CHRIST COMMONWEALTH-COMMUNITY
The Love-Life Agency
BE SOBER-MINDED
“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”
1 Thessalonians 5:6 (KJV)
The Believer’s sobriety is not a matter of self-enabled control. To be sober begins with the choice to be fully yielded to the dominance of the Holy Spirit.
The self-control of a believer is a quality of his sobriety, which is also an expression of the fruit of the Spirit.
“But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (Amplified Bible)
A fruit is an outcome of a rooted life. A fruit is not a source but a result. The fruit of the Spirit is the result of the presence and the life of the Spirit.
Being sober is not an activity or a posture isolated from the Holy Spirit. You cannot be sober-minded without the Holy Spirit. The present society creates an atmosphere of anxiety and discouragement. It will only take a person who is fully saturated by the Holy Spirit to remain mentally and spiritually composed.
Our Lord speaking to his disciples was clear on this:
“…without me you can do nothing…”
“I am the sprouting vine and you’re my branches. As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from me you are powerless” John 15:5 (TPT).
You cannot become fruitful in your walk of faith without the supply of our Lord.
This is why He gave us the Holy Spirit as a means to which we can continuously commune intimately with the Lord.
Take note of this illustration of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:
“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 (KJV)
He talks about sleeping and being drunk at night.
What does it signify?
It unveils the influence and effect of the night. It is to be drunk (intoxicated with wine). To come under the influence of toxic desires for the flesh. It is to have your beautiful heart mixed with thoughts of doubts and unbelief.
And instead of being drunk, Paul admonishes the brethren not to be like the others who are in the night, and under the influence of darkness. He charges them to be sober. As I explained the meaning of being sober (“nēphō”), it is to be wineless or totally free from mental and spiritual intoxication.
Paul gave another similar illustration to the brethren in Ephesus;
“And don’t get drunk with wine, which is rebellion; instead be filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18 (TPT)
To the Thessalonians he admonished them not to be as others who sleep and get drunk at night. But they should be sober-minded because they are of the light. Then he admonished the Ephesians to not be drunk with wine (to be wineless, sober and self-control); and to be continuously filled and saturated with the Holy Spirit.
Did you get it?
Let’s go over it briefly again:
To be sober-minded is literally to be wineless or free from intoxication. However, this sobriety is not being empty headed, but fully saturated with the Holy Spirit.
Thus, as you behold the coming of the Lord you must be fully saturated by the Holy Spirit. Moreover, understand that the Holy Spirit is given as the guarantee that we are the Lord’s.
This is then the testimony that when the Lord comes, He is coming for you because you are His.
Don’t be distracted and dominated by the deception of the adversary. Live daily under the influence of the Holy Spirit and you shall graciously demonstrate sobriety
Hallelujah!
(Galatians 5:16, 22-24; Ephesians 5:14-18; 1 Peter 5:8; Titus 2:2)
Psalm 145-147
2 YEARS PLAN
Joshua 20
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