Sensing God's presence

My friend asked me how do you feel the presence of God? I think God's presence is not a feeling but it's a KNOWING. 

There were times when I felt a strong presence of God, and that can be different for everyone. Some said it's like heat or electricity. For me, mostly of the time, I just cried a lot when the Spirit moves.  Feeling these feelings once in a while doesn't make me more spiritual than others.

I do not FEEL his presence daily, but I do know He is with us because I trust in His written word. God promised in His word to all believers that He will never forsake or leave us and that He is with us all the time. God seals us with His Holy Spirit.  God is not a feeling. He is there whether I acknowledge his presence or not. I trust in His word. Written word is above feeling or verbal agreement in our world. We write down the most important things. Legally, a written document is the most powerful evidence.  What God said in His written word is true and binding 100%, and I believe that.

In the story of the Bible, when the disciples were in a storm struggling to control the boat tossed by the wind, and Jesus was asleep downstairs, was Jesus with them? YES. Did they remember or acknowledge His presence? NO. not until later when He woke up. We are continually in His presence.  The Bible said so, and therefore I act like it. If God is always present, how then do we increase our awareness of Him?

1) Be in the Word daily. My preferred Quiet time is in the mornings when I am most fresh because I am a morning person and I can be most consistent. I like inviting God into my day, and it is a habit for me already. This is a habit that bears most reward if you have not establish it already. Seek the Lord by spending unhurried time in the morning with Him in His word. One of the best things I did when I was a youth was accepting a challenge to read the Word daily for 21 days. The pattern has to be uninterrupted because when I missed a day, then I had to start over. We now know it takes about 63 days to form a habit. Once a habit is form, it becomes effortless, you don't even think about it, like brushing your teeth before bed. God speaks through His word. If you pray and talk to God, and then you end your QT...you are missing something in a relationship. It's like calling a friend, talking for 30 min and hang up. Allow God a chance to speak to you through His word. But you say, "I don't understand the Bible when I read it." Don't worry, just read it like reading newspaper. In God's time, He will reveal to you what those words mean, and He will bring understanding.  Our job is to input the data so when the time comes, He can retrieve it.

2) Acknowledge Him as our constant companion. Talk to God, seek His guidance, sift all decisions through Him, depend on Him and ask for His help all throughout the day. I believe that there is nothing too small and there isn't anything God isn't interested in in your life. My parents were busy people and sometimes I felt like I could not bother them when I was little. In some degree, I assume our heavenly Father is the same way, I only bother Him for the big things. But that's not what He wants; He wants to be involved in all of our decisions. When we don't have a decision to make, we ackowledge His presence as well. Would He be happy when I watch this on TV or do this or say that? Pray at all times. I read a classic book once called "Practice the presence of God" It was a monk who washed dishes for a living and he was the most spiritual person because the whole time he was washing dishes, he was talking with God. We can practice the presence of God wherever we are, when we drive, when we work, when we do housework, when we talk....pray at all times.

3) Thank Him for the good things. The Bible said that all good gifts come from our Father above. But so many times, we accept good without acknowledging the giver of good gifts. When something good happens, lets learn to acknowledge and thank Him for it.  His presence is behind the good that happened to us.  Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine. The wedding manager tasted the wine that Jesus made, and he said to the servants, "why did you leave the good wine until now when everyone is drunk?" It was typical in those days to serve the good wine first and the cheap wine later. But that manager could have easily asked more questions and looked into the matter and discovered where the good wine came from, but he didn't. Problem solved, check, move on to the next one. Maybe he thought, all weddings have wine, what's the big deal? compared to the other weddings that had more or better wine, this was really no big deal. We dismiss the "no big deals" because compared to others, maybe it was nothing big.

Once I went on vacation with my sister's family by the beach. A wave hit me and knocked me over and my glasses were lost in the waves. My sister gathered the family and prayed that Jesus helps us. Jesus gave her the idea that when we go out and search during low tide, there was a better chance. I was blind without my glasses, so her family went out during midnight with flashlight to search the entire beach which was huge. God answered our prayers, and my glasses were found, undamaged and unscratched. Were we aware of God's presence that day? YES!! of course.  We were praising and worshipping God the rest of the night.

Lets pause to acknowledge the goodness of God and the miracles He gave us in our lives. The second-best habit that I developed was getting a notebook and write down what I am grateful for each morning. (only takes 3-5min) It made me see how good God is to an undeserving sinner like me. It increased my love and appreciation for God.

4) Take time away to be with Him. I have workaholic tendencies and I am easily distracted. So I need this. I am Martha who deep down knows what's best and wanted to be Mary. So, for me, I had to get away from home and go on "Jesus Retreats". It's just what I call it because I go alone to a beautiful place or a quiet hotel room to be alone with Him. One of CR recommendation was doing periodic inventory every 3 months. It's time to evaluate, journal, celebrate, talk with God and spend time to hear His guidance. God spoke to Elijah in a whisper. "Be still and know I am God." God spoke in a whisper most of the time and I have to quiet down my heart and my surroundings so I can hear Him. I am privileged to be able to take vacations with my family, especially when they were little. Going on vacations not only create memories, it tells my kids that this week they had my undivided attention, and they were a top priority to me. I want to do that with the Lord. It also gave me time to do what is truly important that I was too busy to obey, such as forgiveness or amend letters or difficult inventory to process.  Basically, it's just uninterrupted quality time sitting at the feet of Jesus. 

 Check out my blog on Jesus Retreat - A mini retreat with Jesus | Success God's Way (mysuccessgodsway.com).