How to Begin the Day with God

Do you begin the day with God?  I am learning to and I hope you will also.

One of my deepest impressions growing up 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 very attractive.

Her pattern engraved on my heart the need to begin the day with God. It motivated me to ask her to awaken me a little earlier each morning so that I could do the same.

As a young person, 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…

What is the best way for a believer begin the day with God?

Consider early morning as the time to seek the Lord and  find spiritual nourishment.

I discovered that the early morning time for a Christian was not mainly for Bible study, but for coming to the Lord to be nourished by Him. (John 5:39-40)

Neither is the early morning the time for heavy prayer ministry—although that is much needed as well.

The early morning time is primarily a time for believers to seek the spiritual nourishment to live the Christian life.  A good picture of this is God’s instructing Moses to have His people gather the heavenly manna each morning (Exo. 16:15-21). We also need to gather the spiritual manna in the morning (1 Cor. 10:3).

Jesus’s rebuke to the tempter presents the pattern for us today. He 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.

Receive God’s word in the Bible by means of prayer with your spirit.

From experience, I can say it’s not just a matter of reading the Bible. Nor is just a matter of prayer. It’s a matter of mingling both. This hymn describes the experience.

First we need to make living contact with Lord by exercising from deep within (using our spirit—see John 4:24) to call upon the Lord, to cry out to Him as the Psalmist did (Psa. 119:147). This crying out (although it may need to be soft in volume) is the best spiritual breathing.

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

When we match such an inner exercise of contacting the Spirit with our spirit with a living contact with God’s Word by means of prayer, we receive tremendous benefits. It is in such a way that we may receive the Lord’s words which are spirit and life.

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.”

From my experience praying over Bible verses in such a way causes the Lord’s words to 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 just from teaching, but from observation. In my early college years in Los Angeles,  I saw a group of Christian brothers who made a practice of taking personal time with the Lord each morning for praying and enjoying God’s Word. Then I began to practice it also.

If you’ve been helped by this post please share your experience of beginning the day with God in a comment.

References and Further Reading

Here are some ministry that helped me learn how to begin the 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.
• A Hymn: I Come to Thee Dear Lord. Don’t forget to click “View Lyrics.” You may also want to read my post on it.

You can be find and freely read them 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.