An Awakening Spirit

​Matthew 26:38 “Remain here and stay awake with me.”
 
At the beginning of our blessings we are always grateful.  We give God thanks in praises in the name of the Son!  We walk in our ministries, in our callings and in our blessings doing what God has called us to do.  But do we allow ourselves to learn and grow spiritually as we walk in our blessings?
 
For example, let's take a football player that excels as a good athlete.  This happens as he plays and learns in his growth from grade school to middle school.  But let’s say that same player develops that ‘I’m good no matter what’ attitude and decides not to practice or train before his tryouts for High School.  This would be a mistake.
 
Others that he would eventually go up against, never stop training.  Others that he would compete with for a position, would continue to practice in getting stronger and faster, leaving the player lacking in skills when it is time to start the new season.  In other words we must always continue training to become, not only good at what we do, but to learn how to be better at what we do.
 
In life, the enemy never sleeps.  He is constantly on the prowl seeking ways to destroy Christ’s work in us.  If we sleep, and he doesn’t, he will always up his game on us and we will be one step behind. 
 
In the text, Jesus is about to be arrested.  The time for Him to be sacrificed is upon Him.  He called for His disciples, (as tired as they may have been), to ‘…stay awake…’ and pray for their strength.  But in the text, they did not stay awake.  And because of this, they were unprepared when the enemy’s influence stepped in on them.
 
We must always be aware and ready to fight the good fight of faith.  We must stay awake spiritually at all times.  We cannot afford to let our guard down in trusting in the Lord in His control of this world.  And in that trust, know that we are made by Him, and are a part of that control.  
 
But we must stay awake, by reading His word on a daily basis, having the strongest relationship we can with God. We must stay awake by loving our neighbors as we love God and ourselves.  We must do good, in spite of all the bad going on around us. We must never sleep spiritually, so that we may never be caught off guard.
 
May God continue to bless and keep you in his will and way in the name of the Kingdom and the Son,
 
Amen

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