In her “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook,” Adele Calhoun describes more than 60 spiritual disciplines.[1] This Sunday night series takes up 10 of the most uncommon disciplines from Calhoun’s list. We’ve explored the uncommon practices of “Unplugging,” “Celebration,” “Secrecy,” and “The Examen.” Tonight, we explore “Practicing the Presence
#5 – Practicing the Presence
Before we plunge into the practice itself, I want to spend some time developing the theology behind it. There are many ways to do this. I’ll focus on just two main Scriptures, one in the New Testament and one in the Old Testament. Both help us gain a clearer view of God and thus a clearer understanding of the reason we might embrace “Practicing the Presence.”
First, the New Testament: 22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:22-31 ESV).
In this sermon, Paul critiques the way people in the pagan culture of Athens viewed God. Scholar D. A. Carson notes that Paul finds several ways in which the pagan view of the gods differed from the Christian view of God.[2] In this sermon, Paul identifies those misperceptions and corrects them. Here are a few:
- Contrary to the ancient pagan assumption that gods rule only over a particular domain (e.g., Neptune and the sea), Paul states that the true God is “Lord of heaven and earth” and “does not live in temples made by man.” (17:24).
- Contrary to the polytheistic notion of gods who are limited and who have needs, Paul states that the true God “is [not] served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (17:25). God is self?existent and is utterly independent from us.
- Paul does want to leave the impression that he is preaching a deistic message. Thus he states that God “is not far from each one of us (17:27).” God is not only transcendent, he is imminent. Paul acknowledges that even some “modern” thinkers have rightly reached this conclusion (17:28).
I want to focus more closely on two of the wrong assumptions about God which Paul pointed out in this sermon: God is domestic and God is deistic. There was a notion in ancient pagan religions that God is domestic—that is, God dwells in one particular geographical region or one particular nation or in one particular temple. If you wanted to converse with or be in relationship with a particular God you had to be in that God’s part of the globe, or in his nation, or at his “house” or temple. In addition, there was a common assumption that God was deistic—that is, God made us and the world, he set things in motion, and now he sits back and watches things from a distance. He is not near and not involved in the affairs of humans.
But Paul reveals that the Christian God is not domestic. He does not dwell in a particular geographical region or one particular nation or one particular temple. He is the “Lord of heaven and earth.” His domain is all of the cosmos. He dwells everywhere. He can be found on any part of the globe, in any nation, and at any house.
And, Paul reveals that the Christian God is not deistic. He is not far from each one of us. Ours is not a distant God but a near God. He is a God intimately involved in human affairs and deeply interested in intimacy with us.
These two qualities are also highlighted in the Old Testament in Psalm 139. It is common to see this psalm as one which focuses on God’s omniscience (139:1-6) – God knows all things; God’s omnipresence (139:7-12)—God exists in all places; and God’s omnipotence (139:13-18)—God can do all things. [iii] But the psalm can also be viewed as a stirring poetic protest against any notion that God is domestic or that God is deistic.
In 139:1-6, 13-18 we hear that God is not deistic but that God is near and intimately involved in human life.
1O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
13For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
God is not deistic. He knows what David is thinking. He knows what David will say before David says it. God is behind him and before him. God was there in the womb, knitting David together. God literally wrote the book on David. He is the author of David’s story. This is a God who is near and deeply involved in David’s life. He is not deistic.
And in 139:7-12 we hear that God is not domestic but that he lives and dwells everywhere a person might imagine going.
7Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
God dwells everywhere! He can be encountered in the high heavens and in the low grave. He can be interacted with at the furthest edge of the sea. Even in the darkest places, God dwells.
In other words God is not domestic but is everywhere. And God is not deistic but is engaged. God is everywhere. He may be found wherever we find ourselves. And God is engaged. He is not aloof nor unfriendly. He is engaged in human life and longs for interaction and relationship with us. God is everywhere and God is engaged.
These two convictions led to the creation of one of the most challenging yet rewarding spiritual habits: Practicing the Presence. The practice is tied to two men: Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach.
Brother Lawrence, also known as Nicolas Herman, was born in France in 1611 into poverty.[iv] He became a Christian in 1629. In 1666 he entered a religious community of Carmelites in Paris. There, as a lay brother, he took the name Brother Lawrence. He served mostly in the kitchen of the community until his death in 1691. Brother Lawrence is known to us through a few letters and four “conversations” written by others who knew him.
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 Lawrence and 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.
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.”[v] 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.”[vi]
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.”[vii]
Brother Lawrence counseled, “You need to accustom yourself to continual conversation with Him—a conversation which is free and simple. We need to recognize that God is always intimately present with us and address Him every moment.” [viii]
Lawrence strove to do this through the day: “I made it my business to be in the Lord’s presence just as much throughout the day as I did when I came to my appointed time of prayer. I drove anything from my mind that was capable of interrupting my thought of God. I did this all the time, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my daily business.”[ix]
Admitting that this was difficult, Lawrence advised, “Forget him the very least you can.”[x]
As both Lawrence and Laubach show, the discipline of Practicing the Presence of God is an attempt to fully embrace the fact that God is everywhere and that God is engaged. We do not have to be in a certain place, like a chapel or in a church building to interact with God. And we do not have to worry that God only wants interaction at certain times or with certain people. God is everywhere and everywhere seeks to engage us. Practicing the Presence of God is an attempt to stay consciously aware of God as much as possible throughout the day and to interact with God throughout the day.
I have been engaged in this habit for several years and have found it to be immensely rewarding. In preparation for this lesson tonight, I’ve been tracking my own attempts at Practicing the Presence for the past few days. My goal has been to consciously bring God to my mind at least once every half hour between 8 AM and 10 PM. I have a dedicated prayer time prior to 8 AM, so I didn’t track that time. I wanted to track the times during the day when I wasn’t necessarily in a dedicated prayer time. To help me keep track of the half-hours between 8 AM and 10 PM when I consciously thought of God and interacted with God, I carried in my pocket several round rubber tips which I scavenged from our garage (they are the kind of tips that go on the sharp ends of self-installed closet shelving). Each half hour when I remembered God or interacted with God, I would take one rubber tip from my right pocket and put it in the left pocket. After 10 PM, I’d count how many rubber tips I had in my left pocket. That was the number of half-hours I had Practiced the Presence of God successfully. There are 30 half-hours between and 8 AM and 10 PM. If was successful, I would have 30 rubber tips in my left pocket by 10 PM. Here’s how I did:
| Date | Half-Hours Practicing the Presence (8AM-10PM) |
| Wed. (6/16) | 17/30 |
| Thur. (6/17) | 17/30 |
| Fri. (6/18) | 23/30 |
| Sat. (6/19) | 18/30 |
| Sun. (6/20) | 16/30 |
| Mon. (6/21) | 17/30 |
| Tues. (6/22) | 17/30 |
| Wed. (6/23) | 23/30 |
| Thur. (6/24) | |
| Fri. (6/25) | |
| Sat. (6/26) |
I found that Sundays are often the most difficult day for me to do this. This is my heaviest work day and I find myself distracted and very busy. It is ironic that on a day dedicated to the Lord, I find it most difficult to keep God at the forefront of my mind.
On other days, the practice was easier. Overall, I felt a great sense of peace and purpose as I practiced the presence over the past few days. Even in times of sin, I would practice the presence and God’s grace and mercy would wash over me. In times of stress and strain, God’s presence was clear and I found rest and perspective again.
How do we Practice the Presence? Frank Laubauch offers these suggestions:[xi]
- 1. “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.”
- 2. “Keep humming to yourself (inaudibly) a favorite hymn—For example, ‘Have Thine Own Way, Lord, Have Thine Own Way.’”
- 3. “When reading, keep a running conversation with Him about the pages you are reading.”
- 4. [When considering some problem] “Instead of talking to yourself, form the habit of talking to Christ.”
- 5. “Make sure that your last thoughts are of Christ as you are falling asleep at night.”
- 6. “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.”
- 7. “We need the stimulus of believers who pursue what we pursue, the presence of Christ.”
Adele Calhoun offers these additional helps:[xii]
- 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.
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[1] Adele Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (IVP, 2005).
[2] D. A. Carson, “Athens Revisited,” in Telling the Truth, edited by D. A. Carson (Zondervan, 2000), 386-389.
[iii] Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Ps 139:1–18). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
[iv] Brother Lawrence & Frank Laubach, Practicing the Presence The Library of Spiritual Classics: Volume 1 (Seed Sowers, 1973).
[v] Ibid., 2.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Ibid., 14.
[viii] Ibid., 55.
[ix] Ibid., 60.
[x] Ibid., 91.
[xi] Ibid., 31-35.
[xii] Calhoun, 61.
