Night Watch

Many of you will know that I really like going to bed early. I just do. Part of this is because I love getting up early. The way I've structured my life has kind of come to depend on it. For example, this morning, by 8am, I'd read the book of Ruth, the first 2 chapters of 1 Samuel, Galatians 6, run 4.5 miles, lifted weights, eaten breakfast, and showered - in that order. It has become absolutely crucial to put my top priority first in my day, and that means no matter what, I spend time seeking the Lord before I do anything else. Even if I wake up and my phone kindly tells me I have 14 emails, a half dozen texts, and 8 new facebook notifications, I'm going to pray first. Sometimes this takes a lot of discipline, especially with how crazy life can get as a college student. But I notice the difference. The few times I've waited until "after" to have my special time with Jesus, I find myself lacking joy, peace, and love.

That being said, every now and then I stay up late. I am an imperfect person striving to follow the Word of a holy God, and He tells us to meditate on Him in the night watches. Besides the issue of obedience that this raises, I've also found that I pray for different things in the evening, especially when I'm on campus. The Holy Spirit directs my heart to needs at midnight that are different from the needs at 5am, when everyone is asleep. Sometimes after I've been on a "night watch" I'll hear someone telling me about something "super random and bizarre" that happened to them that night. It'll be something that I was specifically praying for! I love that, that we're able, through Christ, to begin to know the heart of God.

The more time we spend with the Lord, the more we'll know Him and what He sees. We'll know how to better serve His people, because our heart will be knit closer to His own.



Lord, Lord, Direct my heart to You. Let me never tire in Your presence. My flesh is weak, but in You I find strength. To pray in the Spirit is to know You directly and intimately. Bless my time with You Lord, for You are the most beautiful One I've ever known. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street. Lamentations 2:19


when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; Psalm 63:6

My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise. Psalm 119:48