wake up

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. – John Mark

do you ever wake up early just to meet with God?

In that verse we read about Jesus getting up very early and going and spending time with God. The Bible emphasizes the point by saying that when Jesus got up to pray that it was still dark outside. Wow!!! So that means Jesus was up somewhere between 4am and 6am depending on the time of year. Now that’s early. Some of us haven’t seen 4am since college and 4am was when the party was ending not when the day was beginning.

so why did Jesus get up so early?

I mean Jesus was a traveling preacher, he pretty much made his own schedule and he could have started his day at noon if he wanted to. Why get up so early, especially when you know that you are going to be going non-stop all day?

Well I believe that’s way he got up so early…because he knew that he would be going non-stop all day. You see by Jesus getting up early he was setting aside specific time to spend with his Father. He was tithing the first part of his day so that the rest of his day would be blessed. He was getting up before the rest of the world so that he wouldn’t be distracted by the world. Because Jesus was committed to waking up early and spending time with God his life and his ministry flourished. His ministry only lasted three years, but it changed the world. He packed a lot into three years because he began each day with purpose. 

let’s look at the three reasons that Jesus woke up early again.

1) He was setting aside specific uninterrupted time with God.

 My best times with God come when they are on purpose. When I don’t set aside time to spend with God each day, then I never really give Him my undivided attention. Yeah sure I may pray throughout my day or listen to praise and worship music, but I never really stop and just talk to Him. The Bible describes our relationship with Jesus as a like a marriage relationship. I can tell you that when Nicci and I don’t set aside specific time to spend with each other, then we may end up going days without actually talking and then the stresses of life start to pull us apart. So each week we go on a date with each other. We set aside specific time that we know we will be spending together, alone and uninterrupted. It is during this time that we reconnect and fall in love all over again.

 Jesus knew that if he didn’t set aside time to spend with God that he would be pulled away from God by the stresses of his ministry schedule and all of the burdens of his life. So He set aside the first hours of his day to God. These hours were holy. The word holy actually means to be ‘set apart’. These hours were to be different than the rest of his day because these were God’s hours.

2) Jesus tithed the first part of his day so that the rest of his day would be blessed.

The word tithe means the first and the best. Jesus gave God the first and the best of his day. The first of your day, right when you wake up is the best of your day because you are refreshed, you are rested, and it’s a new beginning for you. All throughout the Bible God promises that if you honor Him with the tithe that He will bless the rest. If you honor God with the first 10% of your income, God blesses the other 90%. If you honor God with the first hours of the day, then He blesses the rest of your day and makes it all that it can be.

The opposite of this is when we give God the leftovers of our day. Instead of giving Him time that is His, we just give Him the scraps. In between meetings we throw out a quick prayer. Before we eat we say a generic blessing. When a commercial comes on we read a verse or two to pass the time. Then right before we go to be after a long and hard day we try to pray but fall asleep five minutes in, all the while promising that we will do better tomorrow.

God doesn’t want the leftovers of our day. If you aren’t going to give Him the best then you might as well not give Him anything. God said that He must be regarded as Holy by those who seek Him (Leviticus 10:3) If you treat God as common, then don’t be surprised when His Holy Spirit pulls back from you.

3) Jesus got up early so that he would have no distractions.

My house at 4am is a completely different place than at 9am. At 4am everything is quiet and at peace and still. At 9am everyone is awake and moving about starting their day. By 9am Nicci may have friends over and their kids are here. So at 9am our house can often resemble the monkey exhibit at the zoo. It would be really hard for me to have uninterrupted alone time with God, with no distractions at 9am. I am sure that the same is true of your life. If you wait until everyone is up to spend time with God then that time will be distracted, hurried and not as beneficial.

Jesus knew that if he waited until daybreak that the crowds would start to try to find him wanting him to heal them and preach to them. He knew that at daybreak his disciples would be up and asking him a hundred questions. He knew that at daybreak the Pharisees would resume their mission of trying to destroy him. So Jesus knew that for him to spend time with God that he would have to do it while everyone else slept.


I know what you are thinking…”I’m not a morning person”, “I go to bed too late to get up early”, “I need my sleep”. All of these are valid reasons. But none of them have anything to do with faith. If you can trust God to save you from hell and forgive your sin, then I think you should be able to trust him to wake you up an hour early.

When it all comes down to it, it’s about where your priorities are. If you priorities are on God then you will be up early to spend time with Him. If you priorities are on work then you will only wake up early enough to get there on time. If your priorities are on you then you will only wake up when you want to. I can tell you this, obedience requires sacrifice. You can’t live a life for God and not have to sacrifice along the way. Your relationship with God isn’t about Him meeting you on your terms. It’s about you giving up your life and living a life solely for Him.

so today start to make a change

Sacrifice the first part of your day to spend time with God and watch as He does amazing things not just in the rest of your day but in your entire life.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. - Paul from Tarsus