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To practice the presence of God is to simply and humbly walk the closer walk. It is a closer walk because each day our hope is to get closer, to be closer to Our Lord than we were the day before. Ever closer. As both a direction and a goal, this closer walk is also a very potent, private, and personal awareness of the present moment with God. He lives in us as we live in Him.
*PracticeGodsPresence.com .
Some people, having been dealt with by God, live before Him in weakness and trembling. They have not the slightest tinge of pride for they have touched the Lord and are fully fed. They are in possession of a satisfaction in the presence of God, and this satisfaction is their strength.
*Watchman Nee (1903-1972). PracticeGodsPresence.com .
Dear child, cast yourself down before God in the depths of your humility, and say in your heart, "Lord, I am the least of all the creatures that Thou hast made." Hold yourself in meekness of spirit; and then you will know that God is a short word which has a long meaning. Exercise yourself diligently, grow not weary; and then you shall perceive that which before was hidden from you.
*John Tauler (c. 1300-1361). PracticeGodsPresence.com .
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Our expectations of Sacred Presence can be unrealistic in a number of ways. I will share some of these ways.
1) We can expect always to sense God near.
This is like being married, thinking your spouse and you should always feel close. That is unrealistic.
2) We can settle with living with a sense of separation from God.
This is unrealistic, also. This would be as unrealistic as a husband and wife never expecting to feel close.
3) We can expect that how God manifests to us will be the same way God does to someone else.
This negates that you are not someone else, that you have a unique personality and, thus, this influences how you sense God.
4) We can think that we can discover certain ways that will always bring a sense of God's closeness.
Certain practices may increase a sense of Divine Presence, both in frequency and depth, but such is no guarantee to bring a sense of closeness to God.
5) We can expect the sense of Divine Presence to be the same each time we feel it.
This would limit both our range of potential experiences of God and God's potential ways of expressing nearness.
Listen to the late, eminent psychologist and philosopher William James (1842-1910) speak of God's nearness in his life. His receiving of God's closeness differs from many persons.
My sense of God is very vague. It is impossible to describe it or put it in words. It is something like another experience which I have constantly-finding a tune singing in the back of my mind, a tune which I can neither identify nor get rid of. Something like that is my feeling for God. Especially at times of moral crisis it comes to me, as the sense of an Unknown Something which is backing me up. It is most indefinite to be sure, and rather faint. Yet I know that if it should cease there would be a great hush, a great void in my life.
James's way of experiencing God is not surprising, considering he was an intellectual and a philosopher. Intellectuals will be more open to an abstract sense of God's presence.
The late Congregational pastor and Bible professor at Amherst College, James Gordan Gilkey, noted two factors that shape the form in which the God-Experience comes to us. Our experience of Divine Presence is shaped by temperament and surroundings. This does not exclude experiences counter to these two facts, only that experience of the Sacred is more likely to be in concord with them. Indeed, two persons from two different faiths and cultures could experience God and sense its content as totally different, even excluding the other person from possibly experiencing the same Divine Reality.
How are we likely to increase our experience of the Sacred? I make some suggestions.
1) Engage in regular devotional practices.
Giving attention to nurturing any relationship will deepen the intimacy and make it felt more often. Also, some persons will open to God's nearness more easily through music, other persons through Scripture, other persons through sacred movement, other persons through silence, ... Learn how you most easily connect with the Divine closeness. Do not neglect practicing a variety of devotional practice, however.
2) Allow yourself to be open to sense Divine Presence in ways you have not been open to.
Allow yourself to be open for the Sacred to manifest to you in a variety of ways and contexts; in other words, let God be God, and let yourself trust you do not have to live in a "religious box" given you.
3) Engage in activities healthy for the mind and spirit.
Great saintly souls have always stressed holiness of life is essential for a deep spiritual life. Refrain from activity and thought that contrasts with the Good, True, and Beautiful. If you want to live close with God, you will have to go beyond other persons in strictness of lifestyle. There is no short-cut or detour here. A sane measure of moral asceticism is essential to deep spirituality. But the effort is worth the closeness.
4) Recognize Divine Presence daily, even when you do not feel God's closeness.
Just affirming God's nearness will begin shaping consciousness to sense the closeness.
I am among the few persons in the over-all population who seem to be gifted with the pursuit of God. This does not mean the nurturing of this has not been essential in my life. I have, rather, learned I must spend much time with God to keep the sense of nearness as a rather frequent sense.
Recently, I got very busy with many concerns. The concerns were not minor, but major and stressful. I was overwhelmed, and to say "overwhelmed" seems an understatement. I was working on rebuilding my marriage, after a separation. My church was going through a financial crisis, and several persons chose to leave. I was moved to a part-time status, which meant loss of benefits and a major reduction in salary. These vocational matters made it essential to look for other potential work. I was living part-time in two different places, and they were almost one-hundred miles apart. I had no stability in my lifestyle. I was giving so much attention to these matters that my usual sense of God and my intensive devotional practice was not given first place.
What happened? I could sense Divine Presence, but not close to me. My body registered a heaviness, with a lack of lightness of energy. My emotions moved back and forth, with an extended time of being depressed. I could not sleep through the night. Often I lacked contentment, and usually I did not feel a harmony with others or myself. I felt I was pressing against an invisible wall constantly. All the doors I was trying to open were slamming. I was increasingly unable to settle down contentedly to pray and meditate. I became critical of others I was serving. Frankly, I was not taking care of myself spiritually, and it was registering in all areas of my life.
I began exploring that possibly I was outside God's will for my life. I got counsel about this possibility. I came to confess I had not been taking care of myself spiritually. I had become more invested in what others wanted of me, rather than Christ being my first love.
I made some changes, to put God first in my life again, not others. Since then, life has been more difficult in some ways; yet, overall, the sense of being in tune with God has returned and remains. I feel light and in harmony with God, others, and myself. I, also, am sleeping better, along with a renewed love for my work and sense of closeness to people I serve. I am less anxious about decisions I must make regarding vocation and relationships. I am more confident in myself, and more trusting of God. In preaching and teaching, I feel a renewed flowing of power and energy, a return of charisma. I feel like a victor, not a victim; and this change has occurred within the same situations I began feeling like a victim in.
Some of the major concerns I had are still present. There are big decisions to make and potential major life changes. However, the sense of God being first and, thus, more frequently knowing a felt-sense of the Sacred sustains me, day by day.
We each need to ask: Just how much do I want God to be first in my life? And: What am I willing to do to live close to God, both in knowing a felt-nearness and that even when there is a sense of absence, Love is in that sense of absence?
One last word of direction: Do not tend to seek God in the spectacular. We discern God's closeness most in learning to sense God as a Subtle Presence, more like a whisper than a shout. Again, Gilkey...
Jesus says simply, “I am not alone. The Father is with me.” That is the experience you and I are seeking to-day. Not something spectacular and abnormal. Rather a deepening sense of comradeship with a Friendly Spirit at the heart of life.
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*The quote from William James is in James Gordon Gilkey, The Certainty of God, and cited from R. W. Sockman, Men of the Mysteries. The Gilkey quote and references are from The Certainty of God.
*Charitable contributions would be appreciated to assist Brian in continuing his ministry. For contributions, contact Brian at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
*Brian's book of spiritual love poetry, An Ache for Union: Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major booksellers or the Cokesbury on-line store, cokesbury.com .
*Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist Pastor, lives in Southwest Florida. He is a vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and seeks to inspire others to enjoy a more intimate relationship with Christ. Brian advocates for a spiritually-focused, experiential Christianity and renewal of the Church through addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons.
*Charitable contributions would be appreciated to assist Brian in continuing his ministry. For contributions, contact Brian at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
*Brian's book of spiritual love poetry, An Ache for Union: Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major booksellers or the Cokesbury on-line store, cokesbury.com .
*Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist Pastor, lives in Southwest Florida. He is a vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and seeks to inspire others to enjoy a more intimate relationship with Christ. Brian advocates for a spiritually-focused, experiential Christianity and renewal of the Church through addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons.
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