Morning by Morning
Since I no longer have kids in school and no longer work outside the home, my daily schedules have deteriorated, and my morning devotion time has suffered. I’ve been more concerned lately about getting on the internet before our data cap begins than I have been with consistent prayer and Bible reading. Sometimes my devotional time has been in the evening, sometimes in the morning, and sometimes not at all.
I confess–I talk the talk better than I walk the walk.
So today I’m preaching to myself. If you need a little nudge to create or restore a regular habit of morning devotions, join me in visiting some scriptures that will remind us what we might be missing.
Listen, God! Please . . . I need your help . . .
Every morning
I lay out the pieces of my life
on your altar
and watch for fire to descend. Psalm 5:1-3 MSG
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
for to you I entrust my life. Psalm 143:8, 10 NIV
If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice,
I’ll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Psalm 143:8 MSG
[Wisdom says,] Mark a life of discipline and live wisely;
don’t squander your precious life.
Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me,
awake and ready for me each morning,
alert and responsive as I start my day’s work.
When you find me, you find life, real life,
to say nothing of God’s good pleasure. Proverbs 33-35 MSG
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. Isaiah 50:4 NIV
What if devotions in the morning just won’t work for you? Is God displeased? I don’t think so. For years I had a spiritual “quiet time” when my kids had their afternoon physical quiet time (naps). You are so precious to Him, He wants to hear from you and spend time with you, any time, anywhere.
But for me, in the season of life I am now enjoying, morning prayer and study time is where I should be. I need to form a consistent habit that will work for my current set of circumstances.
What about when we forget or when we willfully spend those allotted minutes on Facebook instead of Philippians?
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness! Lamentations 3:22,23 MSG
I’ve been humming the hymn based on these verses today:
“Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see.”
My prayer for us all:
May the clear light of the Scriptures and a consistent time of prayer with God brighten our days and burn away the mists that cloud our thoughts.
Posted on October 16, 2015, in Devotional and tagged devotions, mist, prayer. Bookmark the permalink. 24 Comments.
Constance Ann Morrison 
Constance,
Morning by morning new mercies I see. That is the song that came into my head while reading your post. I too have been scattered the past couple of weeks. We change homes at this time of year and everything is out of whack. Especially my sleep. We are 3 hours off. So I am up early but not really feeling 100 percent. Somehow got led to Barbie’s post, now yours. But I know that God leads me. So it is great to meet you. I also have a link at Sunday Stillness which will open tonight at 8:00 EST (At least I hope it opens – who knows with time changes). http://www.janiscox.com
I love being in community.
Blessings to you as you focus on Jesus.
Janis
It is wonderful that we can encourage each other! Praying right now for your sleep patterns and adjustment to moving and changing time zones.
I passed on the info. about your Tadeo Turtle book to a family with a young boy named Thaddaeus.
I will look into your Sunday Stillness link up.Thanks, Janis!
I think we struggle with making quiet time with God a priority no matter our stage in life 🙂 But He IS faithful and gracious and waits for us… to lavish his love on us! I found a good tip from blogger/author, Jennifer Dukes Lee: “Scripture before scrolling” – it helps me.
Thanks for the “scripture before scrolling” tip, Lynn! I think we’d anticipate devotional time more if we concentrate on God waiting to share His lavish love, instead of thinking of it as a “duty.”
I recently chose Psalm 143:8 as my life verse. I love the different translations you posted here! Thank you for sharing!
That’s a great verse you have chosen–or did it choose you ? : )
I like to look at different translations and paraphrases. It reminds me of a photographer who shoots photos from many perspectives, enabling us to see what we might not have seen before.
As usual, the message full of wisdom, truths and all expressed with gentleness and kindness. Thank’s
Your encouragement is a blessing, Christiane! Thank you.
I love the way you put the photos is to fit into the Word and other words. Grabbed me! Thank you very much.
Thank you, Joanne, for your kinds words!
The Lord has led you to some beautiful verses to share with such practical application. The Message definitely has a place for bringing the Word into a different light that we might not have seen otherwise.
I too have had different seasons of devotions. I just came out of a wonderful season where I could spend at least an hour and a half every afternoon in prayer and devotion. Now my life is being pulled in 50 directions as I wear many hats and the morning is the best time, but sometimes I opt for sleep rather than setting my alarm.
Thank you for the gentle reminder and the Scripture verses to spur me on to seek Him every morning – where He may be found…
Thank you, Karen, for sharing your own experience with finding the right time for devotions. I hope you find your morning devotion time to be as wonderful as when you had an afternoon quiet time.
It is so hard not to grab a little more sleep when we’re exhausted, but maybe that’s what we need sometimes. I’m thinking of Elijah in 1 Kings where God tended to Elijah’s physical needs first before He spoke in the still, small voice. Still, there’s always time for a tiny prayer, maybe just “help!”
Bold truth here — thank you for your vulnerability. I prefer to meet with God in the morning just because I never know what the day will bring, but I think the most important thing is that it HAPPENS — not WHEN it happens.
You are so right, Michele. Having a quiet time with the Lord somehow, sometime, somewhere is more important than doing it the “right” way. Thanks for sharing your “when” and “why.”
I’ve been hearing from God too about my habit of turning those first precious moments of sleepy, fresh morning mind to silliness like Yahoo news and facebook. I also need to forge a better habit. Thanks for the encouragement!
Spontaneity is wonderful, but (for me) habits are the backbone of daily living. If I really want to accomplish something, I need to make it a habit, too, Kelly. I’m glad we can encourage each other in this.
I so love my mornings but I do find I must guard myself against distractions. We will never spend time in our devotions & Scriptures apart from being intentional to do it. It is a fight as so much can clamor for our attention. But we can do it with reminders like yours. Blessings!
When my kids were very small, I thought I would have fewer distractions as they got older. How silly! The distractions are just different now. Thanks for your input on quiet time, Joanne, and thanks for stopping by to read and comment.
I’m so glad you visited me today, so I had a chance to read your lovely words! I, too, love morning devotion time, in fact, without it, I crumble and crack. Your choice of scripture is wonderful, I will write these in my journal to dwell upon each morning..Bless you!
Thank you so much, Kathy! Thanks for sharing about your devotion time. It’s good to hear what works for others and why.
BTW after reading your post http://www.holyvacationqueen.com/lessons-from-soul-care/ I’ve got this mish-mashed vision (Psalm 23) of a sheep in a white spa robe sitting in a lounge chair by the pool. : )
Oh this is just what I needed to read today! Thanks for a wonderful post! Stopping by from THS, Blessings!
Thank you, Katharine, for stopping by to read and comment! I’m glad you took away something helpful today.
Connie, this is such a good reminder to me. Now that I am out of my regular schedule (down here in TX helping Laura, everything seems up for grabs. I need a regular devotional time, and your words hit me. Thank you. Carol
It can be so hard to have regular quiet times with a baby in the house. I’m glad that when we are able to stop for a devotional time that God doesn’t condemn us for not being there sooner. I imagine Him opening His arms, saying, “I’m so glad to see you!”