How to Begin Your Day with God

How can you, as a believer, begin your day with God?

One of my deepest impressions as a child was seeing my godly mother sitting in her special chair each morning reading and studying her Bible. Rather than being distasteful to me, it was quite attractive. It motivated me to ask her to awaken me a little earlier each morning so that I too could begin my day with God.

As a young believer, I didn’t really know what I should do in my “time with the Lord.” Should I pray, and if so, for what? Should I read some devotional materials? Should I study the Bible?

So I tried, yet often falling asleep on my own prayers. Thankfully, I never gave up…

Early morning is the best time for believers to contact God and find spiritual nourishment.

Later I learned that the earliest morning time for a Christian was not mainly for serious Bible study—although that has its place. Nor was it the time for intercession—although that is much needed as well.

The early morning time is primarily a time for believers to seek spiritual nourishment to live the Christian life, just as God directed Moses to command God’s people to gather the heavenly manna each morning (Exo. 16:15-21).

It was  in this principle that the Lord, while rebuking the tempter, said,

It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).

Even the Lord Jesus, standing in His position as a man, knew the importance of taking God’s word as His daily food and living upon it.

How can you find the real spiritual nourishment to live the Christian life?

From experience, I can say it’s not just a matter of reading the Bible. Nor is just a matter of prayer.

I discovered that the primary need is to make living contact with the Lord by exercising from deep within (using your spirit—see John 4:24) to call upon the Lord, to cry out to the Lord as the psalmists did (Psa. 119:147). This crying out (although it may need to be soft in volume so as to not awaken sleeping family members) is the best spiritual breathing.

The Lord Jesus also applied  the  contact of  man’s spirit with God’s Spirit to drinking the living water (John 4:24, 14).

When you match this inner exercise of your spirit to contact God’s Spirit with a living touch with God’s Word through prayer, you’ll receive tremendous benefits. It’s in this  way that you receive the Lord’s instant words that are spirit and life to you.

In John 6:63 the Lord Jesus said,

“It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that which I have spoken to you are  spirit and are life.“

I can testify from personal experience that in such a way the Lord’s words have become my inner supply,  joy and the rejoicing of my heart (Jer. 15:16).

My  impressions of how to begin each day with the Lord didn’t come mainly from teaching, but from observation. In my early college years in Los Angeles,  I saw a group of Christians who made a practice of taking personal time with the Lord each morning for praying and enjoying God’s Word. This impression set me on the pathway of daily spending time with the Lord to be nourished by Him.

You may want to respond by praying,

“Lord Jesus, thank you that as a man you  set up a pattern of daily living on every word out from the mouth of God. Lord, remind me to come to You every morning in the Word to feed on You that I may live because of You. Teach me to pray over every verse, with petition, thanks, or praise that I may receive Your life element from Your Word.”

To learn more specific points on how to pray with God’s Word, you may want to follow up by reading my post “12 Tips on How to Pray-read the Word of God to be Spiritually Nourished.”

Such  a matter of Christian experience requires persistent practice with mutual encouragement. So please share your experience of beginning your day with God in a comment to this post.

Here are some further resources to equip you to begin each day with God:

• “Early Rising,” a chapter in Watchman Nee’s book, Messages for Building Up New Believers, Volume 1, chapter 12.
• A Time with the Lord,  a little booklet Witness Lee.
• “The Best Time of the Day to Spend with the Lord Jesus” is an awesome post by Bibles for America on this same topic.
• You can be  freely read  both on a website: ministrybooks.org. The later title is also included in Volume Two of Basic Elements of the Christian Life, a free literature set offered by Bibles for America on their website: bfa.org.
• You may also want to watch this video on having a  A Time with the Lord.
• Here are hymns that will enrich your appreciation for this post:
  • I Come to Thee Dear Lord,  click “View Lyrics.” You may also want to read my post on it.
  • Feed Me Lord Jesus, click to “View Lyrics.”