Five Finger Recovery: How I start my day will determine how my day goes and how it ends.

May 12, 2014: Five Finger Recovery: How I start my day will determine how my day goes and how it ends. Please "Share" this new post from Precious Prodigal: http://bit.ly/1gvn8MM

Matt 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

One of the reasons God needs to have first place in our lives is that He is sovereign, and I was going to write about that sovereignty today…because He IS sovereign. Who can stand against Him? But God doesn’t want us cowering in fear any more than He wants us shaking our fist in rebellion. What He wants is a relationship with us…a relationship based upon the fact that He loves us with an everlasting love. (Jer 31:3)

We can’t have a relationship with someone we don’t know. So if God is going to have first place in our lives, we will need to get to know Him. Certainly He invites us to “acquaint ourselves with Him.” (Job 22:21) And Jesus invites us to go to Him and to “learn of Him.” (Matt 11:29) It’s about a relationship, and relationships take some effort and some time.

Going to Sunday School, being faithful to the services at my church, sharing my faith, having fellowship and worshipping together with other believers …those things and many more will help me to grow. And that’s important too. However, none of them will replace spending time alone with the God I say I love.

If I love Him the way I say I do, wouldn’t I want to spend time with Him even when there is no emergency? Wouldn’t there sometimes be prayers of thanksgiving as well as prayers of desperation? Wouldn’t I want Him to give me direction for my life? Wouldn’t I want sometimes just to rest in His presence and draw from His strength?

Those of us with a broken heart know about tossing and turning when we can’t sleep, about praying in the midnight hour, and about wrestling with God in prayer. I’m well acquainted with those 911 prayers, but I don’t always remember God also wants to be my 411 “operator,” the one I go to for direction and the information I need when I don’t know the answers.

Growing in our relationship with God won’t happen by accident. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t take time for devotions and prayer first thing in the morning, I won’t do it at all. Experience has taught me that once the day gets going, life is going to get in the way. So if God is going to have first place in my life, it will have to be done on purpose. On a busy day, that might mean setting the clock 30 minutes earlier in the morning.

Whether you use a devotional book or just read your Bible, plan to do it and then do it. Whether you call it devotions, meditation, or quiet time, giving God the first fruits of your day will change your outlook and attitude for that day. It will also make all the other parts of your life make sense and give you the kind of peace and rest your heart longs for.

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, set aside some time to “come apart” to spend some time with your God so you won’t “come apart” in your life?