Practicing God’s Presence

Recently  my “quiet times” in the morning have felt a little  unsatisfying.  Sometimes I pray through my requests, read a Psalm or a devotional, sit still and invite God to be with me for…maybe 30 seconds…then I check that box and move on with my day. 

I’ve realized it’s not enough for me. And I’m pretty sure it’s not what God wants either.  I feel Him calling me to more. More  meditation on His Word, REALLY listening for Him to guide, direct, reveal, whisper deep in my heart. I want to know God.

Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. Colossians 1:10

I heard someone call it “practicing God’s presence”.  There are even books with that title, so I guess others before me have seen the value in being still before Abba Father.

There was a monk who lived in France in the 1600’s. His name was Brother Lawrence. He spoke about the deep things of God in very simple terms, and his teachings were transcribed by fellow monks and compiled into a Christian Classic called The Practice of the Presence of God. As he lay dying, he was still teaching. He said:

Let all that we seek to do be to know GOD: the more you know Him, the more you will desire to know Him. As 2 Peter 3:18 tells us, we have been called and chosen to know Him, “… but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
And as knowledge is commonly the measure of love, the deeper and more extensive our knowledge shall be, the greater will be our love: and if our love of GOD were great we should love Him equally in pains and pleasures.

If you’ve never made it a  priority to spend time with God, I want to encourage you to devote a piece of your day to get “up close and personal” with our Loving God. How can we love a God we don’t know? How can we serve  God if we don’t know what He would have us do? 

It helps to set a specific time and place. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself at the end of the day mumbling,  “I’ll start tomorrow.”

Then keep that appointment every day. Morning or evening, make a commitment to meet with God daily.

Start with 10 minutes. A few minutes of prayer, a few minutes of bible reading, and finish with some time of sitting quietly before the Lord. By building in a set time to be alone with God every day, it won’t be long before you look forward to those precious moments with a merciful Savior.

Maybe you’ve already developed a quiet time discipline. If so, I urge you to go deeper by focusing on more time of stillness in His presence.  Listen intently for His voice and direction through the Holy Spirit.

I challenge you to join me in developing a consistent time of “practicing the presence of God” through Bible study, prayer, and quietly listening for God’s voice.  

Let’s resolve to “practice God’s presence” together.