Awakened

This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14 I came upon a news item this morning that I'm sure has gone unnoticed by the majority, even the majority of the professing church. Two villages in Nigeria were attacked by Islamic terrorists, with 168 killed and the villages burnt. I didn't know. You likely didn't either. Yet I do know about Bad Bunny and the half-time show at the Superbowl. I also know about the alternate show put on by Turning Point USA. I also know a lot about my favorite sports teams, entertainments, and a host of other subjects, but I didn't know anything about this. Oh, I know there is persecution of believers going on in Nigeria and so many other places in the world, but those places are so far away. The things that have my attention are much nearer, and come to mind so easily, but I wonder today, what impression do "these things," my things, make upon the heart of God? I know the answer to that, so why, when I know how these things grieve Him, do they not grieve me as they should? Could it be that the places that these terrible persecutions are taking place are so far away, and make so little impression upon me...and you, is because as concerns them, my heart is also far away from His? I'm thinking out loud here, and I don't care for the answers I'm getting to my questions. It's very hard for us American believers who are so focused on our comfort, happiness, and success, to be much moved by anything that doesn't contribute to maintaining and expanding that. More than 40 years ago, Jesus Revolution singer Keith Green wrote a song titled, Asleep In The Light. One of the lyrics asked (you and me?) How can you be so dead, when you've been so well-fed? Brethren, God is moving upon His church here in America and everywhere in the world, but how deeply is He moving upon you and me? Are we more asleep in the Light than we are empowered by it, awakened by it, called to action by it? Those 168 men, women, and children, were brothers and sisters in Christ, as were the thousands more who have been killed in Nigeria alone. How moved have we been by this? How fervent have our prayers of intercession for them been? I heard the late Derek Prince say that we can pray, fast, and come together pleading for revival, as many are, but that we will see no revival without the first and most important step, that of humbling ourselves in repentance before Him. In too many areas and ways, the western church has been sleepwalking. It cannot go on. It is time to be awakened by His Spirit. It is time, past time, to cease being "dead men and women walking." It is time for the Light of Christ to shine fully upon His church in America, for His church to "rise and walk." His time is always "now." May that now time take place in His church...in you, in me, in us. Blessings, Pastor O