Awake

Pastor Alex Hall | September 13th, 2026

Wake Up: How to Live a Fully Alive Faith

There is a moment in Psalm 57 where the writer, surrounded by enemies, hunted and afraid, does something unexpected. Instead of spiraling deeper into despair, he issues a command to himself: "Awake, my soul." He does not wait for his circumstances to change. He does not wait until he feels better. He simply commands his own heart to wake up and then begins to sing.

That ancient cry is just as urgent today.

The Problem With Letting Your Heart Lead

Jeremiah 17:9 delivers a sobering truth: the heart is deceitful above all things. It is a verse that cuts against one of the most popular pieces of advice in modern culture, which tells us to follow our hearts wherever they lead. But what if our hearts are leading us into apathy, numbness, and spiritual sleep?

Many of us wake up day after day feeling dry, feeling low on faith, feeling like the fire we once had has quietly burned down to embers. The enemy does not always attack loudly. Sometimes he simply eases us into a slow, comfortable sleep. We were engaged, on fire, running after God with everything we had. Then an expectation went unmet. A timeline passed without the breakthrough we hoped for. And little by little, without even noticing, we drifted off.

Ephesians 5:14 speaks directly into that moment. The apostle Paul writes that the sleeper is called to rise from the dead, and that when they do, Christ will give them light. The invitation is not complicated. It is simply this: wake up.

Carefully Determine What Pleases God

Paul does not leave us with a vague spiritual pep talk. He gives us a practical path forward. In Ephesians 5:10, he urges believers to carefully determine what pleases the Lord. That word "carefully" carries real weight. It implies intention, attention, and deliberate pursuit.

Most of us have spent considerable energy carefully determining what pleases ourselves. We know what we like, what brings us comfort, what numbs the pain of a hard season. But how much time have we invested in discovering what actually pleases God?

The Psalms offer a prescription for praise that goes beyond what feels natural. Clapping hands, lifting voices, raising a shout of joy, these are not suggestions for when the mood strikes. They are commands rooted in the character of a God who is worthy of praise regardless of our emotional state. When we follow that prescription, something shifts. Our hearts begin to align with what is true rather than what merely feels true in the moment.

Bring It Into the Light

One of the most powerful passages in this section of Ephesians reminds us that we were once full of darkness, but now we carry the light of the Lord. The darkness is not our identity anymore. Yet many of us live as though it still is, carrying hidden things in secret places, convinced that if anyone truly knew, they would be rejected.

1 John 1:9 promises that when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. James goes further, connecting confession to one another with actual physical and spiritual healing. There is something profound that happens when we stop managing our darkness privately and instead bring it into the light of safe community.

The best way to live life is with no secrets. That is not a naive statement. It is a liberating one. The things we keep hidden in the dark maintain a kind of power over us. The moment we bring them into the light, that power begins to break. Confession is not a moment of shame. In a healthy community of faith, it is a moment of praise, because grace covers everything.

Gratitude as a Weapon

One of the most practical tools for waking up a sleeping soul is also one of the simplest. Give thanks for everything, Paul writes in Ephesians 5:20. Not just the good things. Everything.

That is a difficult instruction when you are sitting in a season of loss or disappointment. But Romans 8:28 anchors it with a promise: God works all things together for the good of those who love him. All things. Even the betrayal. Even the rejection. Even the season that did not look the way you hoped.

Try this: write down twenty things you are grateful for. Not two, not five. Twenty. It may feel forced at first, especially if your heart has been rehearsing grievances. But something happens as the list grows. The heart begins to shift. Bitterness loosens its grip. Perspective returns. What felt like a wilderness starts to look like a journey through a land that is already, in many ways, full of provision.

The Journey Into Freedom

God told the Israelites entering the promised land that he would give it to them little by little. Not because he was withholding, but because they were not yet ready to manage all of it at once. Freedom works the same way. It is not a destination you arrive at once. It is a territory you take, step by step, through intimacy with God.

Authority over darkness is built through that intimacy. Prayer is not primarily a list of requests. Fasting is not primarily a spiritual technique. Both are invitations to draw near, to sit in the presence of a Father who already knows your heart and simply wants you close. As you draw near to him, he draws near to you. And in that nearness, strongholds fall, dark thoughts lose their grip, and the promises of God become more real than the problems surrounding you.

You may be on day thirty-nine of a forty-day journey. The breakthrough you have been pressing toward may be one more step away. Do not stop now.

The Invitation

The soul that wakes up does not wait until it feels ready. It commands itself to rise, opens its mouth in praise, brings its hidden things into the light, and gives thanks even before the circumstances change.

Awake, O sleeper. Rise up from the dead. Christ will give you light.

That light is available right now. Step into it.