His faith dwindled and the light he once saw flickered gradually turning into an ember.

We must know that the greatest enemy of light is darkness, and the world of darkness is ruled by the prince of the power of the air who is Satan himself! Darkness is Satan’s major instrument of slavery.

If there is anything Satan desires above all to do, it is to eclipse the light of God in any generation. The lord had instructed that the patriarch Abraham should offer unto Him a specified sacrifice. He was to do it in accordance to the specification nothing short of it. In obedience, he did just as was instructed. One would have expected that the Lord would immediately descend to accept the sacrifice but what we saw was contrary: the vultures came desiring to feast on the sacrifice made unto the Lord. The devil seeks worship and will do anything to get it even from the church! Our sacrifice to the Lord is a form of our worship, yet the highest of all spiritual worship is a sacrificed life! “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” Romans 12:1 (KJV).

One of the criteria to be met if one must be used of the Lord is to be dedicated to Him as a living sacrifice! Until we are sacrificed, we cannot be sanctified!

Friends, our ultimate desire is to be pleasing to Him above all!

THE DARKNESS – the dangers of sleep

Abraham had done the right thing to have driven away the vultures of the air from the sacrifice he had presented unto the Lord, ensuring that his worship was not given to any other but the Lord. He had kept watch over the sacrifice, but the sacrifice of being awake is far more than falling asleep. Every time men sleep at a time when they should not, the effect and cost is gross! “And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he SUNK down with SLEEP, and FELL down and was taken up dead” Acts 20:8 – 9.

This verse is a prophetic verse speaking of about the end time church which we are; the end time church today is in a spiritual condition that we can refer to as SLEEPING! Every time we sleep, we first SINK DEEP into it like it was the case of Eutychus the prophetic church which is being represented in him. The sleeping state is the most dangerous state in the life of any man, church or nation! The ills of the day are often orchestrated in the night time, when men sleep and until the church learns how to stay awake, she will always be a victim of circumstances and Satanic orchestrations! The signs are everywhere; we need not any prophet to tell us the need to stay awake during the night watches when men sleep. It was Charlotte Elliot who sang:

Christian seek not yet repose, hear the guardian angels say,
thou art in the midst of foes , watch and pray Principalities and powers,
mustering their unseen array, wait for thy unguarded hours, watch and pray
If the truth be told, we will know that Satan does not strike when we slumber, he patiently awaits when we sleep, for that is our unguarded hour.

David prayed saying to the Lord; “Do not let me sleep the sleep of death”

The Lord Jesus spoke in a parable saying: “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seeds in his field: But while men SLEPT, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way” Matthew 13:24 – 25 (KJV).

Whenever we stay awake, the enemy is scared! The dangers of sleep cannot be overemphasized The mighty Sisera, captain of the host of Jabin king of Canaan fell a victim of sleep in the hands of a woman named Jael. Noah was drunken and taken by a deep sleep till his nakedness was exposed…..

EXCERPT FROM “FOXES AFLAME ” CHAPTER 3 PARTS, BY Mark Cyril

His faith dwindled and the light he once saw flickered gradually turning into an ember.
We must know that the greatest enemy of light is darkness, and the world of darkness is ruled by the prince of the power of the air who is Satan himself! Darkness is Satan’s major instrument of slavery.
If there is anything Satan desires above all to do, it is to eclipse the light of God in any generation.
The lord had instructed that the patriarch Abraham should offer unto Him a specified sacrifice. He was to do it in accordance to the specification nothing short of it. In obedience, he did just as was instructed. One would have expected that the Lord would immediately descend to accept the sacrifice but what we saw was contrary: the vultures came desiring to feast on the sacrifice made unto the Lord.
The devil seeks worship and will do anything to get it even from the church! Our sacrifice to the Lord is a form of our worship, yet the highest of all spiritual worship is a sacrificed life!

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” Romans 12:1 ( KJV).

One of the criteria to be met if one must be used of the Lord is to be dedicated to Him as a living sacrifice! Until we are sacrificed, we cannot be sanctified!
Friends, our ultimate desire is to be pleasing to Him above all!

THE DARKNESS – the dangers of sleep
Abraham had done the right thing to have driven away the vultures of the air from the sacrifice he had presented unto the Lord, ensuring that his worship was not given to any other but the Lord.
He had kept watch over the sacrifice, but the sacrifice of being awake is far more than falling asleep. Every time men sleep at a time when they should not, the effect and cost is gross!
“And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he SUNK down with SLEEP, and FELL down and was taken up dead” Acts 20:8 – 9.

This verse is a prophetic verse speaking of about the end time church which we are; the end time church today is in a spiritual condition that we can refer to as SLEEPING! Every time we sleep, we first SINK DEEP into it like it was the case of Eutychus the prophetic church which is being represented in him. The sleeping state is the most dangerous state in the life of any man, church or nation!

The ills of the day are often orchestrated in the night time, when men sleep and until the church learns how to stay awake, she will always be a victim of circumstances and Satanic orchestrations! The signs are everywhere; we need not any prophet to tell us the need to stay awake during the night watches when men sleep.

It was Charlotte Elliot who sang:
Christian seek not yet repose,
hear the guardian angels say,
thou art in the midst of foes
watch and pray
Principalities and powers,
mustering their unseen array,
wait for thy unguarded hours
watch and pray.

If the truth be told, we will know that Satan does not strike when we slumber, he patiently awaits when we sleep, for that is our unguarded hour.
David prayed saying to the Lord;
“Do not let me sleep the sleep of death”

The Lord Jesus spoke in a parable saying:
“The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seeds in his field: But while men SLEPT, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” Matthew 13:24 – 25 (KJV)

Whenever we stay awake, the enemy is scared!
The dangers of sleep cannot be overemphasized
The mighty Sisera, captain of the host of Jabin king of Canaan fell a victim of sleep in the hands of a woman named Jael.
Noah was drunken and taken by a deep sleep till his nakedness was exposed

….. EXCERPT FROM “FOXES AFLAME ” CHAPTER 3 PARTS, BY Mark Cyril

 

~ by Mark Cyril

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Author, teacher, motivational and conference speaker, Pastor Mark Cyril is the international President of CYRIL MARK WORLD EVANGELISM – an independent ministry taking the message of the cross across the Nations turning many in their numbers to salvation through Jesus Christ. He is also the Senior Pastor of Revelation Apostolic Community; an apostolic and Prophetic Word based ministry in Abuja the capital city of Nigeria – West Africa.

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