Godly Routines

I’m going to need you guys today. We’re a little light, so I’m going to need a little bit of help. We’re going to go into Psalm 113. We’ve been in a series called God’s Best, and this has really been a tone-setter for this new year, right? When we start our new year, so oftentimes we have resolutions. We have goals. There are things that we want to see happen. We want to make adjustments to our schedule. And we sometimes get so caught up in the natural side of that that we lose sight and focus of what God wants to do — that there really is something that God has for us this year. There’s something that God has for you this year that He wants you to walk in, to receive His best. Amen.

Someone who was with us today was sharing a testimony about receiving God’s best, and just an answer to prayer. And it’s just so true that when we live in a way that honors Him, that puts Him first, where we seek Him, He is a faithful God. He wants to care for us. He wants to grow us. He wants to see us increase from faith to faith, from glory to glory. And it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have the world’s definition of success. But what it does mean is that He’s going to help you fulfill the supernatural plan He has for your life. So we’re talking about God’s best, which really is fulfilling the calling that God has prepared for you. So how do we align ourselves to receive that, to walk in that?

So today we’re going to continue this series, and we’re going to talk about one of the keys to receiving God’s best. Today we’re talking about godly routines. Everybody say “godly routines.”

Routines that tether us to God

I don’t know about you, but there are some routines that I wish were a part of my everyday life, but they’re not, right? There are goals that I set, and sometimes you set goals and a couple of weeks after you set a goal, things kind of fall apart. Maybe a routine that you were trying to set in motion didn’t work out, or you weren’t able to stick with it, or you just didn’t have the time. Maybe it was a discipline issue, or maybe you just didn’t enjoy it. And so you come up with these excuses. There are routines that we all wish we had.

But how many of you know there is something called godly routines, where we center our habits and routine around Him, and those routines have eternal benefits? We all need goals. We’re kind of creatures of habit, if you will, and we all need routines. There’s something about the day-to-day, the week-to-week, the rhythm of things, that keeps us on track, that keeps us on target. And sometimes we get so lost in the natural routines that we really only produce results that we can produce.

But how many of you know there is something called godly routines, where we center our routine, our life, around Him, that keeps us tethered to Him in such a way that we not only receive benefits for this life, but there are eternal rewards as well? So we’re talking about godly routines — routines that are of God, that center our life around Him, that tether ourselves to Him in such a way that we stay in alignment with what He has for our lives. So I’m going to just open with prayer as we start in Psalm 113. Let me pray.

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for what You have for us. And, Lord, there are things that we know, but, Lord, we don’t want to just know them. We want You to speak them to us, because when You speak, we are changed. And so, Lord, we ask that You would speak to each one of us by Your Spirit, that You would speak through Your Word, that this would be a time, Lord, where we receive from You. We receive by faith, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

So we’re talking about godly routines. Truly blessed people have routines that are centered around and tethered to God. There is something about our daily and weekly routines that sets the course for who we become. It sets the course for what we do. You see, routines are powerful. They can connect us to the right people. They can connect us to the right activities. They help keep the right agendas and purposes in front of us. So I want to talk about a couple of godly routines that are foundational to receiving God’s best for our life.

Praise and thanksgiving

And the first godly routine is praise and thanksgiving. Everybody say “praise and thanksgiving.” Let’s read Psalm 113, verse 3. It says, “From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised.” From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord’s name is to be praised. Well, let me ask you: how long is that? That is all day. In other words, there is to be a routine of thanksgiving and praise all day, every day, 24/7.

You know, I remember there was a time in my life where I really didn’t have a lifestyle of praise and thanksgiving. It wasn’t that I didn’t love God. It wasn’t that I didn’t come to church. And when the worship leader would say on a Sunday, “Let’s sing praise to God,” I was singing. I loved the Lord. But it wasn’t a part of my everyday life. And I remember when there was this shift, where all of a sudden God started revealing Himself to me in the day-to-day — where all throughout my day I was reminded of His goodness, I was reminded of His faithfulness, and of the opportunities that were available to really give praise and thanksgiving to God at all times.

You see, when we’re talking about godly routines, praise and thanksgiving is essential. There are many believers who don’t have the practice or the routine of worshiping the Lord. Maybe they come on a Sunday and they sing praise to God, but then they go about their week, and He really doesn’t get another thought. But we need to be people who regularly go to the Lord. Because if you don’t go to Him with thanksgiving and praise, you probably don’t have God on your mind. And if God isn’t on your mind, then you probably don’t have the right perspective about things.

When opportunities come, or discussions, or you’re having a conversation — if you don’t have a lifestyle of praise and thanksgiving, that means there isn’t this centeredness. God really isn’t in your view or your frame of things. So everything that you’re seeing, everything that you’re hearing, is without Him. A lifestyle of praise and thanksgiving keeps us tethered to what He has for us. So God is teaching us from His Word. He’s saying, “Listen, if you will allow godly routines in your life…” — then we can be the people that He’s called us to be.

So it says, “From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised.” Now how many of you know I’m not literally walking around 24/7 with every breath singing a song, right? But what we’re talking about here — as I was reflecting and meditating on this scripture, I recognized I can’t even really think of a morning that has gone by where He wasn’t the first thought of my mind. And that’s not to say how good I am. It’s really a reflection of how good He is — that He really is worth every thought. The reason I’m here, the reason I wake up, the reason I can breathe, is because of Him. So we wake up with this sense of gratitude, of thanksgiving and praise. It becomes a natural part of our lives.

So when it says from the rising of the sun to its setting, how many of you know it’s just a part of my life? He’s a part of everything that I do, every thought that I have. I am aware of Him in my life. I’m aware of what He’s done. I’m aware of what He will do. How many of you know there are times where you see things and you’re like, “Oh, praise God, that’s good,” right? An answer to prayer, something like that. But how many of you know sometimes you see things that you know aren’t God yet? And there’s a shift in perspective where it’s like, “I know it’s not happening now, but God has said, and God, I thank You that You will do what You said You would do.”

You see, there’s a lifestyle of praise and thanksgiving that is to become a natural part of our lives, where we’re going about our days and there are constant reminders of God in our lives, and we would be people who have a routine of giving thanks and praise. It wouldn’t just be on a Sunday. It wouldn’t just be during our quiet time. But as we go about our day, everything is centered around Him, and I give Him thanks and praise. Do you guys see the difference? It’s a godly routine of thanksgiving and praise. From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord’s name is to be praised.

So God is showing us that people who are blessed by God, people who walk in God’s best for their lives, have a routine that keeps Him at the center. And this is one of those routines that keeps God at the center — that we would be people who praise Him at all times. At all times: in our highs, in our testimony, in our lows, when it’s like, “I’m not seeing it come to pass, but He’s still worthy. He’s still faithful. God, I thank You that You will do it.” Do you see? We’re talking about routines where it is a lifestyle.

Now of course there are daily routines, and there are weekly routines — things that you do once a week, right? We come together and we worship Him. We do praise and worship together. That’s a routine. But how many of you know we need to have routines that keep Him at the center of everything we do?

Prayer

Another godly routine is prayer. Everybody say “prayer.” How many of you know if you’re not praying, there’s probably something off with your thinking? Because really what you’re communicating to the Lord is, “I don’t really need You.” You may not say that with your mouth, but when we aren’t in a position of prayer, what we’re saying is, “God, I can do this on my own. What I can do is enough. What I can provide, what I can make happen, it’s enough.” You’re telling Him that you really don’t need to look to Him, that you can do it on your own. But how many of you know that’s not true?

Jesus says in John 15:5, “Without Me you can do nothing.” But then just a couple of verses later, in verse 7, Jesus says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,” notice, “you will ask” — what is that? That’s prayer — “you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

You see, Jesus is saying, “Listen, without Me you can’t do anything.” And how many of you know that’s so true? I feel like the older I get, the more I realize how inadequate I really am, right? You start to see your weaknesses and your blind spots, the things that you can do and the things that you can’t do. But how many of you know — we said this last week — God has created you. He has fashioned you. And He created you with a supernatural calling, a supernatural plan for your life, which literally means God is the only one that can bring His plan for your life to pass. So why do we so often try to do it on our own? And we don’t have this routine, this lifestyle of prayer, where we’re seeking Him, where we’re saying, “God, without You I can do nothing. I’m completely dependent on You. And so, Lord, I ask, and I pray.”

How many of you know we need a routine of prayer? Psalm 55:17 says, “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray.” How many of you know that’s a routine? The psalmist is saying, “Listen, evening, morning, noon — I am going to have a lifestyle of prayer.” “And cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” How many of you know if you want God to move in your life, we need to have godly routines that will tether you to the Lord and center your life around Him?

And sometimes I’ll say things, and we kind of make these excuses for ourselves: “Well, you know, I can’t do it at noon because I’m at work, and I have meetings, or I have this or that.” But how many of you know what we’re talking about here is something that every believer can do? And maybe, yeah, maybe you do need to get a little bit creative. Maybe during your lunch break you need to go to your car and begin to pray and give thanksgiving and worship the Lord. Maybe it’s something you’re doing under your breath as you’re serving customers, or you’re doing your job. Maybe you’re praying in the Spirit and asking the Lord that He would move in this area of your life, or that He would bless the efforts of your labor. How many of you know this is something we can all do? Or maybe it’s something you do before or after work.

But how many of you know we need routines that keep us tethered to Him? And I think so many times as believers we get kind of loosey-goosey, where we don’t really come up with a plan or set aside a dedicated time for the Lord. And because we don’t set it aside, it never happens. How many of you know we need times to be set apart for the Lord?

You know, we were just doing these 21 days of prayer and fasting — we’re just finishing it today — and I had sent an email to everybody that had signed up, saying, “Listen, let me just give you three tips for this prayer and fasting.” There were different tips to doing it, and one of them was to set a routine, but if it doesn’t happen, be flexible. Because how many of you know routines are going to be interrupted? So you need a plan for the plan, that type of thing.

So for me, I had a time of day that I was going to be doing the 21 days of prayer and fasting. And I’ll tell you what — about three-fourths of the time I was able to hold that. And the other quarter of the time, I knew it wasn’t going to happen, so I had to set another time. Because if I don’t set a time, how many of you know the world’s going to crowd it out? Oh, there’s so much that demands our attention, that demands your heart, that demands your thought and your energy. The world will suck you dry. And so we need to have routines that say, “No, God, this is a time that is dedicated to You. You said pray; I will pray. Without You I can do nothing. I must be a person with a routine of prayer.”

So everyone can do this. We’re talking about godly routines — that we would not just go through life willy-nilly, just coming to church on Sundays, and every other day it’s kind of our own routine, our own thing. No, but that we would be people that intentionally, daily, weekly, set aside times and have a lifestyle of praise and worship, that we would have a lifestyle of prayer. You see, this is how we walk in God’s best.

God’s Word

So we have godly routines centered around praise, the routine set around prayer, and here’s the third godly routine: God’s Word. Everybody say “God’s Word.” If you come to church here, this is something that will be emphasized. We read our Bibles every day. And I know that’s sometimes more of a faith declaration, because there are times where it doesn’t happen. And how many of you know that’s not condemnation? But we’re saying, “No, no, we will have a routine. This is what we do.” That we would be people who spend time in God’s Word. Why? Because He speaks to us. It aligns our thinking. It gives us the proper perspective.

If we think we can go through life without receiving His eternal Word, how many of you know we’re going to get off? We get off center. We start filtering things incorrectly. Our perspectives get off, slowly but surely. Suzie and I were just praying for some people that are believers, that have received the truth, but there are things that maybe they’ve said, or things that they’ve done, that do not reflect His eternal truth. How many of you know if we’re not spending time in His Word, we get off? Am I right? If we are not spending regular time in His Word, we get off. We get off in our thinking. Our perspectives get off. Our values get off, to the point where we will literally believe a lie rather than God’s truth. This is so important. And it’s unnecessary, because how many of you know He’s given us His Word?

Listen to what Psalm chapter 1, verses 1 through 3 says: “Blessed is the man” — everybody say “blessed” — “who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” How many of you see the routine here? This is a constant. Because there is a wicked counsel. There is something called the counsel of the ungodly.

How many of you know there’s a lot of ungodly counsel out there, and it’s coming at people from every direction? It’s coming through what you watch. It’s coming through what you listen to. It’s coming through your workplace environments, through your friends. There is a lot of ungodly counsel out there. So what do we need? We need God’s counsel. We need His truth. It says, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” It’s a routine.

Verse 3 says, “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Oh, this is one of my favorite scriptures. And sometimes I look at myself and where I’m at, and sometimes I feel like my leaves are withering. You know what I mean? Where I’m like, “I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on,” or, “How much longer can I do this?” You see, we need to be sourced in His truth, in His delight. When we’re tethered to this — how many of you know His Word brings life? His Word brings life.

Notice it says, “Blessed is the man” — the one who makes His Word his delight. Not those who just take in and consume everything that the world has to offer. No, that we would be people who have a routine of consuming the Word of God. It says, “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” This man will be blessed. “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season.” Does anybody want to produce fruit in their life? Yeah. “That brings forth its fruit in its season.” In other words, when it’s time, fruit is happening in your life. Why? Because you have a routine of receiving and consuming His Word. “Whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” Why does this man prosper? Because he has a godly routine of being in the Word.

Praise, prayer, and the Word

How many of you know if you want to receive God’s best, we must have godly routines where our life is centered around Him? Listen, I don’t know what this looks like for you, because how many of you know it isn’t in scripture exactly when you need to do these things? All we see is morning, noon, and evening. In other words, these are all-day, everyday things. It’s what we do. It’s who we are.

So my prayer is that as we’re going through these scriptures, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. Maybe He’s saying, “Hey, when you’re on your way to work, rather than listening to the radio, how about you put on some worship music and you just sing to Me?” Or as I’m speaking, maybe you’re like, “You know what? I do need to get into God’s Word every day, and I can do it. I’m just going to set aside that thirty minutes before I go to bed,” or whatever it is. But that God would begin to speak to you about these routines that would keep you centered on Him.

Because this is so critical. There are so many believers — I’m not talking about people that have not received the good news; I’m talking about believers — who are falling away. They are being taken advantage of unnecessarily, because we don’t make Him a part of our life the way we should. But you see, if we put Him first and we have these godly routines, we will be blessed.

You see, when you’re in God’s Word regularly, you can properly put things in the right perspective. You can hear things correctly. You know what God’s answer is, sometimes even before you ask. Why? Because you are in His Word. You’re hearing things, and you are in alignment with Him. When you’re in God’s Word regularly, you understand things much more clearly than those who don’t filter things through His eternal truth. Let’s say that again: if you are in His Word regularly, you understand things much more clearly than those who don’t filter things through His eternal truth.

Let me tell you, there’s no secret sauce to this. If you want God’s best for your life: praise, prayer, and the Word. If you want to fulfill your calling, if you want to know what God is saying, if you want to do the things He’s asked you to do: praise, prayer, God’s Word. And I feel like so often as a culture we look for shortcuts. We look for alternatives, and we say, “God, why do I have to do it that way? God, I don’t have time to do it Your way. God, You know how busy I am.” But how many of you know — and are thankful — that God made a way? And He’s saying, “Listen, for you to do the things that I’ve called you to do — it’s a supernatural calling. You can’t do it on your own.” So we must have a routine of praise, prayer, and God’s Word. This is so important.

Let me tell you, when I am functioning in this routine, I can tell the difference. Anybody else? Anybody else set up a good routine where you’re praising God? You’re not complaining — no, “I’m thankful.” The enemy’s not going to give me doubt, all that stuff, right? “I’m thankful.” And I’m in prayer, and I’m asking of the Lord, and I’m praying for people, and I’m in the Word regularly. How many of you know when you find yourself in that routine, there’s a difference?

And I will tell you personally, even as someone who is serving the Lord in ministry: even in ministry, if I don’t have these routines, I can get off — where the goals, or the ways that I’m going to serve the Lord, are more about what I’ve come up with, more about what I can do, or more about goals that I’ve set. Listen, even in your serving of the Lord, you can get off if you don’t have these routines. You with me? It’s not just about good intentions. God is saying, “No, you can’t just have a good intention. I need to be a part of your life, and I have made a way for that to happen.” That we would be people who have a routine of praise, prayer, and God’s Word. Amen.

Watch and pray

I want to close with this: godly routines have eternal benefits. These routines that we’re talking about today have eternal benefits. Not only will you see benefits today, in this life — there’s an eternal reward. Listen to what Jesus says in Mark 13:32. He says, “But of that day and hour no one knows” — talking about when He’s coming back. How many of you know Jesus is coming back? He’s coming back.

I remember sometimes when I say that, I think of a time we went to a store, and the lady that was checking us out is a believer. Sometimes we talk, and she’s sharing what God is doing, and it’s always fun. Suzie and I were pulling up, and she’s starting to check us out, and she’s like, “Did you know Jesus is coming back? I can smell it.” I thought that was funny. I thought that was good.

Listen, Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son” — talking about Himself — “but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “Listen, as the day gets closer, you need to pay attention to these things. You need to watch. You need to pray.” “For you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming — in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning.” How many of you know we don’t know? But verse 36: “lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.”

How many of you know if we don’t pay attention, if we don’t intentionally make Him a part of our life, we can fall asleep? How many of you know there is a spiritual lullaby that is being played by the adversary in our world, and there are so many believers who are falling asleep spiritually? Jesus isn’t talking about being physically asleep when He comes. He’s talking about being spiritually asleep. And Jesus is saying, “That’s not what I want you to be doing. I want you to be someone who watches. I want you to be someone who pays attention. I want you to be someone who is praying, who is seeking Me, who is praising Me, who spends time in My Word, who knows how to navigate life.” Why? Because He’s at the center of everything they do. Amen. That person is blessed. That person walks in God’s best. Why? Because they’re a faithful servant. How many of you know we want to be faithful servants, right?

And I would say, don’t run the risk. So many people say, “Well, I gave my life to the Lord. Me and God are good. Now I can just do my own thing.” Let me tell you, that is a dangerous game to play, because again, there is a spiritual lullaby being played, and so many people who play their life that way fall asleep spiritually, and they ultimately get taken advantage of, and they die spiritually. This is so important. Do not get robbed by the adversary. No, tether your life to Him. How? Praise, prayer, God’s Word. It’s so easy and so hard — so simple, I should say it that way.

But how many of you know there is an adversary that’s going to try to keep you from those things? And sometimes the lullaby is louder than what you’re feeling on the inside to do what God has asked you to do. And I’m praying that He would help you to overcome that — that as you spend time praising Him, as you spend time in His presence, when you pray, when you’re in His Word, you would hear God differently. I believe that the Lord is wanting to reveal Himself in a new way in this next season.

And you’re like, “Well, what does that mean?” I don’t even fully know. But how many of you know He has to, because Jesus said, “I will build My church.” And I’ll tell you this: there are a lot of churches that are looking less and less filled, right? But Jesus says, “No, I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” We need to pay attention to these things. We need to keep Him at the center. We do not want to be people who are spiritually asleep. Godly routines help us stay on the right track.

You know, as we started the 21 days of prayer and fasting, Pastor Randy, who is the president of the Foursquare Church, shared a video — I believe it might have been on day one — and he was saying something to the effect of, some people say it takes 21 days to form a new habit, but the reality is it’s more like 40, something like that. And sometimes we can hear a message, or we can come to church, or we can hear a word, or leave a small group, and we’re encouraged, right? We want to see God move. “And so I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it.” And we give God a couple of days. We give God a week.

But how many of you know we’re talking about routines? We’re talking about, “No, this is a part of my everyday life, where every day, at all times, I’m praising and thanking Him — that He provides for my needs, that He takes care of me, that He’s revealing Himself to me, that He speaks to me — and every day I’m in His Word.” Why? Because it keeps my perspective tight. It keeps me in alignment with Him, to where I’ll be in conversations and I already know the right answers. I already know what God has for me. Why? Because I’m in alignment with Him.

You see, this is so important — that we would allow God to reveal this to us, and that we would take time and say, “God, how can I keep You at the center of it all? How can I make You more a part of my everyday life, where from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun, You are my focus? You are my center?” Let me tell you, sometimes we hear this and it’s intimidating. It’s like, “There’s just no way.” No, no, there is a way. There is a way, and it’s what God wants for us: that we would be people who praise, who pray, and who are in the Word.

A prayer to keep Him at the center

Can we respond to the Lord this morning? Let’s go ahead and stand before the Lord. Did I just say, “Let’s stand to the Lord”? Let’s go ahead and stand before the Lord, and let’s just receive this. And as I’m speaking, this is not a message of condemnation. This is hope. Because I think for a lot of us, we find that we get frustrated because God’s not moving the way we thought, or He’s not doing the things He said. But a lot of times the reason we’re not receiving the fruit in our lives is because we’re not giving Him the time. We’re really communicating with our actions, “God, I don’t really need You. I just want You when I want You.” But that we would be people that would keep Him at the center.

Oh, that we would be people — let’s look to Jesus. Lord, that we would be people that keep You at the center of everything that we do — our day to day, our week to week, our month to month. Lord, we don’t want to get out of sync and out of rhythm with who You are, with what You are doing, and with what You have for us. And so, Father, we thank You for Your Word today.

And whatever you’re hearing, whatever the Holy Spirit’s speaking to you, can you right now, in your own words, say, “God, thank You. Thank You for speaking to me. Thank You for Your Word.”

Lord, we recognize that these things are important, and, Lord, I pray over every person here that You would clarify what we need to establish as healthy, godly routines in our lives. Lord, as we walk these things out, that we would see new levels of breakthrough, new levels of blessing, new levels of understanding of who You are. Lord, You don’t leave us where we’re at. You take us to new levels. But, Lord, You need our heart. You need our attention. And so we give that to You today.

Strengthen us to forge a way, Lord, to see these routines become who we are, to become a part of what we do — not out of religious obligation. No, we just need You at the center. And the ways that we do that: we praise You, whether it’s in our coming and our going or alone in our room. We praise You. We give You thanks. Lord, it’s in our times of prayer — in the morning, at noon, in the car, at work, in the parking lot. Or, Lord, it’s in our time in the Word with You, that You would reveal Your heart and Yourself to us. Jesus, we do need You. We need You. And so we humble ourselves. We receive what You have for us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Amen. How many of you know He’s good? He’s good. It’s good to be in the presence of the Lord together, isn’t it? You know, you can be in His presence at any time, right? His Spirit is with you. But there’s something special about the times together. I’ve said this before: He reserves things for these times that you can’t get anywhere else. We need to be together. So thank you for being here. Thank you to those who joined us online.

Jesus is revealing Himself. And you know the cool thing is, Jesus draws all men to Himself. So there might be people in your life where you’re like, “Man, they need to know the truth.” Just keep looking at Jesus, and they’ll see Jesus. Jesus draws all people to Himself. Yeah. He’s good. He’s good.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.