It Starts the Night Before

He awakens me each morning; he awakens my ear to listen like those being instructed. —Isaiah 50:4

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that success in meeting God in the morning begins the night before. Each evening we make choices that determine whether or not we can get up in the morning. One of the reasons my father was able to be so consistent at spending at least an hour with God each morning was that he was disciplined about getting to bed on time. Regardless of what else was going on in our home, he would prepare to be in bed by eleven.

How much better off would our souls be if we got to bed earlier and spent the last portion of our evening listening to godly music or meditating on Scripture—preparing for our morning appointment with God.

To this day, whenever I’m tempted to hit my day running, as is often the case, I have the image of a mother and father who set the pattern of spending time with the Lord before conducting any other business of the day.

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A Place of Quiet Rest: Finding Intimacy with God through a Daily Devotional Life ©2000 Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Scripture taken from The CSB