If I Should Wake Before I Die

As I sit here, sipping on my coffee, memories of my mom rush through my head. I can’t help but smile and even burst into laughter at times we shared. As I journey through my memories of her, suddenly, a sober memory is brought back to me of a prayer she taught me and one that we prayed together nightly:

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

With my eyes closed, I am back in that moment, and I can vividly recall my feelings of peace and joy as I uttered these words aloud to God. I felt safe. As a child, I did not have a problem with the terms in this prayer; these words gave me peace and comfort that if for some reason I did not make it through the night, I would be with the Lord. Night after night, I allowed this prayer to sink into my soul. I did not fear death as I understood it would only bring me into the presence of the Lord.

Admittedly, as an adult, my prayer has changed. No longer the child that eagerly awaits God in her sleep; now a woman that contemplates death through a different lens, praying for the Lord to keep her and her family from it.

As I search myself for that little girl, so humble and enthusiastic about being with God, I begin to reflect on the prayer that once led me into worship and devotion to God; one that allowed me to believe His promises of eternity; one that assured me of His love and protection.

Now I lay me down to sleep

If there is one thing life has taught me, there is an ongoing battle between flesh and Spirit. Many times, I found myself, as I’m sure we all have, a casualty of this war that fights for my soul. Our adversary, the devil, is fully aware that keeping our fleshly desires at the front of our minds gives him place and opportunity. He knows that if we lay our flesh down to sleep and have a Spiritual awakening, he doesn’t stand a chance. A woke flesh puts humans at a disadvantage and allows Satan to take the lead. Allowing the Spirit to awaken in our lives will help us to put our minds on things of the Spirit:

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5, ESV).

I Pray the Lord My Soul to Keep

Our soul is who we are, our passions, emotions, appetites, desires, even how we make decisions. Should we trust ourselves with our souls, or is it wise to entrust our souls to God? Putting our souls under the divine care and protection of God will guard us against the risk of losing our salvation. As much as we may try, we cannot keep our souls from Satan on our own. The soul is the battleground between good and evil. Right now, inside of your very being, is a raging war between righteousness and wickedness. It is only through God’s power unto salvation that our souls are safe from evil. We should trust our Triune God and allow Him to be the keeper of our soul.

“Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You” (Psalms 25:20, NKJV).

If I Should Die Before I Wake

We can appreciate two things about death: 1) it doesn’t discriminate, and 2) we know that it’s coming. Seeing posts of friends and family losing loved ones seems to be a daily occurrence on social media. COVID-19 struck so hard that most of us were not able to get away unscathed. With each death that we experience, we vow to make a change and reverse the disastrous patterns in our lives, but then at some point, we find ourselves challenged with flesh once again. If we are going to protect our eternal state and successfully defeat the enemy’s schemes, we must Wake Before We Die. We need a Spiritual Awakening. The Bible teaches us that we all were once dead in sin, but Christ made us alive or woke us in the Spirit.

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Ephesians 2:1-3, NKJV)

We can’t get caught sleeping, allowing Satan to lull us into fleshly patterns of this world. We don’t want to die before we wake. We desperately need to WAKE BEFORE WE DIE!

So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. 1 Thessalonians 5:6 NLT

I Pray the Lord, My Soul, to Take

As a child, the confidence I had in God was a part of my worship of Him; I understand that now. As an adult, I realize that my confidence in Him has been challenged and shaken to the point of giving up. As I look back over my life, I realize those prayers as a child to my heavenly Father did not fall on deaf ears. He heard me! He kept me through the most difficult times in my life because He knew the little girl that was so excited to meet Him would come running back to Him someday. My soul has been damaged, abused, manipulated, forgotten, weakened, and trampled on. Still, Christ thought it was worth the price He paid. He answered my prayer, I Pray the Lord, My Soul, to Take, because now I belong to Him.

The Lord is coming soon. He has already paid the price for us to be with Him. All we have to do is Wake up Spiritually before dying and leaving this earth so that we can be with Him in eternal glory.

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed (Romans 13:11, NIV).