The first duty

The men who have done a good work for God in the world are those who have been on his knees from early on. He who wastes the best of the morning, its opportunity and freshness, on other occupations than seeking God, will make little progress in approaching him for the rest of the day. If God does not take first place in our efforts and thoughts in the morning, He will take last place for the remainder of the day.

Behind this getting up early to pray is the burning desire that prompts us to communicate with God. The carelessness shown in the morning is an indication of an indifferent heart. The heart that is delayed in seeking God in the morning has lost its pleasure in him. David was hungry and thirsty for God and that is why he sought him early, before dawn. The bed and the dream did not chain his soul in his eagerness to seek God. Christ longed for communion with the Father, and that is why before dawn he went to the mountains to pray. The disciples, when they woke up ashamed of their negligence, knew where to find him. If we go through the names of those who have moved the world in favor of pious causes, we find that they sought God very early in the morning.

A desire for God that cannot break the chains of sleep is something weak that will do little to be of any real value to God.

It is not simply rising early that puts men at the forefront and makes them commanding general of the hosts of God, but the burning desire that shakes and breaks the chains of condescension with itself. Leaping early from the bed gives way out and increases and strength to desire, otherwise it is extinguished. Desire awakens them, and this tension for God, this care to hasten to the call causes faith to take hold in God and the heart to obtain the sweetest and most complete revelation.

The strength of this faith and the fullness of this revelation make eminent saints, whose halo of holiness reaches us so that we may participate in their conquests. But we are not only content with enjoying them but not with reproducing them. We build their graves and write their epitaphs, but we take great care not to follow their example.

We need a generation of preachers who seek God tomorrow, who give God the freshness and dew of their effort so that they will have in return the abundance of his power that will give them joy and strength in the heat and work of the day. Our laziness in the affairs of God is the sin of which we suffer. The children of this world are wiser than we are. They are in business from dawn to dusk. We do not seek God with ardor and diligence.

No man or no soul takes hold of God if they do not follow him with determination from the early hours of the day.

Source: EM Bounds, Power By Prayer