How to Wake Up Correctly
Who here struggles in the mornings? Personally, they are a struggle for me. I wake up and it often takes me thirty minutes to fully adjust to where I am. I was recently struck with a new concept: many of the most influential individuals in the Bible would wake up early to spend time with the Lord. Why? Well, the morning can often be the best time to speak with God before the business of the day creeps in. If you are struggling with your Christian walk, I would challenge you to spend the mornings with God.
Now you might ask, what does an effective morning with God look like? Bonhoeffer, in his book Life Together, shows us how to wake up correctly. It starts with worship. Over a thousand years ago Christian communities would often wake up early in the morning to participate in group worship. Why? Because it aligns your heart with God. Worship can be some of the purest moments of our Christian life. My challenge to you would be to wake up to Christian music. Use your iPhone, use your Amazon Alexa, use your CD player, or use anything you have to get your heart aligned with God from the start.
The next step in waking up correctly will be scripture reading. Many pastors will put an emphasis on finding God’s will for your life, but I would argue that most of God’s will for your life is already found in the Bible. The Bible is our Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth. The Bible will naturally draw you closer to God while also equipping you to handle difficult life experiences. One wise quote I heard is, “You cannot recall something that you never read.” The more of the Bible that you read, the more of the Bible you will be able to use! The Bible also will show us our deficiencies. As Pastor Moody has said, “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.”
The last step in waking up correctly is prayer. What is prayer? Prayer is a time when we get to speak with God and God gets to speak with us. I often have people say that they struggle with prayer because they don’t know how to start. I like to give them this illustration: when you meet a new friend, do you just jump right into your deepest secrets and talk all the time? Maybe, but more than likely it takes time to build a relationship. Prayer is a relationship building experience for you and God! God wants you to tell Him how your day is going. God wants you to tell Him everything about your life! Through prayer your relationship with God will grow exponentially and you will glow like you never have before.
In the Old Testament there is a story about Moses. You see Moses would wake up early in the morning and spend time with God in the “Tent of Meeting.” One time when Moses spent an elongated time period with God, when he returned down the mountain his face was glowing. Why was his face glowing? Was it something he had done? Of course not, it was God! When you spend time with God, God rubs off on you!
