I Always Put The Lord In Front of Me

I always put the Lord in front of me; I will not stumble because he is on my right side.
I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
I will always look to you, as you stand beside me and protect me from fear. -Psalm 16:8 (CEB, ESV, CEV)

Do you practice the presence of God in your daily life?

God is omnipresent and God abides in you, if you are a believer.  God is here and God is there with you, but you have to do something to enjoy God.  That something is what Brother Lawrence called practicing the presence of God.  Lawrence who was a monk, wrote a book, in the 17th century which is a compilation of letters, called The Practice of the Presence of God.  Follow the link and get a free copy of it, or listen to it with mp3 files.

When you practice the presence of God, you focus on the Lord, no matter what else you are doing.

This is an open secret of the Christian life.  You need to get a revelation that this is available.  Emmanuel, God-with-us, came as a baby and grew into a man.  But God is with us now, by God's Spirit.  Holy Spirit is not just here historically and in theory, but in practice.  You and I can practice God's presence.

You can learn to put the Lord in front of you, before you.

He is there and here, but you can learn to intentionally focus your heart on him.  If you are looking at the Lord, you will love others and not sin.  If the Lord is standing there, in front of you, are you going to commit that sin?  You might, but he will disciple you.

God is in the process of renewing our minds and transforming our hearts. 

Just like the original disciples, we can be in Jesus presence and say or do the wrong thing.  But we will learn to discern when we have grieved God and repent and be corrected, and have a teachable moment.  The person who sins while practicing God's presence realizes it almost immediately and can repent and change.  The person who only calls out to God in crisis or only seeks God at meetings and/or devotional times might go a long time in their sin before they can be brought under conviction and circumstances or people may have to be brought to bear to get the person's attention.

How to practice the presence of God:

We must learn to be still.

"Be still and know that I am God."
"That's enough.  Now know that I am God."
Our God says, "calm down and learn that I am God."
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God"
-Psalm 46:10a (ESV, CEB, CEV, MSG)

We must must get off the merry go round, so that we can sense God.

 You can't see someone if you are

looking at other distractions.  You can't hear someone if your ears are full of other sounds.  And you can't practice God's presence if your mind is running all over the place.  Be still and know.

We must be still to enter in to this practice of the presence.

To always put the Lord before me, I must cultivate a still place, where still waters run deep. There might be a torrent of activity around me, but I have anchored my soul in the haven of rest.

Knowing, "being still and knowing", and always putting the Lord before you, is about intimacy.

Know God, rather than knowing about God.   When we enter into God's presence, there is a gift of knowing He is God, that lifts us.  We don't necessarily gain knowledge, but we gain intimacy in our communion with God.  This is the secret place.  Have you found the secret stairs?  They are not secret in that they are impossible, but are available to all believers.  You just have to find the steps and climb them.

The center of life is about intimacy and communion with God that flows out to the rest.

In setting the Lord before us always, in putting the Lord before us, in always looking to the Lord; we are trusting in the Lord with all our hearts and leaning not on our own understanding.  The heart cry, "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection", is about knowing God in intimacy and communion.  It is about God getting more of my heart and transforming it.