Win the Morning, Part 1

Life is difficult. Life is difficult. In fact, the Bible tells us that life is difficult. If anybody ever tries to preach a message that doesn't include the fact that life is difficult, then they're not preaching the message of Scripture. Jesus said in John 16, “In this world, you will have trouble.” (NIV) Now he goes on to say, “I have overcome the world.” So, there's hope, there's strength. Like, we have confidence in who Jesus is, but in this world, you'll have trouble.

And that word for trouble is the word ‘tribulation,’ meaning that these are not small challenges. These aren't light difficulties. These are things that are significant. This is a darkness that is so deep, it can feel like it's consuming all the light. That's the word here for trouble. It is a young Ukrainian girl stabbed to death on a train in Charlotte. It's the shooting of a Catholic school…in a Catholic school in Minneapolis. It's a 31-year-old husband and father being assassinated while speaking at a university in Utah.

And so, what it can feel like is that every morning we wake up and we don't know what the headlines are going to be, but we know that darkness is waiting. And what that means is that we end up carrying some sadness and some grief with us that can at times just feel like it's sitting really heavy on our chest. What that means is that sometimes we have to fight back anger and certainly confusion. Things just don't make sense; things don't unfold the way we think they should or that would make sense to us if we were sitting in God's seat— which we're not.

And so, we pray, we pray for the church. The church is called to be a light in the darkness. And the way we see it, church, is that the darker it is, the brighter the light shines, Ephesians says. And so, we pray, Jesus, let us be a light. Somehow, let us do what you tell us to do of loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us.

And so, it's a time to pray. It's a time to reflect on our own lives. I often say at a funeral that this is a time when we gently close the eyes of the dead, but we open the eyes of the living.

The Bible says in Psalm 90, verse 12, “Teach us, God, to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” God, teach us to live with an awareness that our days are numbered so that we live with an intentionality about our lives.

James 4:14 says, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a while and then disappears.” And we need to be reminded of the temporariness of this life, that from our perspective, the years run together, but compared to eternity, none of us are here very long. And that's not meant to scare us. The Scriptures aren't meant to scare us, but they're meant to wake us up. They're meant to help us pay attention to our one and only lives and understand that moments like these matter…that matter.

And we need to look up long enough to recognize that. That one day we'll stand before God, and on that day, it won't matter what anybody else thought of you. It won't matter what your boss thought about you or your critics said about you. It won't matter how many followers you had or what your bank account looked like or what car you drove or house you lived in. It won't matter who won the last election. It won't matter what grade you got on the exam this past week. Like, what will matter is your relationship with Jesus.

And so, this is a good time to just pause and ask a question: If this is your last day, are you ready? Have you surrendered your life to Jesus? Have you confessed that you're a sinner who needs a Savior? Have you believed that Jesus died on the cross for your sins? That he rose again so that you could have eternal life? Is that where you have put your hope? Is that where you find your confidence? Jesus defeated death so you can live. That's the platform.

And so, we pray and we reflect on our lives, but we also, if we're honest—and I think we should be—we find ourselves in moments like these and weeks like these, asking questions that have perhaps always been there below the surface. But when certain headlines hit the news, those questions get louder. Like, how do we make sense of such evil? And how do we respond when violence becomes the answer to disagreement? How do we find hope when darkness seems overwhelming? Like, how do we even…how do we even do that?

And so, I want to talk to you about some of those questions, because this is true. And this isn't just true globally, like, this is true personally. It's not just the darkness in the headlines; it's like the darkness in our hearts and darkness in our homes. And it's the darkness when we're in these quiet moments alone with our thoughts. Life is difficult. That is actually the first line of the book called The Road Less Traveled, which according to the Guinness Book of World Records, holds the record for the longest time on the New York Times bestseller list. The Road Less Travel at six…last time I checked, 694 weeks. Bestseller for 13 years. Starts off, “Life is difficult.”

But in the midst of the difficult circumstances that we have no control over, in the midst of the darkness that can seem overwhelming, in the midst of grief and fear, the Bible tells us God's will is for you to live with joy and gratitude. How do you do that? Like, I know that's what you want. I want that. But it's not just what you want, it's what God wants for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 say, “Rejoice always.” Some translations: “Be joyful always and pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will.” You wonder what God's will is for your life, and you lay awake at night and say, God, what do you want from me? What's your will for me? This is…this is my will for you, God says, is that you be joyful, that you pray continually. You give thanks in all circumstance. And there's always and continually, in all circumstances, not just some of the time, not just when things are going well and everything's unfolding the way we hoped that it would, and things just make sense for us.

All of life is up and to the right. Like, no, it's always, all the time, in all circumstances. And so, how do we do that? How do we live with that kind of joy when life is difficult and we're hit with wave after wave of difficulties and everywhere we look we're reminded of how hard things can be? How do you find that kind of peace when maybe you're carrying a lot of shame and regret and you don't know what to do about it, but it feels…it just feels like too much. You just can't go back and do things differently. You wish you could, but you can't. And now it's like every day you're just reminded of the reality of your decisions, what it's done to you, the people around you, and it just all feels like too much.

How do you find victory over temptation, where it just seems to get the better of you? Like, you don't want to keep doing what you've been doing, but you keep doing it? How do you find victory? How do you intentionally fill your mind with thoughts that are true and God honoring? How do you overcome the voices in your head that tell you, Hey, it's too late and things are too dark and evil is winning?

So, the answer, I believe, is connected to the series we're in called ‘Every Thought Captive,’ where the Bible would teach us that either you take your thoughts captive or they're taking you captive. That the way we tear down these strongholds in our life is by being renewed in our minds, that we partner with the Holy Spirit in experiencing this mind transformation. We align our thoughts with what God says. And as we do, he gives us a new way of looking at things. He gives us a new way of thinking. He transforms our minds, and as he transforms our minds, our lives change.

And so, what I want to do is focus this in a little bit as we go in this series and talk to you about taking your thoughts captive at a certain time of the day, specifically taking your thoughts captive first thing in the morning. Now, listen, I know some of you are not morning people. I get it. Some of you don't…you don't even…you don't even believe in God till after lunch. (Laughter) That's sort of how you feel about it. Like, you wouldn't say that out loud, but the people around you might…like, are you a Christian yet? Okay, I'll give you another hour, and we'll see if it kicks in after you have the coffee. Because you're just not a…you're just not a morning person.

So, I'm going to talk to you about the importance of taking your thoughts captive in the morning. But I want you to hear me. I'm not putting, like, a time on what the morning is for you. It's just whenever you wake up. All right, so that might be five something. That might be ten something. If it's eleven something, I mean…okay, but really, what we're saying is what you think about when you first wake up has a way of determining what you think about through the rest of the day. Like, your thoughts early in the morning have impact on who you are.

I don't remember where I first heard the phrase, “win the morning.” I think I heard it from…I know I heard it from my junior high soccer coach. He may have been the first person. He would…he just took all of it too seriously. I don't know if you ever had a coach like this, like, in junior high, where you're like, this is not professional soccer. (Laughter) That's not what…that’s not what we're doing here. But he…he coached as if it were.

And he insisted we have our practices before school instead of after. And we'd show up half awake, and he would blow his whistle and yell at us with this annoying William Wallace like energy and say, “Win the morning. Win the morning, boys, and you win the day.” Have a sprint back and forth. And look, we were tolerating the morning, I feel like.

And I thought we should have gotten credit for that. Like, we were there tolerating the morning, but he wanted us to win the morning. And I…my question was always, Why can't we win the afternoon? (Laughter) I'm all for winning. Does it really matter when we win? And my coach would say, “Yeah, it does.” You got to win the morning if you want to win the day.

And I think there's a lot of wisdom in that. And what I discovered is that there's a reflection of this in Scripture. Like, the Bible would teach and would prioritize I believe how we spend our morning hours, our time with God in the morning. I did just a quick survey of Scripture on this. Abraham, Genesis, chapter 22:3 and 5, rose early in the morning to split wood for burnt offerings and to worship God. Moses, Exodus 24, Exodus 34 rose early in the morning to worship God, to meet with God. Gideon rose early in the morning to find the lord's favor, Judges 6, Judges 7. Proverbs 31 describes a godly woman as one who rises early and with intentionality.

Hezekiah worshiped God first thing in the morning, 2 Chronicles 29. Job made it his habit to rise early in the morning and to pray for his children. Isaiah spoke about waking up and meeting with God in the mornings, Isaiah, chapter 50, verse 4. You read through the Psalms, and David uses this as almost a refrain. This ‘in the morning.’ Let's look at a few of these together.

Psalm 5:3, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning, I lay my request before you.” And then here's what happens. Because he starts his day this way, then throughout the day, what's he do? He waits expectantly. Because he starts his day by praying and laying his request before God, it changes the way that he lives out the rest of his day. Throughout the day, he's living with this anticipation of how God's going to show up because of how he started his day.

Psalm 143:8, “In the morning God, bring me word of your unfailing love, for I put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” God in the morning just give me direction. Help me know the path I should take. Psalm 59:16, “But I will sing of your strength in the morning. In the morning, I will sing of your love, for you are my fortress and my refuge in times of trouble.” Psalm 88:13, “But I cry to you for help, Lord. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.”

In the morning, in the morning, in the morning…in the morning I worship. In the morning, I seek your direction. In the morning, I'm reminded of your love for me. In the morning, I ask you for help. How you start your day, the thoughts you first think have a way of setting the direction for the rest of your day. And then ultimately your days become your life.

Jesus modeled this for us. In Mark chapter 1, it's this crazy busy time in the life of Jesus. Lots happening, lots of crowds, with expectations for Jesus about what he should do and what he shouldn't do with his time. And in the middle of all the craziness, we read about Jesus in Mark chapter 1 it says of him, “Very early in the morning…” How early? Well, it was still dark. And Jesus got up and he left the house and he went off to a solitary, to a quiet place where he prayed.

If Jesus needs this, like, if he's prioritizing this, if he's intentional with his mornings, then how much more should we be with ours? And so, it was just really clear to me that, okay, like, this is Biblically emphasized, this idea of connecting with God in the mornings, of meeting God in the morning, of taking my thoughts captive when I first wake up.

And then I started to wonder if maybe science backed this up. In other words, if this is true in Scripture, maybe it's true biologically. Like, maybe this is how we're made neurologically, that God has wired us in such a way that our brains are especially moldable in the mornings. And turns out they are. When you wake up, your brain moves from delta waves to theta waves to alpha waves. And in that time, important things are happening that determine whether you respond or you react to whatever happens to you throughout the day.

Dr. Andrew Huberman, in his research for Stanford University, he uses some language I find really helpful. He calls the morning hours your neuroplasticity window. That you've got a couple hours in the morning that are your neuroplasticity window, because in those few hours your thinking disproportionately shapes your brain. It's your neuroplasticity window: the first hour or two of your day. What you think about has disproportionate weight. It has compounding effect on what you think about the rest of the day.

Dr. Sonia Lupine and her research on cortisol patterns talks about how our stress hormone levels are naturally highest in the morning. It's called the cortisol awakening response. And the idea here is that our morning thoughts have amplified emotional impact through the rest of the day. Like, our morning thoughts set us up for either having a resiliency throughout the rest of the day or having these negative thought patterns for the rest of the day.

Psychology would call this a primacy effect. Like, your first thoughts about something, first thoughts about a person, or your first thoughts about the day disproportionately influence everything else that follows. So, your thoughts early in the morning create neural pathways that are used to process whatever else happens to you throughout the course of the day.

Psychologists also refer to the morning hours as a time of priming. Like, if you ever put a coat of primer on a wall before painting it, you can't see the primer, but it's underneath what you can see. And if you've ever done much painting and you've tried to skip the primer, you know it's a bad idea. Like, you pay attention to what's underneath what you can see. Even though you can't see it, even though people can't see how you're spending your morning hours, what they can see is impacted by what they can't see.

Think of it like this. Imagine that somebody gives you a gift as kind of an old school radio that has a tuner on it that you tune into different radio stations. But the way this radio works is whatever you turn into…tune into before 7 a.m. is what it stays on the rest of the day. So, whatever station you tune into first is what you got to listen to all day long. And you better be like, you could tune into some country music and maybe that's nice to start your day, but around 5 o' clock in the evening you're like, Why didn't I choose differently? Whatever you start the day with is what you have to listen to all day. And in a sense, this is the way our brains work, that whatever you tune into to begin your day is what you listen to throughout the rest of your day.

So, play this out with me. You wake up, you immediately grab your phone, there's a news alert, another tragedy. A political post makes you all angsty to start your day. A couple of messages from work marked ‘urgent’ that you miss during the night. You've not even gotten out of bed yet and you're already dealing with anxiety and anger and feeling overwhelmed.

But what really…the cost of this is what happens the rest of the day. Because it's not just in that moment, but now you're setting yourself up where small inconveniences, you're reactive to them. They feel like a crisis. Traffic makes you furious. Your coworker's innocent attack or comment feels like an attack. And you're reactive; it's because you've primed your brain for chaos at 6:47 in the morning.

Or maybe instead of checking the news, you get on your phone and the first thing you do before you even get out of bed, you look at Instagram and your friends posted their stupid perfect vacation pictures. And you look at the perfect date that somebody else went on the night before. And that fitness influencer you follow has been up for like, four hours already. And like, before you've even had your coffee, you're feeling inadequate and insecure. And so, what that does for the rest of the day is it primes it. Like, now you're measuring yourself against others. Your accomplishments feel small, your appearance is lacking, and you spend the day feeling less than because that's what you primed your mind for. That's how you set the trajectory of your thinking to begin your day.

But you think of the flip side of that. Like, what if you take your thoughts captive and you wake up and before you even reach for the phone, you say, Okay, God, before I get out of this bed, I'm going to think of three things today that I have to be grateful for. And you say it out loud. And maybe the first thing is, I woke up. Maybe that's what you go with: I woke up. I'm thankful that I woke up today.

And you pick a couple of other things and you say it out loud and what happens? Well, the rest of the day you've primed yourself for some gratitude. And you can notice things that maybe you would have missed otherwise. And this time when the traffic is heavy, you find something to be grateful for. The podcasts that you're listening to or work is stressful and you notice a coworker who's there for you that maybe you would have missed otherwise.

And you respond instead of react because you primed your brain to see some blessings. This is what it looks like to take your thoughts captive is you recognize in the morning what you see…what you look for is what you're going to see the rest of the day. The station you tune into is what you're going to listen to the rest of the day.