“In the morning I lay my requests before you.” Psalm 5:3
“In the night, LORD, I will remember your name.” Psalm 119:55
A recent study found that the first thing 80% of smartphone users do when they awaken in the morning is to check their phones. That means for every ten people, eight of them feel the most important way to begin their day is to see if someone wants to communicate with them. Maybe this number includes some of us?
God would rather have us begin each day communicating with him. What greater way is there to start a hectic day than to speak to our loving Father? What better time to pray than before the plans and problems of the day begin to crowd our busy schedules? The Bible says that Jesus often began his day with prayer. Mark writes, “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” (Mark 1:35). The psalm writer put it this way: “In the morning I lay my requests before you” (Ps. 5:3).
But what do we say so early in the morning? Perhaps we might simply pray, “Good morning, Lord. I praise you for the beauty of a new day. Thank you for watching over me last night and for giving me another day to serve as your ambassador to the world. Send your angels to watch over everything I do that I might live my day to your glory and to the benefit of those around me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
It’s a wonderful idea to pray when we awaken in the morning. And it is also a great idea to end our days with prayer. In the quiet of the night, when all is dark and there are no distracting thoughts, we find comfort in spending time with the Father. David says in Psalm 63:6, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.” Nighttime is a perfect time to bring our thanks to God for keeping us throughout the day. It’s a time to talk with God about the cares of the day, the needs we encountered, the problems we faced, and the successes we enjoyed. We can thank God for his goodness and ask him for special healing, comfort, and strength for ourselves and others.
Morning and evening are two perfect times of the day to talk with the Lord. We may be amazed at the difference it makes in our lives when every day is hemmed in with prayer.
Get into the habit of book-ending each day with prayer.
When your day starts with a prayer and ends with a prayer,
everything in between seems to work out.
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