Awake, O Sleeper!

“We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ” -Romans 8:37

It’s funny how some phrases or experiences stick in your mind years after they happened. I’ll never forget one of my favorite professors asking a group of discouraged students how we were doing. One student responded quickly, “Under the circumstances, I’m surviving.”

My professor’s response was quick, humorous, and memorable: “Under the circumstances? What are you doing under there?” He wasn’t lacking compassion; he was reminding us that as followers of Jesus, we don’t have to live “under the circumstances.”

If there’s ever a time to remember that we are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us,” it’s now; it’s the Easter celebration!

• Death has been swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:54)
• The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead now lives in us. (Rom. 8:11)
• Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. (Rom 8:39)

Unfortunately, we tend to nonchalantly sing those truths a bit better than we live them.

In reality, it’s easy to get ground down by months and months of living in a COVID-19 world and all that’s come with it. Over time, we simply start “living under the circumstances.” The return of old bad habits, unhealthy coping mechanisms, relational conflict, and spiritual laziness have taken root in all of us to some degree during this global pandemic.

But we don’t have to live “under the circumstances”! Scripture says, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” (Ephesians 5:14)

This passage is written to Christians! Sometimes we all need to be awakened, to be stirred, to be shaken, to be called back to vigilance, to remember WHO WE ARE in Christ, and to live out this NEW LIFE with zeal and power and passion.

I want to personally provide you (and your loved ones) with a resource and specific game plan to shake off the lethargy, the bad habits, the discouragement, and the spiritual barnacles and emotional barriers that have accumulated over the past several pandemic months.

That’s my goal for this letter and the Coffee Break audio. If you need a jump start, a shot of spiritual adrenaline to get back on track—or simply feel spiritually stuck and need to experience God’s power and presence in a fresh way—I invite you, and your friends and family, to join me for the next Daily Discipleship with Chip. You can start right now—today!

I will meet with you personally. We will walk through Ephesians 4 together in a way that will inspire, encourage, and help you . . .

• Discover why so many Christians get “spiritually stuck.”
• Learn day by day and little by little specific ways to ignite your spiritual passion.
• Break out of a destructive lifestyle.
• Practice the secret of “making changes” that last a lifetime.

I’ll share short excerpts from my new book Yes, You Really Can Change via audio each day to reinforce our mentoring time together.

For God to do a Great Work in this season of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty in our world, He must first awaken, stir, shake, and transform us.

God must work deeply in us before He can work significantly through us.

Let’s refuse to “live under the circumstances” any longer and encourage one another to love and do good works, as the writer of Hebrews exhorts us. (10:24–25)

God is working in powerful ways (as you’ll hear in the Coffee Break audio), and He is inviting us to join Him.

Making a difference together,

Chip Ingram
CEO and Teaching Pastor, Living on the Edge

P.S. To get started with Daily Discipleship with Chip, go to LivingontheEdge.org/Daily or to the Chip Ingram app.