The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! (Romans 13:12, The Message)
A few years ago, in my quest to study the lioness, I read books and articles and watched DVDs, documentaries, and even YouTube clips in order to observe lionesses in different settings, stages, and interactions. One documentary followed the resettlement of two lionesses and one lion into a newly designated reserve in South Africa. After a particularly tense sequence, the narrator said something that got my attention: “There’s nothing more dangerous than being in the presence of lions when they are fully awake.”
The lioness is dangerous when she is fully awake.
What about us? What would happen if we were dangerous and fully awake?
Then and only then would we pose any threat to the darkness that holds so many around us captive.
As Romans 13:12 says, we must wake up, rise up, remember who we are, and confront the evil in this world with light. When you are awake to what God is doing, then you will know what you are to do. The time for lingering is over. It is time to be up and about. The alarm went off hours ago!
Far too many of us are discouraged, sedated, or sadly unaware of what’s really going on in the world. Could this be because for far too long we have heard a tranquilizing, escapist gospel that motivates very few to save the lost?
We are not our own; we are God’s. We’re a holy people set apart for Him and His purposes. We are not some group of straggling, struggling, fatherless refugees who are overcome by sin and wondering if there is a God. We are the collective body of Christ, and as such we are destined for triumph, victory, and signs and wonders.
We are truly frightening to our enemy. He has done everything in his power to contain us. But God did not reveal Himself as limitless in order to limit us. Quite the contrary. He wants to put His heart within us.
How will you respond when you are fully, dangerously awake? Even now, what is stirring in your heart? Allow the Holy Spirit to awaken you to what He is doing. Only then will we walk in the purposes God has called us to.
Adapted from Lioness Arising: Wake Up and Change Your World (WaterBrook Press, 2010) by Lisa Bevere.
