First

Something I have been really struggling with is putting God first in my day. I know that the best way to start out my day, especially a work day, would be to open it in prayer and read my Bible first before I even climb out of bed. I have good intentions every night when I go to bed, but something happens when that 6:15 alarm goes off that just keeps me from getting up. It doesn't help at all that I never end up getting to bed before 11:30 every night, even on nights that I've been home for hours.

I listened to Pastor Craig Groeschel's sermon called "First" that he did at the beginning of the year. At the very start of the message he asked the question "What kind of year was last year for you spiritually?" and then he gave three general types of a year that you could fall into:  1) Spiritually apathetic; 2) Spiritually inconsistent; and 3) Spiritually consumed. I honestly feel that a good majority of my year in 2010 was the 3rd one; however, there were a few times where I feel like I was inconsistent in a few areas. I did not start out the year reading my Bible every day...there were some weeks I never picked it up after service on Sunday until the next weekend's service. Now, thanks to the Bible reading plan I had started (I honestly haven't kept up with it anymore. I've started others, but that one was a little intense), I hardly go a day without picking up my Bible at some point.

Pastor Craig listed 4 different areas of life to put God first, and the very first one was to seek God in the very first part of our day. He referenced Mark 1:35, which says "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Jesus did it, with everything else that He had going on. Therefore, why can't I rise above the challenge of getting up at the first alarm? It's simple: I've been relying on my own strength. I haven't asked God for help in this area. The first words out of my mouth in the morning are "ugh, no...not yet...five more minutes..." Five more minutes (or even twenty, since that's what I usually stretch it to) never make me feel any more rested, yet I keep doing it.

My prayer for tomorrow morning is for God to give me the strength I need to get up and spend time with Him first.