Sleep is important

“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2). God blesses his sons with (and in) sleep. It’s a time to restore and heal; to relinquish worry and stress; to, quite literally, leave everything to him. We should appreciate it fully, be thankful for it, accept it wholeheartedly. We’ve all felt the results when we don’t: racing hearts; pounding heads; clouded thoughts; a lack of productivity, creativity, patience; a compromised resistance to sin. We are never the husbands, fathers, friends, bosses, employees we must be when we sacrifice sleep. Okay, so what do we do? Fight for sleep. The struggle is hard but worthy. Minimizing it is neither responsible nor manly. We’re designed for sleep.

Choose each day

We need God’s grace, and we want to be reminded that we can choose to set our mind on God or we can choose to set our mind on self. If we awaken and allow our thoughts to be consumed by self or with our circumstances, what will we feel in the end? Discouraged! By contrast, if we choose to pray and seek the Lord instead, there can be peace, hope, and renewal. Remember, you can choose each day whom you will serve. And though it will take a moment-by-moment reorienting of your mind throughout your day, this choice begins first thing in the morning.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord .”
Joshua 24:15 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jos.24.15.NIV

Start the day with God

It seems that most people usually spend a few minutes gathering their thoughts for the day before they get out of bed in the morning. In these moments it can be a temptation to choose to think first about our day, our schedule, what we need to do, who needs to be where, etc. Before we know it, we can fall prey to the lies of the enemy and begin dreading our day or feeling overwhelmed by it, and then try to tackle it as soon as our feet hit the floor.

We would begin by thanking the Lord for the gift of a new day and acknowledge that He alone is sovereign, that He alone is in control—not us. And then by His grace we would put aside our thoughts, our concerns, and our agendas and draw near to God by spending time in His Word and in prayer. No matter how much we think about our day or our agenda, the reality is that the day belongs to the Lord. If we start each day intentionally acknowledging this and acknowledging who we are in Christ, this practice could easily transform how we think about and live out the rest of the moments in the day. 

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
Romans 8:14 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.14.NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22‭-‬23 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.5.22-23.NIV

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians 3:2 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/col.3.2.NIV

Pray to God as father

Fatherhood means access. In other words, I’m invited. It also means acceptance—I’m welcomed. Furthermore, it means attention—I’m heard. Do you see how praying in the context of the child–Father relationship puts the whole thing on a different footing? 

Notice that there are no singular personal pronouns in the prayer. It’s all ‘our’, ‘we’ and ‘us’. Many of us were brought up with a very individualistic view of faith and Scripture. It was all about me—that Jesus died for me, God has forgiven me, I’m bound for heaven, etc. When we read Scripture in the light of community, we realize that most of it is addressed to us corporately. Obviously that doesn’t take away from the personal, because the corporate is made up of individuals, but it should affect the way we believe, live and pray. 

Choose each day

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord .”
Joshua 24:15 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jos.24.15.NIV

We have a choice to make every day, every morning when we wake up. Will it be God or will it be self?

It is amazing how quickly we can make ourselves, our schedules, or our to-do lists first in our thoughts and priorities. How often do we think of ourselves first and then maybe later at some point give a passing thought to God whom we proclaim as Lord and Savior?

Live life we deserve?

We often live the life we feel we deserve, ignoring the fact that through God’s grace… we deserve so much more. God felt your life was worth dying for... are you living in accordance with that sacrifice?
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.1.22.NIV

The Lord's Prayer..,.index prayer

The point of the index is to act as a pointer to the substance.  That’s exactly what index praying was all about. The rabbis would provide the points for prayer, like an index, and the people would fill in the substance—their own prayers. This is the method Jesus was teaching in this prayer. Can you now see the Lords Prayer is like that? And what an index of titles! 
1. Worshiping the Father 
2. God’s kingdom 
3. God’s will/guidance 
4. Our daily needs 
5. Forgiveness/relationships 
6. Spiritual warfare 

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5:14‭-‬15 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1jn.5.14-15.NIV

Surely I must have been praying according to his will if I was praying the prayer he gave.