What to do when you’re unable to sleep…
It is currently two in the morning, on July 29, 2020. I have been praying and reading scripture for about an hour and I felt an urge to start writing. I felt led to write about the importance of being obedient to God’s voice during the midnight hours. I was compelled to share my experience when I would choose prayer over sleep.
This act of obedience is often really hard to overcome and kick start. We act similar to the disciples in Matthew 26:40-41, when “Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?’ He asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’” The last part “For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak,” is so profound because our spirit man that is within us, is willing to stay up and pray and worship, but our fleshly nature says no.
Mentally and physically, it’s hard to push past the barrier to get yourself up and pray. Our flesh tells us to go back to sleep, even though our Father in Heaven wakes us up so we can spend time with Him. When we get woken up in the middle of night, I believe it’s for a divine purpose. Although a majority of the time we are tired, the reward of pushing through and spending time with the Father is so fulfilling.
With that in mind, tonight, I was not able to sleep. I did not drink caffeine or take energy enhancers to keep me awake, so I knew it was God’s way of telling me to worship, start praying, and spend time with Him. However, right before I turned on my worship playlist or picked up my journal, I was doing everything I could to try and fall asleep. I turned on Netflix, and tried to rewatch old shows. I even tried to force a dream to propel my mind to sleep, but nothing worked and all I heard was the Holy Spirit saying “You won’t fall asleep, until you spend time with Me.”
Many of us struggle with that initial step to get ourselves to spend time with God. God is constantly reaching out, but we have to do our part and meet Him there.
Knowing I won’t be able to sleep, I turned on “White As Snow” by Cageless Birds, and I immediately started to worship in my bedroom. I went on my knees and started praying – for myself, my friends, my future, this nation. It was interesting because usually when I pray and spend time with God between the hours of 12-3 am, I feel free and at peace, but I was really battling. I had to continuously call upon the name of Jesus to cast out any evil or fear that was creeping in to try and get me to stop. At the same time though, as I sought after peace and kept pressing into His presence, the more that came out of my prayer. The desire to keep praying grew, even though in my head I had some sense of fear to stop.
Just like in Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” In this verse, we are reminded that as Christians, we realize that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but of the spirit. The hate, the division, the fear, the strife, all stems from the wicked spirits that are attached to it. When I was praying, I was fearful that something bad was going to happen, but calling on the name of Jesus casted out all of that fear and it actually made me want to pray more and press deeper.
During these crazy times in the world, it is so important to stay in prayer. We should be in constant prayer for the world, nation, friends, family, and anything that God places in your heart. I have seen so many miracles and answered prayers that come out of consistent prayer and warfaring in the midnight hours.
In Acts 16: 25-34, Paul and Silas were praying and praising God at midnight, and when they did this, an earthquake erupted that shook the prison and all of the prisoner’s chains and doors were opened. This passage is so important because it shows us the power of what happens when you pray and praise at midnight. In the verses, it is so key that they mentioned the time they started to pray and worship. Also, I believe it is so profound the bible acknowledged the prisoners chains and doors were opened. Verse 26 shows us that when we pray and praise strongholds that are keeping you captive, will be loosened, and you will be free. The things that are holding you back and keeping you hostage from the Glory of God will be broken when you call upon the name of Jesus! When we warfare we do it not according to the weapons of the world, but through our spiritual weapons which have the power to demolish strongholds (2 Cor. 10:3-4).
I am writing this to encourage each one of us to act out in obedience, and in the times where our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak, let’s overcome the mind and body so we can strengthen our spirit.
Quickly to close off, I want to leave everyone reading with a personal example of the way God moves when you obey. Last month, just like today, I wasn’t able to sleep and I spent time in God’s Word along with praying for many of my friends.
One of my friends that I was praying for, I felt the Lord tell me to reach out and text her to “be at rest, for the battle is not ours, but the Lords.” I sent her a small paragraph of encouragement, not knowing what she was going through since I haven’t spoken to her in months. The next day, I get a response from her saying that she’s in tears and that reading my text lifted a weight off her shoulders. She told me that she was struggling with depression again and reading the text was a reminder she needed. I am not sharing this to toot my horn, but to show the Power of God and the way He uses other brothers and sisters in Christ, to help encourage, break strongholds, and intercede for one another. When we act out in obedience, God is able to work within us and through us.
We live in a fallen world, where some of our battles come from within. As born-again Christians, everyday we battle between our flesh and spirit. Let’s make sure we are in constant prayer and being obedient to the voice of God when He calls you to spend time with Him. That little irk you get when you feel the need to open up the bible and fill your day up with the Word of God, listen to it, because your spirit craves for it.
Written by Keilani Mayo
July 29, 2020