Put God First
I don’t know about your life but in my life the moment my feet hit the ground in the morning I am off and running. If I don’t make the time for God first thing and make Him a priority, I can very easily skip over my fellowship time with Him and move to the busyness of my day.
I find the time I spend with God to be some of the most enriching moments of my day. I am communicating with the creator of the whole world and hanging out with God! How cool is that? The creator of everything in this vast universe is hanging out with me. That is so awesome, isn’t it? And here is the good news, He will do the same for you.
King David writing in Psalms 5:3 makes this statement, “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly” (New Living Translation Bible, 1996). Just like King David, we too can start our day in the presence of the Lord.
My morning routine with God is not measured by quantity of hours in prayer but in moments of quality time. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:6 “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (New Living Translation Bible, 1996).
My morning begins by having a simple conversation with God. Some mornings, I may tell him I am afraid of what I am facing in my day. Maybe another day, I may tell Him how I am struggling with this issue or that issue. I want to be honest with God because He genuinely loves me and cares about my well-being.
The very next thing I do is begin to thank Him for all He has done in my life. I thank Him for my wife, for my children, and for my church family. I thank him for my Pastors, and spiritual coverings. I thank Him for financial provisions for the day. I thank Him for my health and for the awesomeness of the upcoming day. Just because there may be moments in my day that are not awesome and may have gone terribly wrong, it is important to choose to focus on the awesomeness of God.
Next, I take a few moments to magnify God because whatever you magnify will grow bigger. I want God to grow bigger than any problem or situation I am facing in my day. I lift my voice in praise and adoration to Him. I do all this in under 15 minutes and yet it has vastly changed my life.
I don’t stop there. I stay connected to God throughout my day by taking a few moments to thank Him every hour for being so good to me. This helps me stay focused on the bigger picture which is my relationship with Him. Start your day by routinely putting God first and see what will happen when you do.
References
New Living Translation Bible. (1996). New Living Translation Online.
https://www.biblegateway.com/