Practice the Presence of God

(Depiction of Brother Lawrence washing dishes at the Carmelite Monastery)

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples,

So that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.

He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

5 The Lord God has opened My ear,

And I was not disobedient,

Nor did I turn back.

–Isaiah 50:4-5

19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

–Matthew 18:19-20

I recently met with a precious brother at a park to share some current battles and burdens. We sat in the car for a couple of hours sharing our stories, reading Scripture and praying one for one another. We agreed the Practice of His Presence was the watershed of victorious Christian living and effective ministry. My friend shared with me, ‘’we may have walked a thousand steps away from God but we are always only one step from God”.

James, the brother of the Lord who lived under the same roof as Jesus in Nazareth said, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). The immediate context of the verse is the battle we face in our relationships, in the world, with pride, with the flesh and with the devil (James 4:1-7). The Father is ‘jealous’ to spend time with us and is ready to meet us anytime and anywhere we choose! The practice of His presence is the watershed of Christian experience and purpose to become like the Son.

God’s perpetual desire is to gather us individually  to Himself and collectively with each other. The World, the flesh and the devil wants to peel you off meaningful relationships and isolate you to break you down and tear you apart piece by piece.

There are two books I am aware of that have made a significant impact on the church over the past 100 years, both of which teach about practicing the Presence of God.

The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer

Jesus calls us to his rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort…Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.

-A.W. Tozer

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (1611-1691, a lay Carmelite monk in Paris)

The more we know Him, the more we will desire to know Him. As love increases with knowledge, the more we know God, the more we will truly love Him. We will learn to love Him equally in times of distress or in times of great joy.

-Brother Lawrence

Both books stir the heart to worship the Lord in the most menial tasks.  Obedience in the little private things  over and over is the sum total of character.  His grace is sufficient and His mercies are new every day so we will not lose heart in our common struggle.  We must avoid like the plague a mental separation from the sacred and the secular.  God is with us everywhere to be an Ever Present Help in Time of Need!  And the expectation of the  manifest Presence of God in the midst of our daily routines is imperative to our development and our mission. Our personal private spirituality is the fountainhead of our call to love, strengthen and provoke others to good works for the glory of God.  I have found the simple consistent meditation on Scripture revives me best, “Revive me according to Thy word” (Psalm 119). 

Jesus modeled the essential call to the secret place with the Father for rest, quietness, solitude, and assignment (John 6:15; Matt.14:13). He warned the people about practicing their spirituality and righteousness to only be seen by the public (Matt.6:1). Jesus Himself, so in tune with the Father, would boldly testify that He who watches Me closely will see the Eternal Father in action. Now of course, we will never imitate this kind of relationship. Yet we are called to sequester ourselves as individuals to a consistent pattern of the pursuit of the Father in the secret place. Moses was directed to crawl into a narrow opening (a cleft) in a giant rock. In that cleft of the rock the glory of the Lord passed before Moses and he became a friend of God! Our friendship with God is not possible outside of Christ, we must abide IN CHRIST to know the secret beauty of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. In this garden of reclusivity we are filled with both the tender and tough love of the Holy Spirit. Our character is fashioned in the secret place of the Most High God who transforms us as our Most Near Father! The fruit of the Spirit is cultivated in mature expressions of gracious words and deeds. The gifts of the Spirit are imparted and trained up into skillful instruments to edify, exhort, comfort and encourage His children and evangelize the lost. Below are a few examples of Practicing the Presence of God:

Adam: “Adam where are you?” This is where the gathering begins. The Father draws near to us and draws out of sin and shame to Himself. We must continue in this garden walking and talking in His presence! We discover the Presence of God when we acknowledged to Him our FEAR.

Enoch: “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for before he was taken up, he was attested to have been pleasing to God (Heb.11:5). Practicing the Presence of God, like Enoch, is like a salmon swimming upstream in a culture hell bent on wickedness. Every step of faith-righteousness we take toward the Father prepares us for the Great Gathering to Him at the end of the age, wherein, He will gather us together with the dead in Christ and we will meet in the air to forever live in His Presence with resurrected bodies and eternal purposes! The Rapture is the sum total of our individual and corporate walk under the Lordship of Jesus Christ on the earth as His beloved chosen ones.

Moses: The burning bush of cleansing and commissioning in the backside of the wilderness. God Himself gathered Moses to Himself before Moses gathered the Israelites in Egypt to lead them to the Promised Land. We discover the Presence of God when we “turn aside” from the demands of normal to behold the supernatural.

Joshua: As the servant of Moses, he lingered in the Presence of the Lord on the slopes of Mount Sinai and in the tabernacle when nobody was looking. This became the foundation of his public leadership and public victories.

Samuel: Raised up in the Tabernacle of Moses in Shiloh, learning to hear the voice of the Lord in the Holy Place. We discover the Presence of the Lord when we become like a child.

Elijah: Fleeing to the cave of duality, a man of like nature as ours, fresh off a gigantic victory on Mount Carmel against the prophets of Baal, has caved into fear and depression. Here the LORD gently speaks to Him and gives instructions for restoration , refreshing and to finish his race. We discover the Presence of the Lord when we decide to finish strong!

David: The Sweet Psalmist and Shepherd of Israel praises His Lord in private in the hills of Judea, while slaying the bear and lion. His “heart after God” was shaped in the simple unrewarded and unrecognized tasks of a lowly shepherd. We discover the Presence of the Lord when enter the secret place to seek the Father alone.

We must all learn to balance our private time with the LORD and our gathering with others. This balance is key to preventing serious extreme failure, unnecessary burn out and becoming religious bereft of love. 

The Good News is No limitations…we can meet Him in the desert, in a garden , on a mountain, in a valley, in crawl space or outer space, in a car or in a closet. We are the apple of His eye! A single drink in the Presence of Jesus quickly turns into a river of flowing influence with joy, peace, and righteousness in us and through us

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive;

—John 7:37-39

Today, draw near to God and draw near to a brother/sister or two and you will discover the immediate Presence of the Lord!