Who Needs to be Awake All Night

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Hello, and welcome to The Overflow Podcast. My
name is Craig Booker. The title of this episode is Who

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Needs to be Awake All Night. The material in this
episode is inspired by Winning the War on Worry

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by Lou Giglio. Note, I will talk a lot about mental
health, but please note this is not a substitute

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for therapy or mental health care. The title of this
episode is Who Needs to be Awake All Night. So we

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are finishing up the last chapter of this book.
This section or this chapter starts by Louie opens

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with a story. He says you may know this scene well.
Suddenly, in the middle of the night, you are Jarred

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awake something within startled you and
now you are fully conscious, your mind spinning

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with a situation that’s been causing you a great
deal of worry in consternation. You tried to sleep

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but your mind couldn’t downshift into rest mode.
Now your heart and mind are racing. You glance

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over at the clock on the nightstand or reach for
your smartphone it’s 2:27 a.m. again! So he

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begins with this scenario that’s probably
familiar to anyone that’s dealt with worry or

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fear or anxiety. He goes into talking about you
know maybe what’s going to happen is after this

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occurs is you’re going to toss and turn all night
and end up in the morning just more tired and

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frustrated than you were when you started when
you went to bed. And he goes in to, and he says a

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night of sound sleep may sound like a small thing
but it is a good picture for us as we head toward

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the finish line of winning the war on worry. When
you think about a life characterized by peace, your

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mind likely jumps to someone who is restful. And
few things are more restful than a good night of

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uninterrupted sleep. God knows there are few
things more restful than a good night’s sleep. And

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so in scripture, we will find references to sleep.
And just a few of these that he points out are

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Psalms 2:32 and this is from the NIV. It says, “He
makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me

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beside quiet waters. The second one is Psalms 4:8
in the NIV. It says, In peace, I will lie down and

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sleep for you alone, Lord make me dwell in safety.
Louie goes on to say, One of the great rewards of

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winning the one worry is that you no longer have
to be subject to sleepless nights. That’s not God’s

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way. He himself is up throughout the night, so you
don’t have to be, and he’s keeping you safe and

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at peace. He goes into the section that’s titled
fix your gaze heavenward. And he says, Our God is

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a god of peace, and he leads us toward rest if we
will let him. So how do we do that? Like how do we

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get towards this rest or peace? He says, First we
fix our gaze on our heavenly father I have set

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the Lord continually before me because he is at my
right hand and I will not be shaken therefore my

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heart is glad and my glory rejoices My Flesh also
will dwell securely that’s Psalms 16 8-9 in the

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nasb 1995 Louie goes on he says David the one who
pinned Psalm 23 and talked of having no fear in

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the middle of Death Valley David knew all kinds of
trouble Despair and hardship and he knew what it

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was like to fail uh and to bless I think my notes
have a little bit of typo in there uh to to fight

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Mighty armies and to be bet betrayed by those
closest to him this isn’t something he’s talking

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about this process of fixing our Gaze on our
heavenly father and he says this isn’t something

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I do once in a while it’s the constant activity
of reentering my thoughts and shifting my focus to

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get God in view when we do this three things will
happen when we fix our eyes on our heavenly father

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when we put him at the center of our view he says
for one my heart is glad uh I have a shift in my

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emotions I replace fear with the knowledge that
God is with me two or second it says I Rejoice

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worship displaces worry as praise fills my mouth
third my body rest securely it says I rest knowing

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that God is in control chances are you have tried
this this before so you have tried to remember a

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Bible verse in the middle of your struggle with
little or no success and if you’re like me in the

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middle of your struggle my memory typically
fails me it it’s really unreliable so what

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do we do about this like how do we correct this
situation and Louie says the most important step

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in finding rest is focusing on on the God you are
continually setting before you the almighty one

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the maker of heaven and Earth make every effort
to make sure he is always at the Forefront of

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your thoughts so he’s describing this as a process
we’re continually doing we’re you know we may be

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struggling to do this I know it’s a challenge for
me is to continually put God before me and so he

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goes into a new section talking about God and
as we’re thinking about this he’s saying to f

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focus on these attributes of God and he goes into
saying that God is awake he is alert and he is

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able so these are the things that we’re supposed
to focus on uh it’s the God who is ever before you

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is always awake he’s never been tired or weary
the almighty has never once closed his eyes in

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sleep He Who Watches Over you will not Slumber
indeed He Who Watches Over Israel will neither

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slumber nor sleep Psalms 1213 4 so God does not
sleep he is always awake we as his children don’t

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have to stay awake because he is always awake
and he is in control and next he goes into after

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talking about God is always awake he says God is
alert so uh Psalms 1394 of the NIV says before a

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word is on my tongue you Lord know it completely
that means before I have a need that causes me to

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voice a prayer God already knows about it he sees
the whole path ahead of me before I even take the

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next step he also says that God is able so you
know he he goes into saying okay great he’s awake

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and alert but if he’s not able what use is any of
this and so he says God is able not only is God

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able but he is also working on your behalf whether
you see it or not it’s important to clarify that

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the fact that God is awake alert and able might
not automatically mean that your circumstance

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pivots to your desired outcomes you know in other
words it doesn’t mean you’re going to get exactly

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what you want regardless of God being awake alert
and able Louie goes on it says as you lie down at

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night I encourage you to say to God thank you that
you will be awake all night thank you that you are

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watching over all that concerns me I believe you
are able to do exactly what you want to do I need

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rest so I will trust in you Louie says to take
this approach is to be rooted in the realization

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that God is in control awake alert and AEL 24/7
Louie goes on he says to truly believe this is

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to say with the psalmist unless the Lord builds
the house the builders labor in vain unless the

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Lord watches over the city the guards stand watch
in vain in vain you rise early and stay up late

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toiling for food to eat for he grants sleep
to those he loves Psalms 127 1-2 so as we’re

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transitioning or wrapping up this last section
there uh Lou talks about the one last weapon

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in our war on worry and that’s a grateful heart
so the next section is the power of a grateful

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heart uh it’s a scientific fact that gratitude
positively affects mental health and reduces the

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anxiety that leads to worry a recent publication
found that when we Express gratitude and receive

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the same our brain releases dopamine and serotonin
the two crucial neurotransmitter transmitters

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responsible for our emotions, and they make us
feel good, they enhance our mood immediately

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making us feel happy from the inside di all right
so he goes on. Looks like he’s quoting Philippians

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46-7 of the NIV. Do not be anxious about anything
but in every situation, by prayer and petition with

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thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the
peace of God which transcends all understanding

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will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus. He says, pay special attention to the phrase

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with Thanksgiving. So you remember I talked about
how in the middle of my struggles, I really have a

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hard time or my brain has a hard time remembering
Bible verses or key truths in Scripture that kind

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of would help me in that situation. Here’s where
Louie speaks to that. He says, Worry causes us to have

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spiritual Amnesia, making us forget that God
is the one who has brought us through every

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trial and difficulty, gratitude reminds us of
his faithfulness and his faithfulness boosts

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our confidence no matter the situation. All right.
So we have discussion questions for this section.

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And we’ll go over those on a high level and then I
would encourage you this week to kind of dive into

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these as you have time. It says number one, What are
you grateful for? Take some time to list out every

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single thing that comes to mind. Two, rest is a
reaction to something that makes us feel safe. How

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do the power and authority of God help lead you
to rest well? Three, we counter spiritual Amnesia

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by recalling what God has done for us in the past
what has he done for you that you can stand firm

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upon? And four, what is the current soundtrack of
your mind? Are you listening to songs of worship

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or songs of worry? What do they sound like? That’s
all for this episode. Thank you for watching! If you

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