Ephesians 5:10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said,
“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Many things come into focus when we stop moving forward in the power of the Holy Spirit and those things take us on a path that leads to darkness. In that darkness, we begin to make excuses for staying there and before long we can't find our way back to the light. If you have been letting the darkness take over your life, then the scripture above is a great wake-up call for getting back on track. When enough people succumb to the darkness then the darkness becomes a prevalent force in the fellowship and then spiritual death takes on a new look, and that look becomes the new norm.
Paul writes to this church in Ephesus and he reminds them to live in the Spirit's power and not their own. Living in our own power falls far short of God's intention for us and our faith becomes weak and lethargic. This is how abundant life becomes redundant life, and this should not be. In verse 10 Paul uses the word carefully as he talks about determining what pleases the Lord. Paul identifies the "worthless deeds" and how they can kill our faith to the point that we don't even seek God's ways anymore.
Part of this lethargy is making the sleep state look like it is active when it is not. Satan can even take spiritual-looking things and lure us into this sleep state and then we are in the darkness and did not even realize it. If you are coming up with reasons for not serving Jesus, then you are already in the darkness and cannot see it. If religion and habitual religious habits are the depth of your walk, then you need to pray to the Lord for His light and let Him shine it on your condition so you can see your way out. Anything can happen to us when we are in the dark and we may be surprised by how far we can drift. The following story tells of how we can be duped in the darkness.
Lord Halifax, a former foreign secretary of Great Britain, once shared a railway compartment with two prim-looking spinsters. A few moments before reaching his destination the train passed through a tunnel. In the utter darkness, Halifax kissed the back of his hand noisily several times. When the train drew into the station, he rose, lifted his hat, and in a gentlemanly way said: "May I thank whichever one of you two ladies I am indebted to for the charming incident in the tunnel." He then beat a hasty retreat, leaving the two ladies glaring at each other.
Paul says to "live in the light" and living in the light is what we must do so we can continue to grow and live a vibrant life for Jesus. It is time to Wake Up and once again let the Holy Spirit guide us into a fresh new walk that glorifies Jesus in every area of our light. If we could establish a fellowship of believers who would commit to pursuing God in this way we would see true revival in our land and the sleeping giant called The Church would once again do what we are called to do. SPREAD THE GOSPEL!!
The Pilgrimage Continues...
David Warren