BE ALERT IN YOUR SPIRIT

I have lost phones twice. They both happen back-to-back in 2005 and 2006:

I boarded a cab heading to Ife from Ibadan. I slept off. I woke up just as the car got to the campus gate. I alighted from the cab and made my way to the campus. As I entered campus, my consciousness was restored. My phone was not on me. I went after the cab. The phone was switched off already.

The second occasion was more painful. I was catching an evening siesta. My roommate went out but did not alert me. Our door was not locked. By the time I woke up, my phone was no longer by my side. It was like a dream.

As it is in the physical, so it is in the spirit. If you sleep off spiritually, the devil will have a field day and things can slip off your hands also.

One of the ways to stay watchful spiritually is by praying. Jesus told us to “watch and pray”. The consequence of not watching and praying is the inability to withstand temptations.

Do you remember how the devil operates? He does it like a thief. The thief will always have a field day while men are sleeping.

“but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way” Matthew 13:25 KJV

There are times he does what he will do quickly and leave you to wake up to the consequences. But there are times that he gets really bold and takes possession. This happens when he realises that he can operate unchecked.

That was the case of the temple in the days of Jesus that made him cry out:

It is written, My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Luke 19:46 KJV

There are no vacuums in the spirit. You are either a house of prayer or you are a den of thieves. Beloved, if you are not praying, things are either already slipping out of your hands, or they are outrightly being stolen or they have been totally hijacked.

There are sleeping parents. Their work is more important than their watch. They have lost watch over their seeds. The enemy has found a den of thieves. He is stealing the souls of their children. Some lead prayers in church but do not lead prayers at home – no family altar! Wake up.

There are sleeping believers heavily sedated by reels, skits, and movies. Their souls are desensitized to the signals of the Spirit. It takes long before they respond to the instructions of the Lord. Their bodies move faster to ungodly rhythms and become heavy when heaven beckons.

There are sleepwalking believers. They seem to be making moves, but they are in sleep mode. They try to pick up the Bible, but they pick nothing out of it. Prayer has become a burden. Spiritual things have become mere routine. Wake up! Wake up!!!

The first thing the devil steals is your attention before he moves in on your possession. If he succeeds in distracting you, he has succeeded in defeating you.

Stop resting from spiritual things. When you take a leave, do not leave the altar. When you are on break, do not take a break from the word and prayer. If you sleep, you will slip.

When the early church snoozed, James was taken and killed. It took the devil striking hard to wake up the church to prayers. Listen beloved, may evil not be your alarm clock! Must bad things happen before you start praying?

Are you awake?

Are you the House of Prayer?

Are you the den of thieves?

Wake up!

In my language, we say, “Dide”.

Stand up and pray.

Pray without ceasing.

Pray!

© temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa