Sunday, August 26, 2012

AWAKEN IN HIS PRESENCE (08-26-12)


Matthew 24:42, 44
“Stay awake!  You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

As soon as we go to sleep, we do nothing anymore.  Until we wake up the next morning, we would just lie there – helpless, motionless at most and very unproductive.  But we need to sleep to rest our weary body.  So when Jesus said to his disciples, “Stay awake!”, He is not telling them NOT to sleep since He is not pertaining to the body.  Rather, He refers to our soul.

We believe and know that God is with us right now.  However, due to our worldly affairs, we easily forget that fact and get too preoccupied with the "more important stuffs" and ignore Him. 

Unfortunately, we are not always awake to the presence of God in our lives.  God is often crowded out of our consciousness by other things that occupy us during the day.  Because of our hectic schedules, it is easy to give God the back seat. 

We need to KEEP AWAKE. That’s very hard for people to do. When we’re really sleepy, staying awake is extremely hard to do.  We all die, yes, and there is nothing we can do about it.  What we have is a choice on how to live life.  We can live well, or we can live badly. 

We can forever shut our eyes to the goodness of the Lord or stay awake to the presence and arrival of Jesus in our hearts, our lives and our actions.

May we awaken to the presence of God in the wonders of His creation, in His people, and in all of us.  May we be always on guard, prepared, vigilant and awake to life so that we do not squander the life that God has given us.

Let us pray +

Almighty Father, through Your Spirit in me, strengthen me to persevere.  Give me the endurance to serve you, and perform my duties.  Do not let me, in a moment of weakness and give me the light of your presence so I may stay awake and help me to endure as a good soldier of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen +

Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!

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