While We Sleep

One night, a preacher and his 6-7 yr old son were coming home from church. They came upon an overpass, upon which there were a great number of ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars-there had been a terrible wreck. The man got his son out of the vehicle and walked up the embankment to see if there was anything he could do to help. When he came to the top of the embankment, he beheld, to his shock and unbelief, the mangled, lifeless corpse of an individual who had been thrown from a vehicle during the wreck. He covered the eyes of his son, picked him up, and carried him back down the hill as fast as he could. He tried to explain to his son what they had just witnessed in an attempt to comfort his little heart.

Once they got home, the father prayed for his son, hugged and kissed him, and then sent him to bed. At about 2 o'clock in the morning, the dad got up. He noticed that his son's bedroom light was still on. He opened door and reached for the light switch, but noticed that his son was still fully dressed, sitting on the side of the bed, quietly weeping. His dad asked him why he wasn't asleep. His son replied with these heart crushing words, "Dad, how can we sleep when people are dying?"

That's my question for you today: How can we sleep when people are dying lost and going to hell? While we sleep, hell fills! While we sleep, the enemy sows his seeds of death and destruction! While we sleep our communities are decaying, being overrun with drugs, prostitution, and crime. While we sleep, our babies become teenagers and our teenagers become drug addicts and pushers. Oh, what we lose while we sleep!

Some time ago, I had a terrible nightmare. I dreamed I walked into a church where I was supposed to preach. I immediately became overtaken with the fact that all the lights had been dimmed. I had to walk through a foyer to get into the sanctuary. Inside the foyer, the pastor was leaned against a corner wall, asleep. I walked into the sanctuary and found the lights were dimmed in there, too. As I looked around I discovered that EVERYONE was asleep. Some were laying down in the pews while others were sitting up with their heads slumped over, chins resting on their chests. And to my shock, some were laying down, asleep on top of the altar! A spirit of slumber had completely taken the place. And, unfortunately, there are many churches that have fallen to the same fate.

My cry for the American church is as follows:

Isa 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake...

What will happen when we wake from our sleep?

Lu 9:32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory...

When the church decides to wake from her slumber, we'll see the glory God! When the church repents for allowing her heart to grow lukewarm, and for some, cold and indifferent, we'll see God rend the heavens and come down! When we humble ourselves, confessing we're not where we're supposed to be with God, confessing that we can do nothing without God, we'll see a breaking in our churches. When the American church spends more time in prayer, supplication, and intercession than they do in basketball practice, gospel sings, and self promotion, the sound of battering rams will be heard crashing the gates of hell. We'll have revival in no time. We'll see sinners being born again on our altars! We'll see saints refilled with the power and glory of Holy Ghost! We'll see lethargic church members burning with the fire of God.

Wake up brothers and sisters! It doesn't matter who you are, what your name is, how long you've been saved, or what church and denomination you belong too, we're all the same while we sleep!

David Lamb