Throughout Christian literature, there is no other topic that is more strongly advocated or relied on as more essential than the nature of recollection or of living in the presence of Christ. Its key purpose is not uncertain. What is essential is, how do we evolve or flourish in the loving presence of Christ in this existence?
Like everything else in the Christian experience, it’s simply thought and practice. When reading books about it or doing research, we will not instantly become spiritual. Because the Lord is Spirit and since we are spiritual beings primarily since we have a consciousness and a will, whatever this custom of existing in the presence of God entails, it may also imply being joined with Him by the two arms of our soul which are the will and the mind. On a side note, Raymond Quattlebaum’s The Color of Love is a book of poetry and romance, in which the landscape of life by Quattlebaum is described. In it, the author talks of life in the presence of God.
Why is that sometimes, even when we think we’re doing everything wright, we at times don’t feel the love of Christ more than we should? He is there, after all, and always is with us. How do the distractions from daily existence mask out the voice of God? How do we build a life in the glorious presence of God? In this article we’ll discuss 6 spiritual tips for flourishing in God’s presence.
- Train yourself to understand the world through a continually God-conscious perspective
As we look through the prism of the reality of God, expressed specifically through His Word, it all comes into clearer, better focus. Then, we can see that all is interconnected and intertwining — that the universe is not divided between the spiritual and the secular, but there is a single life, and God is the Lord of it all. He’s as evident on Monday morning as we travel to work as He is in a prayer meeting on Sunday morning. Jesus understands, and is ever-wise in knowledge of history, the present, and future; as we individually prepare ourselves to see just that He does, we should follow the things that He desires and try to thrive before Him as our predominant observer. In our lives we should have a whole new vision, as God always enriches this physical existence of ours. To do this, we must:
- Observe quiet time, recollection, meditation, and ample self-bible study
Christians are usually urged to invest more time in meditation and studying the Bible alone each day. It’s a positive idea- Jesus himself promoted this. However, often times people see this period as sufficient with God, and as something that’s detached from the rest of their daily life; they essentially end up leaving God on their nightstand and disregard Him throughout the whole day. Living this kind of life is much different from genuinely walking in the Spirit, dwelling in Christ, persevering, praying and rejoicing the way the Scripture entails.
Our entire Christian lives must be conducted in God’s love and strength, not only for a few minutes, or even just an hour at the start of your day. It’s as if we decide to grab a little piece of divine nutrition and pray it will help us sometimes; instead we ask why we’re so tired and incapable of living when God calls us. In order to fully experience the fruitful existence in which Jesus welcomed us, we must always be more mindful of Nature, in every situation and interaction, even as he was. We need the normal, concentrated quiet time, but we must still carry our knowledge of and devotion to Christ into our more frequent “occupied moments.”
- Take time to really think deeply and reflect on the Lord and His presence.
If we want to nurture residing in God’s presence, we need to set our perceptions to think about Him. We need to put Him before our eyes. We have to look to Him with the strength of our faith-enlightened spiritual contemplation. First, we have to perceive the Lord with that faculty whose main purpose is to see God. Either we must consider Him with the peculiar force we possess, or we must acknowledge others that we’d like to talk of.
Obviously, it takes some work, particularly to avoid worrying less about other things than Christ. Yet we will take the chance to make sense of or, if possible, build circumstances that then are occasions to be “thought-complete” with Christ, where our hearts are complete with Christ. What we have to be persuaded of is that we have the ability to transform our minds to anything we desire.
- God must be in our wills
We must function thoroughly in the love of Christ. Obviously, merely talking about God is not even functioning in the love of God in the manner we feel we need to be doing as Christians. And God must be in our will, particularly. Here we have the solution of Christ himself to foster this Influence of God. Along with other matters, at the Last Meal, He said, “If anyone loves me, he must hold my promise,” meaning that we must follow His will, “and my Father will embrace him, and we will go with him and build our home with him”
Within this quotation from the homily of Christ at the Last Supper is the best way to live with our wills in God’s presence, with the guaranteed promise of His receptive abode in our souls. It simply and unequivocally indicates that we must always say respond to the will of God in our lives, as much as possible.
What should we do when we feel exhausted and there’s still work to be doing or ends that need to be met? We obviously ought to do something. When we’re nervous and unsure about the ultimate result (we might just have unsuccessfully attempted it in the past) but we’re sure it’s the will of God, so we’re doing it. More often than not, we cannot comprehend whether this has occurred to us or to those we hold dear to us, however we must say: ‘Thy will be done.’ Each time we join in faith, to commit ourselves to The Lord’s will, when the ‘yes’ can be quite reluctant; or if we work out the will of God by doing so, we reside in His embrace, in the most powerful of all presences: the unity of love, where both the giver and the receiver are present. In this instance, what’s ours is His and what’s His is ours.
The Happy Hammock 