The Morning Watch

The Morning Watch

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." Psalm 5:3

Funny how we look for shortcuts. I have a friend that wanted to do the Weight Watchers program, but their goal was not just to lose weight, but too see how little of the diet he could do, and how many points he could "steal" to beat the system.

Unfortunately when it comes to living the "grace" life, we can easily take disciplines that are good for us and turn them into "legalistic practices." The danger is that we view necessary things from the lens of legalism, which then leads to saying, "I don't have to do this or that because I already have all the love of Christ that I will ever get.

While that is true, some of the disciplines of the Christian life are necessary for MY benefit because it strengthens MY relationship with HIM. Every great man (or woman) that I know who has had a deep, abiding relationship with Christ, took time each day to spend time with God.

Listen to the words of devotional writer and preacher, the late Andrew Murray:

The morning watch is the key to unceasingly and fully maintaining our surrender to Christ ... The goal is to secure the presence of Christ for the whole day. Personal devotion to Jesus means that we do not allow anything to separate us from Him for a moment.

When we are convinced that our success for the day depends on our seeking and finding and holding HIM in our morning watch, we will allow NOTHING to interfere with it. It will be the means to this great end. Meditation, prayer, and reading the Word will be subordinate to laying hold of the presence of Christ. The morning watch is the link for the day between Christ and me, which must be renewed and firmly fastened in the morning watch.

At first, we may be afraid that the cares and pleasures and temptations of the whole day may crush the benefit we have enjoyed in our quiet time. Don't be disturbed about that. Christ is forming HIS character in us, and gradually, in our most common place actions, He will show Himself through us. It takes time.

Whether we are relaxing or involved in the business life, it will eventually become second to us to act according to HIS Spirit and will of Christ. All this can be because of Christ Himself, as the Living One, lives in us and is never separated from us. If we recognize this, we will never be able to speak of walking outside of His presence as we leave the morning watch.

When your purpose is to have a definite, conscious meeting with Christ upon each occasion, and secure His presence for the day, you will fix your determination. Whatever effort or self-denial it may cost you will be worth it to win that prize ... It will strengthen your character and fortify you to say NO when you face the temptation of self-indulgence. You will come to your quiet time with your whole heart and be at once ready to communicate with Christ. It will establish the keynote of your daily life." from THE INNER CHAMBER -- A Call to Daily Communion with Christ (published by our friends at CLC)

Brothers, I encourage you -- make your MORNING WATCH a non-negotiable each day. We need it! -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 22; Psalm 110-112; 1 Corinthians 5

Great Quote: We've become too polite. We don't laugh and cry with God. We've forgotten the excitement of the Good News. What greater sign of the extraordinary, lavish marvellous love of God than the incarnation! God so loved the world and all of us in it that God himself came to live with us as one of us! Is it so good that we're afraid to believe it? -- Madeleine L'Engle