What Is Practicing His Presence?

Even though they lived three hundred years apart, the authors tell a similar story of how they learned to live in the presence of God, consciously thinking about Him every moment even while doing other work. They talk about praising God, offering up our work to Him, and having an ongoing conversation with Him in prayer. Even more helpful is that they share how they often failed at developing this habit in the beginning, and how they continued in spite of failure and eventually grew into more continual fellowship with God.

What I liked about the book was how it showed in a practical way one possible outworking of the commands to abide in Christ (John 15:4), set our affection on things above (Col. 3:2), and pray without ceasing (I Thes. 5:17). How can we do these things that seem so impossible? In the chapter “Practical Helps,” Andrew Laubach suggests:

“Select a favorable hour, an easy, uncomplicated hour. See how many minutes of the hour you can remember, or touch, Christ at least once each minute; that is to say, bring Him to mind at least one second out of every sixty. You will not do so well at first but keep trying, for it constantly becomes easier, and after a while is almost automatic. When you begin to try this you discover that spiritually you are still a very weak infant. A babe in the crib seizes upon everything at hand to pull himself to his feet, wobbles for a few seconds and falls exhausted. Then he tries again, each time standing a little longer than before.” – p. 31–32

Laubach gives several examples of what this might look like:

“When reading, keep a running conversation with Him about the pages you are reading.”

“Instead of talking to yourself, form the habit of talking to Christ.” – p. 32

“Make sure that your last thoughts are of Christ as you are falling asleep at night.” – p. 33

And Lawrence actually claims,

“In the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great a tranquility as if I were upon my knees … .” – p. 103

I’ve met Christians who seem to have a close walk with the Lord, and I think that habits like these must either come naturally to them or (more likely) have been practiced over many years until they have become as natural as breathing.

For the rest of us, having practical tips like these can help us know where to start. But it will be a long journey, and Laubach and Lawrence don’t pretend that it’s easy. I appreciate their emphasis on slow growth:

“A Christian simply cannot become holy all at once, no matter how much he perseveres, and no matter what experiences he can claim.” – p. 83

But I still had an important question:

Is “Practicing His Presence” Scriptural?

Does God actually expect us to think about Him every moment? What does Scripture require?

As my husband said when we were talking through these questions together, “pray without ceasing” might not mean consciously praying every minute. In his sermon on this verse, C.H. Spurgeon agreed.

What Does It Mean to Pray without Ceasing?

Spurgeon says that praying without ceasing is first a privilege, that the King of kings has given us an open invitation to come into His presence at any time, for anything. But it is also a precept, or command, to

• “Never abandon prayer,” as if we’ve reached a point where we no longer need to pray or where prayer is useless.
• “Never suspend the regular offering of prayer,” but set aside daily times to focus on talking with God.
• “Between these times of devotion, labor to be much in ejaculatory [spontaneous] prayer. While your hands are busy with the world, let your hearts still talk with God; not in twenty sentences at a time, for such an interval might be inconsistent with your calling, but in broken sentences and interjections.” This sounds most like Practicing His Presence, though Spurgeon gives no set rule for how often we should try to pray this way.
• “Be always in the spirit of prayer,” like a compass needle magnetically pulled to its desired north.
• “Let all your actions be consistent with your prayers, and be in fact a continuation of your prayers.” When we commit our works to God in prayer and then work to bring about what we’ve prayed about, Spurgeon says that in essence we’re actually still praying. “If I seek, as I should do, God’s glory above everything, then if all my actions are meant to tend to God’s glory, I am continuing to pray, though I may not be praying with my thoughts or with my lips.”

I’d encourage you to read his entire sermon if possible. While Practicing His Presence gives the inspiring real-life experiences of two people, Spurgeon uses Scripture to clarify what God actually requires of us.

A Habit of Constant Prayer

So praying without ceasing doesn’t mean I have to consciously think about God all the time. But I should be faithful in setting aside definite times for fellowship with Him, basing all I do on prayer, and letting my heart turn to Him in quick, broken prayers throughout the day.

Practicing God’s presence certainly doesn’t mean I need to join a monastery or convent so that I can focus solely on Him and not be distracted by “worldly” responsibilities. My daily work as a mom at home provides plenty of opportunities to serve God by serving my family—and my thoughts about whatever task is before me should actually flow out of my love for Him.

My husband Nathan said it’s the same as when he’s buying something for one of our children. He’s probably not actively thinking about the child and how much he loves him. He’s thinking about that thing on the shopping list and where it might be in the store, or which one would be best to buy. But the only reason he’s thinking about those things is because he loves the child.

After thinking through this with Nathan, I realized that I need to avoid putting a burden on myself by insisting on a formula that Scripture doesn’t require. So instead of the goal of turning my thoughts to God once every minute, I now have three goals:

1. To have several set times of focused prayer every day (Ps. 55:17, Ps. 119:64, Dan. 6:10)
2. As much as possible, to commit every new thing I do to God in prayer as I begin it—or if I’m doubtful, to ask Him if I should be doing something else instead (Ps. 37:5, Prov. 3:6)
3. To let all my joys, questions, and desires turn my heart to God by briefly offering them to Him as often as I remember (Rom. 12:12, Eph. 6:18, I Thes. 5:16–18)

I’m hoping that as I become more faithful in these habits, prayer will become more and more of a natural instinct, and I’ll learn to be more constantly aware of God’s presence as I go through each day.

How Mamas Can Practice the Presence of God

The habits these authors suggest for focusing our minds on Jesus aren’t new to me—I’ve wanted for years to learn to abide in Christ, keep my mind stayed on Him, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. But having a few definite objectives makes it feel more concrete and practical, even if the goal is still very far off.

After all, God commands us to abide in Him and pray without ceasing, so it must be possible even for a busy mama to obey these commands by God’s grace. Here are some ideas for turning your thoughts to God today:

• When your child comes to you with a problem or complaint, immediately stop and pray about it together.
• When you hear something good, say a quick thank you to God, either silently or out loud.
• When you’re frustrated with or confused about something, ask Him what to do.
• Instead of picking up your phone when you sit down for a break, try quoting a verse and meditating on it.
• When you begin a new task or project, commit it to Him and ask for His wisdom and help.
• While you work, sing a hymn or spiritual song.
• As you listen to a podcast or audiobook or read a book (or this blog post!), talk to the Lord about what you’re learning and what He might want you to do. In fact, you could stop right now and ask Him which one of the habits above you should start trying to implement today.

It may take decades before I can remember to think about Him even every hour—much less every minute. I don’t expect to achieve perfection in this or any other spiritual discipline before God perfects me in heaven. But at least I feel like I have a better idea how to do it now, and I’m starting to get a glimpse of what it could mean to have a more continual fellowship with Him.

Maybe we won’t “try to call Christ to mind at least one second of each minute.” But we’d all do well to practice God’s presence today.

“You do not need to forget other things nor stop your work, but invite Him to share everything you do or say or think.” – Laubach, p. 30

“It would be rude, don’t you think, to leave a friend all alone who had come to visit? Why is it then, that God is so often neglected?” – Lawrence, p. 100

What Next?

If you’re still thinking about reading the book Practicing His Presence, you might want to read the rest of my review here first—I look into a few other doctrinal issues in the book that make it potentially confusing and misleading.

If you’d like to try implementing some of these habits to practice God’s presence in your busy days, check out my free study guide. It has wall art posters with some of the verses mentioned in this post, a printable version of this post in case you’d rather read it offline, and a study guide to help you think through what specific habits will work for you.

When you sign up for the free study guide, I’ll also send you a notification when our new Bible study course is ready (probably next month). It’s called “Mama’s Refresh: Learning to Abide in Christ in Your Busy Mama Days,” and it will be full of encouragement, resources, and practical tips for getting to know God through simple habits of devotion.