5 Proven Tips to Stay Awake During Vigils

Vigils are essential parts of our lives as Christians. It is necessary to make absolute and proper use of the power of the night in our growth. Jesus had a culture to pray at nigh and He is the perfect model for vigils. So, if you have a habit to sleep during vigils, you should read this till the end.

When you go for Church vigils, it is really heartbreaking to see people falling asleep. In most cases like this, it is much better to sleep in your bed than attend vigils and suffer discomfort by sleeping in church while your bed remains empty. The result is that you don’t get to pray and yet you don’t get to sleep comfortably so you lose in both ways.

Among other things, sleeping during vigils is usually caused by your stress during the day, or in some cases, accumulated stress. The body was designed to have its time for rest as God himself had rested after creation. 

When you see someone geared up for vigil, dancing heavily during praise worship sessions, praying aloud during the first set of prayer points or bouncing up and down round the hall, shouting on top of his voice, know that they will (in most cases) soon burn out. Give it about 20 minutes and their eyes will begin to close up. This is because there is a skill to staying awake all night during vigils. It has nothing to do with how holy or unholy you are, or how long you slept or didn’t sleep during day. During vigils, it is a different game because there always seems to be a demon of sleep prowling around.

Read: 6 Types of Nigerian Christians You Would find on a Bus

Here are a few tips and strategies to help you defeat sleep during vigils. You must implement the strategies to get the benefit.

1. Sleep Before the Vigil

You can never go wrong if you sleep before the vigil. If you have heard the popular saying that "you cannot cheat nature", you will likely understand that it is better to create a balance than try to cheat nature. Sleep is that nature and the night was created for sleep. So, if you really want to stay awake during vigils, get some good sleep before you attend the vigil.

2. Take a Bottle of Water

You see, you need a form of energy and strength whenever you pray. At times, you could get dehydrated or your mouth begins to shiver. At that point, when you take the first yawn and the second, then the third, it may be almost impossible to chase off sleep. This is when drinking water comes in handy.

3. Take Sweets Along

This is very important. You may bring enough sweets for yourself and the people sitting beside you. When you open the pack, ask your neighbours if they want. Whether they accept or not, at least, they will know you are ready for serious business, and don’t intend to sleep. And if they know what is good for them, they will not sleep too. If your eyes are threatening to close, or your head and hands are going limp, just slip one into your mouth. No matter what, do not sleep.

Read: 5 Tips to Help you Stay awake while Praying

4. Don't Pray on a Spot

Standing on a spot when praying will make you feel relaxed, and let the anointing of tiredness descend on you. By the time you know it, you will be sleeping and standing at the same time, and people will think you have entered the spiritual realm, not knowing you are in dreamland. When praying, you should map a good space or a straight line route for yourself, and walk to and fro along that path like a pendulum bob. Don’t rush the walk, or else you will wear yourself out, and don’t walk too slowly too, like you are counting your steps. You are there to pray, not to avoid sleeping. They are two different things.

5. Do Not sit Down

Sitting down is one reason why people succeed or fail when it comes to sleeping at vigils. The only time you should sit down during vigil is if the pastor is giving a sermon, and by that time, you should be stable enough not to sleep off. If you are sitting and standing, you think you are saving your strength, but the truth is that you are giving your knees more work to do, and giving yourself a faster chanced to be tired. Don’t sit down when a scripture to back up a prayer point is being explained. Don’t sit down when a prayer point is being read. Don’t sit down when someone wants to pass in your front. No matter how long the vigil lasts, whatever you do, never sit down. It could sound harsh, but the problems that chased you to vigil in the first place too are also harsh and not smiling, and remember you have your bed to embrace all day, so delay the gratification. If you sit down, you will be tempted to sit for 10 seconds more, and another 10 seconds, and another…. Before you know it, you will deceive yourself into believing you can pray effectively while sitting, and then what happens? the sleep demon wraps itself round you. 

Finally, you should not beat yourself or feel terrible whenever you sleep at vigils. You should instead try your best to avoid sleeping in subsequent vigils. These tips will help you keep yourself awake during prayer vigils so you do not just waste your time and deny yourself of comfort for no reason. That problem that gave you the idea that you should leave your comfortable bed, and go to church all night must die o. You cannot let sleep deny you your breakthrough, lol.