In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
Psalm 5:3 NIV
I heard my father quoting this verse while I was crossing the room during a week of prayer two years ago and I remember I thought vaguely, "It is not a bad idea to start praying early in the morning and see what happens". That was all, an electrical signal that swiftly crossed my mind led to thought formation for fractions of a second, and fell silent just as quickly. The evening continued quite normally, I went to bed, closed my eyes, fell into a deep sleep, and then - the alarm rang at 7:20 with two options - a green tick "Approve" and a red circle with X "Reject. I had nothing urgent for the morning and was hoping to get enough sleep. But anyway, I got up, went looking for something invigorating in the kitchen, and wondered what to do now. Then it occurred to me that I did not set the alarm. On the contrary, the night before I had stopped all alarms, and besides I did not have one for this hour, let alone one that rings with Approve & Reject. I returned to my room with tears in my eyes from the sweet dream I had experienced and fell to my knees to thank my God for the kind way He chose to tell me that he wants us to start my day together.
So many times, we have it backward. We are pursuing all kinds of other things and we forsake the King in his kingdom. So many times we want the things that God promises without doing what God requires for his promise to become ours. God told the children of Israel: "If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom" (Deuteronomy 28:13 NIV). He told us to make God our priority. Jesus expressed it in these words, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mat 6:33). And the scriptures say in Mark 1:35, "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.” Do you remember how many miracles he did after that, how many temptations he overcame, can you imagine how great the power he received from His Father was for him to die for us and redeem our souls? Now imagine what you can do by dedicating your time to prayer every day!