Does God ever take naps?
If God is sleeping is that the reason we don't receive certain answers so quickly?
Great question. Most would probably answer no. I wonder if God does sleep sometimes. I'm curious if we just have to "NEED" Him so much and be persistent and zealous about waking Him up. In a place of dependence on God. Where we persistently and zealous plea for the answer and even perhaps that miracle that is truly needed.
Psalm 35:1-28
O LORD, you know all about this.
Do not stay silent.
Do not abandon me now, O Lord.
Wake up! Rise to my defense!
Take up my case, my God and my Lord.
In the above Psalm the word "rise" and the phrase "wake up" have more or less the same meaning in the Hebrew language. They both would be categorized as someone yelling in a panic. For example if a storm was coming that was so deadly you had to take cover in order to save your lives and someone nearby was sleeping. You would YELL, "WAKE UP!" "RISE". David was in need. David thought of God in a deep slumber. David was serious about God waking up and taking up his case.
Another example, in the flesh Jesus Himself took a mid afternoon solid deep deep sleep in the midst of a deadly storm. Really? I mean who sleeps in the middle of hurricane? Better yet, who "can sleep" in the middle of a deadly storm? I imagine there was no roof on that boat. Very little fishing boats had roofs on them back then. It was open air and probably even had water splashing all over our Lord, in fact the next passage below states that "waves swept over the boat". However, the future RISEN savior was not saving anyone at the moment, instead He was enjoying a much needed catnap. Waves of water nailing the skin of our Savior and yet He still wouldn't wake up. That must have been a mighty supernatural sleep He was having there, or perhaps He just wanted to teach us all a phenomenal lesson. The need arose for the salvation of the Lord but Jesus just slept. HE JUST SLEPT! The waves couldn't wake Him. I wonder what He was dreaming at that very moment.
Matthew 8:24-27 (NIV)
24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
So the waves indeed couldn't wake Him, but the disciples could. The waves didn't need Jesus, they were doing just what they wanted to do. It was the disciples that "NEEDED" Him. I just wonder how hard they must have wanted Him awake. How hard did they try to wake him? We won't know that until we are finally are face to face with the Lord, but take a look at this next set of scriptures.
Luke 11:5-8 (NKJV)
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Above there is a clear scenario of two "FRIENDS", one of which, "NEEDS" help from the other. You know many people say God will do this or that because He is my "best friend". Or I am a friend of God so I don't need to pray over and over to receive something, He loves me. All of that is true. He is our Friend, He is the one that loves us. Indeed He is our source of victory and helper in time of "NEED". But look again at this passage, it clearly is indicating that the friend who is in reference to the Lord Himself, has laid down with His children and obviously is going to sleep. It literally says the door was closed. He only answered from within. It was a clear refusal. How often do we feel that way? How often do we hear someone say or ourselves declare, "the door is just shut"? Oh really, now did the Lord say the door has to "stay" shut? Did we just give up? Like the apostles in the storm, many of us suffer in "NEEDS". They needed God in a desperate way. This man simply just needed God for a loaf of bread to feed his traveling friend, that is it, just 3 loaves of bread. I think the majority of us in the body of Christ would literally back away from asking God again on a matter if we heard God respond with, "Do not trouble me; the door is now shut" (verse 7). Would you? I am guilty. You see Jesus declared in many verses that He only did and says what the Father is doing or saying, yet Jesus napped deeply on the boat. This makes me laugh. I mean wouldn't the Father wake Him up through a dream or something and say, "SAVE YOUR BOYS!" LOL This hysterically makes my want to laugh. I think it is funny to me because it just has the Fathers fingerprints all over it. I mean waves of water landing all over you and you don't wake. He was doing what the Father wanted Him to do, SLEEP. Sometimes, we like David, have to frantically say to God, "Wake up!! Rise to my defense!!". It isn't good enough for us to just be friends with the Lord and expect the best. God wants us to use our faith and persistently ask. To pray without ceasing. To be fervent in prayer. He enjoys our faith. He is pleased by our faith. He wants to see our faith. I don't agree with ugly demanding at all. I don't agree with arrogant demands to God as if He is our genie. What I mean is that God wants us to want Him. He wants us to need Him. He wants us to believe that in Him we have all things. That He will indeed supply all our needs, but, indeed we have to put some muscle into it. We have to be patient and endure. We have to continue in prayer. We have to breakthrough for our breakthrough, as if the door was indeed shut. We have to diligently SEEK Him, as the rewarded of our faith. Bless you all. Stick in there! Be fervent! We all need the hand of God to work on our behalf. We are nothing without Him. We need him. As we pray without ceasing, pray not just for your own needs, but also of those around you. A selfless prayer is very pleasing to the God Almighty. Those types of prayers indeed move mountains.
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Do I still think God sleeps or slumbers? This is what I do know, He is all knowing, He hears everything we pray. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro all over the earth. He is always watching. We can't hid from His Spirit, no matter weather someone ascends to the deepest parts of the earth or as far out in the universe as possible, you can't get away from God's spirit. So does He slumber, well yes in His human form He sure did, but as God He will never leave your side. At times it seems He is sleeping but that is because He is pushing you further, stretching you, preparing you, and quite frankly enjoying you. He enjoys your faith and the fellowship that is birth with perseverance. In the same way that the bible speaks of God in slumber it also speaks of Him never bating an eye. I do believe God is supernatural focused upon all His creation and more importantly centered around us.
Psalm 121 (NIV)
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Written by: Rich Cohrs
www.RichCohrs.BlogSpot.com
If God is sleeping is that the reason we don't receive certain answers so quickly?
Psalm 35:1-28
O LORD, you know all about this.
Do not stay silent.
Do not abandon me now, O Lord.
Wake up! Rise to my defense!
Take up my case, my God and my Lord.
In the above Psalm the word "rise" and the phrase "wake up" have more or less the same meaning in the Hebrew language. They both would be categorized as someone yelling in a panic. For example if a storm was coming that was so deadly you had to take cover in order to save your lives and someone nearby was sleeping. You would YELL, "WAKE UP!" "RISE". David was in need. David thought of God in a deep slumber. David was serious about God waking up and taking up his case.
Another example, in the flesh Jesus Himself took a mid afternoon solid deep deep sleep in the midst of a deadly storm. Really? I mean who sleeps in the middle of hurricane? Better yet, who "can sleep" in the middle of a deadly storm? I imagine there was no roof on that boat. Very little fishing boats had roofs on them back then. It was open air and probably even had water splashing all over our Lord, in fact the next passage below states that "waves swept over the boat". However, the future RISEN savior was not saving anyone at the moment, instead He was enjoying a much needed catnap. Waves of water nailing the skin of our Savior and yet He still wouldn't wake up. That must have been a mighty supernatural sleep He was having there, or perhaps He just wanted to teach us all a phenomenal lesson. The need arose for the salvation of the Lord but Jesus just slept. HE JUST SLEPT! The waves couldn't wake Him. I wonder what He was dreaming at that very moment.
Matthew 8:24-27 (NIV)
24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
So the waves indeed couldn't wake Him, but the disciples could. The waves didn't need Jesus, they were doing just what they wanted to do. It was the disciples that "NEEDED" Him. I just wonder how hard they must have wanted Him awake. How hard did they try to wake him? We won't know that until we are finally are face to face with the Lord, but take a look at this next set of scriptures.
Luke 11:5-8 (NKJV)
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Above there is a clear scenario of two "FRIENDS", one of which, "NEEDS" help from the other. You know many people say God will do this or that because He is my "best friend". Or I am a friend of God so I don't need to pray over and over to receive something, He loves me. All of that is true. He is our Friend, He is the one that loves us. Indeed He is our source of victory and helper in time of "NEED". But look again at this passage, it clearly is indicating that the friend who is in reference to the Lord Himself, has laid down with His children and obviously is going to sleep. It literally says the door was closed. He only answered from within. It was a clear refusal. How often do we feel that way? How often do we hear someone say or ourselves declare, "the door is just shut"? Oh really, now did the Lord say the door has to "stay" shut? Did we just give up? Like the apostles in the storm, many of us suffer in "NEEDS". They needed God in a desperate way. This man simply just needed God for a loaf of bread to feed his traveling friend, that is it, just 3 loaves of bread. I think the majority of us in the body of Christ would literally back away from asking God again on a matter if we heard God respond with, "Do not trouble me; the door is now shut" (verse 7). Would you? I am guilty. You see Jesus declared in many verses that He only did and says what the Father is doing or saying, yet Jesus napped deeply on the boat. This makes me laugh. I mean wouldn't the Father wake Him up through a dream or something and say, "SAVE YOUR BOYS!" LOL This hysterically makes my want to laugh. I think it is funny to me because it just has the Fathers fingerprints all over it. I mean waves of water landing all over you and you don't wake. He was doing what the Father wanted Him to do, SLEEP. Sometimes, we like David, have to frantically say to God, "Wake up!! Rise to my defense!!". It isn't good enough for us to just be friends with the Lord and expect the best. God wants us to use our faith and persistently ask. To pray without ceasing. To be fervent in prayer. He enjoys our faith. He is pleased by our faith. He wants to see our faith. I don't agree with ugly demanding at all. I don't agree with arrogant demands to God as if He is our genie. What I mean is that God wants us to want Him. He wants us to need Him. He wants us to believe that in Him we have all things. That He will indeed supply all our needs, but, indeed we have to put some muscle into it. We have to be patient and endure. We have to continue in prayer. We have to breakthrough for our breakthrough, as if the door was indeed shut. We have to diligently SEEK Him, as the rewarded of our faith. Bless you all. Stick in there! Be fervent! We all need the hand of God to work on our behalf. We are nothing without Him. We need him. As we pray without ceasing, pray not just for your own needs, but also of those around you. A selfless prayer is very pleasing to the God Almighty. Those types of prayers indeed move mountains.Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Do I still think God sleeps or slumbers? This is what I do know, He is all knowing, He hears everything we pray. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro all over the earth. He is always watching. We can't hid from His Spirit, no matter weather someone ascends to the deepest parts of the earth or as far out in the universe as possible, you can't get away from God's spirit. So does He slumber, well yes in His human form He sure did, but as God He will never leave your side. At times it seems He is sleeping but that is because He is pushing you further, stretching you, preparing you, and quite frankly enjoying you. He enjoys your faith and the fellowship that is birth with perseverance. In the same way that the bible speaks of God in slumber it also speaks of Him never bating an eye. I do believe God is supernatural focused upon all His creation and more importantly centered around us.
Psalm 121 (NIV)
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Written by: Rich Cohrs
www.RichCohrs.BlogSpot.com
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