I've got a gift for you!

Listen along here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/393e42ec/ive-got-a-gift...

Dear Lord,

Would you give us the focus to consider a whole new way of living--a brand new take to start each day? May we exhale out all the junk that swirls within and inhale your sweet spirit to teach us just now. Because there is power in your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen

How are you doing? Is your mind constantly thrown this way and that with challenging, ever-exhausting thoughts? How about a new lease on life?

Come with me for a moment . . . this is me turning to you, my right hand beckoning you to follow.

A couple days ago, I took myself to Hobby Lobby to get some little white lights. You ought know that I love Fall, decorating my home and front yard heralding the season and cooling weather. Being almost Halloween, a number of my neighbors have really creepy things on their porches--witches and goblins with evil faces and the like. Hmmm, what to do--think, think, think... I shall decorate my porch with angels, little white lights to festoon them! As I turned the corner to the boxes of light aisle, I found myself humming along to the song playing overhead, 'morning by morning, new mercies I see,' from the great hymn of our faith, Great is Thy Faithfulness. A lady nearby was also humming along, so I said, 'Maybe we should hold Church right here!' Since she smiled, I continued,

'and how great is it that God gives us new mercies every single day!'

[more played out from there...]

Morning - do you welcome the sun rising in a new day? Not surprisingly, Jesus models a great practice we ought apprehend and make our own. What did Jesus do with a new day? 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.1

Apparently, David prayed in the morning too - from Psalm 5, Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.2 In my research, there has never been a Christian leader who has made his mark for the kingdom of God who did not start his day with God. There is power in a fresh morning begun with and committed to God.

Goodness gracious, could it already be three decades ago that I first made a pact with an 'accountability' partner to give God the first fifteen minutes of my day? The goal we set was three weeks without a missed morning time with God; if there was a miss, the three weeks started over. (three weeks to a new habit) That habit, that practice radically changed my life, and it is how I still start each day.

Not too long after the pact with Kathy, I began writing my prayers in a simple, lined journal so that I could stay focused. If I got distracted or pulled away, I could pick up right where I left off. What a benefit!

Here's the format I currently use to focus my morning prayer:

I sure hope you will use it!

Set Apart time with God Date: ____________

>Scripture Meditation:

Choose a verse or verses, ask God to help you understand, apply.

Today is the 16th day of the month so I looked at Psalm 16 for words to

pray back to God.3 How right, how apt are the words of verse 11:

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness

of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

'Yes, of course, Lord, you tell us the way we ought go, and in our lives,

You are the source of JOY! In you alone are pleasures unimagined!'

>Adoration: Just as Jesus taught us to pray, 'Our Father who art in Heaven . . . hallowed be Thy name,' appreciate God in your own words.

>Confession: "Forgive me of my sins, dear Lord."

Every morning, I ask God to forgive me of my sins...knowing that he promises he will.4 That is because he wants us to be free of sin and guilt. O, our God is so good.

>Asking:

Pray for yourself. Daily, I ask God for wisdom5 - (next Morning Briefing to expand that thought) for His favor on your life and work,6 and His blessing on you.7

Pray for others. I include three columns of the things I pray for others:

salvation - that God will draw people to Himself, and they will come to know Him

healing - that God will heal those who are sick of body or heart

favor/wisdom/blessing

And I write names; because like God, I see faces.

>Listening: "Speak to me, Lord."

Is there something God wishes to say to you, perhaps from Scripture you read or a sermon you heard, a song that pierced your heart?

Give God some quiet in which to speak.

>Thanksgiving: This is more than a feeling of gratitude; it is "I thank you, God, for ______, ________..." specifics.

------------------------------------

'Not a morning person? That's all right. God will meet you, and you will begin to look forward to the morning--the gift of a new day! Set yourself up the night before. Put your Bible, journal and pen where you know they will be waiting for you, so you won't get sidetracked looking for them.

Several years ago, I created a pretty little booklet entitled 'Because I Know too Much not to Share'... And I still do. Why yes, I do! In the last couple decades, I have known so many who have said their '15' has made them a radically different individual - more grateful, hopeful, faith-filled and mentally at peace. You see, when you get your cares out of your head and onto paper, turning them into prayers lifted to God, your relationship with God grows stronger and your faith deeper. Instead of racing thoughts pinging around in your head, distracting you or keeping you awake, your thoughts are ordered; they become objective prayers, not just subjective thoughts. And you see the hand of God in your life . . . there is nothing like it in all the world.

Be intentional, my friend; start your day with some set apart time with God. Then you too will know too much not to share! And like my friend, Letitia, at Hobby Lobby, you will look for and experience the new mercies God gives each morning because 'the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end - they are new ever morning!'8

What else, who else? Great is Thy Faithfulness by Cece Winans and Carrie Underwood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT0HcAr9aeI&list=RDNT0HcAr9aeI&a...

I will be praying for you tomorrow morning!

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1 - Mark 1.35

2 - Psalm 5.3

3 - Praying the Bible, Donald Whitney

4 - 1 John 1.9

5 - James 1.5

6 - Psalm 90.17

7 - 1 Chronicles 4.10 - If Jabez could ask God to bless his life, so can we, should we!

8 - Lamentations 3.22-23