How many of you struggle waking up early to pray? ME TOO.
There have been countless times I begged the Lord to help me wake up in the morning but instead I hit snooze. I would wake up and immediately cry and ask Him, is this spiritual? Do I have a slumbering spirit? Do I lack discipline? Am I not as hungry for You as I think I am? The image I used for this post (shown left) actually came from me accidentally taking a screenshot from snoozing my alarm that was supposed to get me up to spend time with Jesus. Y’all, the conviction was so real. I can’t tell you how many times I would feel shame for “hitting snooze” on Jesus, but deep down I knew I had to fight for my prayer life and to not give up on myself. And the Lord has so kindly shown me countless times that He hasn’t given up on me either.
Building our spiritual muscles is much like building actual muscles. It takes discipline, consistency, endurance, and most importantly—faith. It takes showing up when you don’t feel like it and pushing through when you want to give up. You don’t see results of your labor right away, but you feel the difference and keep going by faith.
I’m so grateful I didn’t stop trying nor allow condemnation to rule my heart. Although I truly believe it is so pivotal to have a strong prayer life to grow in maturity in Christ and in my ability to hear from the Lord, I won’t get anywhere in striving to perform— and neither will you.
The Lord keeps reminding me that spending time with Him is an invitation, not an obligation. Engaging in spiritual warfare is an invitation to fight with Him. Worship is an invitation to minister to Him. Reading the Bible is an invitation to dine with Him. And we have the option to accept or passively decline.
For the last month I have been praying and fasting for breakthrough in this area and BY THE GRACE OF GOD, I’m getting my prayer life back to where I know my heart and spirit long to be. The Lord has been waking me up over and over again between the 3am and 4am hour as the Holy Spirit guides me in my time with the Lord. A lot of trials have tried to steal this time and grow a callous over my heart so that I would become apathetic in my walk, but I praise God He has strengthened me in seasons where I felt like giving up.
Maybe waking up early to pray isn’t your issue, but maybe you’re hitting “snooze” on Jesus in other areas of your life. I want to challenge you to ask yourself today, “where have I allowed myself to ‘fall asleep’ in my own spiritual walk with the Lord?”
Mountain Movers, don’t ever stop fighting for your time with Jesus. It is the most precious thing money could never buy and it is the very sustenance we need to survive. He is our Living Bread and He is our Living Water. Let’s move the mountain of apathy today and fight for what our precious Jesus died for on the cross—intimacy with our Heavenly Father.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
“but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14
“And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42
Now let’s go move some mountains,
A.K.A That Girl Faith