#3 - Go to bed so you can get up!!

#3: Develop the Habit of going to bed at a reasonable hour.

I won't go into the health ramifications of why it’s important to get one’s sleep or the fact that Ellen White once said that the sleep we get before midnight is twice as beneficial as what we get after midnight.[i]

However, unless we plan ahead, even the night before, it will be very difficult to get up and spend time with God the next morning because we are simply too tired from staying up late. Of course, there are exceptions that will keep us up late (like taking care of sick children, or meeting a ministry deadline), but these should be the exception and not the rule.

We must look at it this way: When we choose to do our own thing late into the night, we’ve already made the choice to put God in the backseat the next day. If our prayer lives are going to change, this pattern has to change. We have to be intentional about saying “no” to some things at night so we can say “yes” to the Lord in the morning.

It's easy to forget about God when you are involved in some project, working on the Internet, or goofing off with friends. But if we want a close walk with God, we will start learning to be intentional and not haphazard in our walk with God. God has taught me, it pays to prepare the night before. 

My brother Daniel is a real role model in this. He knows he needs his sleep. But even more, he knows he needs his time with God. So he's pretty careful about making sure he gets to bed on time so that he can get up early to spend with God. I believe this is how we all should be! 

God wants to bless us, and He's looking for those faithful few that will make Him their priority…not just in the morning, but the night before as well!

---

[i] 7 Manuscript Release, p. 224 “Sleep is worth far more before than after midnight. Two hours’ good sleep before twelve o’clock is worth more than four hours after twelve o’clock.”