Mark 1:35

Carl Anderson

As a kid, I was required to be in bed every night at eight o'clock. I had to be up at a certain hour and be responsible to do my chores, get on the school bus, and all sorts of other things as I grew older.

It is the same way in our Christian walk. John Wesley used to plan his days in five-minute increments. His friend George Whitefield, whose set hour to arise was four a.m., would retire by ten each night. Ever hear of Benjamin Franklin's statement, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise"? His life-long companion was Whitefield. I don't doubt that he coined that phrase from the testimony of his friend's life. Every evening, if Whitefield was in the presence of others and it was his time to turn in, he would silently arise, walk towards the door, and say, "Gentlemen, it is time for all good men to be in bed."

Now, perhaps you've never made it a discipline of your Christian walk to have a set hour of arising. You might say, "That was fine for those men of God, but it's not for me." Well, need I remind you that it was said of Jesus Himself,

"And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there." Mark 1:35. Now, I don't profess to be a Greek scholar; I usually say I know a little Greek and a little Hebrew; the Greek runs a restaurant and the Hebrew a clothing store! If you examine this text a little closer (excuse the pun), you'll find it is in the continuous tense in the Greek, meaning: He practiced this continually. It was a continual practice of Jesus to arise early and spend time in communion with Father. There is something special about arising early in the morning and spending time in communion with your God.

In the mid 19th Century, the students at Cambridge University in England became increasingly dissatisfied with their spiritual walks; they were continually busy with study, exams, and programmes at the University. So they got together one morning and developed a programme they called 'the morning watch' where every morning, regardless of the business of the coming day, they would spend time in fellowship with their God. The buzz word on campus between the godly students used to be, "remember the morning watch."

As you study the men and women of standard in the scriptures, you find that it repeatedly says of them that they "arose early in the morning." Make a commitment to begin to instill some godly discipline in your life.

Taken with permission from Changing Of The Guard