book, start John’s Gospel. By now you’ll want to go ahead and read the entire New Testament in the coming year. After God has spoken through His Book, then speak to Him . . . in prayer. You now have two and a half min utes left for fellowship with Him in four areas of prayer that form the acrostic ACTS. Adoration. This is the purest kind of prayer because it’s all for God . . . nothing in it for you. You don’t barge into the presence of Queen Elizabeth. You begin with the proper salutation. So with God . . . worship Him. Tell the Lord that you love Him. Reflect on His greatness . . . His power . . . His majesty and sover eignty ! Confession follows. Having seen Him you now want to be sure every sin is cleansed and forsaken. Confes sion comes from a root word meaning “to agree together with.” Apply this to prayer. It means to agree with God. Something happened yesterday I called a slight exag geration . . . God calls it a lie! I call it strong language .. . God calls it swearing. I call it telling the truth about somebody in the church . . . God calls it gossip. “ If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” Psalm 66:18. Thanksgiving. The melting warmth of gratitude. Think of several specific things to thank God for. How about your family . . . your business . . . your church and ministry responsibilities . . . thank Him for even tight places. “ In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessa- lonians 5:18). Supplication. “ To ask for, earnestly and humbly.” Ask for others . . . then for yourSelf. This is the part of your prayer life where you make your petitions known to Him. Why not include other people from around the world, such as missionaries, students studying abroad, friends in distant places, and above all . . . the nationals of many lands who have yet to hear about Jesus Christ? Let’s put these 7 minutes together for the plan: Prayer for guidance, Psalm 143:8.......... Vfe Reading of the Bible, Psalm 119:18........ 4 Prayer ........................................................ 2% Adoration, I Chronicles 29:11 Confession, I John 1:9 Thanksgiving, Epehsians 5:20 Supplication, Matthew 7 :7 .............................. 7 min. This is not a fetish, but a guide. Very soon you will discover that it is impossible to do it in 7 minutes. An amazing thing . . . 7 minutes becomes 20, and it’s not long before you’re spending 30 golden minutes with Him. Do not become devoted to the habit, but to the Saviour. Not because other men are doing it . . . not as a spiritless duty every morning . . . nor merely as an end in itself . . . but will you covenant with God right now to guard, nourish and maintain your Morning Watch of 7 minutes . . . thereby practicing the presence of God in devotions and establishing a steady walk with Him throughout the seven days of the week? Every man who aspires to top performance is willing to accept suggestions for constructive changes. Your answer to these three questions will give you some indi cation of your present need: 1. What caliber of man am I alone with God? 2. Am I living in solitude what I profess in public? 3. Is my service for Christ an overflow, or just a cover-over to give an appearance of spirituality ? “Rising early in the morning long before daylight, [Jesus] left and went out to a lonely spot and prayed there” (Mark 1:35 Berkeley).
Students like Hooper and Thornton found their days “ loaded” with studies, lectures, games, and bull ses sions. Enthusiasm and activity were the order of the day. These dedicated men soon discovered a flaw in their spiritual armor. A small crack, if not soon closed, would bring disaster. They sought for an answer and came up with a scheme . . . the Morning Watch. “ The plan of spending the first minutes of a new day alone with God in prayer and reading the Bible.” It sealed the crack. It enshrined a truth so often obscured by the pressure of ceaseless activity that it needs daily rediscovery. The idea caught fire. “ A remarkable period of re ligious blessing” followed that culminated in the depar ture of the Cambridge Seven for missionary service . . . that band of prominent athletes and men of wealth and education who gave up everything to go out to China for Christ. But these men found that getting out of bed in time for the Morning Watch was as difficult as it was vital. Thornton was determined to turn indolence into disci pline of desire. He invented an automatic, foolproof cure for laziness. It was a contraption set up by his bed: “The vibra tion of an alarm clo-.x set fishing tackle in motion, and the sheets, clipped to the line, moved swiftly into the air off the sleeper’s body.” Thornton wanted to get up to meet his God! David tells us in Psalm 57:7—“My heart is fixed, 0 God, my heart is fixed.” A fixed and established heart produces stability in life. Few men in the Christian community have this heart and life. One of the missing links has been a workable plan on how to begin and maintain a Morning Watch. I want to suggest that in order to get under way, you start with 7 minutes. Perhaps you could call it a daily 7-up. Five minutes may be too short—ten minutes for some men is a little too long at first. Are you willing to take 7 minutes every morning? Not five mornings out of seven . . . not six days out of seven . . . but seven days out of seven! Regularity that speaks to the Lord on this approach: “ Lord, I want to meet You the first thing in the morning for at least 7 minutes. Tomorrow when the alarm clock goes off at 5:45 a.m., I have a date with You.” “O Lord, in the morning Thou shalt hear my voice; in the morning I will set in order before Thee my prayer, and will look up” (Psalm 5:3 Berkeley). How do you spend these 7 minutes? After getting out of bed and taking care of your personal needs, you will want to find a quiet place and there with your Bible, you are in solitude . . . 7 minutes with God. Invest the first 30 seconds preparing your heart. Thank Him for the good night of sleep and the oppor tunities of this new day. “ Lord, cleanse my heart so You can speak to me through the holy Scriptures. Lord, open my heart. Lord, fill my heart. May my mind be alert, my soul active, and my heart warm. Enshroud me with Thy presence during this time. Amen.” Now take four minutes for the reading of the Bible. Your greatest need is to hear some word from God. Allow the Word to strike fire with your heart. Meet the Author! One of the Gospels is a good place to begin reading. Start with the book of Mark. Read consecu tively . . . word after word, chapter after chapter. Don’t race, but avoid stopping to do a Bible study on some word, thought, or theological problem which presents itself. This is Bible reading for the pure joy of reading and allowing God to speak. Perhaps just 20 verses . . . maybe a complete chapter. When you have finished that
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JANUARY, 1965
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