Spirit of slumber

Plains and flatness symbolize smoothness and comfort, so evil spirits make people covet comfort and enjoyment, fall asleep spiritually, and lose their vigilance.

It manifests as:

Wisdom perishes, and cleverness is hidden; right and wrong are confused; one speaks one thing and thinks another, and acts in false piety; one’s actions are dark, and one’s heart is confused; one flees and hides, and lies down and sleeps; one does not watch, does not pray, and has entered into temptation.

Causes of Spirit of slumber:

1. The heart is hardened, unable to hear God’s voice, and unaware of God’s deeds.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness. (Hebrews 3:7-8)

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)

2. Negative complaints against God in the heart

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
² How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? (Psalm 13:1-2)

3. Secularization and seeking comfort

“Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, Who dwell securely, Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, Nor shall I know the loss of children’; (Isaiah 47:8)

Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. (Isaiah 29:9)

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. (Proverbs 1:32)

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:6)

4. Ignoring warnings

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven (Hebrews 12:25)

 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)

5. Your heart is not close to God

She has not obeyed His voice, She has not received correction; She has not trusted in the Lord, She has not drawn near to her God. (Zephaniah 3:2)

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8)

6. Ignoring Discipline and Not Repenting

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights. (Proverbs 3:11-12)

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. (Revelation 2:5)

7. Fear of circumstances and loss of hope

And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. (1 Kings 19:3)

 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Colossians 1:23)

8. Lack of pursuit and lack of direction

¹² Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus, I fight: not as one who beats the air. (1 Corinthians 9:26)

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, (Philippians 3:13)

Source: Pastoral Ministry Department of End-Time Ministry (Please notify us promptly if any copyright infringement is involved.)