How to establish a strong foundation for your day

Self-Evaluation with the Holy Spirit

1.Introduction

1.The morning of our days is to be grasped with both hands and a firm grip as it is the gateway into our new day is a time to go out and fill our buckets with fresh manna because yesterday's manna will not be useful for today! What encouraged me, even more, to come into His presence early in the morning is to enter the counsel of the Lord.

“…and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord…”
Exodus 16:7

The focus of today’s morning session is on self-evaluation and the first area to tackle is our mornings.

2.What is self – evaluation?

Those who work in an organization, company, or students are occasionally faced with self-evaluation. It is expected of them by their employers in order to develop quality in the workplace.

But only in that specific area of our lives!What about the personal areas of our lives that only I have access to?

A measuring tool :

Being honest with yourself by admitting that certain things in your life do not align with the word of God.
A Closer look at our attitudes and habits
Answering specific and targeted questions
A measure to bring quality in our lives
Testing the structures in our life

2.1Why is self-evaluation important?

It gives us a true picture
It brings us to face the reality
It prompts us to take action
It motivates us to be better
It places a desire in us to change things about ourselves
It brings back quality in our lives
It prepares you to submit to change
It confronts bad habits

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning;…”
Lamentations 3:22-23

2.2Dealing with bad habits

Getting rid of those bad habits! Best to tackle them first and the best way is to recognize and admit. As our focus is on our early morning time with God, we have to shoot the arrows to our sleep habits.

Most time we set off in our day and meet up with God and this time is then initiated by ourselves. Then there are the times God calls us into His presence and this turns the focus to what He wants to share it reveal to us.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard?When will you get up from your sleep?
Proverbs 6:9

According to the dictionary habits are acquired behavior patterns regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

Where do habits find their strength? In repetitive patterns and behavior in our lives! We feed them or not! The stronger they get, the more they infiltrate our days, our minds, and eventually our hearts.

This goes as deep as the heart where the roots or strongholds of these bad habits infiltrated and corrupted our common sense and our relationship with God.

Get hands-on and make a list. This can also be done in your journal, beginning with a list and honest evaluation, prayer followed by an action plan.

The early morning watch

Time: 6am-9am

- To take a stand!
- To stand firm!
- To stand guard!
- To set up a watch!
- To set a strong morning routine
- To set the pace of our day.
- To secure the gate of your day by setting out a guard.
- To be strengthened
- To receive fresh manna(heavenly bread which refers to Word of God)

The waking up stage

Ask yourself these Key questions and be honest:

These types of questions are for someone who already has a morning routine with God.

1.Basic questions for a beginner or intermediate-level believer

Self-evaluation for an intermediate level👇

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I have a habit of talking to myself explaining to myself certain aspects, whether it is a spiritual truth or anything else to make some sense of it and then I engage with the Holy Spirit and ask His viewpoint. The same principle applies here!

Self-evaluation comes in categories of spiritual maturity, therefore I compiled two sets of checklists.

Checklist for a beginner👇

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2.How to respond to the self-evaluation

My relationship with God started to be transformed when I did an honest evaluation of my spiritual state. This can also be one of your first journal entries to prepare💭.

This was an area in my spiritual walk with God that was forcefully attacked, making it very difficult for me to secure myself in this morning seat of worship.

Prayer journaling in all its aspects was not my idea, but the idea that His Holy Spirit introduced me to and also taught me how to enter the prophetic seat of prayer. And this was an early morning seat with God that built up my faith and is continuing to grow stronger. It truly gives us an advantage and it catches the enemy of our souls off guard.

Always remember…My Tried and Tested list!