Psalm 16:11: You
make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
One of my favorite books is a little gem titled “The
Practice of the Presence of God.” I carry it in my purse and read it whenever I
find myself with time to kill. I pull it out, turn to any page and read. I always
find a pearl to live by. The author, Brother Lawrence, was an amazingly simply
monk who discovered the secret to a peaceful, happy life. He discovered how to
live in the presence of God every waking moment and through the letters and
conversations printed in this book, we can come to live the same way, by
spending every moment in the presence of God. How do we do this? Here is
Brother Lawrence’s thought on prayer:
The most effective
way Brother Lawrence had for communicating with God was to simply do his
ordinary work. He did this obediently, out of a pure love of God, purifying it
as much as was humanly possible. He believed it was a serious mistake to think
of our prayer time as being different from any other. Our actions should unite
us with God when we are involved in our daily activities, just as our prayer
unites us with Him in our quiet time. He said his prayers consisted totally and
simply of God’s presence. His soul was resting in God, having lost its
awareness of everything but love of Him. When he wasn’t in prayer, he felt
practically the same way. Remaining near to God, he praised and blessed Him
with all his strength. Because of this, his life was full of continual joy.
How beautiful is that? To live a life where every single
thought, word and deed is pure and lovely enough to be a continual prayer to
God every single minute of every single day. The result is a life full of continual
joy!! Here is another of my favorite passages:
The most perfect
union with God is the actual presence of God. Although this relationship with
God is totally spiritual, it is quite dynamic, because the soul is not asleep,
but powerfully excited. It is livelier than fire and brighter than the
unclouded sun. Yet, it is at the same time tender and devout. It is not a
simple expression of the heart, like saying, “Lord, I love You with all my
heart,” or other similar words. Rather, it is an inexpressible state of the
soul – gentle, peaceful, respectful, humble, loving and very simple – that urges
it to love God, to adore Him and to embrace Him with both tenderness and joy.
Everyone who is striving for divine union must realize that just because
something is agreeable and delightful to the will does not mean that it will
bring one closer to God. Sometimes it is helpful to disengage the sentiments of
the will from the world, in order that it can focus entirely on God. For if the
will is able in some manner to comprehend Him, it can be only by love. And that
love, which has its end in God, will be hindered by the things of this world.
This is similar to what I spoke of in yesterday’s blog.
If you want to feel God in your life, and you want to experience a taste of
heaven in this life, you need to remove everything that keeps you from God. If
what you watch, say and read is shameful to God, you will not feel His presence.
You will be like Adam and Eve in the garden, hiding themselves from God because
of their sin. Let’s just give it up and let God in. Brother Lawrence did, and
his book is filled with the joy of a peaceful man.
If you need a good book to carry with you for life, pick
up “The Practice of the Presence of God.” I have owned it for many, many years
and never tire of reading the wisdom on each page. As one of my favorite hymns
states, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the
things of the earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and
grace!”
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