Practicing the Presence of God

I asked the Lord why I don't always stay in His Presence, feel it.  He spoke clearly.  "You don't practice it."

Right.

He went on to tell me that it is not a given.  We don't naturally feel or seek God's Presence - even as Christians.  Because we're still in this flesh!

It is a supernatural quest.  It is something we practice.

And like anything that I practice, it should become more naturally supernatural(!) with time.

I am a classically trained pianist with my Master's Degree in accompanying.  Before completing my degree, I'm guessing I logged in tens of thousands of hours of practice, if you count all the years I'd been at it, since age six.  

Yes, I am a natural. It is a gift from God and therefore comes easy to me.  However, I still had to practice the piano if I wanted to become the best pianist I could be.

But I never practiced more than four hours at a time.  Maybe that sounds like a lot to you, maybe not.  

I was disciplined about it.  I also thoroughly enjoyed it.  But I didn't practice every waking minute!

Now I haven't consistently practiced piano for years.  But when I do pick it up again, it comes right back.  That is because I put in the time, the hours, the years of practice before.

So am I "rusty" when it comes to practicing God's Presence?  I don't mean to make it sound like work, because then you might dread it!

But to practice something that you love doing is a labor of love, not like forced labor!

It's easy to "practice" during my set aside time each morning that I spend with Jesus.  But what next?  When work and the cares of the day take over, I'm not doing much practicing any more.

Can we practice God's Presence any time, all the time, no matter what we're doing?  Brother Lawrence, the great Christian writer of old, seems to think so.  

When I'm loading the dishwasher, is my mind thinking any old thing?  Or am I "practicing" God right then and there.  

I sing to Him sometimes.  That is one way I enter His Presence.

But more often than not, I am concerned about something or someone that has gotten stuck in my craw!  When I actually write these words, I realize that when I dwell on whatever concerns me, I am "practicing" it!  Oy!  It sounds horrible when I put it that way!

But isn't that exactly what we do?

So just like my level of piano playing decreases, gets sloppy, if I don't practice, so too my depth of connection to Christ.

It's like any longstanding relationship, but it's not.  Things become familiar.  Stale, even. We become content and settled and stop expecting new and fresh things.

But with Christ, everything is always new!  Nothing is ever stagnant or old!  And the relationship we have with Christ is probably the only one we can say this about!

There's nothing magical about it.  You don't have to sit or stand in a certain position, like other "spiritual" disciplines.  We don't have to click our heels three times like Dorothy.

We can simply be still in our thoughts and know that He is God.  We can let Him love us and feel His love.  And in those times when we don't "feel" anything, we can keep on practicing knowing, by faith, that He is there with us.  Always.

Dear Lord.  What an honor and a privilege that we can enter Your Presence.  Because of Your death on the cross when the Temple veil was torn in half, top to bottom, we can now enter in to Your Holy of Holies, which is Your dwelling place.  This is a miracle not to be taken lightly!  We don't have to offer sacrifices or send a priest in for us.  Every born again believer can now access Your beautiful Presence at any time.  On easy days, it is easy.  But on "battle days," I really need to make the effort and practice drawing near to You. And then, the bliss!  The peace that passes all understanding is mine.  What a treasure!  Help us never give up on this, Lord, but seek to practice being close to You always.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.