Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.

For most children, learning rhyming words and then nursery rhymes and even the nighttime prayer was easy and fun. Children rarely even realized they were extending their vocabulary and language skills. Did this bedtime prayer bring me peace, comfort or God’s reassurance? I do remember saying this prayer nightly, but do not think, I analyzed the meaning.

Fast forward to present time and this children’s prayer and the words take on a comforting sense of peace.  As nightfall comes and you quiet yourself for rest, before you still your mind, prayers may begin.  Add this one to your litany of your night’s prayers. You are asking our Lord to keep you safe as you sleep and should you not make it through the night, you are asking our Lord to take your soul to Him. What a wonderful prayer!  Comfort in knowing you are His and may ask of Him your wants and needs AND peace in knowing that as a child of our most high God, we will be with Him forever.

Ephesians 2:6 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

Most Christians pray throughout the day or even give themselves a morning devotional time.  A nightly ritual of prayer time upsets some as they feel guilty falling asleep while praying.  What a better frame of mind to be in than being in prayer!  If you dose off mid-prayer, its ok, you are His and … now as you lay down to sleep, pray to the Lord your soul to keep.

Jill