Yesterday, we talked about how having a routine can be extremely helpful as we seek to become rooted and grounded people who thrive in chaos. In sharing with you the five steps of my “morning meditation,” I’m hoping to encourage you to develop one of your own, because I firmly believe that it will help you grow in the Lord and enable you to become a more impactful force in this world.

I shared with you in our last devotional about how meditation is the first step of my morning routine, and it leads naturally to the second part, which is prayer. Reflecting upon a passage of Scripture and lifting up the Name of Jesus through worship creates a Spiritual atmosphere that makes it easy to simply begin talking to Him. Now, I don’t have a specific formula for prayer, but what I do every day is pray for my church and my family, and then I take a moment to listen to how the Holy Spirit leads me, and I lift up whatever is plaguing my heart. I also engage my body as I pray and literally extend my hands toward my children in the various rooms of the house, and the same with Hannah. In that way, I’m kind of sending out life and love to them, in the Name of Jesus.

I find that staying in this atmosphere of prayer opens my heart to hear God’s voice throughout the duration of my “morning meditation” and enables Him to speak into the remainder of my day. In fact, dwelling in that place of communion with Jesus for the rest of my waking hours keeps me in a state of peace and tranquility that I wouldn’t have found without that special time we spent together in the morning. The Bible says to “pray continually,” and I believe this happens naturally when you connect to your Heavenly Father and experience His presence in a focused way, such as I do in my morning prayer time. When I plug into the source of power at the start, remaining in Him for the rest of the day isn’t difficult. Isn’t that wonderful news?