STAY AWAKE TO STAY ALIVE
Luke 6:6-16”1Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. 8 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand here.” And he arose and stood. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?”[a] 10 And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man,[b] “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.[c] 11 But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
There should be times if you call yourself a Christian, and you want to move up, you want to be a favorite of God, a divine favorite , a divine champion that you need to put your sleep away, stay awake, pray and wait upon the Lord. There are times when certain things that are important; for example important decisions are to be made that you need to forget sleep and pray to God. Most situations in our lives may require us to forget sleep and stay or keep vigil so that we may move up to fulfill our destinies on earth. It may be a time of critical need or crises in life and there is a need to pray through over situations of life. It may be a time of corporate prayer vigil as a family or with a group of believers or with others in your church, when such opportunity arises, you should take advantage of it and stay awake through the night to seek the face of the Lord. Hebrews 11:6 says “6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Our God is still a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He is the same yesterday, today and forever more.
Jesus Christ; our Lord and Savior, our role model here on earth did this many times. In our reading this morning, there were two events that were recorded against the background of our Lord Jesus going to a mountain alone to pray all night. The first was as a result of a powerful miracle that he performed in the Synagogue on another Sabbath day. That means that He already had at least another controversy with the Jews about the Sabbath. (Mark 3:1-7). Jesus scored two victories on this particular event. He scored a victory over the agents of the devil that called themselves Scribes and Pharisees. In verse 7 the Bible says they were watching Him, looking for opportunity to destroy Him. According to them, no healing could be done on the Sabbath, healing to them means practicing medicine and no one is allowed to practice his or her profession on Sabbath. They were more concern about laws that should not be broken and activities that should not be done than freedom from bondage, poverty and in this case freedom from pains and sufferings as a result of sickness and inability to do anything with a hand that is already deformed by the devil. They were more concern about negatives than positives. They were saying because of laws, nobody was supposed to be healed on Sabbath day.
They were more concerned about what people should not do even if it was good rather than advancing the kingdom of God. They believed that their way was the only way, their religious systems had all the answers and so could not accept Jesus because He did not fit into their system. Any system that does not accept Jesus Christ or could not accommodate Him is bound to fail, it is just a matter of time.
We thank God that Jesus was more concerned about doing positive things and doing good and helping those that are in need. Jesus said in verse 5 of our text that He is the Lord of the Sabbath; that is He has authority to overrule the Scribes and the Pharisees’ traditions and regulations because He created the Sabbath, a Creator is always and will always be greater than the creation. Because Jesus had the spiritual gifts of knowledge and discernment, he knew their thoughts and asked them “Is Sabbath a day of doing good or doing evil, is it a day of saving lives or destroying lives? They could not say anything because they were already defeated. The true will of God for Sabbath day is to do good not evil. When you can help someone on Sabbath day and you refuse to do it, that is evil, if you have an opportunity to save life on Sabbath and you refuse to, that is evil. To hold to a rigid letter of law when good can be done is never the true intent of any of God’s laws. God’s laws are always for the best good of all, they are just and holy laws. No day should be a lord over man or put a man under bondage. Man should be the Lord of the Sabbath and be free to do good on this day. This was the first victory that the Lord Jesus scored on that day.
Also on that day, He scored another victory by healing the man whose hand is withered. He won a victory over sickness, pains, deformity, paralysis, disability and every work of darkness on that day. Because Jesus healed that man, it means if you have any disability, He can heal you too. God will heal you totally today in Jesus name.
One would have expected that after such powerful victories, Jesus would have relaxed as many of us would like to relax after the victories that God NOT US have recorded during the “BOG” program. Not one person, at least 2 people suggested that this is too much, can we have some days off, some Bible study days, some prayers off to relax after this powerful encounter with the Lord, and I responded no. We were told after this that immediately after these victories, Jesus went out to a mountain to pray, not for vacation, and not just simple, one hour prayer, the Bible says He prayed all night long, throughout the night. The people of the world has seized this and they have turned it to their own advantage “Lionel Ritche sang we will party all night long” someone else sang “tonight is going to be something, everything is going to be alright”
So after winning a victory, do not relax, the Bible says the enemies of Jesus were filled with madness, rage because of good deed, Satan is not happy that we had victories last month during the Breath of God, he is filled with rage and madness and will remain in sorrow, madness and rage over your situation in Jesus name. Jesus by doing good exposed the hatred of their hearts, ironically, the hatred combined with their zeal for their so called traditions drove them to plot murder; an act that was clearly against their law. Jesus did not relax after winning a victory, please do not relax. Tell your brother or sister beside you, please do not relax.
The second event that was sandwiched between the time Jesus prayed all night was the chosen of the twelve. Apparently, many people have been following Jesus at this time and it was time to choose the inner caucus, the inner circle, those to be promoted, those to become apostles and the Bible says He prayed all night. When an important decision is about to be made, please pray all night, it will worth it. With an all night prayers, one devil still managed to slipped in, what if He did not pray at all? Jesus said, I have chosen you the twelve, and is still one of you a devil?
Also when our Lord faced the cross at Calvary, He prayed all night long. In Matthew 26 from verse 36 and Luke 22 from verse 39, we read about how Jesus agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane. He alone went to pray on the mountain and he asked His disciples to be praying as well, the Bible says for three times when he checked them, they were sleeping, why? Because it was night. However Jesus was telling them that keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation” Brethren, there is a need for us to keep watch and pray during the night so that we will not fall into temptation. The Spirit is willing but the body is weak, one way to strengthen the body is through an all night prayers. You will be strengthened in Jesus name.
David in his life time prayed all night many times.
Psalms 22:2, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent. NKJV
Psalms 42:5-8, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and 6 my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you—even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. 7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. 8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. NLT
Psalm 119: 145- 148, I pray with all my heart; answer me, LORD! I will obey your decrees. 146 I cry out to you; rescue me, that I may obey your laws. 147 I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words. 148 I stay awake through the night, thinking about your promise. NLT
Psalm 13:3; “Consider and hear me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
In other words there is a sleep of death, when you are supposed to be praying and you are sleeping, that is a sleep of death. You remember Jonah, you will not experience a sleep of death in Jesus name.
Examples abound in the scriptures of people who stayed awake in the night so as to fellowship with God and seek His face. They all come out with a great reward.
In Genesis 15:5-6 and 17-18, God called Abraham out to seek His face one night and in the process of doing that God gave him the promise that his children will be like stars of heaven in multitude. He saw those stars because he tarried in the night to be in the presence of God.
The Passover was instituted for the children of Israel in the night. That night they killed the Passover Lambs and applied the blood on their door posts. While they were carrying out this spiritual exercise in the night, the angel of death went out to destroy all the firstborn of their adversaries and they were liberated from age-long bondage. It is time for you to attend night vigils, or do your own night vigils, to stay awake in the night for the hand of the Lord to free you from all afflictions of your life.
Esther and the children of Israel fasted and prayed for three days and three nights and God gave them favor with the king of Persia, because of the praying and fasting not just for three days, but for three nights as well, God delivered His people from destruction that was planned for them.
If you do not know any of the story above, you must have heard about the story of Jacob who was facing his arch enemy; Esau with an army of 400 men in Genesis 32, he wrestled with God and it was in the night, all night long, what gifts cannot do, what simple prayers cannot do, all night prayers did it.
The story of how my uncle (Prof. Adewuyi got a scholarship to come to United States in the 70s.
Jesus our supreme example prayed and continued all night in prayer to God as we have read in our text. It is time for you to start attending night vigils, all prayer meetings that are being organized. Miracle meetings, deliverance meetings anointing meetings are all very good. But if that is all that you are looking for you may not get it, but because God is a merciful God, He may still do that miracle in your life, but for you to keep and sustain that miracle; you need to be persistent in both the prayers in the day and in the night. This Friday, there will be a night vigil, I want you to be there and pray to God. This is the time that we anoint for healing and deliverance, it is also the time that we eat the Holy Communion and we pray this time not all night long, but till around 2am. I want you to stay awake in the presence of God and pray this Friday/Saturday night and the Lord will hear your voice and give you and also keep and sustain your great deliverance. You will not sleep the sleep of death in Jesus name.
Let us rise
Prayers:
1. Give thanks to God because He answers prayers both night and day. What if He decides He will only answer prayers in the night, what can you do, let us thank God that He answers prayers at all times.
2. AF, let Your Holy Spirit come upon me, let Him lead me and strengthen me to pray both day and night and to pray through every situation and circumstance of my life.
3. AF, deliver me from every challenge that will not allow me to pray both day and night in Jesus name.
