In Part 1, we talked about the idea of “waking up” to a growing sense of calling, purpose, even destiny for your life.  I had mentioned that I believe this must happen within the church even prior to a large scale revival, or global awakening takes place.  The reason I said that was because when the eyes and hearts of thousands and millions are opened to the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God’s “Plan A” for them is discipleship by those that truly know relationship and fulfillment in their new life in Christ.
 
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...” (Matthew 28:19–20)
 
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
 
In order for this to happen in mass, the church needs to be ready, reliable and awake!
 
God always leaves a remnant of believers.  The remnant are those that have not bowed their knee to any false idol.  They are God’s loyal soldiers.  In a world where ideological narrative seems to rule the day, the remnant are those not getting caught up in the arguments prevalent in the world, but are instead caught up in the mind and doings of their commander, King Jesus.
 
“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” (2 Timothy 2:4)
 
What we identify with will create our arguments.  Just look at the polar extremes and divisions in our country and around the world today and you’ll see what I mean.  Every day you turn on the TV or log into Twitter you enter a world of arguments where division exists.  And the arguments invoke tremendous emotion, creating almost addictive behavior.  In the arguments we lose sight of the person on the other end.  In the argument we find that defeating the other side is the ultimate thrill.  In the argument anyone who stands opposed to what we believe are dehumanized and labeled in our minds, giving us even more self-righteous conviction to brutalize them with our words.
 
I am not saying Christians aren’t to engage in debate and critical reasoning.  In fact we are encouraged to do so.  But we are not to get caught up in the trending issues of the world, make that our identity, climb those hills and die on them.  Instead, we are to be a people making our case, providing testimony and being witness to truth alone.  Truth is indeed the only place that we can all unite.
 
Jesus Christ is the Truth.  He is Truth!  “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32)
 
There is no bypassing the magnitude of this verse and what it means for our lives.  If we want to be free from being caught up in the arguments and ways of this world, our first and greatest allegiance must be to “know” the Truth.  Truth must be our best friend.  In other words, Jesus Christ is to be our greatest desire.
 
God reveals what He’s doing to His friends.  "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15)
 
Our social media world has truly distorted what being a friend means.  A friend in the traditional sense is someone you know, you trust, you spend time with.  It is someone you have affection for that goes deeper than shallow common interest and convenience.  True friendship is battle tested and wears the scars to prove it.  True friendship truly “knows” one another, knows what they are thinking and what they are doing.  If someone were to say something deceitful or untrue about your friend you would be the first to question it, stand up for them and speak on their behalf.
 
The bible states that in the end times there will be a lie so well accepted that it would deceive even the elect of God… if it were possible.  Those words “if it were possible” should give us real pause.  Is it possible for Christians, those filled with the Spirit of Truth, to be deceived along with the rest of the unbelieving world?
 
The answer is pretty profound.  We will be deceived only if we allow ourselves to be.  We have been given access, or more accurately, we are indwelled by truth itself, the Spirit of Truth.  Yet even as Adam and Eve walked with the Lord in His presence daily, they had a choice.  They had all the truth they needed available to them, walking with them, speaking tenderly and lovingly to them.  Being deceived was a choice made by surrendering personal responsibility to discern, in exchange for a plausible and self serving argument.
 
As Christians we often think that our choices each day are whether or not to sin.  And while there is truth to that statement, the greater choice is to know truth or reject truth, as God sees it.  Knowing truth is always a choice.  Or maybe it would be better to say not surrendering to deception is the choice.
 
Truth isn't always visible up front.  The Bible says we are to seek truth, pursue it, even reason together to find it.  But it has become almost a way of life for so many to simply accept what the loudest and most prolific voices are saying, without first doing due diligence to discern.
 
How quick are we to jump on the bandwagon of our familiar and "trusted" voices?  How quick are we to surrender our responsibility to discern, seek, ask questions, gather information and investigate before we start echoing the talking points we heard?
 
We are to hold to Truth as a soldier holds his ground.  God says our ground cannot be stolen by the enemy; however it can be surrendered to him. 
 
The book of 2 Corinthians says the battle for truth is fought and won in our minds.  Without asking questions, without investigating on our own and looking from other perspectives, we surrender the battle ground without even a struggle. (see 2 Corinth. 10)
 
Those that call themselves Christians, above all others, should have an insatiable appetite to know truth in all situations.  When we see hate and division on mass levels like we are in today's society we should be even more driven to investigate.  When we see this kind of division we must recognize it as the fruit of the enemy. 
 
It is up to us to fight each day for truth.  It is up to each of us to seek God, through His Spirit, to reveal His thoughts, His ways, His heart in all that we see and experience.  It is up to us to examine ourselves, and see if there are any untruthful ways within us. (see Psalm 139:23-24)  We cannot leave that to others to do for us.  We cannot relinquish that responsibility by listening to the loudest voices while assuming they know what’s best.
 
When the Great Awakening occurs will you be ready to lead and point others to the place of truth, healing, unity and love?  Will your life be a beacon, a light set on a hill?  Are you part of the remnant that will not bow its intellectual knee to the idols and god’s of this world, but will stand on the Truth of not only who God is, but what He is doing!
 
Let us be set apart from the narrative of this world, and be united to Truth, through the Gospel of life and freedom in Jesus Christ.

​Related Articles: The Greater Awakening - Part 1
 
Founder of His Way Worship, Tracy Manno is a Christian artist, worship pastor, life coach and author with a calling to come alongside other Christian’s to help them fulfill God’s calling on their lives.
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I have been noticing a pattern over the past couple years with the use of the phrase “A Great Awakening.”  In spiritual terms this is speaking about a national, even global revival; an awakening to God in the midst of an anti-god culture.  This will certainly be amazing to be a part of, and many believe it to be soon on the horizon.  But what does that mean for those of us who are already chasing after God and walking in faith?

I believe there is a greater awakening already happening for Christians right now.  It is an awakening at a personal level, which will extend to the effectiveness of the church as a whole.  And it is an awakening, in my opinion, that has to happen before the global spiritual awakening.

The greater awakening is based on a personal awareness and pursuit of God's truth for the full realization of our identity, calling and purpose as sons and daughters of God.  Some call this our destiny in Christ, while others refer to it as walking in God's perfect will.  Whatever definition suits you, I believe God is opening the eyes of those that would see, and the ears of those that would hear on massive levels within the body of Christ to a greater knowledge of our end time assignments.

The word “awakening” implies we are currently sleeping.  For most this sleeping state is unknown to them.  Some coast through life content with a desire to simply maintain the status quo.  Others remain asleep out of hopelessness or cynicism, convinced life will always be the same regardless of what they do. Whatever the reason, being asleep is a resignation to pursuing the greater works God has planned for each of us and the abundant life promised to us in Jesus Christ.

Most of us have come to believe that our abundant life is fulfilled in the next life, when we are given the full measure of our inheritance in Christ; the redemption of our bodies.  I know that I was taught that growing up, even though scripture commands us to start taking hold of our eternal life right now! (see 1 Timothy 6:12)  But when we are taught things without other ideas to challenge them, we unwittingly become captive to their narrative.

This process happens all throughout our lives.  We are conditioned within certain narratives from a very young age.  Not all are malicious in nature.  Most are simply products of our upbringings, social and economic status, ethnicity, political bents, and many other influences.

I say all this because waking up requires us to recognize the snow globe of narratives and mindsets we've existed in for so long.  To be awake means to be free from the chains of bias, prejudice, and excuse.  In order to walk in the new we must be free from the bondage of the old.  And the Bible says the battleground over bondage and freedom is in the mind! (see 2 Corinthians 10:5)

The narratives we live in are based on patterns of thinking that have become established and now influence how we see things, interpret them and make decisions.  Narratives are useful in creating consistent and known responses, and because of this they are not objective, and rarely capable of leading us to unbiased truth.  Jesus told us that we are to "know the truth and the truth will set you free."

Before he became the apostle Paul, his narrative on Christians was firmly established.  His belief that they were blasphemous traitors to the faith deserving of death came from false religious narratives taught to him from a young age.  These teachings controlled all of his decisions until one appointed day when “Truth” Himself woke Paul up.  Paul's life-long narrative was disrupted instantly on the road to Damascus when the glorified Jesus revealed Himself to him.  And at that moment he had a choice to wake up or stay asleep.

We all know the end of that story, and Paul later wrote that he wasn’t living life in relationship with God, but was ignorantly (asleep) living life in relationship with his narrative. (see 1 Timothy 1:12-13)

When we blindly live life in obedience to preconditioned narratives we live as those sleep walking.  We coast through situations without expanding our awareness and challenging our understanding.  We give our ability to think and make decisions to others by following the familiar narrative.  But when we live our lives inside relationship, specifically our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, all pre-existing narratives of who we are and what truth is dissipate in the brightness of His light!

Here's the heart of the greater awakening:  You were made to be in relationship with God, and to fulfill very specific things that He not only planned for you but also provided and gifted you to fulfill.  But in order to finish the race planned for us we MUST wake up from our pre-existing condition, the way we’ve always been and thought, and take on the mind of Christ, letting Him renew our thinking and lead us into all truth. (see Romans 12:2 and John 16:13)  The greater awakening is all about your freedom!

So what does this mean for you?  What does this look like?

Well there are many of you sensing the awakening deep down.  It's a sense that there is more, that everything isn't as it seems.  God is stirring this awakening, and it is your job to pursue it.  We are waking to Truth.  God’s truth to who He is and who you are in Him.  The truth of identity, calling and purpose to do and fulfill what He created you for!  In this fulfillment there is nothing more satisfying.  It’s the call to awaken from the malaise of half met longings and dreams to the reality of abundant life, fulfilling the desires He Himself put into your heart!

Seem unattainable?  Seem impossible for your life?

I love the way the Amplified version translates Ephesians 2:10…

For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].

If these words stir you, know that it is the Spirit of God that brings His Word to life in us.  And ask yourself one question: Why would you not believe what it says?  Be honest!  What voice, what thought, what familiar excuse is trying to tell you it isn’t true for you?

Your awakening to greater relationship and purpose in Christ is hindered only by false mindsets and narratives.  This is what the Holy Spirit is waking us up to.  The truth of the perfect will and plan for each member of His Bride, to play their role in the grandest final act this world has ever witnessed!

As Paul quotes to the church in Ephesus: “Wake up, sleeper, rise form the dead, and Christ will shine on you!”

Are you ready to take your place?

Next in PART 2 we will take a look at what it means to walk in truth.
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​Related Articles: The Greater Awakening - Part 2

Founder of His Way Worship, Tracy Manno is a Christian artist, worship pastor, life coach and author with a calling to come alongside other Christian’s to help them fulfill God’s calling on their lives.