Actually, I really recommend getting a cup of tea first, or coffee. And maybe a biscuit, if you’re into biscuits. I am, but my kitchen is dreadful, so I don’t bake often. Booo!
Have you ever wondered where Jesus actually is? I mean in relation to you? I write a bit about Practicing the Presence of God, and the first step really in order to do that, is to work out where God is. I mean, apart from working out if you want to Practice the Presence of God or even actually finding out what the Practice of the Presence of God is… (der Anita) Maybe I should back up a bit and start from the actual beginning.
So, Practicing the Presence of God is about practising being in the Presence of God all the time. So that even if you’re doing the dishes, or the vacuuming, or feeding stock, or changing nappies, or doing time-outs with the kids because they drew on the walls, or meeting with your boss, or having date night with the husband/wife/bf/gf, the same Presence of God that we snatch glimpses of in worship, is always there.
Seems impossible??
Nope.
It just takes practise.
So the place to start is to answer that first question. First, I am just going to pray: Jesus, would you reveal exactly where you are in relation to the person reading this? Thank you, we love You, Amen.
Where is Jesus in relation to you? Would you close your eyes and look for Him for a minute?
Where did you see Him, or sense Him? This is the important starting point, it is the foundation for our Practice.
The next part is going to be tricky. Not because it is actually tricky, but because I want to make sure that if you don’t start in the same place as I am describing, that you get to be in that place. So I want to make sure that no matter what, you and I can have a conversation, to make sure you have the opportunity to get to that place. Deal?
So where was Jesus? Was He somewhere outside of you? If so, how far away? Or was He inside you? Or was He both? Our Goal is to get Him inside you. He can definitely be inside and outside you, but definitely inside you is necessary. In your chest or your stomach is great!! If your whole body is full of Him, wow!
the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 (NIV)
If you’ve never asked Him to live in you, then that’s the prequel… and let’s do that. “Jesus I want you to come and live in me, I believe you are God and are the Son of God, that you died and rose again to pay the price for me and for the world. Thank you, I love you. Amen.”
Has the place He is changed? If not, then let’s have a convo. Send me a message through the contact page, or comment on this post.
If He is now inside you (or was), that’s where we need to start.
Beginning the Practice of the Presence of God is very simple. To start with it’s all about Jesus, and building up to being able to locate Him, feel Him, talk with Him all the time..
One of the ways to do this is to make yourself tools and goals. Now that you know you’ve found Him once, without songs or being in church, or lots of long prayers, set a goal. For example: Every time you do the dishes, look for the presence of Jesus. When you get familiar with doing that you can practice holding yourself in the Presence of God while you’re collecting mugs from around the house. This can then extend to other jobs and eventually it will include times when other people are around. The reason I suggest practising this during chores is because I know how often they end up being one person jobs…
Finding time when you’re alone can be tricky if you live in a house with other people, Jesus lived with people all the time, and He is aware of what it means. He’s right there, we just have to tune ourselves into Him – and if scrubbing the bathroom is the only time you get alone, use it, He’ll make it the best alone time you ever had!
Before you go to sleep at night, find Jesus and drift off to sleep in silent prayer. I find that having worship music on overnight very low really helps with this. It also builds the atmosphere in the house. One of my friends uses earbuds so she can have music but others don’t have to.
Eventually one time when you’re in the supermarket, stop in the freezer section and before you get the peas, find Jesus and tell Him you love Him…(this way, it looks like you’re checking prices!) Then over time you’ll get good at carrying Him round the supermarket, and not even talking to people will distract you from the Presence of God.
This is all about fine tuning. For years we (Christianity collectively, myself included) has used language intimating that God “shows up” like He’s absent and then He’s present; He goes away and comes back, when actually, He never goes anywhere. We might tune in and out, but even if we didn’t know who He was at all, He would still always be there.
So we’re not asking Him to show up, we’re practising living in His reality, practising living where He Lives. How amazing to be able to live right now in the same place with the God Of All Things! What a difference it can make to the world around us, to be the tuning fork for our patch, no matter how big or small our area of influence might be.
I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]. John 10:10 (AMP)
…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 (NIV)
He has chosen to do Life this way, so we can have this awesome experience, of tuning the world into God by being the living presence of the Resurrected Christ.
God Bless You Very Much
Anita
It will take time. We are people after all. One person might have more space to practice in than someone else, it might be easy one day and more difficult the next. Also other stuff might come up that you need help with, emotional or spiritual barriers – please let me know and we’ll work to get things sorted out. There are resources available, and all our lives we are on a growing journey. No-one who is anyone is ever finished with that! Xx Anita