A Nighttime Prayer When Fear Prevents Sleep
By Kelly Balarie
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 NIV
I tossed left and right in my bed. Frankly, it wasn’t only my body that tossed around in my bed – but thoughts of fear that tossed everywhere in my mind. Would my kids turn out okay? Have I permanently messed them up? What if they have horrible things to say about me as a mom when they grow up?
Fear gripped me. Of course, I know that I haven’t done everything right. I remembered back to that one time when I acted angry in a department store… I thought about another time when I could have been a better listener… I considered how other moms do better at being moms than I do …
Fear was pointing its finger at a horrible future for me and my family. I was not only listening to fear, but I was envisioning it play out. Before long, as I lay in bed, 5 minutes of stressful thinking turned into 30 minutes of sleepless tossing. After that, my 30-minutes of sleeplessness became what seemed like hours of distress, because tomorrow I was afraid I’d turn into monster-mom due to lack of sleep.
Have you ever experienced this? Perhaps it is not your children making you feel afraid, but it is your past, your financial situation, your health, your mistakes, your security, your worth, your spouse, or a real and present physical threat.
No matter, one thing can be said about fear – fear snowballs. It may start small, but it grows big. Fear snowballs. It pushes one to the point where they are on the edge of a cliff. Here, worry, stress, and apprehension become so emotionally and physically tangible that the most horrible and worst-case scenarios absolutely are about to happen. We’re doomed! We are 100% going over this cliff (even if we are still safe under the covers of our beds).
What do we do when fear does this to us in the night? How do we sleep when our body and mind tell us that we are about to die? My friends, I have been here more times than I’d like to admit. With this, I have learned strategies to fall asleep again, as well as prayer that releases stress.
Let’s first talk about the tips:
1. Remember, at night, you are tired from a full day of work.
Tired minds lead to tired thinking. No good decision ever happens in the middle of the night. A powerful tip is to resolve to think and pray through problems in the morning, not when you are tired and frustrated. Put on pause mental dialogues until the light of day. It is always less stressful the next day. Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Receive Jesus’ peace and take heart.
2. Go through the ABCs of God.
Instead of restlessly recycling fearful thoughts, go through the “A, B, Cs of God”. This is how it works. Lying in bed, you start with the letter A. You can recite bible verses that start with the letter A, the nature of God, or things you love about God. Go through the whole alphabet. I bet you will fall asleep before you do!
3. Tell your mind not to fall asleep.
When I go through the ABCs of God, I tell myself to stay awake until the very end. I don’t know why telling myself to stay awake works, but it does. I always fall asleep before I reach the letter-Z. I believe these will work for you because they’ve worked for me on many a night. I’d love to hear your testimonies. God is bigger than fear. Truly, if Jesus has overcome the world, He can overcome any problem we face.
Let’s pray:
Father, help! Fear is making me stressed, anxious, and perturbed. It is trying to steal my sleep. I repent and turn the opposite way of fear. I give to you all my fear right now, Father God. I put every concern and burden in your hands. I let them go. Now, I receive your peace, the peace of Jesus that He has given. May this peace guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus so that I may go to sleep. I also ask for spiritual understanding, discernment, and wisdom for everything You have me to process at Your appointed time.
In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
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Related Resource: Remember God’s Enduring Love for You in this Guided Meditation on Psalm 100!
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