PRACTICING THE PRESENCE OF GOD

Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars

Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected

He had no qualms; “for”, said he, “when I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, ‘I am used to doing so; I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself’. If I fail not, then I give God thanks, acknowledging that the strength comes from Him.”-Brother Lawrence

Brother Lawrence was a lay worker in a French monastery during the early 1700’s. For all of his
adult life he intentionally sought to practice a moment by moment walk with God. In a series of
eleven letters Brother Lawrence specified what he did to practice the presence of God all day
and every day. The following is a list of things he incorporated into his daily life. Most items are
followed by a quotation from the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy regarding how Christ’s remained in
communion with His Father on a moment by moment basis as well.
1. Be diligent in cultivating a continual walk with God: The more you pursue it the easier
it will become to commune with Him continually through the day. “Seek Me and you
will find me when you search for me with ALL your heart.” Continually strive to have
God in your thoughts by silently thanking Him and asking His opinion with every
decision you face. Silently say “thank you, Father” and “help me, Father” continually
through the day.
2. Total dependence on God to make the mental change in thinking: “Lord, I
cannot do this unless Thou enable me. Please (You) KEEP me focused on Your
presence this day.” Then he received strength more than sufficient. When he had
failed in his duty, he only confessed his fault saying to God, “I shall never do
otherwise, if You leave me to myself. It is You who must hinder my failing and mend
what is amiss.” Then, after this, he gave himself no further uneasiness about it.
3. In every situation God places you seek only to please Him by asking for His
grace to do your work well: In his work in the kitchen (to which he had, at first, a
great aversion), he accustomed himself to do everything there for the love of God
and asked for His grace to do his work well. “I can do all things (God wants me to
do) through Christ who strengths me.” (Philippians 4:13)
4. With him the set times of prayer were no different from other times.
“Because the life of Christ was a life of constant trust, sustained by continual
communion, His service for heaven was without failure or faltering.” (GW, p. 255)
5. His greatest labor did not divert him from God: Even when doing the hardest
task, his communion with God remained the same. Nothing took precedent over
communion with God.

6. By faith He did everything with a desire to please God and let what would
come of it: “I can do this for You, Papa!” –Grover Wilcox.(From that time Jesus
began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things
from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
Matthew 16:21)
7. He found that the shortest way to go straight to God was by a continual
exercise of love and doing all things for His sake:
8. He feared nothing & desired only one thing – that he might not offend God:
“In the heart of Christ where reined perfect harmony with God there was perfect
peace. He was never elated by applause nor dejected by censure or disappointment.
Amidst the greatest opposition and most cruel treatment, He was still of good
courage.” (Lift Him Up, p. 162)
9. “We need to beg His assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful and
for rightly performing those things which we plainly see He requires of us,
offering them to Him before we do them, and giving God thanks when we
have completed them:” “As a man He (Christ) supplicated (deep, earnest
pleadings) the throne of God, until His humanity was charged with a heavenly
current that connected humanity with divinity. Receiving life from God, He imparted
life to men.” (Education, p. 81)
10. The most excellent method he found for going to God was that of doing his
common business without any view of pleasing men; but purely for the love
of God: “My judgment is right (just, righteous), because I do not seek or consult My
own will [I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My own aim, My own
purpose] but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me. (John 5:30 ); He
that sent Me is in Me: The Father has not left Me alone; For I do always those things
that please Him. (John 8:29)
11. By continually praising and thanking God his life was filled with joy: “And be not
grieved (sorrowful) and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and
stronghold (fortified defensive structure).” (Nehemiah 8:10)
12. Do not become weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards
not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed: “With
Him love was life, and life was service. „Freely ye have received,‟ He said, „freely
give.” (Matthew 10:8) (Ed. p. 80)
13. He considered God as the aim and the end of all his thoughts and desires:
“They must hold all they have – property, mental power, spiritual strength – as not
their own, but only lent them to advance the cause of Christ on earth.” (GW, p. 335)

14. He spent the hours appointed for private prayer in thinking of God, so as to
convince his mind and impress deeply upon his heart the Divine Existence.
He did this by devout sentiments and submission to the lights of faith,
rather than by studied reasoning and elaborate meditations: He sought a
heart (affective) relationship not a head (cognitive) relationship with God. “The
science of salvation cannot be learned, but it can be gained through experience.”
15. He was never hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in its turn with an even,
uninterrupted composure and tranquility of spirit. “The time of work,” said
he, “does not with me differ from the time of prayer:” “All who have chosen
God‟s service are to rest in His care.” (DA, p. 313)
16. “I began to live as if there was none but He and I in the world:” “The Saviors
face was irradiated with a celestial brightness. He seemed to be in the very presence
of the Unseen, and there was a living power in His words as of one who spoke with
God.” (MB, p. 102)
17. “I drove from my mind everything that interrupted my thoughts of God:”
“He allowed no time or place for stroking his contrary thoughts – thoughts that
separated him from God.” –Joanne Davidson
18. Faith is the foundation of our confidence. We must put all our faith in God.
He will not fail us in time of need. I do not know how God will dispose of
me, but I am always happy: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26)
19. Love sweetens pain. When one loves God, one suffers for His sake with joy
and courage. Do so, I beseech you. Comfort yourself with Him: “It was to
redeem us that Jesus lived and suffered and died. He became a “Man of Sorrows,”
that we might be made partakers of everlasting joy.” (SC, p. 13)
20. “I apply myself diligently to do nothing and think nothing which may
displease Him:” “Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who long after
God, may be sure that they will be filled.” (SC, p. 95)
21. Brother Lawrence retreated to a place in his heart where the love of God
made every detail of his life of surpassing value. “I began to live as if there
were no one save God and me in the world. Together, God and Brother
Lawrence cooked meals, ran errands, scrubbed pots, and endured the scorn
of the world.” “In the secret place of prayer He sought divine strength that He
might go forth braced for duty and trial. In a world of sin Jesus endured struggles
and torture of soul. In communion with God He could unburden the sorrows that
were crushing Him. Here He found comfort and joy,” (DA, p. 362)