Joshua 3:1  Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

Mark 1:35  And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

I didn’t sleep well last night.  I kept waking up and checking the clock to see what time it was…mostly to see how much more time I was going to get.  This morning I started teaching a 5:15am class at the gym.  It’s kind of crazy – I’m not much of a morning person.  If left to my own desires, I’d stay up late and sleep in late.  Unfortunately, my schedule doesn’t allow for that.  And this morning definitely did not allow for that.  But now that I’m up and have been awake for a couple hours, I’m enjoying the quiet of the morning.

“Early in the morning” is a phrase found in Scripture over and over (37 times in the ESV/23 times in NIV).  People in Scripture got up early in the morning to meet with God, to share with others what God had said, and to obediently follow God’s instruction.  Sometimes I think people got up early in order to follow God and “get it over with” or maybe they did in order to complete their assigned task before losing their nerve.  Jesus even modeled getting up “very early” in order to pray.

Getting up early is no easy task for many of us, but greeting God early puts Him first in our day…before the day gets hectic.  How many of us have good intentions to get to prayer and devotion time “a little later” only to find the day is over and “later” never happens.  When we get up to be with God first thing, maybe with coffee in hand, we will always have time.

Now more than ever we need our time with God – time to fill up with His Spirit, time to fill up with His knowledge, time to fill up with His energy.  We need to seek Him for direction – in our own lives and in the life of our church.  I believe God has much to tell us…we just have to consistently give Him our time.

So – challenge time!!  I know today is Wednesday – so Thursday and Friday this week and Monday thru Wednesday next week – I challenge you to get up earlier than normal.  Maybe 15 minutes maybe 30 minutes so you have time to be with your Lord.  Put in on your calendar as you would any other appointment.  Don’t be late!  It’s the most important appointment of your day J  Make sure not to stand up your best friend!  And let me know how it goes.

I’m praying for you!

Pastor Amy