Practicing the presence of God

"I walk before God simply, in faith, with humility and with love; and I apply myself diligently to do nothing and think nothing which may displease Him."
... Brother Lawrence

"Brother Lawrence said that in order to form a habit of conversing with
God continually and referring all we do to Him, we must at first apply
to Him with some diligence. Then, after a little care, we would find
His love inwardly excite us to it without any difficulty."

"He expected after the pleasant days God had given him, he would have his turn of pain and suffering. Yet he was not uneasy about it. Knowing that, since he could do nothing of himself, God would not fail to give him the strength to bear them."

If you have not read this book,I highly recommend reading it.More than that though if you are a follower of Jesus,I recommend practising it. It will change your life !

Upon reading this book in my own life I was deeply challenged personally.How often I could complain about doing what I had to do. Making breakfast,cooking dinner,doing laundry,going to work.Yet all of a sudden I took on a new perspective.I would do my chores for Jesus,I was doing them for Him. I stopped being angry and started to focus more on Jesus instead.It was not an easy task,as one might think.

At work I often received emails,you know the kind,jokes,pictures etc.Well I decided to stop engaging in reading these.Many made fun of others or were degrading in some way.So I stopped responding.One gentleman,a fellow christian brother,was upset I would not read his emails.He came to see me,I explained I found them not acceptable for me,in my faith. He kept trying for awhile but he finally left me alone.

I also practiced keeping my mind focused on Jesus,this task was not always easy but you can do it. I kept a small wooden cross in my pocket or hand when I walked anywhere to help remind myself. I now understood why nuns might carry a rosary around. It helps them to stay focused.

I found that as I did this,my life started changing dramatically. No longer was work a chore,it just seemed to get done.My 1-1/2 hour drive to and from work turned into a time where I praised God out loud or talked to Him.

If I had a slow poke in front of me I did not care,I accepted it and gave it to God.In fact one time I had an elderly lady in front of me. Everyone had tailgated her and passed her.I felt bad for her,so I stayed behind her so no one else would tail gate her,so she could drive in peace.I prayed for her,as she was clearly nervous.

I stopped watching or listening to anything that was not of God.I thanked Him continually and started to realize how blessed I was. I thanked Him for my family,my car,my gas,every red light and every opportunity to pray for someone else,or witness.

People started coming to my office everyday to talk about Jesus. Employees would bring me picture card of Jesus,I would place them on my desk.They would come just to talk about Jesus,then off they would go happily.

Suppliers would come to see me and we would end up talking about Jesus.Everything changed.Jesus was so close I felt His presence daily. It became pure joy,no matter what.If my children were sick,i would pray over them,they would get well.We still do that.

I realized no matter what came my way Jesus was with me.It was at this time that I really started to understand how it it the Jesus lives in us.I would cast down my own thoughts and realize that many came from the enemy.I started to not look at my own understanding of things,or wanting to interject my own personal opinions,but I would ask God for His,allowing Him to live through me instead of myself.

I realized how easily the devil fools us. He can fool whate we see with our eyes and how we hear with our ears.I will tell you an example of this.The enemy at work.

I went to a big church one day with my daughter.It was in the city and well known as a place of great praise and worship times.As always it was packed.I went up ahead to get seats,my daughter went off to see someone she knew. I turned at one point to see if she was coming to sit. There she came walking down the aisle way.I stood up and waved so that she would see me against the sea of people. As she got closer and walked towards me,she said"why are you looking at me like that" angrily.I said pardon.She says even more upset,why were you looking at me like that,when you were waving at me.She was very mad,and I had no idea why,then it was as if Jesus just opened it up to me. I was waving happily at her,to let her know where I was.She saw an angry face,you see the devil had let her see something else,it was an attack,to bring discourse.We often allow the devil to use us when we speak in terms of our own thoughts and opinions instead of Gods.His thoughts must become our thoughts,His eyes must become our eyes so we can see as He does,His ears must become our ears so we hear what He hears,we want the mind of Christ,when we do this,not that we won't have challenges,yet you will change.

The enemy takes away our pleasure of God,he brings us many things to distract us from God.Television,bad thoughts,our own personal opinions,but when you give all that up to Him,and then allow Him to work through you,your life will change forever.You will no longer be just practising you will be walking the presence of God.Your whole life will change.