WHAT DOES SLEEP MEAN TO YOU

THE MESSAGE NOW
Vol. 2, No. 52 – Monday, 25th December, 2017

(Gen.2:21, Prov.6:1-11)
WHAT DOES SLEEP MEAN TO YOU

A blessing-filled merry Christmas to everyone, in Jesus name. I pray that the joy of Christmas will become the daily experience of everyone. Just as there is no genuine Christmas without the complete story about Christ in it, so also there can be no complete and lasting joy in a man without Christ in his/her soul. Therefore, to have this Christmas joy on a daily basis, you must be saved and be committed to Christ and His will in every way.

With this, I welcome everyone to the end of an era. Do you remember that at the end of 2015 part of the prophecies was that in 2016 there was going to be a dearth that is, scarcity and expensivity of certain food items.

At about the month of November in 2016, the Lord indicated to us that the year 2017 was going to be an entirely different year in terms of groceries – food items, their prices and their availability.

If you countenance 2017 as being better than 2016, then get ready for a much bigger celebration in 2018; it is a year of fulfilment and great financial grace.

26th December 2017 is another momentous day on Prophecy Of The Future Days Foretold about 2018. Please, endeavour to be there.

In the meantime, today’s edition of our weekly magazine focuses on sleep. As is commonly defined, sleep is a major form of rest. All definitions about this subject agree that sleep is good and necessary.

Indeed, biblical account informs us that God is the originator of sleep (Gen.2:21). But understand certain realities about sleep to the extent that:
Engaging in a moment of sleep must not be without a definite purpose.

For example, everything about creation was commenced and completed without a single moment of sleep until there was a need for it by the Almighty. The sharp but equally troubling contrasting about the originator of sleep is that this Originator has never for a moment blinked His eyes in sleep.

Yet, the same Almighty caused man to fall into a sleep. What a paradox? Psalm 121:3-4 informs:
‘3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep’.

So, why is the Almighty never on holiday in the land of sleep but allowed Adam (the first man) to sleep? The answer is straight: (a) the mind of man is often too busy; as such sleep is a major medium through which the Almighty can communicate with man (Job 33:13-16).

For man, sleep is a major manufacturer of visions and dreams. The instructions of the Almighty often comes to man when man is unconscious especially the man with the noisy heart. For God, He is all-knowing and needn’t any sleep, visions or dreams.

Thus there is but only one conclusion to be drawn from the foregoing; any sleep without a defined purpose is the sleep of a fool (Psalm 13:3). For purpose is the sole driver of vision. If a purposeless sleep is the sleep of a fool or ‘sleep of death’ as the Bible puts it, then the sleeper of a purposeless sleep cannot accomplish the same feat of success as a purposeful sleeper.

Speaking very frankly, 2017 is a containment of a total of 8760 hours being a non-leap year of 365 days. Anyone who has enjoyed consistent sleep for about 8 hours per day (that is from 10 PM to 6 AM) in 2017 has expended a total of 2920 hours in sleeping in the outgoing year. 2920 hours means that such a sleeper has expended a total of 121.66 (approximately 121.7) days out of 365 days in sleep alone.

If this statistics sufficiently aligns with how you expended 2017, can you answer the questions below with every sense of honesty? (a) was 2017 truly an eventful year for you? (b) was it a watershed? (c) what success feat did you attain in 2017?

If your response to these four questions are in the negative, then I cannot refrain from informing you that your year 2017 was not just a waste, but you who caused it to end up in a waste, is a greater waste than the wasted year.

Hear this: parts of what wasted you and your wasted year is your commitment to purposeless sleep as well as your focus on attaining perhaps only one thing which you considered most important.

If achieving only one thing for the entire year was your target in 2017, then what a queer person you are. It means in 2017 you focused your mind in only one direction: (a) I must get a car this year, (b) I must get married this year. (c) I must be promoted in that office this year.

Ask yourself very sincerely how much such singular target clouded your vision from every other great vision? By the way how many of your singular targets did you meet in 2017? Doesn’t it follow the path of wisdom that all of one’s energy should not be poured out on only a singular vision or target?

Ah! dearly beloved, my definition of sleep is miles different from the general viewpoint. For me, sleep is the known friend and the undiscovered enemy of man depending on the turn of attitude turned towards it.

For me, night is a continuation of day. As such, it is not meant for sleep only. Did you wake up for an hour on each night in 2017 to pray? Did you rise out of bed to sing praise to the Great I Am?

Did you try to think through and develop any personal skills (say, music, writing, reading, drawing, fishing, different style of playing football, distinct way of platting people’s hair, motivational speech making, adding colour to your evangelism style) during any nights in 2017? Why are you where you are?

There is no law which says nights must be expended in sleeping. Psalm 6:6 informs:
‘6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears’.

Agreed, verse 7 of this same Scripture informs us about the reason for the Psalmist’s sleepless night. But apart from this, there is a lesson to be learnt from the Psalmist. Unarguably, the Psalmist was a man with an ability for controlling his sleep (see again, Psalm 13:3 in comparison with 6:6).

Control as used in this context is a clear reference to discipline. In spite of the fact that nights and sleep are periods of rest, they nevertheless require control. Anything worth doing without checks is worth but nothing and is not result-oriented.

The fact remains that men who staunchly see nights and sleep as being strictly synonymous with rest only have conditioned their hearts and minds to so believe and cannot achieve so much in life. Any passing night without a record of some success is an abused night full of purposeless sleep.

As a continuation of day, the day breaks from the night. No day ever breaks from itself. Daybreak is never 6, 7 or 8AM. Rather, daybreak means the hour of the night when your day’s activities begin.

This can be by 4AM or earlier with prayer followed with reading, internet research and the day’s chores. Christians! Do we realise that the Islamic faith (the greatest antagonist of our faith) encourages their followers to rise as early as 5AM?

Are we aware that the most of these followers never miss this hour? Is it not time to petition the Spirit of the Lord Jesus to stand as our alarm jingle during every night? Will you sleep in 2018 the same way you slept in 2017?

If yes, then you are just about to begin another year 2017 in 2018. I hear you say God forbid. Indeed, I pray God forbid.

IN THE END, THE BEST OF ANY LIFE IS A DETERMINATION OF THE BEST EFFORT AND ALLOWANCE ACCORDED TO DISCIPLINE AND SELF-REDEFINITION BY THAT LIFE. THE RESULT ONE MAKES OUT OF ANYTHING IS THE PRIOR AND/OR CONTINUING MEANING GIVEN BY THAT PERSON TO THAT THING. SO, WHAT DOES SLEEP MEAN TO YOU AFTER READING THIS PIECE?

Altar call: Backslidden – living in sin – needing fresh recommitment (say):
Christ Jesus, You are the Anointed One of the Most High. I come to you today as I am. In your mercy, help me out of my situation. Heal my soul, my spirit, my body, my life and my destiny. I acknowledge you as the only true lover of my soul. Please, deliver me on every side and save me through and through. I promise from the depth of my soul to be yours from henceforth, in Jesus name. Help me now O God. Be my Lord, my Saviour and my all in all from this day. Thank you Lord (read Psalm 54 in closing and pray more).

Hymn: Take My Life And Let It Be

Pray now:
1. O dear God, reform and refine my life to meet my purpose for living.
2. O darts and arrows of sleep, depart from my system today.
3. I am going on to victory, I release all my remaining blessings in 2017.
4. I refuse the carry-over of any of my blessings this year into the new year.
5. I shall not fail God by reason of purposeless sleep.
6. I and my career/ministry are going forward in 2018.
7. O 2018, in you the voice of my destiny shall be heard and respected among the company of the greats.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONCE AGAIN.
Pastor Mike