WFMW - Morning Time with God

I recently had a friend pose the following question to me: I think God has been telling me to spend more time with Him but I still don't know how. I want that deep relationship - but I don't do what I need to do to get it. When can I carve out the time?

A few months ago, I asked God that very question. How can I find the time to spend with You? Over the next week I came across The 5:16 Club, and The 5:00 Club, and How to Become an Early Riser, and HTBAER part 2, and Proverbs 31:15, and Mark 1:35... Oddly, Pat even came to me during this same week to tell me that he had committed to getting up at 5:30am to exercise and have some Bible time.

So to the question of carving out time to spend with the Lord, the answer is to get up earlier. I realize that this sounds overly simplistic; it is very difficult to change your entire routine (trust me, I find it difficult every morning!). Here are my suggestions on how to make the change:

1. Tell someone what you want to do, ask them to pray for you regularly, and ask them to periodically ask you how you're doing. My friend Christine, when I was first developing the discipline of rising early (which was 6:30am back then), used to wake around 6:15 every day and pray for me to get up. (I know what you're thinking, you don't know anyone who would get up so darn early for you. Well, it wasn't something I asked her to do. And it wasn't even something she wanted to do. But like clockwork, God woke her up at that time, and as soon as she prayed for me she fell back into a sound sleep for another hour or so.)

2. Pick a time of the morning, set your alarm, and get up at that time - every day - for 3-4 weeks (yes, even weekends). Yes - you will be tired! But in letting your body get tired, it will begin to direct you to going to sleep earlier. Or it might just adapt to less sleep. And feel free to grab a little cat nap every now and then (just make sure you don't sleep so long that you can't sleep at night). Once the habit is ingrained, you will be able to sleep in on Saturdays without making the early rising more difficult.

I followed Steve Pavlina's method outlined in his two-part series (linked above), with some modifications that worked for me. Basically, though, it's all about practice and self-discipline (he's got a six-part series on self-discipline that I found helpful). Just a note: Steve Pavlina is not a Christian, and in his blog you will come across certain beliefs and/or practices that do not "fit" with my faith - I am not promoting everything he says or does, but I did find his suggestions about getting up early incredibly helpful.

For other ideas on making your time with God each morning productive, check out this post.

The most important thing to remember: don't give up! I can't tell you how many times I give in and smack that snooze button. But with God's help, we can all make changes in our lives that will bring us closer to Him. If He can deliver drug addicts, raise the dead, save the lives of babies in the NICU, surely He can do a little thing like help us get up earlier!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
~Philippians 4:13

For more Works for Me Wednesday posts, visit We Are THAT Family.