Friday 14 September 2012

1 Corinthians 15:34 « Awake (eknepho: to rouse out of stupor; awake) to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame. » (KJV)

The Church in Corinth serves as a great model of the Church in the West today.  It was numerically one of the largest of the first century churches, with a strong emphasis on spiritual dynamics.  It had many Charismatic preachers in the church, and had a list of “who’s who” in terms of visiting ministers.  But not all was great in this church.  Sin and moral compromise were rampant. There were serious issues arising in regards to traditional marriage; incest was widely accepted; and people were getting drunk at the church dinners.

All of the spiritual power of these Christians, evident in the gifts of the Spirit were being lost on a dying world because of the moral decadence within the church family.  So Paul says to them, “Awake to righteousness!”

The word here translated as awake is the Greek word eknepho, which literally means “to rouse out of a stupor.”  Moral ambivalence creates such a stupor.  When we excuse sin as merely a problem in need of inner healing, we fall into the trap of “blame shifting.”

Just as in the case of Adam who not only refused to accept responsibility for his sin, he actually blamed God for having created the woman who led him into the sin.  Adam had fallen into a state of moral sleep which probably began before the woman ever had the discussion with the devil in the first place.  For if Adam had been “awake to righteousness” he never would have tolerated the presence of the devil in the middle of the garden.

Is the devil prowling around the garden of your soul?  Do you find him at times influencing your sentiments, your thoughts, your desires?  Then today, shake yourself out of your moral slumber.  My friend, AWAKEN THE HEART to the righteousness of God.

We encourage you today to identify the thoughts, feelings and desires in your soul which are clearly not from God.  As you identify these things ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to any area of your walk with God where you might have fallen asleep. He is with you.  He is for you.  Now, awake, you who slumber.  Shake off the stupeur.  God is on the move!!