The Sleep Strategy

The final surrender of the day

For years, I have spoken with God at night just before going to sleep.

Over the years, things have grown out of that relationship until I began calling what I do my Sleep Strategy.

This is deeply personal. Yet I am willing to share it if it might help someone who is having difficulty sleeping, falling asleep, or finding peace.

When I feel that I am approaching sleep, I speak aloud. In Jesus’ name, I tell the enemy and every evil influence to leave. Then I trust the power of Jesus and consider the matter settled.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

With my Father, I can speak aloud or pray silently. He knows my thoughts before I have formed the words. (Psalm 139:1–4)

There are some very dreamy moments as I approach sleep.

For nearly sixty years, I lost consciousness following whatever strange thought happened to be passing through my mind. A green elephant with pink polka dots, perhaps, or some other unlikely thing. That would be my last thought, and then I would be asleep.

For the past few years, I have approached that moment differently.

In my bed, I deliberately turn my thoughts toward Christ. Paul writes about taking every thought captive to obey Him. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

That might sound exhausting.

What I do is simple. When I feel that I am about to lose consciousness, I surrender my consciousness to Him.

While I am awake, I have a choice about what I do with my attention. I can turn my thoughts toward Him. Then, as sleep comes, I surrender that very awareness.

My final conscious choice is to give myself to Him.

Once I am asleep, I am no longer consciously directing my thoughts or making another decision about what I have surrendered. I have entrusted myself to Him as I pass into those hours.

That is what I mean by the final surrender.

We spend roughly a third of our lives asleep. Through these years of relationship, I have come to bring that part of my life to Him deliberately.

The Prince of Peace is with us through the night. He can calm our spirit and give us rest. (Isaiah 9:6)

Jesus invites the weary and burdened to come to Him: “I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

The One to whom I surrender neither slumbers nor sleeps. (Psalm 121:3–4)

This began with speaking to Him at night. Over the years, it grew into something I could scarcely have explained when I began: a relationship in which I have learned to entrust Him with the moment my own awareness slips away.

David wrote, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep.” (Psalm 4:8)

As I approach sleep, I surrender my consciousness to Him.

The final surrender of the day.