What does your morning routine look like?

How many of you wake up in the morning and this is the first thing that you do:

I’m guilty of it some mornings. Okay, most. Especially since I use my phone as an alarm. If I see messages I immediately read, respond, and then find myself trailing off to something else. By the time I’m finished I throw a quick “thank you Lord” prayer in the air and rush in order to get out of the house.

He deserves so much more. We deserve so much more. So today I just want to encourage you to add something to your morning ritual if you haven’t already. I’m asking you to:

Spiritually prepare yourself for each day

We put a lot of time into physically preparing and neglecting the former. So I am asking you to dedicate time to God in prayer, reading, meditation and/or journaling/note taking.

It’s best to start the day off in communion with God because we don’t know what will transpire through the day. You may not get another chance to sit down with your bible until it’s time for bed. Then the cycle repeats. I don’t know about you, but the more time I spend away from prayer and personal bible study the greater my stress, vulnerability to depression, and inability to deal with struggles grow.

I’m about to throw 3 scriptures at you then I’m out of here!

1. Joshua 1:8 NRSV
“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it.”

Most of us do not know how to act! We need to be thinking about the word day and night so we can represent Christ better. To meditate on it you have to read it… Thinking that you have no time? Make it. This morning I had to be on the road by 4:45am so I listened to my bible app read me a few chapters. I laughed [cuz if you don’t know the bible has jokes] and I was encouraged. Those scriptures are still on my lips. Including the next one I’m giving you!

2. Ecclesiastes 9:11 NLT
“I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.”

A lot of times God desires for us to do something specific, go somewhere, switch up our schedule but we’ll never know because we don’t spend time in him. I’m convinced that in order to live by Proverbs 3:5-6 [Trusting him and letting him guide our paths] we must:

• Pray: communicate with God
•  Listen: allow the Spirit to speak to yours and by reading the word
•  React: so that we can obediently live according to his will.
  

If we are able to do this then I believe that it gives us a greater advantage to be in the right place at the right time, to win the race, the battle, become wealthy, and successful etc. I understand we all have to go through trials but I’m sure there are many we could avoid if we truly allowed our steps to be ordered by the Lord.

3. Ecclesiastes 9:12 NLT
People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.

We sure can’t predict what is going to happen in our lives and we shouldn’t try. That will stress us out to no end. However, I do believe that God warns us and prepares us for hard times through scripture so that we are prepared when they occur. He will lead us to stories of biblical characters that dealt with similar issues so we learn how and how not to act. He’ll lead us to Jesus’ teachings that show us how we should handle hate, hurt, and other challenges we may face. He leads us!

Don’t you want to have all this pertinent information before you step into the whirlwind of life?

We build faith through the word. You can’t build faith without being filled with the word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Spend more time in it! ;)

---