Is the alarm clock your enemy or your friend? If I am honest, for most of my life, it seemed more like an enemy than a friend. What about you? Maybe you’re a morning person? I’m not! At least, not a natural born one. I often need to set my alarms [yes, plural] an hour in advance of when I need to get up. And for some crazy reason, sleep seems sweeter after you are supposed to be up. Crazy! Whoever invented the snooze button is my friend for life!
Once I am finally up physically, it still takes me a good bit of time to wake up. My voice doesn’t sound pleasant for at least 30 minutes, and the closest I want to get to a conversation is, “Spark, please.” However, I discover that when I am looking forward to the day, it is so much easier to wake up. The alarm clock, my enemy from the day before, is my friend today because of what awaits me. Motivation is of vital importance to my perspective.
Our generation is in trouble. A brief review of the news on any given day speaks of the myriad of challenges facing us. The world is spiraling downward further and further into the chaos of wars and rumors of wars. Peace and true love appear out of reach. The truth is no longer considered a constant but a moving target that varies with the mood of the moment. There is an all-out attempt to redefine borders and reassign morality.
There is an answer. It is the church! Jesus said, “… On this rock, I shall build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The church is the body of Christ in the earth: His hands, His feet, and possessing His heart and Spirit. And yet, if you look at what is happening around the world, the church appears to be falling way short of the intended goal. What’s the issue?
It isn’t an issue of authority or power. The church today is not powerless, just asleep. The problem isn’t that we don’t know the Bible. The church is not biblically illiterate, but asleep. It isn’t that the church is not loving; but, sleepy people care more about their comfort than the needs of others. The issue is that too many in the church are asleep.
It is time for the church to wake up. It is past time. The alarms are sounding, and we have hit the snooze button for far too long. Look at the way Kenneth Wuest translated Paul’s admonition in Romans 13:11, “And this, knowing the strategic season, that it is an hour now for you to awake out of sleep, for now, our salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”
What we live in is one of the most strategic seasons of history. We cannot afford to sleep through another day. If we snooze, we will lose a generation. The prophetic promise of Isaiah 60:1-3 is upon us, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord shall rise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you.
The nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.” The church must rise in the light of His glory. Now is the time to stop hitting the snooze button and let the glory enable us to rise and shine.
Mark writes in his Gospel the account of the synagogue leader Jairus’ daughter’s illness (Mark 5). In numerous ways, this generation of young men and women resemble Jairus’ daughter. Many voices are declaring that they are dead and saying all we can do is mourn their demise. But I believe that Jesus’ words concerning the little girl are relevant and prophetic of today, “The girl is not dead, but sleeping” (Mark 5:39b). The same power He used to raise her from her sleep is available now. This generation is not dead to the truth. They are not dead to the power of His name or the beauty of His presence. They are only asleep.
The church of today is equipped by God to awaken the sleeping. The same anointing is working right now to awaken this generation from the slumber of death to experience His greatest glory. But the church must stop hitting the snooze button. We must make the decision. We will pay the price of discomfort; pull the covers back, throw our legs over the edge and get up.
A generation is waiting. {eoa}
Keith Nix is the founding lead pastor of a thriving congregation, The Lift Church in Sevierville, Tennessee. He has traveled as an international evangelist since 1993 carrying a unique prophetic message of awakening to this generation. 2017 marks 20 years of leading a dynamic camp and other outreaches to the rising generation of revivalists. He and his wife, Margie, have one daughter, Isabella. You can learn more by visiting keithnix.net or tribeawakening.org
Curt Landry 
Michael L. Brown 
Rabbi Eric Tokajer 
