So, I've been going through a devotion for my quiet time with God aside from reading Scripture. My pastor recommended the devotion, "Come Boldly" which has multiple devotions from many great Bible Scholars such as John Bunyan, C.S. Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, Dietrich Bonhoffer, Elizabeth Elliot etc. It's an incredible devotion and God has taught me SO much through it about prayer and how to "come boldly" before him to pray so he can have a relationship me. Tonight I was reading through the Wednesday devo of week 2 and it was talking about being in the Presence of God and it really moved me and wanted to share it with y'all. So here it goes.
Always in the Presence
"In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."-Psalm 16:11
"After having given myself wholly to God, that He might take away my sin, I renounced for the love of Him, everything that was not He, and I began to live as if there was none but He and I in the world. Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet of the judge, at other times I beheld Him in my heart as y Father, as my God. I worshiped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind in His holy presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from Him. I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued it, notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without troubling or disquieting myself when my mind had wandered involuntarily. I made this my business as much all the day long as at the appointed times of prayer; for at all times, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of interrupting my thought of God. Such has been my common practice ever since I entered in religion; and though I have done it imperfectly, yet I have found great advantages by it. These I well know, are to be imputed to the mere mercy and goodness of God, because we can do nothing without Him, and I still less than any. But when we are faithful to keep ourselves in His holy Presence, and set Him always before us, this not only hinders our offending Him, and doing anything that may displease Him, at least willfully, but it also begets in us a holy freedom, and if I may so speak, a familiarity with God, wherewith we ask, and that successfully, the graces we stand in need of. In fine, by often repeating these acts, the become habitual, and the presence of God is rendered as it were natural to us."-Brother Lawrence in The Practice of the Presence of God
Anyways, there's part of what i've been reading. Hope y'all are doing great! We're about to start school back up and I pray that this semester goes well for y'all who have school and that God will provide for y'all! Have a great night!
God bless,
Anna Klein
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