Joshua 24:15 “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”– 

How do you wake up most mornings? Do you use an alarm of some sort? Do you hit snooze once, twice, seven times? Do you lie in bed to “thaw out” for a few minutes or do you get right up? There are many ways to wake up, but most of us probably lie in bed for a moment to orient ourselves.

We have a choice to make every day, every morning when we wake up. Will it be God or will it be self? It’s amazing how quickly we prioritize making schedules and to-do lists in our thoughts. 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?

What about you? What is foremost in your mind and heart when you wake up? Who comes first? As you begin the process of waking, do you think about your day and all that lies ahead? Do negative feelings or thoughts arise? Once you get out of bed, how do you spend the thirty or sixty minutes of your day?

Start Your Day with God: Practical Tips

Here are some practical ways we can choose each day to be less self-focused and more God-focused, putting God, His Word, and prayer before anything else:

• Acknowledge the day belongs to the Lord. No matter how much we think about our day or our agenda, the reality is that every day belongs to Him. We begin by intentionally acknowledging this and who we are in Christ. This practice transforms how we think and live.
• We thank the Lord for the gift of a new day and acknowledge that He alone is sovereign, that He alone is in control—not us.
• By His grace, we choose to put aside our thoughts, concerns, and agendas and draw near to God spending time in His Word and prayer.

It might be a good idea to write Joshua 24:15 or a similar passage on a 3×5 card and place it next to your bed or on your bathroom mirror so you can be reminded first thing in the morning to choose God. You can even paste the verse in a reminder in your calendar or schedule it as an alarm on your phone.

Seeing Scriptures such as these first thing in the morning or throughout the day can help you immediately see and think truth and be able to focus on it instead of the temporary things of your upcoming 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 ourselves or with our circumstances, what will we feel in the end? Discouraged! By contrast, when we choose to pray and seek the Lord instead, there can be peace, hope, and renewal.

Remember, you choose each day whom you will serve. And though it will take a moment-by-moment reorienting of your mind throughout the day, this choice begins first thing in the morning. So as you enter into this daily choice, trust in the One who created the new day and you. He will provide the grace you need to make each new day His.

Begin today by taking a moment to identify the things, the thoughts, the activities, or the emotions that can consume you and keep you from worshipping God and serving Him.

Choose – Service of God in sincerity and truth can only result from a free and willing allegiance of the heart. This accordingly is what Joshua invites, as Moses had done before him (Deuteronomy 30:15 ff). Bible Hub