Practicing the Presence
by Max Lucado
How do I live in God's presence? How do I detect his unseen hand on my shoulder and his inaudible voice in my ear? A sheep grows familiar with the voice of the shepherd. How can you and I grow familiar with the voice of God? Here are a few ideas:
Give God your waking thoughts. Before you face the day, face the Father. Before you step out of bed, step into his presence. I have a friend who makes it a habit to roll out of his bed onto his knees and begin his day in prayer. Personally, I don't get that far. With my head still on the pillow and my eyes still closed, I offer God the first seconds of my day. The prayer is not lengthy and far from formal. Depending on how much sleep I got, it may not even be intelligible. Often it's nothing more than "Thank you for a night's rest. I belong to you today."
Give God your waiting thoughts. Spend time with him in silence. The mature married couple has learned the treasure of shared silence; they don't need to fill the air with constant chatter. Just being together is sufficient. Try being silent with God. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10 niv). Awareness of God is a fruit of stillness before God.
Give God your whispering thoughts. Through the centuries Christians have learned the value of brief sentence prayers, prayers that can be whispered anywhere, in any setting.
Imagine considering every moment as a potential time of communion with God. By giving God your whispering thoughts, the common becomes uncommon. Simple phrases such as "Thank you, Father," "Be sovereign in this hour, O Lord," "You are my resting place, Jesus" can turn a commute into a pilgrimage. You needn't leave your office or kneel in your kitchen. Just pray where you are. Let the kitchen become a cathedral or the classroom a chapel. Give God your whispering thoughts.
And last, give God your waning thoughts. At the end of the day, let your mind settle on him. Conclude the day as you began it: talking to God. Thank him for the good parts. Question him about the hard parts. Seek his mercy. Seek his strength. And as you close your eyes, take assurance in the promise: "He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps. 121:4 niv). If you fall asleep as you pray, don't worry. What better place to doze off than in the arms of your Father.
Yay! i feel dat by doing so, u r conscious dat e Lord is with u, doing everything with u, den like u juz noe everything will prosper in ur hands lor. n really, juz everything falls right into place nicely n perfectly. Even if something happens, n u question bout it. but at the end of the day, actually it was alr planned for, n ended well. I mean e Lord is so good.
Ya lor, once Pastor Prince question us like y do we admire or wish to be like superheroes or e characters in the show 'heroes' with all e special special abilities. His reply to us was we dun have to and dun need to envy them because we ourself are even much more special than all of them combined. ya, i used to wonder y. as in like i do envy superheroes even though they aint real coz its so special lar.
but i realise that actually Pastor's words did made sense. u noe, those superheroes have to fightfightfight all e bad guys and sometimes their ability got problem one, as in limitations that e bad ppl can use against them. ya, but guess wat? With our Lord with us, we dun even have to fight, n He has even alr defeated e bad guy, Satan long long ago. yea, how great is dat?
den those days that i noe i have favour with e Lord, i really feel like a superhero lor. really. like things like u walk to e lift, e lift door open for u, u walk to e bus stop, ur actually very slow bus appears in front of u. as in like all dat makes u feel very special, as though ur e apple of God's eyes, which is true but it makes u actually believe in it which makes e difference. ya lor. n the difference between a God-conscious day and a worry-conscious day is so different n wide.
this happens when u practice God's presence constantly. not saying dat He isnt there with u, but only u gotto believe in it n dat makes a huge difference in everything. Yea so, beloved JCsouth! let's feel like a superhero tgt everyday!=)=) wahaha
2 comments:
Hey sheryl! thanks for posting tt up!! you know what recently i'm just really really dry on the inside, like my heart is cringing and all. Church services and reading the bible seems very mundane to me. but thanks for the reminder mans, that we can practise His presence everywhere and anywhere!=] i caught the part which you talked about the bus and the lift. It kind of just reminded me even in the "most littlest" things in my life, Daddy's fingerpints are there!! And all we have to do is to acknowledge Him. (be it giving thanks to Him or praying or whatsoever.) isnt He the sweetest!?=] Thanks sheryl! You're a real precious sister!=]
nice. i used to do it.. but recently seem to have forgotten:S so yeah.. now i know better!! anw do keep putting posts u feel inspired by.. nvr know who else needs it too!! =D
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