God creates each day that we get to live.
I learnt as a young Christian the importance of starting the day well, and I often talk to my young pastors and leaders about this.
(Jeremiah 31:35) This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord Almighty is his name.
We need to understand the significance of a day and then we have to learn how to start it well.
The Significance of a Day
(Mark 4:26-27) He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. (27) Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
God never stops moving.
Even when we can’t see it or don’t know it, God is on the move.
Many times people miss out on seeing God doing something great because they aren’t ready for the opportunity.
They wrote off the potential of a day because things weren’t going well at the time.
Just because a day isn’t going well, it doesn’t mean that it can’t end well.
My son Monty had to renew his visa, something we have done many times before.
The visa renewal process takes between 6-8 weeks.
So he booked his tickets to Australia to attend Hillsong Conference, about 10 weeks after his visa renewal submission.
That gave him plenty of time to get his visa, right?
Wrong! The ticketed day of departure came and there was still no sign of his visa.
He called immigration first thing in the morning, they had bad news – no visa.
He called again later in the afternoon – still, no visa.
He was so disappointed, but 10 minutes later, he felt God speak to him and say, ring again.
It seemed strange but he rang again.
A different clerk answered, who went to check on Monty’s visa.
The clerk came back to the phone and told Monty, “Your visa is here, and ready to be picked up.”
What started as a bad day was radically turned around.
He picked up his visa the next morning and flew out that evening.
He was able get to the conference. So good!
Of course there will be some bad days but lets believe that while we are still in the day, God can turns things around at any moment.
It might be a phone call, a text, an idea or something totally unexpected.
When God is in the equation anything can happen.
How to Start Well
Starting the day well is mostly about the practical things.
I am what people would call a “night person”.
I had to train myself to start my day well by making the morning good.
Heres what I do:
– Get out of bed when my alarm goes off
– Have a shower
– Drink some coffee
– Spend some time journaling (hearing Gods voice by reading the word of God and writing down what He says to me)
– Pray about the day and get prepared for what needs to be done.
Simple right? It is, but it’s not always easy.
So many people roll out of bed at the last minute, scramble to get to work and spend the first hour or two of their work day not doing anything productive.
I’ve learnt that slow, tired starts rarely lead to a productive day.
Discover what you have to do to train yourself to start the day well, and be ready for all the opportunities God has prepared.
Are you starting your days well?
Are you holding faith that God can do anything till the end of the day?
Let’s get the most out of each day that God gives us.
Rod.
Lifehouse Tokyo