There is also spiritual sleep. Notice Ephesians 5:14: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead." This verse is often spoken to sinners, but it was not written to sinners. Ephesians was never written to sinners. It is not a message to sinners at all, but a message to one of the best churches in the New Testament. Yet the writer says, "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Some of the Ephesians were in a somnolent condition; that is, they were morally good but unenlightened. They were religious but unanointed. It is perfectly possible for a good, faithful, loyal church member to be spiritually asleep—being in a spiritual state that parallels natural sleep. When your husband, your wife, your child, your relative, your friend or you go to sleep tonight, the fact that you are unconscious and out of the running for a while is not bothering you. You know that normally you will wake up again. You are not dead, but you are cut off from your environment, all but that which is reflex—breathing and a few other things. Likewise it is possible to be a Christian, to be in the church and yet be asleep spiritually. Then you have to be wakened suddenly. You will probably be ashamed of yourself, angry with yourself, frustrated and disconcerted and say, "What's the matter with me" All this time I was almost awake, but not quite."

A.W. Tozer's materials are a mainstay in Evangelical churches in our day and he is one of the most quoted authors. He was a prophet in his day and his writings are even more influential in our day. One of his books: The Pursuit of God, has had over 1 million copies sold world-wide.

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer

Responding to the Wake-Up Call

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. § That I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. § The righteousness of God [is] through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. § I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light … Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them … All things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” See then that you walk circumspectly.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Evening Daily Light

 Let us put on the armor of light. 

It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. § Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. § Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you your- selves be like men who wait for their master.

 Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. 

Ephesians 5:11-21This chapter is a call to Christ like living. "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children" is its keynote. This means that sin is to be avoided. There are vices that are not even to be named by those who belong to Christ; they are so vile, so loathsome. It is a black list, indeed, that is given in the fifth verse - people who have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Perhaps we do not draw rigidly enough, the line that divides between the things of God and the things of the evil one.Our passage starts with an exhortation which calls for uncompromising separation from all unholy things. "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." We know what works of darkness are. All sin is of darkness. It shuns the light. It hides away out of sight. It lurks in the shadows. Everything that is contrary to God's commandments, is a work of darkness. A Christian is to live a pure and holy life. But more than this - he is not even to have fellowship with the works of darkness; he is not to have anything to do with them. He lives in a different world, a world whose atmosphere is the love and the holiness of Christ.The reason for this counsel is frankly given. "For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret." It would stain our lips even to tell of these vile things! A disciple of Christ should never allow himself to mention impure things or to think of them. He should never permit his ears to hear unclean stories. Books and newspapers which describe vile resorts and the deeds that are done in them - are not fit to be put into the hands of those who are following Christ. They leave a trail of foulness wherever they go. A godly man in his old age said that when he was very young, another boy drew him aside one day into a secret place and, opening a book, showed him a vile picture. He glanced at it only for a moment - but it left a blotch on his memory, like a stain on a white garment. All the fifty years he had lived since that hour he had not been able to forget that moment's unholy glance. We cannot keep ourselves too carefully from all fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.The call to awake implies that the state of sin is a state of moral death. "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead." People living without Christ resent the suggestion that they are dead. They claim to be very much alive, indeed. Many of them are full of ambition and are in the very forefront of the world's leaders. They are active in business. They are high in the ranks of society. They wear badges of honor won in life's arena. They think the meek and lowly people are the dead people - those who do not seem to care for earth's prizes. But as God looks down upon men, those are dead - who do not know Him, who are unconscious of the spiritual realities about them, who live only for this world. Especially are those dead who are living in sin and for pleasure - dead while they live! The voice of God calls over all such, as Christ called at the door of the grave of Lazarus, bidding them awake from the dead.The next exhortation is a call to walk with eyes wide open. "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise." The way is full of danger. He is very foolish indeed, who goes carelessly through this world. Yet there are many who seem never to have a serious thought about life. They never try to avoid the temptations that beset them. They have no sense of responsibility. They walk as if blind into all manner of temptations.Another lesson is the value of opportunity. "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Everyone's path is filled with blessings from heaven - but we must watch for them and take them as they come, or we shall miss them altogether. Youth is a time of special opportunities. If it is wasted, it never can be redeemed afterwards.There is a strong lesson here against drunkenness. "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." A glass of wine may seem very harmless as it sparkles on the table - but what "debauchery" is in it! This picture of the evil, the shame, the strife, the trouble, the harm - which the wine cup contains, needs no filling out.A wise oriental sheik mentioned to a young Arab prince, from whom he was about to part, a list of crimes and bade him choose the one which seemed least harmful. The young prince turned in horror from murder, theft, immorality - and told the patriarch that he would choose intemperance. "You have chosen that," said the wise old man, "which will bring you all the rest!"There is always danger in wine. There still are some Christian people who claim the privilege of using it on their tables and on other occasions. But they do not know what they are doing, how unwisely they are acting, what possibilities of harm there are in what seems to them such a pleasant and innocent habit. Our nature craves stimulation, and this, men tell us, they find, when they are jaded and weary, in the wine cup. But Paul says that there is a better way - instead of being drunk with wine - be filled with the Spirit, he says. There is debauchery in wine - but in the Spirit are all pure, holy and heavenly aspirations. If we would let the divine Spirit into our heart we should have such satisfying, such filling of the life, as would give us deep and blessed joy, the joy in which there is no bitterness.

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

Ephesians 5:11-21

A Call to Christ like Living

For Reading and Meditation:      Colossians 1:1-14Yesterday we saw that when we make it a goal to hunger and thirst after happiness, we get nowhere, but when we make it our goal to hunger and thirst after righteousness, we get everywhere. Once again Jesus touches on an aspect of good mental health when He teaches us through these words to focus on right goals. Those who study human behaviour tell us that everything we do has a goal. "We are not conditioned animals that act automatically and unthinkingly in programmed response," says a psychologist, "' neither are we the hapless victims of internal forces that drive us relentlessly in unwanted directions." It may sometimes feel as if we do things we don't want to do, but the truth is that everything we do represents an effort to reach a goal that somehow, albeit at an unconscious level, makes sense. In fact, one of the ways in which you can better understand why you do the things you do is to ask yourself: What's my goal? A woman I once counselled and who was extremely frustrated because her husband would not change to meet her requirements said to me: "My husband is so stubborn and obstinate that I just can't see any future for us together." I shared with her the concept that everything we do represents a goal, and asked her to put into words what she thought her goal might be in her marriage. Without a moment's hesitation she replied: "To change my husband." Her daily prayer was: "Lord, You love my husband and I'll change him." I suggested she altered her goal to: "Lord, You change my husband and I'll love him." She did, and instantly found a new freedom - and a new happiness in her marriage. O Father, I see what I need - I need to bring my goals in line with Your goals. Unfold more of this important truth to me as I pursue it over the next few days. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Ephesians 5:1-16</li><li>Romans 6:4</li><li>2 Corinthians 5:7</li><li>Galatians 5:16</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How are we to live?</li><li>Do you make the most of every opportunity?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way '" (v. 10) 

For Reading and Meditation:      1 Peter 3:13-22As Christians we ought never to forget that the message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the understanding; it enables us to understand life. Because of the Bible, we are able to give a reason for the hope that is within us. The psalmist found the truth of this. In the sanctuary he discovered an explanation for the way that he felt. He was not given a temporary lift that would stay with him for a few hours or a few days - he was given a solution that would stay with him for the rest of his life. It was this, in fact, that caused him to write the psalm we are focusing upon day by day. The words: "Then I understood their final destiny" (Psalm 73:17) suggest that previously he had not been thinking correctly. He had been seeing things from a partial and incomplete perspective, but now "in the sanctuary" he began to see the whole picture: "Then I understood". When? Then - when he came into the sanctuary. There is a line in one of Matthew Arnold's writings that goes like this: "Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole." What a delightful phrase this is. Nothing can be more wonderful than to see life steadily and to see it whole. Much of the inner turmoil we go through in life comes about because we do not see life as a whole. Prejudice has been defined as "seeing only what you want to see". People who are prejudiced say: "I have always seen it that way." That's their problem - their eyes are fixed on just one facet of an issue and they will not allow themselves to look at the other sides. O Father, help me, for I don't want to be in bondage to prejudice or bigotry - I want to see life whole. We must work this issue out together over these next few days, for apart from You I can do nothing. Help me, Father. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Ephesians 5:1-20</li><li>2 Timothy 1:8</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>How are we to speak to ourselves?</li><li>What did Paul admonish Timothy?</li></ul></div></div>

" Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have " (v. 15) 

14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Ephesians 5:14

 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

In 1604, King James I of England authorized that a new translation of the Bible into English be started. It was finished in 1611, just 85 years after the first translation of the New Testament into English appeared (Tyndale, 1526). The Authorized Version, or King James Version, quickly became the standard for English-speaking Protestants. Its flowing language and prose rhythm has had a profound influence on the literature of the past 400 years. The King James Version present on the Bible Gateway matches the 1987 printing. The KJV is public domain in the United States.

OT: Masoretic Text, some LXX and Vulgate influence.
NT: Textus Receptus, similar to the Byzantine text-type; some readings derived from the Vulgate.
Apocrypha: Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate.

Ephesians 5:14 KJV

Ephesians 5:14 KJV

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