“Love Not Sleep”

“How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” Proverbs 6: 9-11.

_____One morning I didn’t get up until after 7:30, so I didn’t really have much time to read my Bible. But I prayed, asking God to give me understanding of His word, and apply it to my life. Also, I asked Him to help me get up earlier so that I could really begin the day with Him everyday. When I opened my Bible, I came to Proverbs 6. God knew what I needed to know and then do through His strength, so He really spoke to me through these verses. He showed me that the more unneeded sleep I got, the less time I could have to spend with Him in the morning. He revealed so much to me! Could it have been a coincidence that I turned to Proverbs 6? No, God had exactly what I needed in store for me. He is so good to show me that I must not love sleep so much that I let it get in the way of beginning the day with Him!
_____“Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.” Proverbs 20:13. Now God says to me, firmly but gently, and all out of love, “Open your eyes, and GET UP, and ‘thou shalt be satisfied’ with the ‘bread of life’. I will feed you with that bread, the bread of life through My Word, and apply it to your heart, mind, and life. You will be filled; you will not be empty from lack of spiritual food. Through the spiritual food that I have to give you, I will make you spiritually alive. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ You need physical food to stay physically alive, but you need to begin the day with My bread of life, so that you may be spiritually alive, and strengthened and quickened by My Spirit. I will give you the grace, knowledge, and strength you need throughout the day, to overcome temptation, to learn more of Me, and to behold the heavenly Father’s character, and be ‘changed into the same image from glory to glory.’ And as this is true, so also have I shown you that ‘the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.’ So, after I feed you every morning with My bread of life, My unseen but very filling spiritual food, if someone asked you if you were hungry, you could truly tell them, ‘I have meat ye know not of ’ because it is My unseen bread that fills your soul with My love. I am with you, and I will feed you till you are filled. Through Me, you shall be fully satisfied. Now, by My grace, power, and strength, you can get up early every morning and spend more time beginning the day with Me. And poverty shall not come to you as one that travelleth, but by My love, grace, strength, righteousness, wisdom, and knowledge, ‘shall the chambers’ of your heart ‘be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.’”
God bless you all,
Sister C.
Matthew 4:4, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Proverbs 4:18, John 4:32.
You may also want to read: Proverbs 9: 9-10, Proverbs 8: 1-21,
Proverbs 22: 4, Proverbs 3:1-13, Mark 3-13, John 6: 30-58, and
Luke 11:2-3