One Powerful Way to Improve Your Quiet Time
The preacher was sharing four ways to enhance our quiet time in the morning and while I know my time alone with the Lord is far from perfect, I thought I had the basics down.
But then he threw a new idea our way.
God desires for us to sing to him when we enter his presence.
It doesn’t matter how well we sing. It doesn’t have to be audible, but before we lift up our concerns or read his Word, he wants to hear our beautiful voices in praise to him.
Tears began to roll down my cheeks.
I thought of all the times God had woken me up with a song and I never thought to sing it back to him. While I praised God at church, and worshiped him through praise music while doing household chores or taking long car rides by myself, I’d never thought to sing praises to him during my morning quiet time.
So I tried it. I prayed that God would give me a song every morning to sing back to him.
It’s been three days.
The first morning I woke up to In Christ Alone. With raspy voice, I sang praises to God for being my hope, my light my strength and my song.
The second and third days, How He Loves Us. So I praised my Father in Heaven for loving me and showing me that he is bigger than my problems.
Through the songs he wakes me up with, I’ve discovered the Lord tells me what praise he desires.
This Thanksgiving, would you think about singing thanks to God first thing in the morning? It makes sense that every time we enter his presence, we should knock on his door with a song of praise.
Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”
It’s the best way to get God’s attention and draw near to him.
You may wonder, “Is this just a temporary adjustment in my quiet time? God won’t possibly provide a new song every morning.”
I’m counting on it. The Psalmist discovered the secret when he said, “I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” (Psalm 104:33).
And the really cool thing is that when we honor God with our songs and our obedience, he sings back to us. “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves, He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
That’s a beautiful voice I long to hear; what about you?
God knows our hearts and when our hearts are filled with songs of praise for him, it doesn’t matter how out of tune we are, our melody of thanks will always be a sweet smelling aroma to him.
This piece really ministered to me today because I’m longing for more intimacy during this season.