There have only been a few times where the Lord had awakened me out of a deep sleep with a sound.
The first time was in 2014 when I heard the jingle / jangle of a door knob being turned and the sound of a door being opened. It was then that the Lord spoke to me about 2014 being an 'open door' year.
The second time was in 2015 when I was awakened by two, loud gun shots being fired back to back. Upon praying about that experience, the Lord warned me about 2015 being a year of trial for many people.
On Thursday night, October 29th, I was awakened by the sound of the remote to my TV being slammed on my night stand. Immediately, I asked the Lord what it meant. He replied, "Put away the distractions.”
Words fail to adequately describe the seriousness in the tone of the Lord’s voice.
It was both thunderous and full of power.
Just six days later on Wednesday night, November 4th, I was awakened again.
Only this time, however, I heard the sound of a hand loudly smacking a wall two times.
Immediately, the Lord said to me, “It’s urgent.”
Truthfully, I didn’t need Him to tell me the interpretation… I could feel ‘it’ in the sound.
It’s urgent that we put away whatever is distracting us from the upper room.
We cannot afford to allow the enemy to sidetrack us with peripheral things.
We must stay committed to pressing in for a greater baptism in the Spirit.
In fact, I felt like I heard the Lord say this to me just the other day: “If it’s distracting you from His face, it’s not properly nourishing you.”
There are so many temptations that are seeking to turn us away from what matters most right now.
There are so many things vying for our attention… so many rabbit holes to descend into.
I believe it’s because the enemy fears what happens in the upper room.
I believe he’s terrified of you and me being clothed with power from on high.
This is and must remain to be our greatest need in this hour.
I believe the reason why the Lord chose to wake me up from my sleep with those two experiences is found in this one fact alone: distraction puts us to sleep.
There’s a reason why the scripture says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead…” (see Ephesians 5:14).
When we are asleep inwardly, we are dead outwardly.
When we slumber within, we are no good without.
We are heading into very interesting days, guys.
We need a sound from heaven again… We need the sudden sound of a mighty rushing wind!
It's time to be alert. It's time to be sober. It's time to be vigilant for the purpose of prayer.
I can be exceedingly guilty of being on my phone more than I need to be. I can be the person who looks forward to the tv show I've been watching.
In fact, my wife's devotional this morning, November 11th, was about....
Wait for it…
‘Distractions’ and ‘urgency.’
I've said it before and I'll say it again: We are going to see the church pray more and talk less.
It's time to cry out.
It's time to make an outpouring of God’s Spirit our sole goal, purpose, and desire.
We need revival.
But we need to remember that there is no outpouring without an upper room.
Let’s say, ‘NO’ to distraction and ‘YES’ to Him.
Let’s say, ‘YES’ to seeking the promise of the Father (see Acts 1:4-5).
- Brian Connolly, Faith Like Birds
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