Originally Published: March 14th, 2019

In the morning when I rise,

In the morning when I rise,

In the morning when I rise,

Give me Jesus.

Yeah right… Reality check!

If I’m being honest, the song should probably go something  like this:

In the morning after I sleep in,

Maybe later I’m running late,

Five minutes before I go to bed,

Give me Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but I always seem to struggle with getting up in the morning. (I’m that person who is constantly wishing they were a morning person ðŸ˜‚) I tell myself “five more minutes,” hit snooze and before I know it it’s time to go, I’m running late and I have to sacrifice something…what would you choose? Breakfast, makeup (not a problem for all you guys out there…lucky 😉 ), or devotions?

Well, I’m a very indecisive person so what usually happens to me is I do about 5-10 minutes of my devotion, drink my cup of coffee while I pick out my clothes, whip out some mascara, gather all of my school stuff and sprint out the door, making it to school maybe two minutes before class starts.

As you can probably tell, time management is not one of my strengths lol.

It all comes down to priorities. Priorities and discipline. Bleh. Discipline. Who wants to talk about discipline? What fun is that? It’s one of those words that makes me cringe sometimes.

But let me tell you something, it’s worth it.

I had to learn that the hard way though… And I still have to relearn it pretty frequently!

The thing is, if you’re gonna make Jesus your #1, you’ve got to make time for him in your busy schedule. No, not the rushed, scatterbrained five minutes you give him when you’re running late, but intentional time spent with your undivided attention.

As I was reading my Bible the other day, I came across this Psalm:

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

~ Psalm 130:5-6 NIV (italics mine)

This verse is convicting for me. When morning comes, and the day begins (whether I want it to or not), am I excited to spend time with Jesus?

When I lay down in my bed at night, do I long for morning to come so that I can spend time digging deep into the Word?

Does my whole being wait in joyful anticipation of those early mornings spent in God’s presence?

Honestly… No.

But that, my friend, is where discipline comes in.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

~ Hebrews 12:11 NIV

Discipline is painful… very painful ðŸ˜‘, but if we embrace the struggle, righteousness and peace will be the result.

Learning to be disciplined is a process and it isn’t an easy one. But that’s the thing… More often than not, the best things in life are going to be hard. In the same way, the most important things in life are worth fighting for.

God longs for us to fight for our time with him, to choose Him every day. He longs for us to choose to love him more than anything else in this world…even when we don’t feel like it.

Even when you don’t feel like getting up early in the morning so you can spend time in His word, fight. Choose Jesus.

Even when Sunday morning rolls around and you’d much rather stay in bed than go to church, fight. Choose Jesus.

Even when a dry season hits, the passion is gone, and what was once a soul on fire for Christ now seems to have been reduced to glowing embers, fight. Choose Jesus.

When life knocks you down and when there seems like there’s no way out, fight. Choose Jesus. Choose to love him, to trust him, and to rely on him, knowing that in the end, all things will work out for your good (Romans 8:28).

Now, why should you choose him?

Because he chose you first.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

~ Ephesians 1:4-6

Despite all of my shortcomings, despite my rebellion against his will and all of my unfaithfulness, he still chose to love me.

Even though he knew form the beginning of time that I would disobey him, neglect him, and at times block out his voice all together, he chose me.

He chose to love me. He chose to pursue me. He chose to call me his own, his beloved child.

And in turn, I will choose him. Every day, for the rest of my life, I will choose him.

And every day, I will strive to love others with that same extravagant love shown to me by my heavenly Father.

And one day, after years of discipline, I will honestly be able to say that my first reaction to the morning light streaming through my window is this: Give me Jesus.