Look alive!

Last week we had a look at Noah and talked about how God will give us the instructions but it’s up to us to do the work. Partnering with God is not a time for us to lay back and take it easy, it is a time for us to spring to action and look alive. I have a friend who used to say that to her daughter when she was little and she got distracted when she was doing something important, “Hey, look alive!” It made me laugh every time but I think some of you need to hear that today, “Look alive!” We have a job to do. We can’t be caught sleeping when Christ returns, we must look alive, lol. 

I am reminded of the story of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. Verse 13 says, “That is the reason you should always stay awake and be alert, because you don’t know the day or hour when the Bridegroom will appear.” And also 1 Peter 5:8-9 which says, “Be well balanced and always alert, because your enemy, the devil, roams around incessantly, like a roaring lion looking for its prey to devour. Take a decisive stand against him and resist his every attack with strong, vigorous faith. For you know that your believing brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing the same kinds of troubles you endure.”

Today I was thinking about how we can be good at following God in one area of our lives and we are fully alert but there is one area of our lives that isn’t doing so well. One area where we may be sleeping or distracted or not well prepared or not alert. It’s one thing for me to tell you about following God but I will be remiss if I made it sound like it is a stroll in a park. It is not. Like I said a couple weeks back, it is a rollercoaster ride. Buckle in. 

God has given us every single thing we need to prosper in life. By “prosper” I am not talking about money, it may include money but godly prosperity relates to every area of our being. John put it this way in 3 John 1:2, “Beloved friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and that you continually enjoy good health, just as your soul is prospering”. It is God’s will that not only our spiritual life prospers but all of our being prospers. 

So by doing our earth journey with God, it means we need to give God access to every part of our being. That means access to our emotions, access to our money, access to our hearts, access to our thoughts, access to our broken places, access to our relationships, access to our goals and so on. But not only should we give Him access, we must also give Him permission to speak into those places, breathe His life into those places, provide us with His wisdom so our lamps keep burning, help us be balanced, alert and woke. 

Partnership goes both ways, God is such a giver, but we too must be open and willing to give to God. The great news is that usually what He asks us to give Him, are those things that are no good for us anyway. Sometimes we act like a kid with a nut allergy insisting on eating a Cadbury fruit and nut chocolate. God is the loving Father asking us to hand Him the fruit and nut chocolate but we don’t trust Him with it. We’ll rather die trying to eat around the nuts all the while God has nut free chocolate that He is trying to give to us. Trust God. 

The enemy is opportunistic, he waits for you to sleep. To relax. To think you are safe and you know where all the nuts are. But we need to be able to trust God so we can trade our earthly wisdom for His. Trade the things that are no good for us for those things that will bring life and joy and peace into our lives. We need God’s wisdom to navigate life and to look alive, but not only that, we need God’s wisdom so we can stay alive in our faith and stay alert so we can keep pursuing God will all that we have. 

Love and blessings, 

Melissa Tsingano