Night time prayer is an important aspect of prayer. The bible says, while men slept, the enemy sowed tares. Matthew 13:24-30. Therefore, it is a time to stop the activities of the enemies and reclaim what the devil has stolen. 

But what is an effective strategy to pray at night. How would a Christian pray at this time without falling asleep when sleep is heavy on their eyes?, etc., are some of the questions bothering believers and prayer warriors that they would love to find answers to.

Find in this post some strategies to help you pray effectively at night.

If you’ve not been waking up at night, it may be difficult for you just to start waking up and start praying. If you don’t take action steps to make sure you indeed wake up to pray at night, you may find out that you woke up at day break, and actually ended up not praying at all in the night. An alarm clock can be effective to help you wake up at night to pray. If you don’t have an alarm clock, the alarm system on your phone can help. Some alarm sounds are actually louder on some devices than others, but you know what works well for you. So adjust the sound or get a device with the right velocity of sound just enough to wake you up.

It is also common for some people to not wake up when the alarm rings. This is because sleep is heavy on them and they begin to think whether it’s actually worth waking up. They may end up procrastinating what they intended to do actually, due to the forces of nature. 

A strategy that really works well if you are in this kind of situation, is what is known as the 5 Seconds Formula.

How it works, is that you would start counting down from 5 and before reaching one, you would get up to do it. Don’t let your brain decide at this point. Just do it.

After waking up, how would you approach the prayer? My next point to you is that you shake off laxity or everything that does not produce zeal or the willingness to pray. A quick way to fall back in bed is to allow these factors decide the next phase of your prayer mission. Don’t let that happen. Just shake them off.

For instance, it wouldn’t help to kneel down just yet to pray, immediately after waking up from sleep. You may realize that you woke up the next day without praying because sleep got hold of you.

Just walk about the room to disperse or wane every iota of sleep from your eyes as you begin to thank God.

In the previous point, I mentioned that you should start walking about the room thanking God. Thank Him for waking you up safely, thank Him for His grace and mercy, thank Him for His love and goodness. Find every reason to thank Him. While doing this, keep walking about the room to disperse the sleep while you wave your hands thanking the Lord. These activities are meant to put energy in you and ensure you don’t fall back to the temptation to sleep back.

I advise that you don’t sing at this point because doing so may make you sleep back. If you woke up from heavy sleep, you wouldn’t have the coordination to sing effectively with concentration, your vocal cords may be croaky, and singing may not have enough activities to make you stay awake. So I advise you walk about the room for the first few minutes thanking the Lord.

The next thing I advise you do is to pray in tongues. Praying in tongues actually edifies you and does wonders in the realm of the spirit as one who prays in tongues speaks mysteries.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:18)

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:17).

The Psalms is very effective in prayers like this, so, don’t forget to use it.

Praise God in Songs of Worship & Praise