Introduction

This is a series of devotional reflections centered around different passages of Scripture. The aim is to call us as God’s people to spiritual awakening. By that I mean several different things:

• By “awakening” I mean that I don’t believe we are really awake. There is so much more of the reality of God that we can sleep-walk past. We can ask how we got here (and sometimes we need to), but we can and must ask God how we move forward…
• By “call” I mean that this is not just a reflection but a summons. There are many passages in the scriptures, particularly prophetic ones, that urge us forwards. I want us to feel afresh the power and pressure of these passages in our present, often passive, state.
• By “spiritual” I mean that this is not meant to be an outward appearance of awakening, but that it should be real, practical and sincere
• By “spiritual” I also mean that we need to awaken to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives in all the depth and clarity that He brings. This doesn’t necessarily mean copying the outward style of any particular Holy Spirit-oriented church tradition, but rather it means awakening to the reality of His presence and power
• I am also semi-consciously reflecting the title of a book by D A Carson that I really appreciate “A call to spiritual reformation”. That book was focused on prayer and I hope that the outcome for those who read this book will be that they respond to God in prayer. To this end I’ve included a suggested prayer at the end of each section. This is a starting point: my hope is that we will go beyond these starting points and wrestle with God, pleading with Him that He would awaken us.

I would encourage you then, to open your heart to the Lord, be prepared to be vulnerable, and dive in to what it would really mean for Him to awaken us!