Do you ever wonder why you hear about miraculous healings and powerful moves of God happening in other countries, but not in America? Stories of thousands responding to the Gospel and the Holy Spirit transforming the hearts of men, but it’s somewhere else. Often, when my husband and I hear about these things, we wonder, “Why not in America? Why not here?”
Comfort.
Everything about going to sleep has to do with comfort, from the cozy bed to the fluffy pillows to the warm comforter. Spiritually, the natural comforts in our country have put us to sleep. There is danger in the self-sufficiency and independence of the American Dream. Meeting your own needs comes with a “god complex”, and living in comfort leaves you spiritually vulnerable to pride, laziness, selfishness, and independence from God.
People in other countries are living desperate—they need real help and real answers. They are hopeless, helpless, and humble, acutely aware of their inability to meet their own needs. Here in America, we have everything we need.
Some of my most growing times in my relationship with Jesus have been my most desperate times. The times where I don’t have an answer. Where I’m pushed beyond my limits, and I desperately depend on God. That’s when He always comes through for me, and I grow the most. You want to see miracles happen? Then you’ll be put in desperate circumstances in which you need to see a miracle.
But here in America, we don’t need miracles. We need overpriced lattes, Netflix, and our favorite entertainment. Don’t touch our entertainment. “Yes Jesus, we will give up everything to follow You; except for Harry Potter, Taylor Swift, & football.”
Entertainment is an idol. It is a cheap counterfeit for the true satisfaction of living out the Christian life in oneness, unity, and intimacy with God (John 17). We have watered down not only the Gospel, but the power of the Christian life. There is power in purity, and instead of denying self and getting to God, people are drinking from broken cisterns (Jer. 2:13). They mix God with the world and call compromise, “entertainment.”
“Your Christian life will only go as far as your prayer life.” –Derek Prince
And how many Americans fail to pray. And not only fail to pray, but fail to pray in faith, believing for what they ask for in prayer.
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” –John 9:41
As a nation, we claim to have the Gospel, claim to be a Christian nation, claim to see. Yet we are so blind and so guilty before God. Like the Pharisees, we have no need for God… including those who call themselves Christians.
What will it take for America to wake up? To wake up to the desperate and dying world that needs Jesus? To wake up to its own need for salvation? That’s the problem. We are too self-sufficient and independent with our Amazon, Instacart, and Grubhub. Everything we “need” at our fingertips. But add to that YouTube, Social Media, and every other distraction to keep your mind comfortable and entertained and you’ve got a country full of sleepwalkers. No one wants to wake up from the American Dream. The American dream has lulled us right out of relationship and subjection to the One True God. When you tell people Jesus died to save them their response is, “I don’t need a Savior.”
The effects of comfort are pervasive. I heard it said once by a Christian from a persecuted country, “There is a Satanic lullaby over America and all the Christians are sleepy.”
The question is, do you want to wake up?
If you do, it will cost you your comfort. Require you to do things you don’t like doing, like fasting for example. You will have to give up certain music, tv shows, and time spent on worthless things, even if those things aren’t inherently evil. God can require us to give up neutral things just because He wants our time and attention somewhere else. Freedom. It will cost you your earthly freedom in order to gain a spiritual freedom far beyond your comprehension.
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” –Galatians 5:13
So I’ll ask you again, do you want to wake up? If so, radical surrender is the only requirement.
“‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” –Ephesians 5:14-16
“You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” –1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Life Is Beauty-full 