ROUSE TO REALITY

by Tammy Phillips
September 16, 2020

And that, knowing the time, that now [it is] high time to awake out of sleep: for now [is] our salvation nearer than when we believed. (Romans 13:11 KJV)

Let me start by saying that I do not like to be late!   I am on the prayer team at church. We have four services and a team prays during each one.  For at least one hour, we pray over the service and a myriad of kingdom business.  I used to be the first one to arrive and then I got a little slack.  One Sunday, I was going to be right on time.  I thought I would stop and grab a cup of coffee which would make me just a little bit late.  Holy Spirit dropped this thought into my spirit. “What if Jesus was physically sitting in the prayer room waiting for you?  Would you stop for coffee?” I don’t like to be late and I sure would not want Jesus waiting on me.  Plus, I said I would be there at 8:00 AM and I am only as good as my word.  If I had paid attention to the time and awoke earlier, this would not have been a problem.  

 When we wake up what is the first thing we want to know? “What time is it?”  Is it time to get up? Is it time for church? Is it time to start the day? It is important for us to know the time.  It really is our guide as to when it is time to rise.  We could be oblivious and uncaring to everything and everyone around us and just stay in bed all the time.  What profit is that?

Romans 13: 11-12 tells us what time it is.  It is the time that “our salvation is nearer than we believed” and that the night and time of darkness is almost gone, and the day is about to dawn. The day is the eminent return of Jesus Christ our Savior, when he comes to take his children home and the end of this age will come to a close. I promise, when he calls, we better be ready.  There is not going to be time to say, “Wait just a minute Jesus, I need to grab a cup of coffee for the ride.”

It is also “high time to awake up out of sleep.”   The alarm is going off and Paul is saying wake up sleepy heads.   The hour is come.  It is time.  It is THE time. It is the season. It is the moment.  It is the instant.  RING! RING! …or whatever sound your alarm makes.

WAKE UP!  ARISE!  RAISE UP!  COLLECT YOURSELF!  ROUSE TO REALITY!

Get yourself together.  Jesus is coming. We need to be awake. 

We need to be fixing a cup of coffee and talking with Jesus every morning.
Can’t do that in our sleep.

We need to be listening to him.
Can’t do that in our sleep.

We need to be walking the Love walk.
Can’t do that in our sleep.

We need to be talking the Love talk.
Can’t do that in our sleep.

We need to be making ourselves ready and getting dressed.
Can’t do that in our sleep.

I enCOURAGE you to ROUSE to reality.  If I came to pick you up for lunch, you would be excited and ready to go.  Jesus IS coming to take us to the most glorious event ever.  The Marriage feast of the Lamb.  We got our heavenly bodies and comfy eternal robes waiting on us.