Starting each day off with a focus on faith can have a powerful impact on your life and on your overall sense of purpose and well-being. Having a Christian morning routine is a great way to make sure you put your relationship with God first, even when your days are busy. It doesn’t take long to incorporate some simple habits into your morning, but the effects can be profound and lasting.
Waking Up
Tim Cook (Apple CEO) – 3:4am
Dwayne Johnson (Movie star) – 4 am
Warren Buffett (Top Investors) – 6:45 am
Elon Musk (Tesla CEO) – 7 am
Jeff Bezos ( Amazon CEO) – 7:30 am
Jay-Z (Rapper, Mr. Beyonce) – 8 am
These are all top men in their fields. Do you notice anything? They regularly wake up early. Most have been quoted saying something about the fact that “waking up early helps them get ahead before the noise of the world comes at them.”
What time should you be waking up?
Take a look at your calendar. what time is your first event of the day? Maybe school is at 8 am or work at 9. After planning for your current morning routine and traffic, what time do you normally wake up? Now subtract 30 min from that.
alarm normally goes off at 730. Now set it for 7 am.
You don’t need to make some lavish commitment to wake up at 4 a.m. every day. 30 minutes will do just fine. Getting up at 4 a.m. when you first start would be like walking up to a 400-pound bar at the gym and trying to deadlift it on day 1. Work your way up, or down, to this.
THE FIRST STEP IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
Before I started putting this method of morning routine into practice, I had read books like The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and Own the Day, Own Your Life by Aubry Marcus. I knew the importance of waking up early and being productive. Here’s the thing: I was waking up early, but I just wasn’t being productive. Every morning, between 4 and 5, my body would naturally wake up and I would need to use the restroom. I would go and then get back into bed.
Do not get back into bed.
For the first few days, this might be rough, but you need to sleep-train yourself. if you wake up within an hour of when you wanted to wake up, GET OUT OF BED. Stop lying to yourself. Your bed is not going to be where you can focus and achieve this routine. Be prepared for this by laying out what you want to wear the night before.
Start Drinking
I rarely drank coffee until I was married. I had nothing against it; I just did not drink it. My wife, on the other hand, loves it. Her morning doesn’t start until there is a warm cup of Joe in her hands. There is a better option than coffee for us to put into our bodies first thing in the morning. You have just slept for 6-9 hours with nothing in your body. you are dehydrated. you need water.
Start your day with 20oz of water.
If you want to get fancy, do what Aubry Marcus says in his book, “Own the Day, Own Your Life.” He suggests you start your day with room-temperature water, a teaspoon of pink Himalayan sea salt, and a quarter of a lemon. This is to get your body the minerals and electrolytes it needs first thing in the morning.
Get Your Body Moving
Worship is an action. It’s time to get the blood flowing. Make a Spotify playlist of all your favorite worship songs. each morning, hit the “shuffle play” button. During this one song, get moving! Do as many push-ups and air squats as you can. Do burpees or jumping jacks non-stop. Heck, dance your heart out. Just start moving. The goal is not to get a fat-burning, ab-chiseling workout. It is about making use of the body you were given by the creator who made it.
If you don’t have a playlist, CLICK HERE and you can use mine.
Read
In today’s world, we do too much talking and not enough listening. The Bible is God’s way of talking to us. Start your day listening to God. It doesn’t matter where you start; just start. this doesn’t need to be a scholarly reading session either. All you need is 5-10 min, a chapter or three. This is about reading to hear God. Here are some questions I often ask myself when I am reading the Bible.
- Why is this story important?
- What should I be learning from it?
- What would I have done if this was happening to me?
Pray and Meditate
Now that you have been physically and mentally focused, let’s start talking. This to me is the hardest step of this Christian morning routine. My mind wanders all over the place when praying. This used to really bug me until I started praying Bible verses.
I have also found three apps that have helped a lot, Echo prayer, Abide, and Calm.
Echo ( iPhone / Android ) is an app that helps you keep a prayer journal. This way, you never forget what you want to pray about. This is also a great way to keep track of answered prayers. I’ve got to keep track of the wins.
Abide (for iPhone / Android) is a Christian meditation app full of guided meditations. This felt very hippy-dippy at first. Give it a week. Go through their free daily meditations. By the end of the week, you will know if guided meditation is your thing or not.
For the times you just need to be alone with God, use Calm (iPhone or Android). Calm allows you to set a timer and just have background noise playing. My favorite is just listening to the beach for 5 minutes while I am still with God.
Plan and Journal
I like to keep notes on what I feel God is saying to me. After worship, reading, and prayer, spend a few minutes writing down something about the morning.
Usually, I will write what I read, the main prayer focus, and what I feel like God is saying to me. This isn’t a full-blown brain dump writing session, like the morning pages method Tim Ferris suggests. This is just for me. I go back every month or so and reread the entries. this helps me see my growth spiritually.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Benjamin Franklin
Make a list of the three main things you want to achieve today. Any more than 3 and I personally get overwhelmed. If you are anything like me, when you get overwhelmed, you shut down. This makes it so none of the tasks get completed. It is preferable to plan one thing and complete it rather than five and complete none.
Get Started!
Before I start living my life for others, like going to work or getting my kids ready, I like to get one thing done for me. While the Christian morning routine is impressive, finishing with something for yourself is even better. Read a book that’s been sitting on your shelf, collecting dust. Get a real workout in. Use this time to develop a hobby. The key is to do something that brings joy to you. Get yourself an early win.
Christian Morning Routine – Conclusion
When you wake up, you own the day, or the day owns you. Having a Christian morning routine can be very beneficial. It helps to create a meaningful start to the day as well as set the tone for the rest of the day. Having a plan and structure can help ensure that each part of your day is filled with activities that strengthen your faith. Taking time to read scripture, pray, and meditate can give you peace throughout the day. Additionally, it can help you become closer to God by allowing you to focus on Him first thing in the morning.