Awaken Us Today
By G. Lee Southard/Christian Influence in America/September 7, 2026
In a previous post in the Celebrating Christianity In America series, titled “America Awakens,” it was identified that the Great Awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries deepened commitment to the Christian faith, encouraged individual responsibility, and helped Christianity flourish across America. Although America is not a Christian theocracy, without the Christian faith, America would not be the nation we know today.
However, since the late 1950’s Americans seem to have fallen asleep, more self-focused and less committed to their country and the faith.
The book, The Battle We Must Not Lose, argues that Christianity in America has declined significantly over the past 60 years, and that several key parameters that once made the nation great have declined as well. Various causes and possible solutions were identified, but the most serious root cause is the loss of Christian youth during high school and early adulthood.
Many solutions have been proposed, with churches and parents placed at the center of the effort. However, none will be fully effective without a new, twenty-first-century Great Awakening where Americans welcome the Holy Spirit back into their lives.
The 2026 film A Great Awakening, which explores the relationship between Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards and focuses on the eighteenth-century Great Awakening. It includes a powerful new hymn with special meaning and significance for America today.
The hymn invites the Holy Spirit to bring freedom, salvation, and restoration. It calls people to dedicate themselves to God’s higher purpose, forsake selfish desires, and seek the greater good. Its references to “oceans” and “valleys” represent life’s different circumstances and challenges, while the words “sleeper” and “awaken” express the urgent need for spiritual awakening and renewal.
America needs another Great Awakening. May it begin in our churches, in our homes, in the hearts of our young people—and in each of us.
Paste the link below into your browser, then follow the words of Awaken Us Today to be spiritually energized as you reaccess your relationship with God and your love of country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgf4nozLeBo
Awaken Us Today
From the oceans, through the valleys
From the mainland to the shore
Let Your Kingdom be awakened
In the hearts of men once more
Call your children into freedom
Captive souls to liberty
Come awaken, Holy Spirit!
Come awaken us today!
Love unending, grace unyielding
Tender mercies from thy throne
Brings the lost soul into families
Calls the wayward sinner home
Bring salvation, Great Redeemer
Holy fire fan to flame
Come restore us, come revive us
Come awaken us today
I will serve Thee, Precious Jesus
Unto Thee I give my all
Lay my hands unto thy service
And my heart unto thy call
Perish every fond ambition
Lay aside all selfish gain
All forsaken for thy glory
Come awaken us today!
Wake, O sleeper, from your slumber!
Saints awaken, come to life!
Christ will rise and shine upon you
In His heav’nly light divine
Like the sunrise in its dawning
Breaking darkness with new light
Rise upon us, King of glory
Come awaken us today!
These words mean a great deal to us today. Let us begin to live by them.
