No Sleep

 Love you all, praying for you. 
 
I just love God’s Word.  It is truth and life.  Have you ever not been able to sleep?  Waking up in the middle of the night?  Maybe several days in a row, or several times a week?  Why is that?  (Not the lack of Nyquil. God is better than Nyquil – that’s a Word right there for some of you.)  Several reasons that could happen.  #1  God wants you to pray.  If God is awakening you to pray, then pray.  Let the Holy Spirit lead you, and when the burden lifts, go back to sleep.  #2 God wants to tell you something – He speaks to you in the night season, sometimes in your spirit, and sometimes He will wake you up to tell you.  You might do like Samuel did.  “Speak LORD, for your servant hears you.”  Then - be sure you Write It Down.  Write it in your PiVAT Journal next to your bed.  Check the clock.  2:22 am?  Is there a verse in chapter 2, verse 22 of a book in the Bible that He wants to prompt you with?  Ask Him which book, chapter and verse.  Write down what He tells you, and when the burden lifts, go back to sleep.  #3  You’ve got man-made burdens cluttering your mind, and stealing your sleep.  The devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy.  He knows fatigue makes cowards of us all (Not God, Lombardi), but one of the ways the devil steals sleep is having you worried about missing something.  Set your alarm, maybe set two just in case – so you’ll wake up on time.  And regarding the things cluttering your mind, Write them on a conversation page of your PiVAT Journal.  This is your Scratch PiVAT Maybe!  You don’t have to get the perfect order – just write them all down in whatever order they come out. They’ll be off your mind, and on paper.  Then just give that scratch PiVAT Maybe list to God.  He said to Cast all your cares on Him, because He cares for you.  Then, you can go back to sleep.  The #4 reason you might be up at night – You don’t know His Word – you need to feed on it.  Not a midnight snack for your stomach, a midnight snack for your spirit.  And next time, you can review these before bedtime, so you don’t have to review in the middle of the night.  I will lie down and sleep in peace for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety Psalms Chapter 4 Verse 8.  If your mind is weighed by concerns – review the PRISM Topic – Fear Not, and Do Not Fret.  Let His Word – rise up your faith within you… so you can sleep in the peace He gives.  Psalms 127:2 – In vain you rise up early and stay up late toiling for food to eat; for He gives sleep to those He loves.  You don’t have to stay up at night, trying to figure things out… God’s got this.  And He gives sleep to those He loves.  That’s you.  Here’s another thing you can do – before the night sets in...  It will help you sleep in the peace He gives.  Proverbs 3:23-24 – My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion, they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.  Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.  When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.  Why?  Because you don’t let wisdom and understanding out of your sight.  Wisdom helps you sleep.  Get some.  Have you noticed when life becomes hectic, busy, stressful, the first thing to go tends to be your PRISM time in His Word.  That I: Insight from the WORD – your Proverbs chapter every day – will not only ensure you maintain and increase in wisdom (You need it! Especially now) but it will improve your sleep!  Here’s the #5 Reason why you can’t sleep.  Money worries.  Eccl 5:12 – The sleep of a hardworking man is sweet, whether he has little or much to eat: but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.  Sometimes you can’t sleep because you don’t work hard enough, staying up too late, sleeping in too late, if you work harder, you’ll sleep better.  But the other thing this verse of wisdom reveals, but abundance of the rich doesn’t allow him to sleep.  He’s worried about his money – that He’s trying to store up in his barns.  What he’s supposed to control, is now controlling him.  What if someone steals it? what if the wind blows it away… what if inflation evaporates it, or the financial crash destroys it? If money directs you, rather than you directing it, you won’t get much sleep.  It’s not that you have too much money.  (Unless God told you to give, and you didn’t…)  God gives you what you need, and often more.  Your job is to steward it well (not wisely)  You don’t have to be wise with money – just obedient.  Sometimes God tells you to do something financially that nobody thinks is wise, and many times what is considered wise with money – is not what God wants you to do.  His wisdom is different from ours.   His ways are higher.   If you have a 4C’s Tool, so you know where God’s money is, and have asked Him what to do with it.  He’ll tell you, then just do it.  And in the meantime, sleep.  Praying that you will ask God, so you know why you’re up at night.  If He awakened you – get what He has for you, do what He wants for you – what He awakened you for.  If your lost sleep is needless, I pray God will give you discernment, that you will know His Word, that money will never keep you up at night, that you will work diligently by day in what God has assigned for you – so you sleep well.  Praying that you’ll keep His Word before you, always on your lips – so it’s in your heart, so you gain wisdom that gives rest.  Praying that you’ll understand His great love for you – so your sleep will be sweet, and your mind, body and spirit will be refreshed.  I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone O LORD, make me dwell in safety.   
 
Love you all,
dad