How do You Start Your Day?

"Then they rose early in the morning and worshipped before the LORD,

and returned and came to their house at Ramah."

1 Samuel 1:19a, NKJV

Elkanah and Hannah are at the House of the Lord. They have risen early in order to worship the Lord before they begin their journey home. It was important for them to rise early and spend time with the Lord before starting their day.

*How do you start your day?
*Do you refuse to do anything before you spend time with the Lord?

Elkanah and Hannah had a busy, hard day ahead of them. They had to travel around twenty miles by foot or with a donkey, from Shiloh, where they had come to offer sacrifices and worship the Lord, back to their home in Ephraim. Who knows how early they needed to get started on this journey- yet they still chose to rise earlier to worship the Lord.

Hmmmmm…..
When are schedules are jammed packed with meetings starting at 8 am sharp, home schooling the kids, dance class, soccer practice, laundry that needs to be done, dinner that has to be made, etc…- do we rise before the dawning of the sun, eager and with joy in our hearts ready to praise the very One who gave us the day? Or, do we say, “Yes, Lord, I do want to spend time with You, but right now, I’ve got to get all this other stuff done. Tonight, we’ll spend more time together.” There have been times in my relationship with the Lord that I’ve put off spending time with Him, only to find myself completely out of His perfect will for my life. Christ was beaten, spat upon, speared in His said, and nailed to a cross so that you and I could spend time with the Father. When we choose to watch TV, surf the net, hand out with friends, veg out on the couch instead of spending time with God, we might as well slap Christ in the face and tell Him that His work on the cross means nothing to us. I don’t mean to sound harsh- then again, maybe I do- it’s time we stop tiptoeing around trying not to offend someone and speak the truth of God’s Word (in love, of course). So, in love I say to you (God already worked this over on my own heart)- you and I can make all the excuses in the world we want to for not spending time with the Lord. And you know what? They are exactly that- excuses. I’ve come to realize that we will make time for those things in our lives that are important to us. “But, you just don’t understand how busy my life is”, you may be saying. Yea, I may not understand, but this is what I do understand- just like Elkanah and Hannah faced a long, hard journey that day to travel back home- you and I, my friend, face a long, hard journey back home and without God by our side we will never make it. We’ve got to be in His Word and in conversation with Him to know how we are to walk through this life on our way home.

Living out the Word
*Make time with the Lord a priority in your life.
*Set aside a specific time every day when you can get to know your Father a little more.
*Follow a simple plan. Spend time reading the Word and talking to the Lord.

For a more detailed plan on how to spend time with the Lord, check out howtohaveadailyquiettime.blogspot.com.

Don’t allow anything to take God’s place in your life. Rise and worship Him.