The Church of Pentecost UK - Nottingham

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.-Matthew 13:25 (KJV)

There is an interesting story told in the latter part of chapter3 of 1 Kings. This is about two prostitutes who gave birth almost at the same period. Confusion broke up on who was the mother of the surviving child (since one baby died, because the mother slept on it). In Matthew 13:25, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, only at a time when men were asleep. When Jesus came to meet his disciples sleeping, he queried and cautioned them to watch (keep alive) and pray, else they will fall into temptation -(Matt 26:40-41). Behold, He that watches over Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep-Psalm 121:4.

Many other scriptures point out the consequences of sleeping, especially at the wrong time. It is disastrous to sleep physically when you are expected to be awake. For the spirit-minded believer ‘sleeping’ means being out of post; lukewarm; prayerless; and being insensitive to the Holy Spirit.

Let us take a look at the story of the prostitutes:

‘Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. "During the night this woman's son died because she lay (slept) on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne." The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours." But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king’. 1Kings 3:16-23.

In the first instance, what caused the argument was the death of one of the children. The death however was caused by a mother who slept on her baby. In fact, in life, when we fail to wake to our responsibilities and keep lying down we tend to kill others. In the creative wisdom of God he made man interdependent. Hence when one sleeps on his laurels he is killing many other people. If a farmer fails to produce enough, he could be starving a whole nation. In a similar vain if a manager or politician fails to reason and make well-informed decisions, he may be putting a whole establishment or organization in danger. Someone was killed because the mother slept on him. Don’t let your individual stress and situation put you to ‘sleep’. Parents! arise to your responsibilities else you’ll kill the gift you have toiled for.

Secondly, the child had a potential which was yet to be realised but the potential was kept shut because the mother slept on it. When we ‘sleep’, we sleep on our potentials and the potential of others. You have not yet become who you ought to be until you wake up! God has endowed you with all heavenly wisdom to make and unmake things and situations. You are meant to succeed and prosper. But it depends on your position; whether you are sleeping or awake. Students need to sit up and burn the midnight candle, to be successful. Business men need to deploy best and current-in-class business methods before they can survive fierce competition. Soldiers need to apply excellent skills before they can survive in times of battle. All these come about by rising to your potential. You will continue to be where you are until you stop ‘sleeping’.

The woman woke in the night when others were asleep and stole the other child because the mother was also asleep. In these perilous last days, your opportunities could be stolen if you keep sleeping. This generation has become smarter in all aspects of life and we need to strategize ourselves to be where we ought to be at the right time to be able to acquire what we need, else someone will take it. Even if things do not walk to you, you must walk to them, else others will kill your chances. Remember scripture says, ‘the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all-(Eccles 9:11KJV). Indeed time and chance happens to us all. It will be too late to compete during the day when all people are awake. Your competitive advantage lies in your ability to be awake whilst others are asleep.

The enemy has opportunity to misbehave only when men are sleeping in prayer; studies; hardworking; and in their relationship with God and fellow human beings. The consequences of this is that the enemy seizes the opportunity to sow bad seed among the good ones. The master did not encourage the servants to go and uproot the bad seeds, until harvest time. The period between germination and harvest depends upon the type of crop. To avoid unnecessary delays in your life do not sleep in your relationship with God. Stay awake and be active in the work of God, for your labour will never be in vain. The Lord bless you.

By Elder Kwabena Agyapong Kodua - PIWC Loughborough