As we grow in our awareness that God is present in each moment of our lives, three things can happen when it comes to possessions. First, we realize more and more that God is a far more fulfilling pursuit than wealth and riches. Second, we grow in our ability to trust that God will provide all that is needed, thus we do not need to become anxious about possessions and goods. Third, we gain a greater ability to take whatever material things we have at each moment of the day and use them to bless those around us.
Besides Brother Lawrence, whose teaching we explored in the previous chapter, Frank Laubach is another guide in the habit of growing in constant awareness of God. Frank Laubach was born in the United States in 1884. In the 1930’s, Laubach was a missionary among Muslims in the Philippines. He wrote over 50 books and was a well-known educator. He died in 1970.
Both Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach were dedicated to a habit which became known as “Practicing the Presence of God.” Through this habit, both attempted to live each moment of each day in awareness of God’s presence and in active engagement with God. They were both deeply convicted that God is everywhere and God wants to be engaged, so they strove to engage God everywhere and in every moment.
Laubach was driven by this question: “One question now to be put to the test is this: Can we have that contact with God all the time?..Or are there periods when business, and pleasures, and crowding companions must necessarily push God out of our thoughts?…Can I bring the Lord back in my mindflow every few seconds so that God shall always be in my mind?..”[i]
He determined to answer this question. For example, Laubach wrote in his journal on January 3, 1930: “As for me, I resolved that I would succeed better this year with my experiment of filling every minute full of the thoughts of God than I succeeded last year.”[ii] Later that year he wrote that he began by trying to bring God to his mind every half hour or fifteen minutes: “Two years ago a profound distraction led me to begin trying to line up my actions with the will of God about every fifteen minutes or every half hour. Other people to whom I confessed this intention said it was impossible…It is clear that this is exactly what Jesus was doing all day every year.”[iii]
Laubach would attempt to engage God as he went about his own daily routines: “The thought of God slips out of my sight for I suppose two-thirds of every day, thus far. This morning I started out fresh, by finding a rich experience of God in the sunrise. Then I tried to let Him control my hands while I was shaving and dressing and eating breakfast. Now I am trying to let God control my hands as I pound the typewriter keys.”[iv]
How do we Practice the Presence? Frank Laubauch offers these suggestions:[v]
- “Select a favorable hour, an easy, uncomplicated hour. See how many minutes of the hour you can remember, or touch, Christ at least once a minute; that is to say, bring Him to mind at least one second out of every sixty.”
- “Keep humming to yourself (inaudibly) a favorite hymn—For example, ‘Have Thine Own Way, Lord, Have Thine Own Way.’”
- “When reading, keep a running conversation with Him about the pages you are reading.”
- [When considering some problem] “Instead of talking to yourself, form the habit of talking to Christ.”
- “Make sure that your last thoughts are of Christ as you are falling asleep at night.”
- “On waking in the morning, you may ask, ‘Now, Lord, shall we get up?’ Some of us whisper to Him in our every thought about washing and dressing in the morning.”
- “We need the stimulus of believers who pursue what we pursue, the presence of Christ.”
Adele Calhoun offers these additional helps:[vi]
- With each task during the day, talk to God about the task before you begin and when you are finished.
- Set an alarm for several times throughout the day. At each alarm stop and pray.
10. Memorize a short verse or short prayer and repeat it throughout the day.
As I mentioned in the previous chapter, this habit doesn’t take ten minutes. In fact it does not take any time at all. We practice this discipline while doing everything else that makes up our day. Today, forget God the least you can.
[i] Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach, Practicing His Presence The Library of Spiritual Classics, Volume 1 (Christian Seed Sowers, 1973), 10
[ii] Ibid., 2.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Ibid., 14.
[v] Ibid., 31-35.
[vi] Calhoun, 61.
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