Why is it hard to stay awake during prayer? | Rapp Report Daily 0172 | Striving for Eternity

Prayer, Sleepiness, and the Example of Christ

Welcome to The Rapid Bull, daily edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications. This is a ministry of striving for eternity.

When we look through scripture, we see that there would be times where people would pray for long periods of time. If you think about the life of Christ, before he chose his disciples, it says he prayed all night.

The night before he was crucified, we see him praying all night. And we do see, even then, the disciples were struggling. What were they struggling with? Well, they were struggling with sleep. It is amazing, and I think it was John Owens that said this when dealing with the issue of indwelling sin and the mortification of sin, said that it's amazing how five minutes into prayer, people will fall asleep when there's other things that could be done.

Why Prayer Time Matters and How to Avoid Falling Asleep

Now, in the book, The Enemy Within, Chris Lungard, who was doing a kind of a Cliff Notes version of John Owens' work, put it this way. Why is it that people can watch an hour and a half movie with Tom Cruise, but five minutes into prayer, they're sound asleep?

The thing is, is that we keep ourselves so busy that one of the things, just like the disciples, when we get a moment of quiet, of sitting still, where we close our eyes, often we fall asleep. So, one suggestion is to plan times of prayer when you would be less likely to fall asleep.

Morning Prayer, Coffee, and a Sustainable Prayer Routine

It's one of the reasons why first thing in the morning is a good time. I try to have my prayer time after my devotions at 10 o 'clock in the morning. I try to have it then. I have a time of coffee. I've gotten my coffee.

Now is a time of prayer. But I don't do all my prayer at one point in time, and that's important. We'll get to that later.

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