First Fruits.

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

Psalm 5:3

I've always liked the idea of giving the Lord the first fruits of my morning. I read verses like this one and feel so inspired to wake up and be refreshed by God. Instead though, I usually give the Lord the end of my day as I'm about to fall asleep and have a thousand thoughts buzzing around my head. On Sunday night I felt the Lord leading me to start my mornings out right, seeking Him!

It's been SO good! This week I have gotten up just a little bit earlier and had my devotional time before work and school and I've found that I have so much more focus in the morning! God blesses our obedience to Him, and He so desires to meet with us and fill us each morning!

God has definitely met with me through the week and has been teaching me a lot about pride. He's been showing me the different forms pride can take and also teaching me about prayer. I listened to a Matt Chandler message the other day and he was talking about how our prayers need to be "theocentric" or God centered. I've been thinking about that as I've read some of the prayers in the old testament. Prayers are so beautiful when they are centered around the glory of God! There are so many times in the Bible when it says the people humbled themselves, and then God responds.

Proverbs 3:34 says:

"He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble."

I can definitely see that confirmed throughout the Bible and in my own life. God has been showing me that pride is more than just conceit. Pride can be connected to fear as well. Julia said something that fits this perfectly at small group this week. She quoted C.S. Lewis: "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less." I'm totally convicted about that. I think about myself a lot!

Sometimes I press in for wisdom from God and start out with good intentions, only to realize that I'm asking Him so persistently for selfish reasons. Sometimes I want answers so that I can protect my pride, or feel secure. That's not very "theocentric". In fact, it's very selfish.

Thankfully God is gracious. That's the best part of this lesson, God "gives grace to the humble". As He continues to teach me humility, I grow closer to Him and learn more about how to walk with Him. It's definitely a process. I think there is also a lot of freedom with selflessness. I'm not there, but I'm looking forward to learning more about how to walk in the freedom of humility!

This kind of sounds like two blog topics but I think they are kind of interconnected. By giving God the first fruits of my day He has totally blessed my week and a big part of giving Him my mornings has been coming to Him in humility and really desiring to know Him more, and not being self centered about seeking Him. I think I'm going to try and keep up with my morning devotionals and make it a regular habit!

I just have one more verse to share with you all. Micah 6:8 is one that I just love:

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

And of course I have to share a song with you all :)

I heard this one on the radio yesterday morning and was blessed by it!