What’s With You – 429

Over 300 years ago in France Brother Lawrence wrote the timeless spiritual classic, “The Practice of the Presence of God.” From a Carmelite monastery in Paris, he practiced turning his attention to the Divine Presence available at all times during any activity. Merely open our hearts to receive Him and His loving presence, he wrote. He reports that he was as fully present with God while washing dishes in the kitchen as he was when partaking of the sacrament in worship.

In 1998 Tommy Tenney wrote “The God Chasers.” Cindy Jacobs wrote in its forward, “What is a God chaser? A God chaser is an individual whose hunger (for God) exceeds his reach. A God chaser is a person whose passion for God’s presence presses him to chase the impossible in hopes that the uncatchable might catch him. That’s a Philippians 3:12 paraphrase.

Tommy with word and example encourages us to pursue God, even as Job, David, Paul, Moses, and countless others, with an insatiable hunger to know their Lord, have done and still do. They may have appeared foolish to others, but having tasted His goodness and glimpsed the invisible, they could be satisfied with nothing less.

In the early 2,000’s I believe, Henry Blackaby wrote “Experiencing God.” The forward says, “When you open this book you’ll find that you aren’t just reading; you are being remade, reoriented, and restored from the frustration of what you may have known as stale religion—captured not by a concept but by your Creator. Carefully listening to His voice will anchor you in His plan and set you free to live it with boldness and freedom.”

It adds that by understanding how God is working through us even as we try to fathom His ways, we can begin to clearly know Him.

Well, as good as these books are, may I suggest something that comes with a guarantee to work for you, a guarantee by none other than God Himself. PRAYER. Prayer relies upon the GRACE of God to succeed. Pray in faith, and God in His faithfulness WILL respond.

I suggest you pray the 3 prayers written by Paul as found in Ephesians chapters 1 and 3, and Colossians chapter 1. He wrote them to those churches; you should insert yourself (and maybe others) into them. The God who answers prayer, who loves YOU passionately, WILL answer them.

For example, here is how you might pray the prayer found in Ephesians 1. “Father — God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of glory, grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in knowing You. May the eyes of my heart be enlightened, that I may know what is the hope of Your calling, the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and know the boundless greatness of Your power toward us who believe.”

Over a period of time you’ll become more aware of God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Of Their Presence in and around you. You’ll come to know God by EXPERIENCE.

And people will say, “What’s with you? You’ve changed. You have COME ALIVE!