Are You Awake?

This from Henri Nouwen:

Everything that comes from God asks for an open and faithful heart. We cannot live with hope and joy in the end-time unless we are living in a state of preparedness. We have to be careful because, as the Apostle Peter says: "Your enemy the devil is on the prowl like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5.8). Therefore Jesus says: "Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened by debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life. ... Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to hold your ground before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:34-36). That's what living in the Spirit of Jesus calls us to.

That expresses the essence of how I want to live. Wakefulness. Alertness. Watchfulness. Being alive to what God is doing around me. Watching and praying, as Jesus instructed his disciples. Taking note of the signs of the times.

Start out by affirming that God is standing at your door and knocking even now. He desires to come in and have fellowship with you. That is, even now, God is pouring into you, speaking to you, gifting you, through his Spirit. The drama of this life is that God is speaking to us, and the question that hangs in the balance is, shall we listen?