[Darris McNeely] Have you heard the term "woke?" It's used quite a bit these days. You've gotta be woke. You've gotta be aware. You've gotta be socially current. And it's used in connection with journalism media, the discussion about Black Lives Matter and social justice in American culture and society right now. But it's called the woke culture. Where does it come from? Well, it really is another way of saying, being awake. All right? Being alert, being aware. And yet it can be used in whatever way that a group determines to fashion that.

But, you know, it's really a word that is meaningful to a Christian because of the way it is used in Scripture. It means to really be awake, to be vigilant or another word is to be watchful. In the book of Colossians 4, the Apostle Paul talks about this very thing. And I think it puts it in a context that is much more meaningful for a Christian, and for all of us to understand exactly how to apply this, and to, in sense, be a woke Christian, if you will.

In Colossians 4:2, the Apostle Paul after a lot of heavy Scripture that gets into some important doctrines and teachings of God, he says to the members, Colossians 4:2, he says about prayer, "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving." The word vigilant there is another way of saying watchful.

In fact, if you look into the Greek word there, it means he could just as well say be watchful in prayer with all thanksgiving. Be watchful, be awake. Be woke. It's the word that is used in other places in the New Testament to talk about being awake spiritually, being alert to the moment.

When Jesus's disciples fell asleep, the night of His arrest before His crucifixion, and He caught them, and He came upon them, and they couldn't wait with him as He said, because they were tired, He said, "Be vigilant." He said, "Be watchful." Throughout Christ's teaching it is to be watchful and understand the times, and to be alert spiritually. And this is what the Apostle Paul is really getting at when he tells us to be vigilant or watchful, or if you will, to be woke.But do it in prayer. Do it in a relationship with God that translates all of the teaching of the Scripture and kind of crystallizes, and focuses down truth. Truth about God. Truth about the Bible into fervent, dedicated heartfelt, watchful, vigilant prayer, that makes a connection with God, and helps us to understand the deepest mysteries of the Word of God and the truth that defines who we are, what life is all about, and what God is doing in His purpose. We have to be watchful and vigilant in prayer to translate that all into reality.

That's what it means to be a woke Christian. And that's the most important application that we can think of being vigilant in prayer.

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