Are you AWAKE & ALIVE?

Do you ever wonder where some people get all that energy to do all these "things in life" and do them well?  Do you ever say to yourself, "Self, I am not alive inside, something is missing!"?  I hear it a lot. People are not pleased at where they are in life, something is missing. It's like they are missing the mark, the higher calling in their life, but yet they don't know what that is.  It seems it's an unreachable task or a higher than they can reach calling.

Well...guess what?  You can be alive and you can be awake to enjoy your calling in your life.  There is a calling just for YOU that is straight from God himself.  Have you ever asked him what is was?  Have you ever laid it all out and humbled yourself before the living God? Have you ever laid prostrate on the ground face down? Ever get down on your knees and ask God to show you why you are here on this earth and what he created you for?

A few might say yes, they have done this, while most will say...ummm...a little uncomfortable here, not in to the whole being humble and vulnerable thing...

It's a humbling experience but that's what God requires of us - to be humble. We can't do this life thing on our own, we need help, a lot of it. We need direction and a Leader.

There isn't some magic 1, 2, 3 strategy step you need to do in order to "feel" awake and alive, but there are some definite action steps recorded in the Bible that command and ask us to participate in.

Here is a little self check that might help get your focus on Number One, which will lead you to feeling AWAKE and ALIVE. (Of course there are many more, here are just a few to prick your conscience)

Personal Application:

1. Do you talk to God when you wake up in the morning?
2. Do you spend more than 5 minutes with God per day?
3. Do you read your Bible, on average 5-7 days per week?
4. Have you ever got on your knees or laid flat out before God for longer than 1 minute - outside of a church service?
5. Do you think about God during the day?
6. Do you only think about him during crisis situations or when there is a death?
7. Do you talk about God with your friends?
8. Do you journal about God?
9. Do you send up prayers during the day?
10. Do you regularly ask God to show you what to do each day?
11. Do you have a hard time asking for forgiveness of your sins?

 Relational Application:

1. Have you reached out to someone who is hurting, even though you have been hurting yourself?
2. Have you given more money that you were comfortable giving - stepping out in faith?
3. Have you ever decided to take in someone to live in your home for a while - that wasn't a family member?
4. Do you enjoy giving old clothes or selling them?
5. Do you give to the food pantry cheerfully?
6. When you talk with other Christians, do you talk about other people?
7. Is encouraging others hard for you?
8. Is Christian fellowship time, either in small groups or large groups hard for you?
9. Is praying out loud difficult to do?
10. Do you sign up for prayer meetings?
11. Have you ever been on a prayer retreat, prayer conference, prayer group like Mom's In Touch, etc.?
12. Do you pray for others, even those who hurt you or are your enemies?
13. Do you have a hard time forgiving others?

Physical Application:

1. Do you feel like God has given you a healthy body, or do you take credit for keeping it healthy?
2. Do you ever thank God for your health?
3. Does pride well up inside of you as you look at others and ask yourself, why don't they take care of themselves better?
4. Do you spend more time exercising than time with God?
5. Do you ever feel guilty when you eat something you shouldn't but dismiss it because you feel it really won't matter in the long run?
6. Do you want to eat healthier, but you just give in to your selfish desires and eat that extra helping anyway?
7. Do you feel like giving up on a possible weight issue because it's too hard to handle, too hard to overcome, and too hard to get back to health?
8. Do you feel like you let others down because of a weight issue or habits of health that aren't the best?
9. Do you want to make changes in your health but just need help - have you really asked God to help?
10. Do you have a hard time forgiving yourself?

Some of these questions reveal an easy "Yes!" answer while other questions can prick a "No Way!" answer.  Either way, these questions can interfere or help our calling in our lives. If we are bogged down in our sorrows, pride, business, money, jobs, confusion, lack of direction - how are we going to be alive and awake and ready to answer him?  

I know I feel alive when I am doing what God calls me to do. I feel like I am fulfilling a huge purpose, whether anyone else sees it or not, it's like a inward-knowing. You just know. It's a feeling like no other when you feel like you are doing what God created you to do. I don't feel like this all the time, and that's when I press and cleave to God.  

So how about you?  Are there many times you feel ALIVE and AWAKE or more times when you feel dead and asleep?

* I would love to hear your comments or emails sarah_hansel@mchsi.com

References:

1 Kings 8:54, Psalm 5:3. Matthew 6:5, Psalms 10:4, James 1:27, Matthew 6:14, Psalms 24 , 2 Chronicles. 26, Leviticus 26:19, Proverbs 15:25, 1 Corinthians 13:3, 1 Kinds 18:39, 2 Corinthians 9:7