A Good Night’s Rest – Guaranteed!

Psalm 127:1-2 (NKJV)
² It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.

Proverbs 3:24 (NKJV)
²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.

The Bible makes it clear that God considers sleep important; important enough to make specific mention of it in two places. It is a promise of God that He gives His children sleep and that sleep is to be sweet (restful). So, why is much of the Church experiencing the same difficulty as the world when it comes to getting a good night’s rest?

The Word says we are in the world, but not of it (John 17:16). Therefore, the potential is always there to receive the same results the world is experiencing. So, being a believer alone does not make us exempt from experiencing difficulty sleeping. But it does provide an avenue to fight off the insomnia epidemic facing the rest of the world.

A good night’s rest comes like any other promise of God – through faith. Hebrews 11:1 (GOD’S WORD Translation) says, “Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see.” Releasing trust in God’s provision – in this case sleep – positions you to receive what you are believing for – which is rest for your body. Rest allows you to function at a high level the next day. As Hebrews 11:1 says we can become convinced that our lack of sleep will not impede us from functioning normally the next day.

Exactly how do you use your faith to receive the rest that usually does not come if you haven’t slept? First, you make a quality decision based on the scriptures above, that your feeling rested the next day is based on God’s Word and not the hours of sleep you received. Next, you take control of your thoughts. A well-known minister of the gospel says, “Where the mind leads, the man follows.” As you are laying there, “labor to enter the rest” (Hebrews 4:11) that God provides. That rest is a place where you are alone with God – with no outside distractions. It is a labor because your mind will want to return to all the things keeping you from sleeping – among them, your family, finances, health and most of all, how tired you are going to be tomorrow because you haven’t slept.

When morning comes, the first thing out of your mouth should be, “I thank you, Father, that as your Beloved, my sleep was sweet. The temptation will be to think you are trying to conjure something up by saying that. However, you are just “calling things that be not as though they are.” (Romans 4:17) Think of it this way… “I am calling things that be not (my sleep be not well last night) as though they are (my sleep was restful last night). You are not denying the problem; you are speaking about your situation based on the Truth of God’s Word.

Finally, when the first inkling of sleepiness/tiredness appears the next day (and, most likely it will), take a firm stand against it, based on 2 Corinthians 12:9 (CEV): But He {Jesus} replied, “My gift of undeserved GRACE is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.” You call on GRACE do what GRACE always does – to empower you to do what you cannot do. As you receive God’s supply, a renewing and refreshing of your energy level will take hold. With that will come the amazing revelation that you can get a good’s night rest – even with your eyes wide open!

9/19