More Practicing His Presence

I have been sharing this simple spiritual discipline with several people and the results have been amazing. I am getting feedback that God is bringing his peace that passes all understanding to those who will by an act of the will give their mind and their actions over to God.

Everything you do can become an act of worship by simple doing it for the love of God. Brother Lawrence made this comment, "I will not but pick up a twig off the ground except it be for the love of God." At 4:47am I made a pot of coffee "for the love of God." Even that simple mundane act became a holy thing as I gave it over to God.

I taught on this last night at MSCC. Here are some simple steps to Practicing His Presence. May the God of peace draw near to you as you draw near to him.

1. Seek God's Presence: Maintain Purity - it is the clutter of sin and the shame of failure that keeps us from throwing ourselves into God's arms. We run from him when we should be running to him. Thomas Merton wrote, "It is true that we make many mistakes. But the biggest of them all is to be surprised at them: as if we had some hope of never making any." Embrace His Grace! Acknowledge your sin and receive his forgiveness... Face It, Fix It and Forget It!

2. Do Life in God's Presence: Do all for the love of God - this applies to everything you put your hands to, i.e. preparing a meal, washing your car, dressing your child, taking out the trash. All tasks become acts of worship when you do it for the love of God. Frank Laubach wrote, "Any hour of any day may be made perfect by merely choosing. It is perfect if one looks toward God that entire hour, waiting for his leadership all through the hour and trying hard to do every tiny thing exactly as God wishes it done, as perfectly as possible."

3. Speak in the Presence of God: Conversation with God - this is so simple we miss it. This means having an ongoing running conversation with God. Inviting him into literally everything we do. It is having an "Interactive" life with God. As you are reading an article or surfing the web, invite him into your "inner" dialogue. He wants to speak with you and he wants you to speak with him.

4. The Result of Practicing His Presence: Peace - this is a win/win situation. You get God and his peace and God gets you! Which is all he really ever wanted in the first place. Read Phil 4:7 in The Message Bible: "Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

I hope this will help you on your journey of faith. It has helped me to recover my peace.

Faith, Hope and Love,
Jimmy
www.morningstarabilene.com