Wake Up and Pay Attention: Hearing God, Examining Your Heart, and Walking in the Light

God may already be speaking, but are you awake enough to perceive Him? This message explores four areas of spiritual awakening: hearing God’s voice, remaining teachable, recognising the true condition of your heart, and walking in the light. Drawing from Job 33:14–18, Isaiah 50:4–5, Hebrews 4:12–13, and Ephesians 5:8–14, it invites listeners to examine their lives and respond to God with clarity and obedience.

Transcript

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Not because he has stopped speaking, but because something within that person has become insensitive, distracted, preconditioned, wounded, or spiritually asleep. As the month of July comes to an end, this is an important time to pause and ask, Am I sleeping? Have I observed everything I was supposed to observe? Have I recognized what God has been showing me? Have I learned the lessons hidden within my experiences? Have I made the adjustments necessary to take advantage of the remaining months of the year? Good morning and welcome to this expression of igniting your day. While praying this morning, friends, I saw someone who God had to reach deeply within to awaken. This vision made me realize that there are people whom God does not have to reach so deeply before he gets their attention. But in this particular case, God had to go very deep within the person to wake them up. That revelation led me to one central question. Am I sleeping? As I considered the scriptures, this question became personal in four areas. Am I sleeping to God's voice? Am I sleeping in my capacity to hear, learn, and respond? Am I sleeping in the true condition of my heart? Am I sleeping in my responsibility to walk in the light? Let's examine these four areas carefully according to scriptures and we respond. Number one, am I sleeping to God's voice? You see, friends, God may be speaking while we fail to perceive. Job chapter 33, verse 14 to 18 says, For God speaks once, yes, twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed, then he openeth the ears of man and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword. God may speak in one way or another, yet a person may not perceive it. The problem is not always that God is silent. Sometimes the problem is that we are not paying attention. God may be drawing your attention to something, but because his voice appears faint, you keep passing over it. Because the message does not sound forceful or authoritative, you assume it is unimportant. Perhaps God is speaking through someone you consider playful, inexperienced, or unlikely to carry on an important message. Because of your opinion of the vessel, you fail to pay attention to what God may be communicating through them. The passage says that God opens the ears of people and seals their instruction. He does this to redirect their actions, to confront pride and preserve them from destruction. Therefore, your prayer this morning is simple. Yes. Is there something you should have heard all along? Is there something you should have noticed? Is there an instruction you have repeatedly overlooked? Is there something God has been trying to reveal, but your present condition has prevented you from perceiving it? Why don't you declare within your heart this morning that your ears are open? I receive the instruction God has prepared for me. Yes, you receive the instruction God has prepared for you. Declare that you will not miss what God wants you to hear. I declare also I will not miss what God wants me to hear. Yes, I will not miss it in the name of Jesus. Friends, I do not deny that your recent experiences may have been challenging. I do not deny that you have been troubled. I do not deny that the level of your comfort has changed. However, difficult circumstances can become a distraction. They can make a person so focused on discomfort that they become insensitive to what God wants them to learn, to do, or to perceive. The enemy, I can assure you, will be pleased for you to become consumed by pressure and miss the instruction God has hidden within this season. So even in a stressful moment, your ears must remain open. You must be able to see it has been difficult, but I will not allow the difficulty to make me deaf to God. Yes. Preconditioning, my friends, I saw can make somebody miss God's voice. I saw a person who had become preconditioned to meet God in a particular way. This person was accustomed to going to church on Sunday. It had become almost automatic, but in the revelation, God decided to speak on a Thursday. This showed me that preconditioning can cause a person to miss God. There is nothing wrong with attending church on Sunday, don't get me wrong. The problem begins when we conclude that God can only speak to a particular person in a particular building in a particular day or in a particular format. Are you about to miss something important because your heart has already decided how God must speak? Do you say within yourself, if it is not through this particular person, I do not need to pay attention? Do you believe that if something does not happen in a familiar place, it cannot be spiritually significant? God can show up at any time, my friends. He can speak anywhere, He can use anyone, and your heart must remain open. Number two, am I awake to hear, to learn, and to respond? Am I awake to hear, to learn and respond? Isaiah chapter 50, verse 4 to 5 says, The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. This passage reveals a progression, friends. God awakens the ear. The person hears as one who has been taught. What is learned becomes a word that strengthens someone who is willing. The ear must be awakened before the tongue can speak effectively. That's the lesson there. The question is not simply whether you are gifted enough to speak. The deeper question is whether you are awake enough to hear. Are you awake to hear? Are you awake to learn? Are you awake to respond appropriately to what is happening around you? Yes. Isaiah says, morning by morning, he wakeneth me. So I ask you, what is your frequency of spiritual awakening? Can you confidently say that you are consistently alert or do you sleep intermittently? Perhaps you were spiritually alert in January, but you slept in February. You woke up in March, but by April you were dozing. You were burning with passion in May, but in June your attention drifted. Now July has come to an end. Is there something you missed somewhere along the way? Isaiah said, morning by morning, he awakeneth my ear. What is your frequency of spiritual awakening? Is there something you missed somewhere along the way? Was there a morning God attempted to speak, but you chose comfort instead of attention? Was there an instruction you overlooked because you were not as spiritually awake as you should have been? Was there something God wanted you to notice in February, but you were distracted by what was happening around you? This is where we appeal to the mercy of God. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will bring things to our remembrance. Therefore, we ask God this morning to restore our awareness of things He previously revealed. Yes, we declare in the name of Jesus that the Lord brings to our remembrance by the Holy Spirit every instruction, every warning, every insight and direction that we failed to recognize. We declare that nothing necessary for our journey will be missing in the name of Jesus. So I ask you, are you learning enough from what is happening around you? Are your experiences producing wisdom? Are you making the necessary adjustments? Are you observing patterns? Yes. Are you observing patterns? Are you recognizing warnings? Are you receiving corrections? Yes, this is very important, friends. And I pray for you that even as this month of July comes to an end and we move into the month of August, the Lord will strengthen you in the name of Jesus. So I ask you again, are you perpetually awake? Are you perpetually awake? Are you perpetually awake? Number three, am I awake to the true condition of my heart? Yes. Am I awake to the true condition of my heart? Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 to 13 says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Remember the original revelation: God had to go deeply into someone to awaken them. This passage rather shows us that the word of God does not merely touch the surface, it goes deeply enough to separate soul and spirit and to discern thoughts, motives, and intention. Everything is open before God. So I ask again, are you awake to what is truly happening within you? You may be able to describe what is happening around you, but can you accurately identify what is developing inside you? Are you aware of the true condition of your heart? Are you interpreting your experiences correctly? We must be careful not to use one difficult experience as the complete interpretation of our lives. Your experience is real, but it may not be the full picture. A rejection may feel final, but it may be part of a journey. A delay may feel like denial, but it may be connected to a destination God is preparing. A series of no answers may eventually lead to one significant yes. Remember, Romans chapter 8, verse 28 says, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Your present experience is one part of your story, your journey is another. The journey exists because there is a destination God has prepared. Therefore, do not allow a temporary experience to define the entire meaning of your life. Ask yourself, have I been circulating a wrong assessment of my life based only on how I feel? Have I given innocent, incorrect rather, have I given incorrect meanings to events because I was hurt? Have I interpreted difficulty as abandonment? Have I called something destruction when God was using it as a redirection? Why don't you pray this morning that the Lord helps you to see clearly? Pray this morning that the Lord awakens you to the true condition of your heart. Yes, and that the true meaning of the happenings in your life be revealed to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Number four, friends, am I awake to walk differently? Yes. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 8 to 14. It says, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. The final area of awakening concerning us this morning is the way we live. Are you awake enough to recognize that God wants you to operate differently? You may have done things the same way in January, February, March, April, May, June, and July. But are you awake to the possibility that God is asking for a change? Awakening is not complete until it affects conduct. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Therefore, you must walk as children of light. That means learning what is acceptable to God. It means rejecting unfruitful patterns. It means bringing hidden areas into light. It means becoming aware of God's expectations concerning you. Why don't you declare this morning, I am awake because Christ has given me light. Because you are awake, you can identify attitudes, relationships, routines, and decisions that no longer agree with the light you received. Yes, because you are awake, you can ask. What must I do differently? Because you are awake, you can ask. What pattern must I stop repeating? Because you are awake, you can ask. What instruction must I finally obey? Because you are awake, you can ask. What area of darkness must I expose? Because you are awake, you can ask. What adjustment has God been waiting for me to make? Dear friends, this is an opportunity for you to reconsider how you have lived your life in this 2026. Are you awake? Are you sleeping to God's voice? Are you sleeping in your capacity to hear, learn, and respond? Are you sleeping to the true condition of your heart? Are you sleeping in your responsibility to walk in the light? God may already be speaking to you. He may already be drawing your attention to something. He may already be revealing what needs to change. The question is whether you are weak enough to recognize it. As July ends and the remaining months of the year unfold, do not move forward mechanically. Do not continue on autopilot. Do not assume that because you are busy, you are spiritually alarmed. Please pause. Learn. Examine your heart. Learn from your experiences. Receive correction. Make necessary adjustment. I believe you are in less than what you heard this morning. For you today.