“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11).
By John David Hicks
Dee Duke is a preacher who lives in the presence of God and knows the power of prayer. His church in a small town in western Oregon is the largest in the area, and he has planted three other churches and several on the mission field. Each week, more than 75 groups meet for prayer. Pastor Duke’s praying church has impacted the community.
I met him at a prayer conference. I knew that this man had something to say as I leaned forward to listen.
He started out by saying that most Christians think they pray a lot because they pray at times during the day and for their food. But they really don’t spend much time with the Lord and live in His presence.
And then he told us about his Uncle Bill.
When Dee was a young boy, Uncle Bill came for a two-week visit to stay with his family. It seems Uncle Bill knew how to win over a boy: he gave him a nickel. Dee was immediately drawn to his uncle. A few minutes later Uncle Bill offered another nickel, and then another. “Stay close,” Uncle Bill said in so many words, “and you’ll get more.”
Throughout the day Dee received nickels. The next day Uncle Bill told him that he had a big pocket full of nickels, with more in his suitcase. He could have a nickel anytime he asked. So Dee stayed close to his Uncle Bill and received nickels anytime he asked—and even when he didn’t ask.
On the third day the boy said to his Uncle Bill, “It would be easier on both of us and save a lot of time if you would just give me all the nickels now.” Unfortunately for Dee, his mother was just around the corner and overheard her son. She immediately reprimanded him for asking for money. But Uncle Bill told his mother, “I have given him permission to ask me anytime for a nickel. It’s OK.”
Then Uncle Bill turned to the boy and said, “If I give you all my nickels now, you will no longer come to me. I want to be your friend and do things with you. I want you to be in my presence.”
So anytime the boy asked, he got a nickel. When they went to town together, he got a quarter. When they went fishing, he got a dollar! By the time Uncle Bill’s visit came to an end, Uncle Bill had become Dee’s favorite uncle and best friend. And 50 years later, Pastor Duke says, Uncle Bill is still his best friend.
This story illustrates what prayer is—living in God’s presence. God wants to be your best friend. If God gave you everything at once, you would not come to Him daily and He would not be your best friend. So you are commanded to ask in prayer: “You do not have, because you do not ask God” (James 4:2). “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24). “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6).
If you have never practiced the presence of God, you don’t know what you have missed.
The presence of God is always here; it’s everywhere. Paul quoted these words on Mars Hill to the idol worshipers and philosophers of his day: “For in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). David understood, “I can never get away from your presence!” (Psalm 139:7 nlt).
All of creation is subject to the Creator. Without God in us, we do not know life, only existence. God is all you need. He is a perfect parent as well as a faithful friend. As your Father, God has your best interest in mind. He wants you to completely rely on Him, in faith—from your business decisions to the ordinary tasks of life. God created you to live in fellowship with Him (John 17:3).
David found that the presence of God is the only all-satisfying experience of life. “You will fill me with joy in your presence” (Psalm 16:11). This joy is the byproduct of peace with God and abiding in Christ.
Brother Lawrence (1614-1691) is famous for the booklet The Practice of the Presence of God. He entered a monastery in France and lived the remaining 30 years of his life working in the kitchen, cooking meals and washing pots and pans. He lived in obscurity, yet his desire was to walk continually in God’s presence.
“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful,” he said, “than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it…. I believe that all spiritual life consists of practicing God’s presence, and that anyone who practices it correctly will soon attain spiritual fulfillment.”
I believe that what Brother Lawrence calls “practicing the presence of God” is what the Bible calls “abiding in Christ.”
Brother Lawrence found God in the monastery kitchen. Amidst the boring chores of cooking and cleaning at the constant bidding of his superiors, he writes, “Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?”
For Brother Lawrence, “ordinary business,” no matter how mundane, was the means of God’s love. You can’t separate the secular from the sacred; God is in both. Brother Lawrence’s work was his ministry. “We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.”
The distinction you make between sacred places and secular places, sacred activities and secular activities can be an obstacle to practicing the presence of God. It is certainly good to ask God to guide and illuminate your study of His Word, but you can also enter into conversation with God about the newspaper, magazine, or book you are reading. It can be especially fruitful to ask God to comment on works of history—since He is the Lord of history. You can talk to God about His creation. Genesis tells us that God brought the animals to Adam to see what he would name them. I suspect they engaged in small talk about the animals—maybe giggled at giraffes.
You can be so busy seeking the deep or profound revelations from God that you miss the small talk that is the life-blood of real friendship with God. You can be so obsessed with knowing His will that you miss the obvious: His presence is His will. It is us He wants.
When God is invited into all parts of your life—not just your quiet time or worship time—everything around you becomes the language of God. God can speak to you through what you see, feel, read, think, dream, or experience. When God speaks, you will know His voice in your spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-16).
In Galilee Jesus said consider the lilies of the field, but today God may say consider the hard drive, carburetor, or espresso maker. Practicing the presence of God can make your daily activities sacraments: a means by which God imparts grace and instructs your heart to love.
Brother Lawrence made every detail of his life important. “I began to live as if there were no one save God and me in the world.” He had no problem cooking meals, running errands, scrubbing pots, and enduring the scorn of the world, because he understood “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
When you don’t sense God’s presence, learn to switch your frame of reference to God. He is there—acknowledge Him. The Lord has promised you, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). You may need to sing or quote scripture. But as you focus on Him, it becomes easier to meditate on His presence. The spirit world and consciousness of God’s presence is only one thought away (Revelation 2:7).
Like Uncle Bill, God wants you to acknowledge His presence and to ask anytime for a nickel. He wants to be with you. But like any relationship, it takes time, it costs you something, and you have to want it.
“In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6). “Straight paths” is more than guidance; it means that God removes the obstacles, making a better way as you acknowledge Him. This only happens as you spend time practicing His presence.
GOD’S WILL FOR YOU TODAY — “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit”
(1 Thess. 5:16–19). (1). Rejoice Always, Sparks – Peace
(2). Pray continually, Sparks – Faith
(3). Give Thanks in all Circumstances, Sparks – Joy
(4). God’s Will in Christ, Sparks – Fellowship
(5). Do not quench the Spirit – Sparks – God Blessing You!