The morning connection with God

O God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
“Step by Step” © 1991 BMG Songs, Inc. / Kid Brothers of St. Frank Publishing / ASCAP / All rights reserved

One of the most profound disciplines I’ve bought into over the years is that of seeking God in the morning. I’d love to say that I’ve been consistent with this practice day by day, week by week, year by year, over the span of nearly forty years. Unfortunately, I cannot say that.

I can say this. The Lord taught me the value of seeking Him first thing, and as a result, I’ve almost always had some sort of fellowship with Him before I head out the door.

Like most of you, I’ve gone through ebbs and flows with the Lord in the mornings. More than once, when carnality and chaos seemed to rule the day, He would gently remind me, “Seek Me now—and give Me first place in the morning.” And every time He redirects me after I’ve been “too busy” to start my day in the Word and prayer, I pull myself out of bed the next day, find my Bible, a pen and paper, and start reading and talking to Him. Without fail, He shows up and highlights Scriptures and wisdom to my heart.

After a season in my life when I flirted with some carnality, the first thing God led me to do was to reestablish my time with Him in the morning. I purposed to set aside 6:30-7:00 before I left for work to spend time in the Word and prayer. (I had consistently prayed for longer periods of time as a younger believer, but I had to start over again with what I could realistically do. I’ve observed that sometimes we put bigger goals before ourselves than we can handle; when we fail, we give up. Start small; conquer that, and then increase as the Lord leads.)

As I remained faithful to my half-hour with God, the peace, revelation, joy, and blessing flooded back into my life. It always amazes me how God shows up when I obey Him.

I was one of those backwards things who didn’t have a lot of technology in my home. Well, when I finally went online, let’s just say I was swept away. You see, I love to study and think and learn about what’s going on in the world, and I discovered that every morning I had all of the world’s issues laid out before me with a click of a button. Of course, I’d pray and seek God, but something just didn’t feel right.

Clear as a bell, in March of 2010, the Lord told me, “Don’t even look at the news until after you’ve spent time with Me each morning.” And again, when I put my hand to the seeking-God plow first thing in the day, peace, revelation, joy, and blessing flooded back upon me in even greater measure.

And then I got my first iPhone less than a year ago. (Told you I was technologically backwards.) I learned how amazing it was—an alarm clock, email, news, weather and so much more—all at my fingertips! And what do you know, but I started checking my emails first thing (I’m not on Facebook, or I would be checking that, too) and one thing led to another, and I had journeyed around the world, to international meetings and crime scenes before I even got out of bed! Several conspiracies were unfolded before my eyes and I even learned about all of the sales waiting for me on everything from storage cabinets to cat food.

Oh, I would pray—way later in the morning—and feel about as spiritual as an empty potato chip bag.

And conviction came over me again. Lord, I’ve let go of what You told me in 2010. I’ve put all this other stuff before You. I need help!  And it all happened on that snowy morning I told you about.

I knew I would hear from God if I opened up my devotionals, and right there in Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, I read, “Be ready in the morning, and come up…present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee” (Exodus 34:2,3; KJV).

In the morning. God had spoken again. Not only did He want me to present myself to Him each day, but He also said this: “And no man shall come up with thee.” Not emails, not the news, not the forecast, not sales, not the latest conspiracy—no man shall share that time slot which I have reserved just for the two of us, I sensed Him saying to my heart.

“And no man shall come up with thee.” That man—my iPhone—and the other man—my laptop—now stay in another part of the house when I go into the early morning secret place with God.

As you can see, for such an intelligent person, I’ve been a slow learner. But oh, the joy of connecting with God in the morning before the world around me clamors for attention! Nothing that beckons for my notice can compare to the sweetness of early morning fellowship with Him.

Top of the morning to you!

Dorothy

In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. Psalm 5:3

I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Proverbs 8:17; KJV