Lighting Your Day on Fire

3:45am. The alarm goes off, and before my feet hit the floor, I quietly say to my Creator,

“Thank you.”

Not for the day ahead. Not yet. Just for breath. For another shot.

I slip out of the bedroom before the house wakes up. Cold water on my face, the kind that shocks you honest. A preworkout. And then I sit down at the table where five things are waiting for me: my 100X Book, The Practical Handbook for Christian Living, The Charismatic Leader, my Bible, and my journal.

This is priming.

Here’s what I mean. You don’t walk up to a cold mower, yank the cord once, and expect it to roar. You prime it first, push fuel into the chamber before you ever ask the engine to work. Skip that step and you’ll be pulling that cord over and over, flooding the engine, going nowhere.

Most of us skip the priming and wonder why our days sputter.

Think about it. Most people roll out of bed and let the residue of yesterday dictate today. The overflow of work stress. The worry over a sick child. The hurt from a fight with your spouse that never got resolved before the lights went out.

For some, the first move is reaching for the phone fueling up on comparison, scrolling through highlight reels, or flipping on CNN (Constantly Negative News). We let the noise of the world prime us before we’ve primed ourselves. And then we wonder why 2pm feels like we’re running on fumes — irritable, reactive, out of gas before lunch even hits.

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

Even Jesus primed before He led. Before the crowds, before the demands, before the day could get its hands on Him first, He got alone with the Father. If the Son of God needed to prime before He engaged the day, what makes us think we can skip it?

Getting Into a Powerful State

Regardless of what happened the night before , good or bad, I reset every morning by fueling my mind, my soul, and my body. In that order. On purpose.

My Mind

I read one chapter from each book on the table. I journal my takeaways and ask myself what I need to apply — and what I need to teach the world about what I just read. Input without application is just information. I’m not collecting knowledge. I’m loading ammunition.

My Soul

I pray. I begin with gratitude — I literally pause and say out loud everything I’m thankful for before I ask for anything else. Then I ask for wisdom to discern what I’ve read, and the humility to actually live it out. It’s one thing to know truth. It’s another to let it cost you something.

My Body

Once my mind is sharp and my spirit is settled, it’s time to bring my body on board — cardio, weights, a combination that gets my blood moving and my discipline flexed before 7am. By the time most people are hitting snooze, I’ve already won three battles.

Find Your Own Fuel

Your priming won’t look like mine, and it doesn’t need to. Maybe it’s not 3:45am. Maybe it’s not a preworkout and a stack of books. Understanding what works for you matters, you know yourself best. And if you don’t yet, start by considering what you want to experience during your day, and work backward from there.

I want to walk into my day spiritually on fire. I want to be genuinely connected with the people I meet, not distracted by them. I want to carry positive energy that’s contagious, not performative. And I want to move through the day with a humble confidence — the kind that contributes to the world around me instead of extracting from it.

None of that happens by accident. It happens because I primed for it before the day ever asked me a question.

Set With This

•   What’s the first thing that touches your mind every morning — the Word, or the world?

•   Whose residue are you carrying into today that has nothing to do with today?

•   If you designed your morning around who you want to become, not just what you need to do, what would change?

•   What’s sitting on your table before the world gets ahold of you?

You don’t need my exact stack. You don’t need my alarm time. But you do need a chamber full of fuel before you pull the cord on your day.

Prime it. Then let it roar.

Know that you are loved, and you have a purpose.