How to Have a Morning Routine that Does Not Leave Out God

Giving God Time In My Morning Routine Is Giving Him First Place In My Life

A Morning Routine that does not leave out God assures that God is not left out of the rest of my day! God’s thoughts are there to percolate in my thoughts, and soften my heart as I make decisions, react and respond to my family, and plan and go through my day. 

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

Matthew 5:6

Prioritizing your spiritual life is essential to a spiritually fruitful life. You prioritize what you love. If I don’t love God, there’s good reason I would have a hard time spending time with Him in my morning. If I don’t love His Word enough to make time for it, if it’s so hard for me to prioritize studying the Bible, how can I say I love God? 

I’ve been heard to say lately (to myself and others:), “You cannot achieve spiritual results with human effort alone!” I’m seeking and praying that I will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” so this has to remain in the forefront of the brain! I, like you, find this to be a daily, and lifelong, struggle!

Morning Routine That Does Not Leave Out God

Too often, I find myself hearing the noon whistle in the small town a mile from our house, before I’ve had my Quiet Time, (and sometimes, before I’ve gotten dressed!). It doesn’t have to mean the whole day is a fail, but it sure doesn’t help! Here is what helps me to succeed, rather than fail, and have a morning routine that does not leave out God.

How to Plan a Morning Routine that Does Not Leave Out God

• Start the night before by thinking through the following day, and making preparations in whatever way possible.
• Plan your day and write out your To Do list and schedule the night before.
• Pick up the house before bed, so it smiles at you in the morning.
• Get to bed at a decent time for a good night’s sleep. Plan backwards for how many hours of sleep you want to get to know when to go to bed.
• Set the alarm early enough to have time with God.
• Have a plan for what you will read in the Bible (use a Bible-reading plan).
• Have a morning routine that includes getting dressed.
• Leave your phone at the other end of the house, and untouched until after you’ve had your Quiet Time.
• Before getting out of bed, commit your day to God, and ask Him to help you spend time with Him in the morning.
• Pray on the whole armor of God before rising, and thank God for the day ahead.

Prioritize Your Spiritual Life in Your Morning Routine

God wants to be in your seconds and minutes, as well as your years and life. Pray and ask Him for help to make a Morning Routine that Prioritizes Your Spiritual Life!

This means giving God control of my phone. Having God rule over my phone use is pretty much the key to my success. If I let my phone have the first moments of my day, God takes second place.

I know this sounds harsh and extreme! You may have written me off right there. But, for me, the verse I hear in my head goes something like, “If your left hand (holding your phone) causes you to sin, cut it off! Better to enter heaven with only one hand, than to enter hell with two!”(Wendy’s mutilated version of Matthew 5:30) (Not that I won’t go to heaven if I don’t have my Quiet Time every day, but still…)

“I ask whether you pray because diligence in prayer is the secret of eminent holiness.”

Wendy Gunn

I don’t mean to let my phone shove God out of first place, but it does. I don’t have a lot of time in the morning. You don’t, either. Those precious first thoughts, and moments, must be given to God. 

Time With God In the Morning Starts With A Plan In The Evening

When I write out my schedule the night before (I like to write out the week’s schedule on Sunday), there is something magical that happens at night. Having a look at the day planned out already before I go to bed, causes my mind to be thinking of the plan as I sleep and it’s already preparing me for what I have to do the next day. So, I can hit the road running.

Having a Morning Routine that will lead to having a Quiet Time with God is full of little habits, and means that, even though I’m definitely not a morning person, I am so used to doing the things on the list, that my body just does them. 

My Morning Routine Leading to Time With God

• Wake up and pray on the whole armor of God, thanking God for the day, and committing it to Him.
• Get up within 15 minutes of my alarm going off, turn around, make my side of the bed.
• Go around the bed and make the other side.
• Do my morning routine in the bathroom: brush my teeth, wash my face, weigh in (I come back to shower later).
• Head to the kitchen, make my coffee, make breakfast, take my vitamin supplements, and drink 24 oz of water.

What’s your Morning Routine look like?

“A Habit makes Discipline Easier.”

The truth is, for me, up to here everything is absolutely habitual, as long as I don’t go and pick up my phone, which is charging at the other end of the house! But, now, there is a crucial deciding point, and that decision causes either success or failure. Do I pick up my phone, or my Bible?

In order for God to be Lord of my day and life, I have to make sure He is not left out of my Morning Routine! Spending time with God first thing in my day is tantamount to giving God first place in my heart and my life, I’ve decided. It may not be that way for you, but it is for me. The practical outcome of that one decision is that God influences and changes my day, my relationships and my life.

“My phone becomes, at times, the enemy of my soul, and of God in my life.”

Wendy Gunn

Have you considered not using your phone for an alarm, not listening to music, etc., as you fall asleep, and leaving it far from you at night? Have you found it makes a difference in your morning routine? Share in the comments the tips you have found successful for making sure you have time with God, and if you aren’t having a morning routine that does not leave out God, what will you do to change that?