Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep

REM sleep is a distinct sleep stage characterized by rapid eye movements, vivid dreaming, and increased brain activity. It occurs approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep and typically lasts for 10-20 minutes per sleep cycle.

Key Features of REM Sleep:

Rapid eye movements: The eyes move rapidly under closed eyelids.

Vivid dreaming: Most dreaming occurs during REM sleep.

Increased brain activity: The brain is highly active, similar to waking hours.

Temporary muscle paralysis: The body's large muscles are temporarily paralyzed, preventing the body from acting out dreams.

Increased heart rate and breathing: Heart rate and breathing may increase slightly.

Importance of REM Sleep:

REM sleep is believed to play a crucial role in:
Memory consolidation: It helps process and store memories from the day.

Emotional regulation: It helps process and integrate emotional experiences.

Brain development: It is essential for brain development in infants and children.

Cognitive function: It may contribute to overall cognitive function and mental health.

Disruptions in REM Sleep:
Disruptions in REM sleep can occur due to factors such as:
Sleep disorders (e.g., insomnia, sleep apnea)
Stress
Medications
Aging

Chronic disruptions in REM sleep can lead to various health problems, including:

Mood disorders, Cognitive decline, and Increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Many Christians suffer from spiritual insomnia because they have not figured out HOW to become consecrated in their walk with Jesus

Consecrated means to be set apart

EYES OF THE HEART

Biblically, the heart is the control center of the entire self. It is the repository of one’s core commitments, deepest loves, and most foundational hopes that control our feeling, thinking, and behavior. To have the “eyes of the heart enlightened” with a particular truth means to have it penetrate and grip us so deeply that it changes the whole person. In other words, we may know that God is holy, but when our hearts’ eyes are enlightened to that truth, then we not only understand it cognitively, but emotionally we find God’s holiness wondrous and beautiful, and volitionally we avoid attitudes and behavior that would displease or dishonor him. - Tim Keller

ARMOR OF GOD

YOKE OF JESUS

How do we:

-open the eyes of our heart
-put on the armor of God,
-take Jesus' yoke

Promoting Healthy REM Sleep:

To promote healthy REM sleep, it is important to:

- Get enough sleep (typically 7-9 hours per night)
- Maintain a regular sleep-wake schedule
- Create a relaxing bedtime routine
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol before bed
- Optimize bedroom environment (dark, quiet, and cool)

If nothing changes, then nothing will change...

There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in consecrated holiness to Jesus,

-Eugene Peterson

Anyone who truly wants to open the eyes of their heart must first begin their journey in the desert...

The desert is a baron wasteland little food little water. In scripture, it represents a complete dependence on God...

St. Augustine says if you want to be a person of prayer...

“You must account yourself ‘desolate’ in this world, however great the prosperity of your lot may be.”

One of the most effective ways that you can begin your journey into the desert and begin the process of opening the eyes of your heart, is to participate in 40 days of prayer and consecration.

The 40-day period is called Lent after an old English word meaning 'lengthen'. This is because of the time of year when it happens, as this is when the days start to get longer, as we approach Summer.

“Forty” is a stock biblical word that has hope at its core. Forty days is a period for testing the reality of one’s life — examining it for truth, for authenticity. “Is this a real life, or just some cheap imitation passed off on me by a sleight-of-hand culture? Is what I am doing and saying my own or just borrowed from people who know less than I do about who I am and what I am for? Is God skillfully shaping and wisely guiding my life, or have I let my untutored whims and infantile sins reduce me to the this the way I want to spend the rest of my life?”

The forty days in Noah’s ark was a purgation, cleansing centuries of moral pollution, washing away generations of un-reflective gratification.

The forty years in the wilderness was training to live into the promises of God, to live by faith in the risky high-promise land of blessing.

The forty days of Elijah “on the run” brought him out of the dangerous illusions emanating from Jezebel’s court to the place of revelation.

The forty days of Jesus’ temptations was a probing of motive and intent, a clarification of the ways in which God worked salvation in contrast to the ways in which religious idolatry seduces us away from God, away from faith.

The forty days of Jesus’ resurrection appearances provided verification for the new reality that was now to characterize life in God’s kingdom.

In each case... the 40 days become a womb, pregnant with a new beginning. The days become a training ground for living in worship by faith. The days clarify discernments for detecting obedience to the cross.

If the forty does its proper work, life begins in a new way. If the forty is ignored, life is destroyed: the ark shipwrecks and everyone is drowned; the Israelites troop back to Egypt to spend the rest of their lives making bricks without straw; Jesus takes up the devil’s agenda and the world falls under the rule of antichrist, glad to be rid of the cross; Jesus disappears in the Ascension and the world goes back to business as usual

In the desert you recognize your need for sustenance and God wants to teach you that he is the source of all you need.

We can not enter into the promise land without first entering into the desert and thereby becoming desolate...

1.) Bible immersion
2.) Wednesday morning prayer
3.) Special Services