How do you start your day? Do you have some routines that are always the same? How long do you go until you greet God each day? You answer defines the robustness of your faith. Really.

Either you lean on God or on your own strength.
Either you live for God or for yourself.
Either you put God first or yourself.

In the morning You hear my voice, O Lord; in the morning I prepare [a prayer, a sacrifice] for You and watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart]. (Psalm 5:3, AMP,*)

It is your choice. But if you choose to not communicate with God in the morning, don’t wonder why you feel frazzled later on the day. If you don’t keep communion with God early on the day, don’t wonder why you feel so distant from God later on.

Meeting with God the first thing in the morning is special. It almost sounds too good to be true. But we are powerless without God. When we ask God’s guidance for our day, we are strengthened. Then it’s not us working but Christ working in and through us. Why would we want to work without the power of the Holy Spirit?

Maybe we should take this seriously. Maybe we should start our days with the Lord and see what happens. Maybe we should invite Jesus into our day and bask in his grace throughout the day.

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1, AMP,*)

It is all about remembering each morning that God is God and we are not. It is all about embracing the fact that without God we are nothing. Like C.S. Lewis has said “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”

That’s why we surrender to God every morning.
That’s why we rededicate our lives to Jesus every morning.
That’s why we see God’s Holy Spirit every morning.

When we’ve been empowered by God, we are ready to serve others. When we’ve communed with Christ, we are grace-filled for the rest of the day. When we’ve been showered with the Holy Spirit, we are ready to face the world.

I honestly do believe that embracing grace in the morning before meeting anyone else is crucial for everyone’s happiness. That’s why I surrender to God right after I open my eyes. Only when we abide in Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can love others as God loves us. Also only when we are empowered by God, we can do his work his way. Any time used in prayer is never wasted, prayer always brings blessings into our lives.

Here’s the bottom line: We truly need God. But that is not a bad thing. God wants to pour out grace upon grace on us. He is just waiting for us to come to him and ask. Why don’t we do just that?

 

Good Morning, God,
it’s me again.
Thank you for this new day.
I surrender my everything to you.
Fill me with your grace and
show me what you want me to do today.
Enable me to use my time right.
Empower me to do your will.
Strengthen me to serve others.
Use me in mighty ways, Lord.
Work in and through me.
Bless me according to my needs.
Thy will be done in me and through me.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: How do you start your day?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you start your day with prayer!

* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.]

Image courtesy of Kelly Sikkema, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke. This post is refurbished from 2010. Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty, Hear it on Sunday, use it on Monday, Playdates with God, and counting blessings with Ann Voskamp:  #1102 Growing into full maturity happens by grace. #1104

I always appreciate if you help sharing the blog posts with your friends & followers. So that everyone might know the love of God, receive the grace of Christ, and live in the presence of the Holy Spirit! Thank you! Be blessed now and forever!