How Waking Up at Early Helps Me Fight for Purity

I attended a conference one year where a speaker challenged everyone to wake up at 5am every morning. I was like, “HA! Oh sure. Try getting me to do that! Maybe I’ll try to wake up twenty minutes earlier. Not two hours earlier. LOL.”

What time did I wake up this morning? 5am. What about yesterday? The day before? The week before? The year before? My routine is to wake up at 5am on weekday mornings at the least, though often I will do at least 6am on Saturdays and Sundays, depending upon how late I was up the night before.

I initiated this pattern because I needed to get more accomplished. However, when I did, I had no idea of the benefits I would reap. In fact, my fight for purity took a whole different turn when I started waking up at 5am. I was winning the battles in my mind far more easily. I was seeking the Lord more. I saw more clearly how His way is better than my way. In fact, the days and weeks where I gave in to my desire to get more sleep, the more ground I lost my battle for purity of mind.

How in the world could waking up at 5am help me fight for purity?

1. I start the day off with self-discipline

The alarm clock blares, and I have two choices: 1) follow my flesh and go back to sleep, or 2) crucify my flesh and get out of bed. This suddenly isn’t a simple question of how early I wake up. This question is now a question of whether I will indulge my flesh.

Quick disclaimer: I’m not saying that you are in sin every time you sleep in. We need rest and during some seasons of life, getting up that early just may not be possible. I’m also not saying that you must wake up at 5am. You know your schedule and your body and you need to make your own decision with regard to your sleep patterns. Neither am I saying that if you wake up early, your struggle with impure thoughts or actions will be over. I’m using specifics in my life in hopes that you will glean patterns and principles to apply to your own life in accordance with God’s Word. For me, if I’ve gotten eight hours of sleep and my alarm clock is going off, I would be indulging my flesh to hit the snooze button.
When you start your day off with self-discipline in this area it makes many other areas a lot easier to conquer. If I get out of bed at 5am, I am more likely to win against my flesh and go running. If I go running, I find that often it increases my ability to control my thought life. You see, I am training my body to fight indulgence and pursue discipline instead. Waking up early is fighting indulgence in my life in the area of sleep. This one decision to wake up early every weekday morning has made me realize that patterns of discipline lead to holiness whereas patterns of indulgence lead to sin.

If you are struggling in your fight for purity, ask yourself if there are any other ways that you are indulging your flesh. Is your room messy? What are your eating habits like? What are your sleeping habits? How is your schoolwork? Are you reading your Bible every day? See if there are some things you can start working on to discipline yourself and fight those patterns.

To read the rest of the post, click here.

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10 Tips for Beating a Crush: Tip 4

4.   Spend time with God.

Read your Bible every day. No buts. No excuses. It’s hard, and sometimes it’s not that interesting. But developing a healthy habit of reading your Bible every day will affect you more than you understand.

When you spend time with God, you tell Him that He’s important in your life. When you start off the day by spending time with Him, you tell Him that He’s the first priority in your life. By shrugging off reading the Bible, you tell Him that He isn’t important in your life. 

Years ago, when I started reading the Bible daily, it was a chore. Now, it’s my joy. I can’t go a day without reading it—and some days it’s hard for me to tear myself away. The passages that used to seem boring to me are now coming alive with things I never noticed about God. His character and His love for us comes through in every single page. It is crucial that you make time every day to be with God and to be in His Word. Yes, there will be dry seasons, but God never changes and He is always the same. Cling to those promises during dry times.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet

And a light to my path.”

Psalm 119:105

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Matthew 6:33

Also, pray a lot. Spend time every day praying for others, as well as yourself. Stay in touch with God. Thank Him throughout the day for the things He’s done for you. Even though God already knows everything about you, pray to Him like He doesn’t know anything. Lay everything out before Him. Don’t hide anything. And then learn to rely on His comfort.
Another great resource during a time like this is our devotional ebook, 30 Days of Surrender. Of course, one of the days is Surrender Love and I think we all must learn better how to surrender our heart's affections to Christ.

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

1 John 5:14-15

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Hebrews 4:15-16

Finally, memorize Scripture. I used to be like, “Memorize Scripture? What? Too much work. Besides, I can just Google any verse that I want!” But now I’m discovering how important the verses I’ve memorized are to me. Verses and song lyrics are some of the most helpful things when I’m fighting temptation, such as daydreams. Check out this article addressing the importance of Scripture memory and this article with practical tips.

“Your word I have treasured in my heart,

That I may not sin against You.”

Psalm 119:11

Taylor says this:

This past year God has showed me that being in His Word, and praying to Him about everything that is going on, and asking Him to help me with my busy schedule helped so much. I started spending more time getting to know God better, which caused me to know that He controls my life. This made me realize that I have stopped thinking about the guys I had "picked" out.

Start spending time with God on a regular basis and He will help you think of so many more edifying things.

This tip is not an option—it’s a must. And it’s not different if you’ve got a good or bad crush. Whether you like an unbeliever or a strong Christian doesn’t change the fact that you must spend time with God.

Spending time with God will affect every area of your life. You will find yourself more cheerful, diligent, and confident, to name a few. It will be easier to fight sin and daydreams. God promises that He will make our paths straight when we rely on His Word. Not convinced? Read this post about why you ought to spend time with God every day.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

Practical Tips for Building a Quiet Time Every Day:

-Don’t view it as an option. It’s a must.

-Get a Bible reading plan. You can make it or buy one, like the MacArthur Daily Bible.  When I first started reading the Bible every day, I would just choose a book of the Bible and read through it, a chapter a day. Then I used the MacArthur Daily Bible for two years. Now I’m going through a reading program with my church. Any year-long plan is going to have quite a bit of Scripture to read every day. It might be easier for you to start with something lighter. 

-Set aside a specific time every day. It could be right when you wake up, right before you go to bed, after lunch…etc. Whatever works for you. Just make sure that it’s a long enough time allotment that works every day.

-Have a friend/mentor/family member keep you accountable.

-Read your Bible first. By this, I mean that if you have a great novel or school to read, then read your Bible first. So many times, I’ve stayed up reading other things, looked at the clock and realized it was past midnight. And then I was too tired to read my Bible, or I just let my eyes skim over the page. Put your Bible first.

-Pencils, pens, markers, note cards, and notebooks. 
This is something that I have always done with my Bible reading. I underline verses that I love, and the verses that I really love, I write down on note cards and tape them to my wall. These are the verses I memorize. This is a great way to stay more engaged, interested, and actually glean something out of your reading. Writing down prayers in a notebook can help you stay focused and organize your thoughts.

-Read small enough chunks in your Bible to get something out of it.  
If you’re just starting to read your Bible, it might be easier for you to read a chapter a day and then try to build that up, over time, to 4 or 5.

-Grow your quiet time. 
If you can go longer, then go longer. Don’t just stop at thirty minutes if you could work your way up to an hour. The more time you spend with God, the more you grow, and the more emphatically you’re telling Him that He is first place in your life.  
-Read Women of the Word by Jenn Wilkin to learn how to study the Bible. Read our review of it here.

Has spending time with God been a low or high priority in your life? If low, what do plan on doing to change that? If high, what have you learned from it? Thoughts or stories? Share in the comments!

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Why You Should Sign Up for the Daily Devotional

Maybe you're out the door at 6:00 am for school. Maybe you're swamped with your to-do list. Maybe you can't seem to find time to spend with God every day.

If you want a short devotional to show up in your inbox every morning, Morning Glory's Daily Devotional is for you. It's not a substitute for your quiet time--but if you're very busy, it can help refocus you when you do not have a chance to have a quiet time first thing in the morning. 

 Click here to sign up!

Ways to Use It:
-As a discussion tool for mom and daughter on the way to school.
-As you eat breakfast.
-As part of your quiet time.
-While you're waiting for class to start.
-On your lunch break.
-Let me know when you read it! Use #MGDailyDevotional

Why You Should Sign Up:

-It's completely free!
-It's completely fresh every single morning.
-You can decide what days you receive it.
-It's written by girls in all walks of life.
-It's Biblical and relatable.
-You get to see the hearts of girls walking through tough times.
-It's a great place to start writing and getting name recognition in the Morning Glory world.

"For me it has been a blessing to see and read about girls who are just trying to follow Christ, and are struggling with some of the things I am. I would sign up not just to be blessed but you also have an opportunity to bless others with your comments and thoughts if you choose to write."

"It helps me know how to better praise God in His attributes and how to pray using Scripture."

What People are Saying:
Morning Glory has really taught me many things in many different areas. It really has inspired me to pursue Jesus with my whole heart. God is doing tremendous things through this blog and Daily Devotional!

Wow, you must have read my mind and my heart. This was exactly what I needed today.

Morning Glory has built me up in a lot of ways!  It's SUPER encouraging and helpful to read these two-minute devos to start my day. It's fun getting different girls' perspectives and reading these paragraphs. The growth of Morning Glory has been astounding over these two years, and I'm glad to see it flourish.

I have been writing for a while now. And the most rewarding part is when someone likes my devotional and sends a note saying so. I remember when I got the email, I was so blessed to see that someone actually read my devotionals and were blessed by it!

Morning Glory is the only Godly influence in my life right now.

I started getting Morning Glory Daily Devotional emails about a year ago. I had been looking for a good daily devotional program thing, and was super blessed to find this! I try to read the devos every day they're sent out and I have been SO touched by all the blog posts. It has been SO encouraging seeing what verses have stuck out to people and what it means to them. There have been many days where I read the verse and the devo to go with it, and I can tell it was completely an answer to prayer for that day-- just what I needed to hear. They always remind me of important lessons or refocus me on what really matters. They help me keep my eyes fixed on GOD. They remind me of God's promises, His blessings, His mercies, and His love. All the posts are encouraging. They are convicting. Some bring joy. Some bring tears. All in the very best way. Every day, I hear truth spoken from the verses, and some REAL person's thoughts about it. With the devos, it has been such a blessing to hear what Christian girls my age have to say about their favorite verses, and how it applies to their lives. 

Being connected to so many girls, my age, has been wonderful! Knowing that someone, quite far from me, could be reading the same things I am......is just so cool!

The Daily Devotional is completely free and completely fresh every morning. You can also customize what days you receive it if you do not want to get it every day.

 Click here to sign up!

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5 Sneaky Habits That Will Cripple Your Life

          Often we classify sins into two different "types": "BIG sins" and "little sins."
          For example, a pastor committing adultery would be considered a "BIG sin," while something like skipping our quiet time one morning would be a "small sin."

          But “big” sins come when we make seemingly little compromises in our thought life to go our way instead of God’s way.

          When our mind is characterized by indulgence, then our flesh and our lifestyle become crippled with indulgence. 

          Here are 5 sneaky habits that are a pattern of a lazy and indulgent lifestyle.

1. Sleeping late

         My family called me “sleepy head.” I would sleep as late as I possibly could every single day. Dad wanted to teach us how to wake up early, so he had us do a math assignment every day before 8am. I really didn’t like waking up at 6am or earlier… So I decided to do my math the night before. I would stay up late and wake up late. On Saturdays, I would sleep in as late as possible until Mom came and woke me up.

          Now, my goal is to wake up at 5am every weekday morning. For the most part, that’s what I do. What happened? I learned that, while there are always 24 hours in a day, there are ways to optimize your waking hours to be the most productive. Getting up early and seizing the day has been far more productive for me.

          But waking up early isn’t just about being productive. It’s about fighting the lifestyle of indulgence.

          If you have a habit of sleeping late every day, you will teach yourself to indulge in your flesh. You will start off your day with indulgence and as a result, you will not be a dedicated or equipped to fight sin in your life.
           If you want some practical tips for getting up early, check out the article, "10 Tips for Getting Up Early."
  
2. Curing your boredom with your phone

          Seriously, your phone is probably your worst enemy. It is GREAT way to waste your day, snuff out your work ethic, and indulge the flesh. Not to mention it has instant access to a wealth of sin and filth.

          If you are bored, you should not always resort to your phone. Your phone will suck the joy out of the daily life you live. It will cause you to miss the serene happiness of each moment.

          Just like your phone, social media is a tool that, when handled incorrectly, is devastating to your life.

          I’m fighting this by setting a 30 minute timer most mornings. Whenever I’m on social media, I turn the timer on. It helps a lot, but it doesn’t eliminate my sinful inclinations.

          Find some practical ways that you can fight this. Maybe you study when you’re bored. Or call a friend. Clean your room. Do a craft. Whatever it takes!
          Also check out "Do You Cling to Your Phone?"
  
3. Procrastinate

          This is a symptom of lazy indulgence. Don’t put it off. Work hard, and then play and rest. Typically, I’ll work on school from early morning until about 5pm, and then I stop. I hang out with my family or do some other fun thing. Working hard and not procrastinating doesn’t mean you don’t have time to have fun—it means you DO have time, and it is not under the burden of eventually having to do your school or work or whatever. 
  
4. Skip your quiet time (prayer time)

          When things get busy or stressful, it’s easiest to cut out time with God. But this should always be our number 1 priority in life—knowing Christ.

          You will be surprised at how much a quiet time (or the lack thereof) will affect your day.

          When you see God, you see why you must fight sin. You love God more than sin. You cannot expect to glorify Him if you do not set aside time to seek after Him.
          Also check out the article, "10 Tips for Reducing Stress."
  
5. Worry

          When I asked on Instagram during one of our Chat Times what were the biggest hindrances in our walk with Christ, the majority said anxiety and worry.

          What is worry? The sin of not trusting God.

          A life characterized by anxiety and worry cannot be a life characterized by the joy of Christ.

          Surrender your life to Christ and daily offer up your worries to Him. He is a better steward of them than you.

Are you guilty of any of these? If you could add a 6^th one, what would it be? Share in the comments!

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3 Reasons You Should Read Your Bible Every Day

-By Miriam Hamstra

           One topic that is stressed in the Christian life, maybe even to the point of cliché, is the subject of a daily devotional life. Why is that so? Well, I believe that we won’t be able to answer this question until we know three things. First, the power of God’s Word. Second, what the Bible says about reading the Word. And finally, the reason consistency in the Word matters. 

1. God’s Word is powerful

          Looking at Hebrews 4:12 we see the very power of God’s Word. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and can discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Some translations say “living and active”. When we read the Word, it pierces our soul and spirit. It is the Word that changes us.           

          The Word of God is not just words on a page, but the very words of God! When we read and study it, it is just as if God were speaking to us.  People who think that God doesn’t speak to His people as He did in the Old Testament have missed the very power of the Word. The Word tells of the high glory of God. It is from God, and it speaks to us.

2. The Bible commands it

          There are several reasons why God gave us His Word. We will look at three of them.

God gave us His Word to equip us. 

          “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16)  

God also gave us His Word that we may know Jesus Christ. 

          The Word of God contains the gospel and the entire Word is an revealing of His redemption plan. “Then He [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46,47)  People come to faith in Christ by the power of the Word being preached. 

Finally, God also gave us His Word as a weapon against sin.  

          When Satan hears the Word of God, he runs and flees from it. I have found this to be true in my own life. When I refute the lies that tempt me with God’s Word, I can avoid sin. “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:11) This is a lesson that I have grasped recently. My godly mentor taught me the importance of using God’s Word as a weapon against sin. She has taught me what it means to take up the Sword of the Spirit.

3. Consistency in reading the Word every day matters

          What does the Bible say about meditating and studying God’s Word?  The psalmist says in Psalm 119:23, 24 “Princes also sit and speak against me, but Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.”

          We see here that we are to delight in the Word. In Psalm 19 it says, “The commandment of the Lord is sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” This Word encourages and fills us. It guides us in our lives and is a lamp to our path. Those who meditate on it will gain wisdom and grow in their faith. 

          The Word is one of the means by which we grow in our faith.  Psalm 1 is a great picture of the person who delights in the Word of God. Verses 2 and 3 say, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Trees that are nourished grow to be big and strong. It is important for us as women to be planted strong in the faith. More than anything in our culture today women need to be planted in the truth. We need to be like a strong trees that are not moved when new ideas contrary to God’s Word come along. 

          I think with all that we see here, we know why consistency matters. In order to grow in our faith we need to be consistently rooted in the Word. As a piano player I know what dedicated practice means. If I want to learn a song, I need to practice consistently! If my practicing was hit or miss, a day here and a day there, I would never accomplish my goal of playing beautiful music. Our endeavor to become women of God is the same. We need to be dedicated to the  study of God’s Word. You will see that the more you soak yourself in God’s Word and pour over it, the more you will want to be in it. 

          This is a lesson that I have learned just recently, and I can tell you that it is a valuable lesson to learn. Ask God to reveal Himself and teach you from His Word. He is faithful and dedication to His Word will bring fruit.  I love this verse in Psalm 119:165 that says, “Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.” When the storms of life come, and the hurts and hardships are many, those who love God’s Word have the peace of God with them. Nothing, even the deepest pains and wounds, can make them stumble.

“Incline my heart to Your testimonies!” 

Psalm 119:36

Miriam Hamstra is from the state of Indiana, and she loves life there. Adopted at 14 months old, she is originally from Russia. She enjoys competition of any kind, especially sports. Miriam’s greatest passion is writing and pointing others to Christ through written words. She loves sharing the great truths of the Word with others, and she finds joy in telling them about God’s love and faithfulness in her life. She also enjoys spending time with her family which includes her twin sister. She enjoys playing volleyball and basketball, spending time with friends, and playing music with her sister.

          For more resources on this topic, please check out these Morning Glory article, 10 Tips for Beating a Crush: Spending Time with God, and the GirlDefined articles: 5 Easy Ways to Read Your Bible, 3 Quick Tips to Improve Your Personal Devotions, 5 Quick Tips to Having an Awesome Quiet Time. Also, join Morning Glory's Daily Devotional and choose what days you want to receive a devotional in your inbox!
 

Do you read your Bible every day? What tips do you have for others who are struggling to do so? Which reason listed above do you feel like is the most important? Share in the comments!

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