When Jesus wakes up...

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   Have you ever wondered what Jesus did when He first woke up in the morning? Did He eat a bowl of cereal? Did He watch cartoons? Did He read the newspaper?
   When looking at the Gospel of Mark, the Bible actually answers this question for us. The Bible tells us about Jesus getting up "a long while before daylight" (Mark 1:35), which is very early, and which came after a very busy day of ministering to people (Mark 1:21-31), that lasted well into the night (Mark 1:32-34). 
   It was the next morning after this extremely busy day, that we read about Jesus doing something very different, and for some, very difficult. And yet, it is what Jesus disciplines Himself to do each morning, that sets an amazing example for each one of us in how we should be living out our lives. 
   To find out where I am going with this, you can read how I recently challenged The Church at Promenade to begin following in Jesus' footsteps at the beginning of their day, by simply waking up 15-minutes earlier each morning. 
   I have been extremely blessed by the amount of people who have contacted me with praise reports about how God has been richly blessing them since accepting this challenge.
   One recent report was from a college student who said over the past few weeks since the challenge was given, he has experienced many benefits from it. He said up to that point he had been very sporadic in this area of life, due to his busy work and school schedule. But when he saw that Jesus was also busy, and probably extremely exhausted each morning because of all that He did, it encouraged him to begin getting up earlier each day to do what Jesus did when He woke up. Because of this new revelation, and the blessing that has come into his life because of it, he said his days just seem to go easier for him. He said he is able to experience God's presence more, and have a right frame of mind to face each days challenges. He also said he has been challenging his friends to do the same! Wow, no greater joy for a pastor to hear taking place in a persons life than something like this!
   If you would like to partake in this challenge, and experience the blessings that everyone is reporting back to me with because of it, I can assure you that God will do the same for your life, and you will begin experiencing God working in and through your life in a much more powerful way.

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