Are you awake? Ephesians 5:11-14

Are you awake? Ephesians 5:11-14

Patricia Ann, originally posted on Monday, October 26, 2015

Are you awake? 
Ephesians 5:11-14,  Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible — and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.” 
 
Jim Rome, an acquaintance from Facebook wrote:  "I like what Jesus teaches. Hell was not created for man [though some will be there] BUT it was prepared for the Devil and his angels."
(Matthew 25:41) Then He will say to those at His left hand, Be gone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

This verse in the Bible tells us clearly how much God loves us. He wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
Do we really know how much God loves us?
 
We have learned, obviously, that God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sinfulness. 
How many of us stop each day and think about that?
How many of us take each day for granted?
How many of us choose to wallow in our own selfishness and self-pity because our troubles and our own pain must be bigger and more important than anyone else’s?
God loves us so much that He gave us His words to live by in the Bible. 

Phillipians 4:8 is one Scripture that helps us to remember how to live each day. 
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.

When we take the focus off of ourselves and our pain and troubles and focus on God and His rules for living, we begin to feel better about our situations and ourselves. 
Just look at all that God has created in this world for us to enjoy.
His creation is nothing short of awesome… from the tiniest of living creatures to the giant Sequoia trees in California that stretch towards Heaven and everything in between… God created it for His enjoyment… for our enjoyment and when we enjoy His creation… He enjoys us.
And when we look up into the sky at night and see the vastness of His universe… stars and galaxies, we should stand in awe of who He is and how big He is and oh, how small we are… yet how much He loves us in that He created such beauty for us to enjoy with Him. 
And even more than all the beauty He created that we look at with our eyes or feel with our touch, He created each of us for His enjoyment and to love each of us individually as a unique child of His very own.
 
Do you know how much God loves you?
Do you know… that He knit you in your mother’s womb?
Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in Your book
before one of them came to be.
 
He knows the numbers of hair on your head? 
Luke 12:7
Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
 
He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you?
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

He has plans to keep you from evil?
Psalm 121 :5-7 
The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. 
 
Do you know that He loves you so much that He gives you the choice to choose a relationship with Him or to choose the ways of this world?
Do you know that when you turn from Him and His ways He waits anxiously for your return?

Luke 15:11 (NIV)
The Parable of the Lost Son:
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.
The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

This is how God feels when we have fallen away from Him and we return feeling unworthy and sinful, confessing these things to our Father. 
He celebrates our return home to Him and the Angels in Heaven rejoice!
 
Do you know He chose us for greatness in this world?
Our Father in Heaven chose us, picked us before the foundation of the world that we would be Holy, consecrated and set apart for Him. 
No matter what we go through, what bad choices we have made or where they have taken us, God has already said that we are great… you are great! There is no such thing as failure or I can’t go on. You are hand picked by God since before birth, destined for greatness and to bring Him glory… to know Him, be one with Him and feel His great love for you.
Ephesians 1:4-6
For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One He loves.
Our future is predestined in His love, all we have to do is step aside (get out of our own way) and walk into it. 
 
When people ask why God would send people to Hell, the answer truly is that it was never His purpose and it isn’t

His intent.
Hell is meant for the devil and his angels just as Scripture tells us in Matthew 25:41.
"Then He will say to those at His left hand, Be gone from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!"
 
It is the devil who creates strife in our lives, who causes torment and pain. He even lurks about like a wolf in sheep's clothing to deceive us into making unwise decisions that can affect our God appointed destiny, but only for a time…

a season.
 
 “Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”
 
Our God loves us beyond what our minds can comprehend.
  
His love is awesome, and when we look towards Him, never taking our eyes off of our Father in Heaven, we have the opportunity to feel Who He is in us, His great love, His destiny for our lives.
It is my prayer that we stop getting caught up in the every day occurrences of life and just take the time to seek our Father in Heaven as He anxiously awaits our voice calling to him not only in times of trouble, but in praise and worship.

It is my prayer that we all figure out that it is His love for us that truly matters, for without Him we are nothing… we were nothing and with Him we are destined for greatness!  
Praise God for He is good!  May all who read this message be abundantly blessed by our Father and bring

glory to His name.