. Here are five inner battle zones: [click to continue…]
I hate sleep. I’m afraid I may miss something. 
