Morning. The beginning of a new day. A welcoming of things which have never been before. An opportunity for that which we have never, and will never, experience again.

Morning. The time when God’s mercies are new. A time when God responds to our human need personally, in a heavenly way. An offering of life.

Morning. When God says, here, this is life, I give it to you my love, go live it.

All things good come under attack. So of course our mornings are prime target for battle. If we ever really recognized the offering of a new day for what it is, nothing could hold us down in bed. Nothing could wipe the smile off our face. Nothing could dampen our spirit or spoil our joy. And we all know a strong start is crucial for momentum to build. If we can’t start the day right, we often struggle to get going on much of anything.

No doubt there is a battle for your morning. A full on war being waged for your attitude, your energy, and your time.

Lamentations 3:23 tells us morning is when God’s mercies are new. Hey, that’s worth waking up for. Have you been? If his mercies are being offered in the morning, what happens if you’re not getting up to receive them? Mercy is receiving goodness which we don’t deserve. It’s the opportunity to try again even though we may have failed yesterday. It’s the chance to do it right and get it right, regardless of our track record. Understand, with every offer of new mercy in the morning, God believes in you. He believes you CAN get it right this time. He believes you CAN turn it around. You CAN make any change necessary because he’s already made a way, he’s placed the potential within you which holds every single thing needed for the change, and his mercy says ‘ahhhhh, today can be her day.’

Heaven is cheering for you with the beginning of each new day. Heaven knows what has been aligned for you is everything to both protect you and propel you.

Protect you … yes, random annoying delays like searching for your cell phone for 5 minutes and then finding it’s right where you left it, like forgetting something and having to turn around to get it, like the missed turn that took you on a detour away from your normal route. Oh it could be random, it could be annoying … or it could be divinely designed for you. We gather here and pray for protection every single day, then we complain when we receive it because we see with earthly eyes delays and detours, while God provides a shield of protection. He’s so good at protecting us, we walk through our days completely clueless to what almost happened.

Can we just pause and send up a praise for all that ALMOST HAPPENED just yesterday, but God’s protection prevented it so well, we were completely clueless. How shameful it would be to respond to God’s finest protection with our aggravation. His protection is so good, we don’t even see it. It’s like the home security system that shocks potential predators when they even think about breaking into your home, keeping them from ever stepping foot onto your lawn. That’s good security! But you don’t even know how good it is because you never even see the threat come near. Ahhhhh, yes, isn’t that our God. We often don’t even know the ill intent of the enemy, the harm he had orchestrated for us, heading directly our way for a head on collision, but God heroically steps in with a shield of protection and removes us from that collision course. YES HE DOES. But it looks more like a detour on the road you always travel. It looks like the occasional flat tire, or call from the school that causes you to leave work, a missed turn, or the forgotten eggs at the store, all delaying you in your very busy day. Have we been missing it … even worse, have we been complaining about it? God’s great work in the details of our lives. Thank you God for all that ALMOST HAPPENED but you’re so good that I never even caught the hint of danger. I just saw delay.

And propel us. You bet ya God is interested in raising us up to new levels. You bet ya he’s on our side for a higher standard of living, leaving behind our little life ways of playing it little. He created us for more than we could ever possibly imagine, now he is propelling us onward and upward towards what we were always destined for. New levels. However, what you will feel on your way to these new levels is new devils. Oh yes, my friend TD Jakes taught me about new levels new devils. Just when you step up to that next level of living, you find the next level of problems.

We paint these pretty pictures in our minds that tell us when we “arrive”, life will be so much easier. Who sold you on that? God warned us in this life there would be trouble, and hey sister doesn’t it make sense that the bigger life you live, the bigger your problems will be too? Whew, it’s a dang good thing the God who created us for a BIG Life (and comes with big problems) is a ridiculously BIG God!

Hey, God doesn’t play little, and he doesn’t desire for you to play little either. This morning, he has aligned what is necessary to propel you. The next level of living is available to you, but you have to step up to it. Feel that push … that push that says you can’t keep living your old way, you have to change something. Yes, that’s God propelling you today. Feel that hope rising up? The hope that says maybe I can do it this time. Maybe I am ready? Yes, that’s God propelling you today. Now, feel that fear? That fear that says what if I fail again? What if it’s too hard and I’m not good enough? Uhhhh huh, that’s the dirty ol’ slimy devil trying to weasel his way into your morning and hold you back.

And here’s a little secret … if we lay in bed, the voice of the enemy gets louder. If we lay in bed, we miss what God has offered to those who are willing to get up and grab it. NEW MERCIES. New mercy that has made a way for today to be your day. A day of new beginnings. A day of breakthroughs. A day of strength and growth. A day where you see with your own eyes all the ways God is protecting and propelling you. GET UP FOR THAT!!!!!

The enemy isn’t fighting you because you’re weak, he’s fighting you because you’re strong. He knows your potential … and he especially knows your potential when paired with God’s offerings of new morning mercies. How do you fight him? You don’t reason with the devil. Haven’t you ever heard you can’t reason with crazy? You can’t make sense of nonsense. Stop trying to understand him, and get away from him!

Get up for what God has offered you today. Morning is God saying “One more time my girl, one more time. Go make a difference, live the life only you can live, go on and rock this day I have given you.”

Maybe you missed it when the alarm went off. Maybe you, like most of us, failed to recognize the offering of God with his new mercies and perfect alignment of opportunities to both protect and propel you. So hey God, we see it now. We see what this morning really is. We see this is our life … this is our one more time … and we are so grateful for it! We’re up for it!

I’m not only up and awake, I’m up for what you want to do in my life. I’m up for it!