²⁶ Be angry and do not sin.^[a] Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, (Ephesians 4:26 CSB)

Have you ever woken up angry. Ok, maybe not angry per se, but frustrated and stressed?

I mean, the whole idea of sleep is to allow our bodies and minds to rest, right? Yet all to often I, and I suspect many others, let the stress of life invade our sleep. Let, is probably not the right word. No, the stress of our days just seeps into our sleeping life and when it does we end up waking up tired and frustrated….and yes, maybe a little angry.

This, of course, can lead to a day of even greater frustration and stress. So it can all become this cycle of stress-filled days and stress induced dreams and sleep. Before long you are then stressed and exhausted.

Guess who is stoking that fire?

Our old buddy, the enemy, is gleefully poking us day and night with his pointy arrows and accusation. He is making us question ourselves, making us resentful, making us angry at our situation and our exhaustion is just icing on his little cake.

This is where prayer should help, and it can. But at times we are just so tired and frustrated that prayer is the last thing that comes easily. And this too the enemy knows. He knows if he can distract us enough we will just wallow in our stress, frustration and anger.

This is where we cannot let him win. This is where we must cry out to Christ through the Spirit and wait upon His restful hands to touch softly upon our shoulders. Where we must listen for His soft voice to whisper, ”I am here for you.”