“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” -1 Thessalonian 5:9-11
Your baptism is the unbreakable seal that you belong to God. He has redeemed you, purchased and won you back from Satan, sin, hell, and the grave. You are His, and no one is strong enough to take you away. “ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” -John 10:28-30.
When I was a child, I worried about going to sleep. While asleep, unconscious really, was I still believing in God? Did I still have faith? Was I connected to him and still under his blanket of grace and redemption? What if I died while asleep? Maybe I better stay awake to pray and be sure I was still with God?
But this verse answers the question with a resounding YES! Whether we are awake or asleep we are with him. Or better yet, He is with us. Furthermore, even when I am asleep, or too tired, or too sick to pray, the Spirit prays for me, so I am always at prayer with my God. “ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” -Romans 8:26-27
So you are safely God’s own possession, bought and paid for by the blood of Christ, during this pandemic. Though you fall asleep exhausted by the day, or though you fall into a coma, suffering from disease, you are God’s. Your faith still beats. The Spirit in you continues to pray for you. Nobody, not even Satan himself, can take that away.
“Whether we are awake or asleep, we live with him.” Amen.
-Pastor Anderson