Giving God The First Moments of Your Day

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Giving God the first moments of our days can be very challenging when you are a busy mom and you have early risers. But with intentionality you can do it and the rewards are amazing!

 “And IN THE MORNING, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” — Mark 1:35

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Giving God the first moments of our day set our priorities right!

God is the source of everything we need. We have no power or strength on our own and that’s why we need to spend time with Him every day.  I wish I could say: “I get up at 5 am every day to spend time with God” but I would be lying to you if I did. Some days I find it really hard to even open my eyes before 8 am. I’m just being honest here. No matter what time I get up I still give Him the first minutes of my day.

Dear friend, Jesus comes first!

Once our day starts, we get caught up in so many things and pulled in so many directions. Life is busy and this world is noisy. Here is an interesting thing I found when I looked up the definition of the word noisy: “accompanied by or introducing random fluctuations that obscure the real signal or data.” Think with me, the busyness and noises in our lives can’t block us from receiving the real signal or data that comes from the throne of God through His Holy Spirit. There is only one way to prevent this from happening – we need to put Jesus first!

“…that in ALL THINGS He may have the PREEMINENCE”. Colossians 1:18

Ask yourself: Who or what should have preeminence in your life? I’m sure you would agree with me that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit deserve the first place! God created us to spend time with Him, learn from Him, love Him and let our lives be a reflection of His love and glory.

Here is what happens when we are not intentionally giving God the first moments of our day.

1. Life gets in the way – In our house, the moment my kids get up in the morning, they demand all my attention, then it is breakfast time and homeschooling follows it. As the day progresses my house gets noisy, messy and my hands get busier. Once homeschooling is over, the house needs to be cleaned, the sink is piling up, laundry needs to be done and dinner needs to be started before my husband gets home from work. If I’m right, the same thing happens to you, maybe a little bit differently in a way. Once we get busy and busier during the day, is hard to stop and make time to feed ourselves in the Word of God or spend time in solitude with Him. S-O-L-I-T-U-D-E is such a beautiful word in a busy mother’s ears!
2. The noise of chaos will speak louder – Can I make a big confession here? I can’t stand too much noise. Imagine me teaching 3 kids at the same time 5 hours a day, all of them talking at the same time (thankfully not always) and demanding my attention. *Sigh*. (A minute of silence in respect for all teachers!) I could easily get frustrated or irritated; if it wasn’t for the moments I spend with God before my beautiful chaotic day begins, I don’t know how I would handle it. Yes, I lock myself in the bathroom sometimes, take deep breaths and count to 100, but this just gives me a momentary escape and does not teach me to handle things with love and grace – the Word of God does! We need the Word. We need to often be reminded to clothe ourselves with love and to forgive. The Word of God teaches us and transforms us into the likeness of His Son Jesus and that is our goal, to be more like Him every day.
3. We won’t be ready for what comes to our way – for as much as we love to plan our days in advance and spend money and time in beautiful planners; only God knows what our day will really be like and what we need to be ready for. If we spend time with Him we might be given a Bible verse that will prepare us for our day, have you ever considered that? God does not give us random Scriptures to read, each verse of the Bible, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, is profitable for instruction, reproof, correction, and discipline. The apostle Paul, the same author of the letters to Timothy, taught us to constantly put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) before we do anything else and we should be doing exactly that, so cloth yourself with the Word of God!

Beloved, let us not begin our days without being fully armored!

So how should we be giving God the first moments of our day?

Here are 4 spiritual practices that help me daily to hear God’s voice, fill my heart with faith and prepared me for what the day might bring:

1. Read The Word – It doesn’t matter if you read a verse or an entire chapter or book, the Word of God speaks!
2. Meditate on The Word – Once you read the Word, ask the Holy Spirit to give you the understanding of what it means to you personally and how you can apply it to your life. (The next step helps me the most to meditate on the Word).
3. Bible Journaling – this is totally optional but that’s what works wonders for me. My idea of Bible journaling might be completely different from yours and that’s ok. I am not a writer. If you know me well; you know I’m a speaker with no gifts for writing. Even while putting a sermon together, my written words are very few. I prepare an outline, preach it from the heart and I only need a few keywords to help me remember the message.Because I am mostly a visual learner, I love to write words or Bible verses in my journal and doodle around to make it pretty – because I do like pretty things! This simple technique has helped me visualize and continue to remember throughout the day the word God spoke to me in my quiet time with Him.  I know for some of you this idea may sound totally foreigner but I challenge you to try it and let me know how it works for you!

   I LOVE Illustrated Faith devotional kits to help me journaling my faith! Here is a recent page I just illustrated in my Bible. 🙂

   

4. Pray – Last but not least, now that God has spoken to you while you read His Word, meditated on it and even journaled (or doodled) about it, it’s time for you to have a full two ways conversation with Him. Oh, and what a blessed time this can be!Prayer is when all of me, meets all of Him! This is what I call a Holy Moment. A moment completely set apart (HOLY) for fellowshipping with our God. This is when you get to thank the Lord for all the blessings, ask Him for guidance and protection, tell Him how much you love Him, how much you need Him, and just feel His love being poured over you!

   Spending a time in intimate prayer, make us feel like a warm blanket of love has been wrapped around us, perhaps this is my simple way to describe the feeling of God’s embrace.

Friend, I hope this post has encouraged you to make time for Him and to give Him the first moments of your day. God wants some time alone with you, away from the noise and the busyness. I’m sure He has a lot to say to you no matter how early or late in the day, you are reading this. Find a quiet spot and go talk to him. He is always ready and waiting for us. In Mark 1:35, we see Jesus getting up early to give the first moments of his day to the Father, let us follow his example.

Your turn: How are you giving God the first moments of your day?

Ana Willis

Ana is the unhurried homeschool mom of 3, wife, and homeschool blogger.

She loves to encourage, inspire and empower moms to go from stressed to blessed by providing them with the tips, strategies, and resources they need to succeed. Ana is the founder of They Call Me Blessed and the creator of:

5 Days to Your Best Homeschool Years,
Hebrew for Homeschoolers,
Charlotte Mason Online Conference,
The Homeschool Sisterhood,
Grow Your Blog Partying in 30 Days, and
the Beyond Blessed Life Planner.

She leads a vibrant free community for homeschool moms on Facebook and you can connect with her at www.facebook.com/theycallmeblessedblog.

www.theycallmeblessed.org