When our middle daughter was a toddler, she had a virus that really wreaked havoc on her.  She couldn’t keep anything (even fluids down) and was very lethargic.  I took her to the emergency room and they prescribed something.  Our daughter slept late the next day and then, when she awoke, she began to have a seizure.  Barefoot and with no purse or wallet, I frantically hopped into the back seat of my father-in-law’s car, our daughter lying limp in my arms.  As he rushed us to the hospital, I kept speaking to our daughter saying, “Honey, look at mommy.”  And as her little eyes opened, I would say, “Stay awake, honey”.  But within seconds she began to seize again and then she would go limp.  And we would start the process all over with me saying, “Look at Mommy” and “Stay awake”.  What an AWFUL and helpless time.

I praise God that, after this episode, our daughter never had another seizure.  The doctors explained that sometimes children have seizures when their bodies go through something traumatic like the virus that she had experienced.  They said that typically they can not find an exact cause and the children never have them again.  They were right. Thank you, God.

The overwhelming need to have our daughter open her eyes and stay awake with me was consuming.  I needed her to be alert and awake.  I needed to know that she was going to be ok and come out of this.  Praise God, she did and is now a beautiful, bright, mother of four and an absolute blessing to our family.

Jesus has that same concern for us.  He needs to know that we are alert and awake for several reasons.  First, because the enemy is at work attempting to derail those who follow after Christ.  And secondly, because He will be returning and tells us to be alert and watchful.

There are at least 5 sections of scripture that tell us to stay awake and many more that tell us to be alert.

The 5 sections/verses that tell us to stay awake are in reference to Jesus’s return…

Luke 12:35-48: “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.”

Mark 13:33-37: “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

Luke 21:36: “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Matthew 24:42: “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

1 Thessalonians 5:2-9: “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Some of the sections/verses that reference being alert or watchful are so that we do not fall prey to the enemy and sin…

1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Mark 14:38: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Hebrews 2:1: “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”

When I consider my concern for my daughter and the need that I had to be sure she was awake, alert, and alright, it makes me wonder how God does it.  The magnitude of His love for us is so much greater than our love for each other and our children.  And He has a full and complete understanding of the enemy and the danger he represents.  No wonder He warns us over and over about the enemy and his schemes.  No wonder He warns us over and over to watch for the signs that indicate our Savior is returning.

We need to stay alert and on the watch for the schemes of the enemy. “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”  1 Corinthians 10:12.

And we need to be watchful for the return of our Savior.  Not because He will leave us, but rather because we want to be in a place of honor for Him.  Our Savior is coming back for us, to bring us to the mansion that He went to prepare for us!  “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  John 14:2-3. 

If we are not on the alert, He might come back while we are watching that inappropriate show on television.  He might find us looking at that inappropriate information on the internet.  He may even find us in the midst of inappropriate behavior. 

We also want to be alert because the days that we have left here on this earth to glorify God to those who don’t know Him are dwindling.  There is a lost and dying world out there that needs Jesus.  Are we going to spend the rest of those days watching our “favorite show”, trolling on social media, and/or planning our retirement, while those around us are on a downward spiral to hell?  That is the reality.

Be alert!  The days are waning and Jesus could come back at any moment.  Church, it is time to mobilize and change the world… and the Kingdom of God. 

“so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:28.

Father God, forgive our lethargy and our focus on the things of this world.  Help us to be alert.  Help us to be alert and resist the enemy’s attacks.  And help us to comprehend the urgency to tell others about you and to point them to you Father.  Be glorified in us, Lord.  Thank you Father that you are so merciful.  Thank you that you desire that none would perish.  “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. And as followers of Jesus, we thank you that you have rescued us from the penalty for our sin.  We love you and pray this in your precious and Holy name, Jesus.

Do you wonder about Jesus coming back?  Do you fear His return?  If you do not know Him as your personal Lord and Savior, that wouldn’t be surprising.  I wondered and feared His return at one point in my life too.  But then I repented and He forgave!  All I did was prayed to God from the depths of my heart and asked Him to forgive me.  He did!  And He wants to forgive you too.  He wants to adopt you as His precious child.  Jesus is preparing a place for you and wants to come back for you too. 

Please go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there.  That is all that God asks… that we pray a prayer of repentance from the bottom of our hearts.  Then… stay awake and wait for His return.  And… reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com because I’d love to pray with and for you.

Luv Ya!