From Shaken to Awakening

By Pastor Robert Hyatt Sunday January 11, 2026

Awakening is not just a theme for a season; it is God’s ongoing call to a sleeping church to rise, shake off the dust, and step into an assignment prepared before the foundation of the world. This article presents a clear prophetic call from shaking to awakening, and from awakening to holy fire.

Awakening is not a slogan to hang on a banner or a word for a conference. It is God’s persistent call to a people who have grown comfortable, to a church that has learned how to function without the burning center of first love. This is an hour in which the Spirit is stirring hearts that have settled, houses that have adjusted to a lower temperature, and ministries that have become skilled at doing the work without the flame of devotion.The language over this house is clear: from Shaken to Awakening, and from Awakening to Holy Fire. Every shaking that has touched this body—every disruption, disappointment, transition, and unanswered question—has not come to destroy purpose but to dislodge us from spiritual slumber and reposition us for divine building. When the early church prayed and the place was shaken, they did not scatter; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. That pattern still reveals God’s intention in our disruption: shaking exposes what cannot stand, but it also reveals what must be strengthened and rebuilt.It is mercy when God refuses to let us become permanent residents in places He only meant as rest stops. Many in the body of Christ have tried to build houses on temporary scaffolding—seasons, styles, personalities, or past visitations. Awakening begins when we admit that our current measure of fire, passion, and obedience is not the fullness that Christ purchased for us. From that place, a cry rises: “Lord, awaken this house. Awaken this heart. Awaken this city.”
A House of EmbersImagine a family living in an old farmhouse during the long winter nights. The fire in the stove, once blazing, has now died down to a faint glow hidden beneath a layer of ashes. The family sleeps, and the air inside the house grows cold. Yet under the gray surface, embers remain.In the early hours of the morning, the father awakens and feels the chill in the air. He does not resign himself to the cold. Instead, he goes to the stove, kneels down, and begins to stir the embers. He uncovers what is still alive beneath the ash and gently adds fresh wood. What looked almost dead begins to glow, then to flicker, and then the flame spreads until the entire house feels the warmth again.Many hearts and congregations are like that farmhouse. The memories of past visitations are real, and the testimonies of former days are true, but the present temperature has dropped. God, as a wise Father, has come to the stove of this house to stir what remains, to uncover the embers, and to add the fresh wood of His word and His presence. The stirring of uncomfortable ash and dust means things that seemed settled are suddenly disrupted, but the coals are not destroyed; they are awakened so that the fire can burn again.What Awakening Looks LikeAwakening is more than an emotional moment at an altar; it is a sustained turning of the heart back to Jesus as the burning center. In awakening, Jesus is no longer an addition to life—He becomes the very life. Prayer stops being an occasional activity and becomes the oxygen of the church. The word of God is no longer a distant reference but the governing voice over decisions, relationships, and assignments.In an awakened house:● Worship is not a style but a surrendered posture, in the sanctuary and in the secret place.● Repentance is welcomed, not avoided, because hearts long to be aligned with the Lord.● People do not simply attend a service; they take their place on the wall, carrying responsibility for what God is building.Awakening also brings a fresh tenderness to the presence of God. The things that once dulled affection—offense, distraction, hidden compromise—are brought into the light and laid down. The church stops asking, “How much can I keep and still be okay?” and begins to ask, “How close can I get to His heart?”From Awakening to Holy FireThe language over this house does not stop at awakening; it moves from Awakening to Holy Fire. Holy Fire is not volume, hype, or personality. Holy Fire is the burning work of the Holy Spirit within a people—love for Christ, hatred for sin, courage to obey, and endurance in trial.Holy Fire looks like:● A people who choose holiness not out of legalism but out of love.● Believers who speak the word of God with boldness, even when the culture mocks or misunderstands.● A church that refuses to build on temporary scaffolding and instead lays its life down on the altar of God’s purposes.When the Holy Spirit fills a people with holy fire, fear begins to lose its power. Apathetic Christianity gives way to courageous obedience. Private devotion fuels public witness, and the testimony of Jesus becomes visible in homes, workplaces, and cities.Rise and BuildIn Nehemiah’s day, the walls of Jerusalem were in ruins, and the people lived under the shadow of shame and vulnerability. God did not send an army of professionals; He called ordinary people—families, priests, craftsmen—to take their place and rebuild the wall in front of their own homes. In the same way, awakening and holy fire in this house will not come only through a platform or a few leaders; it will come as every person picks up a brick.Each believer has a part of the wall—a place of obedience, a sphere of influence, a “yes” to God—that matters to the whole. Some bricks look like intercession, some like serving, some like generosity, some like evangelism, some like mentoring the next generation. In an awakened house, no one stands back as a spectator; everyone understands, “I have a brick in this wall.”There may still be opposition, mockery, and questions, as there were in Nehemiah’s time. But those who carry holy fire in their hearts do not come down from the wall to argue with critics. They keep building, keep praying, keep worshiping, and keep loving, because they know the work is from God.A Call to RespondThis is not just an article; it is a summons. God is stirring the embers in this house. Shaking has come, not to scatter, but to awaken. The Father is at the stove, uncovering what still burns and adding His fresh wood.The response is simple and costly:● Return to first love. Lay down distractions and come back to the place where Jesus is everything.● Embrace the shaking as mercy. Let God remove what cannot stand and strengthen what must remain.● Take your place on the wall. Ask the Lord, “Where is my brick in this house, in this city, in this generation?” and then obey.Awakening is here, but it is also an invitation into something deeper: Holy Fire. As God stirs the embers and the flames rise again, may this house become a place where Jesus is loved passionately, obeyed fully, and revealed clearly to a world shivering in the cold.