Win The Morning

Who gets your first words of the day? 

For most men, it's email, the news, or social media—and by then, you're already reactive, living on someone else's agenda. In this episode, Chris Alessi joins the Men's Morning Devotional for the first time to map out the Man-Up challenge to the actual landscape of your life: your morning, your work, your home, your inner life, and your security in God. It starts here: the man who wins the morning wins the day. 

Looking at the example of David—a king with wars to fight, enemies to manage, and a family to lead—Chris unpacks what a disciplined man's morning actually looks like: bringing your voice to God first, then waiting expectantly like a watchman scanning the horizon. 

Verse of the Day: Psalm 5:3 — "In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly."

NEW TO THE MEN’S MORNING DEVOTIONAL? 

Welcome!

The Men's Morning Devotional is a podcast to help you man up in every way - in your faith, your family and your work - by spending a few minutes getting into the Word before you face the world. 

Every weekday, you'll get a challenge and encouragement from Scripture that speaks to the pressures you carry as a husband, a father, and a leader. You’ll get truth you can take straight into your day. And you’ll know you’re not standing alone, because men everywhere are waking up to fight the same battle.

Your hosts are Steve Alessi, pastor of Metro Life Church of Miami, FL, along with his sons and other leaders of our Goodfellas men's ministry.

Join us every weekday to man up! 

MORE PODCASTS YOU'LL ENJOY

Find more podcasts about faith and family from Metro Life Studios, including:

My Morning Devotional

The Family Business with The Alessis

The Mary and Martha Show 

You can listen to all of these shows on our Metro Life Studios app here! 

Get The Metro Life Studios app 

Transcript

0:02

Gentlemen, every day is a battle. A battle for your faith, your family, and your purpose. The men who stand strong don't prepare when the battle arrives. They prepare before it begins. Welcome to the Men's Morning Devotional. Let's get into God's word. It's time to man up. Good morning and welcome back to the Men's Morning Devotional. I am Chris Alessi, and it is my first time on this podcast, but I have been on basically any of our others. I'm really excited to be a part of this podcast and what we're doing. Last week, you would have heard from my father, Steve Alessi, of course, who we call Pastor Steve Alessi. And this week, we're doing something a little bit different. We're mapping the man up challenge, but to the actual landscape of your life. Your morning, your work, your home, your inner life, your security in God. Because a man doesn't just need to be strong in theory, he needs to be strong in every room he walks into. And so here this morning, in the morning, we're going to map out this man up moment. And here it is. The man who wins the morning, wins the day. The man who wins the morning, wins the day. Psalm chapter 5, verse 3 says, in the morning, Lord Jesus, you hear my voice in the morning. I lay my request before you and wait expectantly. Now, listen, I don't think the only time we should be praying is in the morning. But there is something unique about waking up every morning and laying your requests before the Lord and waiting on him because he hears. We talked about this verse in the past, but it's real special. Psalm 53 is one of the clearest pictures in all of Scripture of what a disciplined man's mourning could actually look like. David, who was a king with a kingdom to run, enemies to manage, wars going on, a very large family, and even more on his plate than most of us will ever know. He started his day by bringing his voice to God before anything else. Notice that progression. He lays his requests before God and then he waits expectantly. When you really look at that expectant word, it carries the image of a watchman just scanning the horizon. He's alert, he's postured, he's not passive, but he's actively anticipating. David didn't just dump his problems on God and walk away. Or even worse, he didn't allow his problems to distract him from bringing those problems to God. In prayer, he prayed and then stayed present to see what God would do and say. Here's what I've noticed in My own life. And in the men I'm. The quality of your morning almost always determines the quality of your day. It's not a productivity hack. It's the reality of getting your mind anchored in truth first. If the first voice you hear in the morning is your email, the news, or social media, you're already reactive. You're behind. You're responding to somebody else's agenda before you've even had a clear thought of your own. But when the first thing you do is bring your voice to God, even for five minutes, even imperfectly, something shifts. You're no longer starting the day at the mercy of your circumstances. It's like the fruit of the spirit are not the fruit of great circumstances that are the fruit of God's spirit. In the same way, when we start the day by bringing our voice to God, we start our day from the place of connection with him. The men that we see leading their families, well, the ones that are staying steady under pressure, the ones that make good and clear decisions, almost universally, those men protect their mornings. It's not complicated, it's easy, and it's consistent. And when we can be consistent in the morning, over time it builds the kind of man your family needs and the kind of man that God has called you to be. So here's your man up challenge for today. Protect your morning this week, set your alarm 15 minutes earlier than usual. Before you check your phone, open your mouth. Even if it's just to say, lord, I'm here, I'm listening. It's not about saying the perfect things. It's about speaking to God. And once you've done that, wait and do it every day this week and see how that man up challenge makes the challenges of life less challenging. Now, let's close in prayer. Lord, we want to give you the first moments of our day. Before all the noise, before the demands, before we check anything. Father, we bring you our voice. Here are our requests. We're watching and we're waiting for you. We pray that you'd set the tone of this day in us. In Jesus name, Amen. All right, gentlemen, you've heard God's word, now go live it. Lead well, stand strong. Honor God in everything you do. Share this devotional with another brother, and we'll see you tomorrow morning. Remember, every day is another opportunity to man up.