For Lent, I decided to add an hour to my day. I’m not approaching it legalistically. If we turn devotions into a time card that we punch in and punch out it loses it’s punch awfully quick. I just want to spend more time with God. I genuinely want to know Him more.
You ever had an early flight or early meeting and you wake up all night because you’re afraid you missed your alarm? That is what happened to me today. I was really anticipating an extra hour with the Lord. At one point, I woke up and checked my clock because I was afraid I had overslept. It was 3:48 AM.
I’m not a morning person per se. I’m more of an owl than a lark. But I believe that how you start your day sets the tone. If I get up late, I feel rushed in my spirit. If I get up early, I feel like I find God’s rest. I love starting my day when it’s still dark out. And I’ve always been inspired by Mark 1:35. It’s not just an isolated incident. I believe it’s a recurring routine in the life of Jesus. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place to pray.”
Somewhere within that simple verse is the secret to spiritual fulfillment and fruitfulness. You need to make a daily appointment with God. Call it a quiet time. Call it a spiritual workout. Call it a devotional. What it boils down to is this, a set time and a set place to seek God.
I had a father-in-law, Bob Schmidgall, that God used in amazing ways. He planted and pastored the same church for more than thirty years. My desire to pastor one church for life derives from his example. Even though he died eleven years ago, he continues to be my model for ministry. And one of the things he modeled was this early morning routine. He grew up on the farm, so it might have come more naturally for him, but early morning prayer was part of the warp and woof of his life. His days would start around 5 AM, but sometimes start as early as 3:30 AM. I’ll be honest, that is insane! For most of us, if we got up that early to pray all we’d pray is: “Lord, keep me awake.” And we’d be grumpy dwarf the rest of the day. But I saw the way God used him because he gave God the first fruits of the day!
Long story short, I’m adding an hour to my day during Lent. I’m believing God will take my addition and multiply it for His purposes.
