In this season of coronavirus social distancing, we’re working to provide you with resources once a week here on the blog for cultivating your own personal spiritual vitality.
Today, I want to share with you a very simple practice that everyone can do called “The First 15 Minutes of Your Day.”
I’m stealing this idea from a Wednesday Conversation episode our friends at Coram Deo Church put out and would strongly encourage you to listen to their episode. With that said, the concept is very simple:
When you wake up in the morning, spend the first 15 minutes of your day in three, five minute chunks of prayer:
Spend 5 minutes presenting yourself before the Lord.
Spend 5 minutes presenting your day before the Lord.
Spend 5 minutes presenting your life before the Lord.
Presenting Yourself Before the Lord
This is you, coming to God in prayer, and simply saying, “Here I am, I’m presenting myself to you. Here’s what’s on my mind right now. Here’s what I’m thinking about, worrying about.” This is you telling God, through prayer, what’s going on in your heart, your soul, and your mind.
Use this time to confess sin to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to be creating godly sorrow in your heart over areas of sin.
This is also a time to receive from the Lord and re-root yourself in your identity in Christ. Be still. Remember who you are and whose you are. You belong to the Lord. Rest in this truth. Declare that you want to serve Him. Present yourself as a living sacrifice.
To borrow a line from a popular song by Housefires, this you saying to God, “Do, whatever you want to do. Say, whatever you want to say. Move, however you want to move. Change, whatever you want to change."
Presenting Your Day Before the Lord
After spending five minutes presenting yourself before the Lord, spend the next five minutes presenting your day before the Lord. This is you walking through your calendar for the day, with God, through prayer. This is you saying to God, “Lord, here is what is before me today… give me grace for this appointment, help me be present during this time with my kids.” Visualize yourself, hour-by-hour, stepping through the day. What comes next? What comes after that?
Ask God to give you the grace needed for what is needed. Ask the Spirit to help you be fully present in each stage of your day. Ask for spiritual insight with regard to those you’ll be interacting with. Invite God to fill you with spiritual awareness for every aspect of your day.
Ask yourself, “Who am going to be interacting with today?” And ask God, “How do you want me to love them today?"
Presenting Your Life Before the Lord
Lastly, spend the last five minutes of this fifteen minute block presenting your life before the Lord. Here, think in bigger, more categorical terms.
Present big themes to God. This is you saying to God, “Here’s what I know you’re working on in me and I know it isn’t a one day, or one week thing. Keep doing it, Lord.”
Bring larger concerns to God, stuff you’re frustrated about that won’t change quickly. Problems that are too big for you to solve. Questions that are too deep for you to answer. Make small deposits of prayer for big decisions coming up that you need to make.
This is also a great place to pray for others and the work of the Lord in their life. Praying big, spiritual prayers for them that God would grow them in their faith, increase their love for others, make them steadfast in afflictions, and fulfill every resolve for good of theirs and every work of faith by his power (2 Thessalonians 1:3-5, 11-12).