Brother Lawrence - Practicing the Presence of God

I continued reading The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. After his initial conversations with someone who desires to know of his practice and way of living for God, they communicate via letters. Of these letters, the one I found the most compelling was the eighth letter in which he talks about ways to protect the mind from having wandering thoughts in set times of prayer. He shares an analogy of standing before God as a beggar: “Hold yourself in prayer before God like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man’s gate. Let it be your business to keep your mind in the presence of the Lord.”[1] Recently, I began having a weekly personal time of intercession at my church for my church and community. I felt compelled to approach God initially as a poor soul who simply didn’t know how to pray and needed the help of His Holy Spirit… very much like the analogy that Brother Lawrence shared. From this simple start, the Holy Spirit has been faithful to meet me to pray and intercede delightfully (usually intercession is very laborious for me). I was reminded that “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven,” and the Kingdom was made present to me in prayer.

In the same letter, Brother Lawrence states that the practice of the presence of God at other times is important to keep the mind from wandering during set times of prayer; the key “is not to let it wander too far at other times. You should keep it strictly in the presence of God; and being accustomed to think of Him often, you will find it easy to keep your mind calm in the time of prayer, or at least to recall it from its wanderings.”[2]

Our brother gives these various simple instructions for practicing the Presence:

1.     “… I renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He, and I began to live as if there was none but He and I in the world.”[3]

2.     “I worshipped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind in His holy presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from Him.”[4]

3.     “I made this my business as much all day long as at the appointed times of prayer; for at all times, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of interrupting my thought of God.”[5]

4.     He employs simple analogous word pictures that help him to posture himself in his spirit before God… as an infant sucking a mother’s breast, as a stone before a carver, and a beggar at a rich man’s gate (with the assurance, that in each state, God will provide what is needed in His presence).[6]

To practice the Presence in such a way, requires honesty and discernment. These things are implied by the things he mentions, though I think maybe they are not a requirement at first. I think the simple act of trying to draw one’s mind and heart to adore and value God above all else becomes a gateway that allows the soul to then perceive those things that cause the soul to not be unified with Him or to draw the mind away elsewhere. Practice yields honesty and discernment which yields, in time, better practice and then more honesty!

In my life, the Lord is very much changing and challenging the devotions I use to draw near to him. Brother Lawrence writes that “these devotions are only a means to attain to the end.”[7] My practice of journaling isn’t yielding the ability to always be present to myself and my heart as it has in the past; the times when my heart is alive and able to speak through writing and likewise to converse with the Holy Spirit are when I engage, otherwise I don’t. I am learning to abstain from writing SO THAT I may hear Him and be attentive to Him. I also need more “mirrors” to allow myself to see myself and our Lord. The large amount of Seminary reading has had an unintended effect of awakening an ability to read for personal intent large meals rather than the small bites (paragraphs or a few pages) as has been my practice for some time.

Body meditation through exercise and playing guitar is something I am needing more and more... release for my body. Yoga has been something I have utilized in the past (and was returning to), however, recent conversations with my mentor have heavily discouraged this practice. While I understand concerns as well as the stoic black and white thinking about this practice, I don’t agree (I had a strict position about yoga 20 years ago; this has changed into thinking it is a tool that, if rightly used, can connect me with Jesus in Body, mind, and soul and to actually practice the presence). Regardless of the way I feel or that I don’t understand, the important thing right now is to submit and obey his direction, that it may go well for me (Hebrews 13:17). For some reason, the Lord (through my mentor) is saying to not engage in this practice right now.

Brother Lawrence also speaks of the need for God to possess the heart alone: “I know that for the right practice of it, the heart must be empty of all other things, because God will possess the heart alone; and as He cannot possess it alone without emptying it of all besides, so neither can He act there, and do in it what He pleases, unless it be left vacant to Him.”[8] God’s eye has turned (and helped me to see) that things that are crowding Him out. Chiefly, this is playing video games. For me, engaging in this activity very quickly calls my mind and heart away from God. The past 6 weeks I have been playing regularly again and (no surprise) have felt my heart to be distant from Him. I am abstaining once again and am happy to share that already I notice a difference: more vigilance and more of an ability to wrestle honestly with God (and hear answers).

Practicing the Presence of God is definitely a necessary focus that I am returning to. The greatest benefit I am already experiencing is the ability to wrestle in communication with Him and hear, eventually, the answers I need (this happened with the yoga situation – began last Friday and today I received the answer from the Holy Spirit in the form of Hebrews 13:17). Discernment is a blessing, as is the ability to not have a soul crowded by other affections and pleasures so that I have to distance myself from the activity to hear. Thankfully, in abstaining from things that crowd out His voice, He is more quickly able to speak and my own heart assures me (instead of testifying against me) of the blessing of His presence and His true promises.

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[1] Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God (Uhrichville: Barbour and Company, Inc.: 1993), 61.

[2] Brother Lawrence, 61-62.

[3] Brother Lawrence, 36.

[4] Brother Lawrence, 36.

[5] Brother Lawrence, 37.

[6] Brother Lawrence, 44, 45, 61.

[7] Brother Lawrence, 57.

[8] Brother Lawrence, 53-54.