“Therefore, He says:
‘Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.’
“See then that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not be unwise,
but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:14–17)[i]
It undoubtedly has been a rough year. As I am writing this, we are only three weeks into 2025. It started with a bang in Hawaii as illegal fireworks miss-fired causing unprecedented death and long-term devastation. On the heels of our local tragedy came the catastrophic loss of the California fires. Globally we see mass natural and human destruction. So many are battling personal illness. It does not seem like things could get worse. And we are still asleep?
Those who call on the name of the Lord should know it is going to get much, much worse before it gets better. I should stop hitting the snooze button. America is not going to be great again, climate change is not going to be corrected, the human heart continually, carelessly left to itself is now on the brink of God’s final diagnosis (Gen. 6:5). And Jesus is still calling.
Walk wisely
God says repeatedly “Wake up. Now.” It is time not only to wake up but to get up and come to our Jesus. Walk wisely! When God wakes me up, I must choose to have an intentional relationship with Him. The path of forgiveness and forgiving is not human work, good news! Our Creator is the Mastermind of creation and salvation “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him” (Eph. 3:12).
We need forgiveness from all dead works that lack the passion of Christ and the fire of His Holy Spirit. We need cleansing for God’s Church to fully realize and redeem His Divine appointments and opportunities. He is talking to me and you. We are the church! Redeeming Love has not only bought us at a great price, but our Jesus has brought us at a great price into the presence of God. A real and living God ever lives to pray! We are paid for and prayed for. Christ’s prayers impart and apply His merits and overflow His ministry in us, for us, and through us. We not only have His presence, we have His faithfulness that is designed to be a magnet for the lost flowing through us.
Shake off spiritual slumber
Christ will give us light! Not just for 2025, but for all of earth’s history. Jesus lives! And it gets much better: Jesus always lives to pray. He designs His Life of intercession to come alongside me, His church, the world. He always lives to forgive, renew, help, comfort, and guide. His prayer life realized as my prayer life is the only sure thing. “. . . by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. . . Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:22, 25).
It is time to shake off this spiritual slumber because that is one of the enemy’s means for these days to be evil. How can we be sleeping when God means for His redemptive work to be shared? Jesus wants us to join forces with Him. Not by our might or power, but by His Holy Spirit. We have God’s good news to share! He is redeeming love. His motive is always redemptive. His concern is my lost heart. His choice for me is redemption through Jesus Christ.
This redeeming forgiveness has a ripple effect. When we transparently allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts we become reflections of the faithfulness of Jesus. His forgiveness, His cleansing lights us up, lightens our load, enlightens our minds. We have a living hope of a new heart, a right Spirit, renewed minds. And this Hope is not dead, it “does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). I was created to be a living temple for His Holy Spirit, not a dead church.
Wasting time on unforgiveness
If we, God’s church, are wisely walking with Him, we would be alert to foolishly wasting time on unforgiveness. How can I choose to be unforgiving when Christ has forgiven me? Yet if I am honest with God and myself, I confess this is the great struggle for me and my church. The days are filled with this evil unbelief that we can perpetuate unforgiving attitudes and continue along our religious way. The days are evil, but I do not have to choose evil.
I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Do I believe and have received God’s Word into the very fiber of my being? Do I let His Word saturate my soul? If so, I walk in the wisdom of my Jesus Christ. “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (I Cor. 1:30). “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13, 14). Jesus is my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption. I am forgiven! Oh, much more, I am forgiving!
We are called to the forgiving character of Jesus Christ, to His redeeming life. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
‘Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth’;
“who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (I Peter 2:21–24). I have received a life of forgiveness. And as He grows me in His grace and knowledge, I receive His forgiveness for others.
God wants me to wisely seek Him. This means me, Michele, must let God be in control. I must daily surrender my will to His. I must let God do things His way, in His time, praising Him and thanking Him for what I do not yet see or cannot understand. I must know and believe His Word will accomplish His good will.
It is unwise to trust myself or others, to put my hope in this fallen world. It is unwise to trust self period. Self-righteousness, self-interest, self-pity has been around from the beginning of evil days. I need Jesus to consume me, myself, and I with His redeeming blood, with His redemptive work. I need to wisely remember that in all this overwhelming sorrow and suffering, His will is to “. . . save many people alive” (Gen. 50:20) “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
Redeeming light in Jesus
We are God’s healed church. He wants us to understand His will. “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (I John 5:20). His will is the Life of Christ in us, for us, through us. God has given us redeeming light in Jesus. As we hold out the Word of life, we proclaim God’s faithfulness in the Glorious Face of our Jesus (2 Cor. 4:5, 6). He is willing for us to preach the selfless life of Christ, not our denomination (1 Cor. 4:5). As we daily come face to face with Him, we understand His character of love. His willingness to forgive and cleanse (1 John 1:9), His will is to overflow our hearts with thanksgiving in every situation (1 Thess. 5:18) because he suffers long with us and is not willing that any should lose their eternal life with Him (2 Peter 3:9).
Our Redeemer lives to save lives! How do I redeem the time with Him? As He calls me to His character, can I realize His prayer Life? Can I really live in His Presence?
REFLECTION: I am His healed and healing church. Am I alive in Christ? As God’s leader, are all my motives redemptive? Am I aware of the danger of conforming to the generational pattern of evil intentions—attitudes of self-righteousness, unforgiveness, and bitterness. Do I remember to realize God’s redemptive love and justice is always concerned with calling me to the character of Jesus? I cannot depend on me for this heart work. I can depend on Jesus for me, my family, my Church. I am the redeemed of the Lord. I say so.
PRAYER: Lord help me! Your love awakens me. Your life returns me to You, my First Love. Lord help me! I want to learn Christ. I choose Christ. Let me be Your leader. Let me take leaps of faith every moment into Your arms of mercy and grace; let me be a good listener to Your Word, hearing Your still small voice and being radically obedient; let me love souls for Your kingdom.
“But the end of all things is at hand; therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins’ ” (1 Peter 4:7, 8).
“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away” (I Peter 5:2–4).
