I am awake today.

These last several weeks have been, without me realize it until only a few days ago, a slow but sure decline from the glorious promise that God has set before each of those whom He calls. His call for each of us is joy in hope (Romans 5:2), sanctification (John 17:19), peace (Philippians 4:7), love (Romans 12:10), and much much more.
Somehow, without my notice, I began to turn from what God declares as good. I’m not completely sure where it began, perhaps around the time of the end of my internship at Lakewood and the significant drop in interaction with other Christians which that brought about. Not that I cut myself off, by any means, only that I did not intentionally keep up that sweet, regular communion. Not long after the group that had met on Tuesday mornings to pray dwindled and was eventually called off until the beginning of the coming school year.
So many things are clear to the eyes of the heart as it gazes into the past! I can note numerous minute choices that led my heart astray to be numbed and blinded by the drink of the world. Oh how quickly this wicked flesh arises to wreak havoc among the Christian soul! May the Lord protect His people from such waywardness.
Before I realize what had happened, sin had taken back much of the ground that is rightly the Lord. It’s not that I stopped reading the Bible or listening to the words of men of God, or stopped praying completely, though those things did diminish in part. More than the quantity or regularity of such good things, it was the quality and depth of them that lessened. Yet it was all for seemingly good, logical reasons; I had taken on two jobs and didn’t have as much time; I was tired and deserved the hour or rest sitting before the computer; I still associated with God’s people, if only not as deeply. Those things and more conspired to drag this spirit away towards that deathly slumber of earthly satisfaction.
But praise be to God, I am awakened once again! Through His word, the preaching of men like John Piper, prayer, and the glory of His creation, he has pricked this wayward saint into wakefulness. I’ve spent these last few days in Colorado, sitting and watching the sun set and rising early to sit on the back porch of the cabin at which we are staying. It has been a struggle these last few days, but I taste again the sweetness of His word; the passion that had so subtly diminished is rising once again; my heart again is set upon you.
For those of you who now slumber, cry out for the Lord to wake you. Do you feel the lethargy and soddish contentment of the flesh and its desires weighing upon you? Know that there is yet hope! If you feel you are not completely gone. Pray for His grace to lighten your drooping eyes.
You who feel nothing and are content and happy as you are, fear, for you have fallen deep into that terrible slumber which carries men full into Hell. Pray, read, and seek. Plead for sight, feeling, and freedom. God alone can rescue you from that slow but sure death, and He rejoices to do so.
Lastly, for those of you awake in grace, hope, joy, and love; fight to stay so. Douse youtself with the water of the Word. Cast off earthly pleasures in exchange for the infinitely better promise of Eternity. Be long in prayer and deep and open in relation to fellow believers. Tell others of what you have found and give your life to prove the fullness of God within you.
I am awake today, by God’s grace, and while I am awake I shall press hard after His face. I pray you do the same.