I had never been a morning person. School, university, work, all of that were troubling me a lot with waking up every day at a decent time.
During holidays or other periods when none of the above was happening I would wake up in the afternoon. And that with difficulties.
Last summer smth interesting happened. Again, I was not working, nor going anywhere that would require me to wake up at a specific time, so I would have to motivate myself to wake up at least at 9 or 10. But here I am awakened JUST LIKE THAT at 5 am. And I’m not falling back asleep. And I’m like “lol.. what’s going on?” Same happens some more days. Of course I was just pushing hard to fall back asleep 😂 But then a thought crosses my mind. What if that’s God? What if that’s Him calling me to spend time with Him?
I jump out of my bed. And here I am on the balcony, witnessing the sunrise while talking to God. I would be sleepy like crazy, but not care.
Of course in the past one year and a half I was extremely inconsistent. But I managed to wake up earlier (definitely with exceptions), at least 1-2 hours before doing anything else. Yeah, it’s hard, sometimes I’m acting like a kid in the morning and moaning “Lord, I wanna sleeeep” but when I find myself in His presence I REaknowledge that no sleep compares to that!
I used to say that, you know, that’s not for me, I’m not a morning person, bla bla bla. But whenever I read about Jesus I learn that ‘early in the morning’, sometimes even while it was still dark, He was going to spend time with His Father. Since Jesus is my goal, my reason, and my wannabe, I have no excuse.
You know why waking up early in the morning to talk to God is so important? Because that’s the moment when you can hear His voice the best. There are so few distractions. I usually don’t check any apps, notifications, or messages unless I first dedicated myself and my day to God. It’s in the morning when my mind is clear, when I’m not concerned about what is going on outside, when nobody’s words are keeping my mind busy, when my very first thoughts are about life, and light, and the Word, because that’s who Jesus is. It’s when I’m the most at peace, before learning about any news, or problems, or incidents. It’s when my hearts seeks the face of God, and it’s the easiest to find Him, for then it’s when I seek Him with all my heart, as it says in Jeremiah 29:13.
For the Spirit whispers. He doesn’t scream in your ears. He gently whispers. In 1 kings 19:11-13 Elijah is going to encounter God. He seeks to hear from Him, because he was burdened and needed God’s encouraging words and ability to ease. And he sought God’s voice, which he could find neither in the wind, nor in the fire, nor in the earthquake, because it only came after all of that as a gently whisper. And that voice asked him “what are you doing here, Elijah?”
And it strikes me that sometimes God comes (when we are available for Him to come) and asks us “what are you doing here? What are you waiting for?” And that tells me nothing else but to be intentional. God wants us to seek Him intentionally, even in those moments when we really want nothing else, but to be in His presence; that’s smth that should be willingly expressed and pursued likewise.
No wonder whenever I was reading books of great people of God most of them were mentioning this aspect of getting in prayer at those hours when everyone else is still sleeping. Someone who was living close to the woods was would go there, in complete silence and stillness. Someone would have a prayer corner in their house. Someone would have a prayer room or balcony. And apparently it works. I miss the early morning dialogue with God in those days when for some reason I don’t get to do that early. And God is always showing up, cause it’s intentional. I’m not waking up to waste time and I’m not renouncing my sleep for nothing.
In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Mark 1:35
O GOD, You are my God; Early will I seek You. Psalm 63:1a
