Seven great things from a small book. The practice of the Presence of God, by Nicholas Herman of Lorraine – BROTHER LAWRENCE

Nicholas Herman of Lorraine, a lowly and unlearned man was first a soldier and then was admitted as a lay brother among the Carmelites in Paris in 1640 and was afterward known as “Brother Lawrence”. His conversion took place when he was 18 and he lived his Christian life constantly walking in the presence of God. He was a monastery cook for thirty years. The Practice of the Presence of God is a book of collected teachings of Brother Lawrence compiled by Father Joseph de Beaufort. The compilation includes letters, as well as records of his conversations kept by Brother Lawrence's interlocutors. The basic theme of the book is the development of an awareness of the presence of God.

The practice of the Presence of God has less than 60 pages. It is a wonderful book which invites every Christian to a strong awareness of their Lord, relying, feeling and adoring His presence. Here are seven things that we can learn from this book. After every paragraph I have written some Scripture and some questions to reflect upon. I hope this will make you curious about the book and even more than that, it will help you seek God and His glory in every aspect of your life.

1.   Continual secret conversation with God.

The author invites us to become so aware of God, that we will never forget Him but seek continual conversation with Him in freedom and simplicity; it is actually a kind of familiar conversation that soon becomes natural. “I began to live as if there were none but He and I in this world.” This continual conversation with God, means praising, adoring and loving Him without ceasing for His infinite goodness and perfection, relying on the infinite merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s make a firm resolution nevermore willfully to forget him and spend the rest of our days in His sacred presence. He deserves infinitely more; let us think of him continually. Our heart is a spiritual temple in which we must adore him without ceasing. “We do not have to be in church to be with God. We can make of our hearts an oratory where we can withdraw from time to time to converse with Him, gently, humbly, and lovingly. Everyone is capable of these familiar conversations with God, some more, some less.”

Scripture: Eph. 6:18, 1 Thes. 5:17

Reflections: How often do you talk to God with sincerity and openness, pouring out your heart to him? Do you stop from time to time, in your daily activity, just to spend some time talking to the Creator?

2.   Acknowledgment of the actual presence of God

This continual conversation with God leads to an acknowledgment of the actual presence of God, whom he considered always with him. Set times of prayer were not different from any other time. For Brother Lawrence it was natural to walk in the presence of the Lord. “The time of business does not for me differ from the time of prayer, and 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 tranquility as if I were upon my knees”. There is one place where only you and God have complete access to, and this is your own heart. “I keep myself retired with him in the ground or center of my soul as much as I can.” It’s almost like having guests visiting. He was the one who made the first step to come closer to us, by being one of us. “You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you. Why, then, must God be neglected? So, do not forget him, but think of him often, adore him continually and live and die with him.” We should adore Him even in our sickness, because “if we were accustomed to the practice of the presence of God, all bodily diseases would be much alleviated thereby.”

Scripture: Deut. 4:7, Hos. 6:2-3, Acts, 2:28, Ps. 139:7-12

Reflections : Are you aware of God being all the time close to you? Do you cherish His presence in a conscious way, in all circumstances?

3.   Rejecting wandering thoughts

We should think of God the most we can and thus drive away from the mind everything that is capable of interrupting the thought of God. We all face moments where in our prayer time, our mind is quickly distracted. We pray with our mouth, but our thoughts are elsewhere. This is why we need to discipline our mind consciously. Make an effort to bring your thoughts back to God gently and with tranquility as often as you find it wandering from Him. “When the mind has contracted certain bad habits of wandering and dissipation, they are difficult to overcome and commonly draw us, even against our wills, to the things of the earth. Confess your faults and humble yourself before God, hold yourself in prayer before God like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man’s gate.” God is master of our mind, because He is the one who created it. Jesus tells us that to inherit eternal life, we must love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind. Let us choose to love the Lord with our entire heart, soul, strength and mind and ask Him to help us with His Holy Spirit.

Scripture: Rom. 12:12, 1.Cor. 2:15-16, 2. Cor. 10:5, Luke, 10:27

Reflections: How often do you let your mind wandering away from God’s presence? What can you do today to discipline your thought life?

4.   Give yourself up entirely in pure surrender to God

When someone comes to Jesus, he offers himself to God. Brother Lawrence talks about the true, genuine surrender to the Lord Almighty in the sense that we willingly abandon our old ways and trust God to make us a new creation according to His own purposes. “My God, here I am, all devoted to you. Lord, make me according to your heart.” He believed that when someone is totally surrendered, he/she is able to give thanks both for good things and for the bad things that happen in life, because we know God is holding and sustaining our lives. “Good or bad are all equal to one who is truly surrendered.” But there is one condition in order to belong to God and only to Him – that is to give Him all our affections. “The heart must be empty of all other things because God will possess the heart alone. And since he cannot possess it alone without emptying it of all else, so neither can he act there nor do in it what he pleases unless it is left vacant to Him.” Even if we feel that we are left with nothing, when we clean and empty our hearts of everything we used to cling to, we realize that infinite celestial treasure want to make their way to us, if we let it. “God has infinite treasure to bestow, and we take up only a little conscious devotion, contenting ourselves with little. But we are hindering God and stop the current of his graces by the little value we set upon it. “  

But let us enter into ourselves and break down the bank which hinders the torrent of his graces.

Scripture:Rom. 6:13, Rom.12:1

Reflections: What is this bank formed of? Is it sin, fear, pride, shame, regret, selfishness, pleasure? Let us come before Jesus and pour out our hearts before Him, admitting and repenting of all that we have done that kept us away from Him.

5.   Our only business in this life is to please God

Pleasing the Lord is something at which all Christians should seek to excel. It starts in the heart, in our
deepest being and will touch every sphere, area, and aspect of the believers’life. Do nothing, say nothing,
and think nothing which may displease him. “Referring all we do to him, do everything with a desire to please
him, whatever might be the outcome, because he regards not the greatness of the work but the love with
which it is performed.”The aim is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshipers of God we can possibly
be, and as we hope to be throughout all eternity. When we first taste from God’s love through Jesus Christ,
we discover that nothing else in this life can satisfy us anymore. The more we know God, the more we start
to love and delight ourselves in Him. When we have no other purpose than to please the Lord, our sufferings
are easier to bear, our joys are bigger and our doubts are dissipating in the light of his truth. “Sufferings
will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him, and the greatest pleasures will be, without him, a cruel punishment to us. God always gives us light even in our doubts when we have no other design than to please Him.”
Scripture : 1. Thes. 2:4, Gal.1:10, Heb. 13:21, Col.3:22-24
Reflections: What is it that doesn’t lead me to God? Do I seek men’s approval or God’s? Is my purpose to please Him in everything I do?

6.   To God be the glory!

When an occasion of doing good would appear, he addressed himself to God, saying: “Lord, I cannot do this unless you enable me.” And then he received sufficient strength. When he failed in his duty, he simply confessed his fault, saying to God, “I shall never do otherwise if You leave me to myself; it is You who must hinder my falling and mend what is amiss.” God is at work through us, so He is the only one who deserves the glory. When we fail, we shouldn’t be discouraged, but come before the Lord, confess our weakness and ask for help. “When I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, I am used to do so; I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself. If I do not fail than I give God thanks, acknowledging that the strength comes from Him.

Scripture: Eph. 3:20, Rom.11:36

Reflections: Do you give God thanks for everything you accomplish in this world, or do you like to boast

before others? How often do you publicly confess that God is the only one who deserves the praise, honor

and glory?

7.   The love of God is the aim

Love God and delight yourself in Him. Do everything for the love of God. Love Him for his infinite goodness and perfection. “In the ways of God thoughts amount to little whereas love accounts for everything…I flip my little omelette in the frying pan for the love of God, and when it’s done, if I have nothing to do, I prostrate myself on the floor and adore my God who gave me the grace to do it, after which I get up happier than a king . Our sanctification depends not on changing our works, but on doing for God what we would normally do for ourselves. “ Everything we do must be done in love. “I would not take up a straw from the ground against his order, not from any other motive than purely that of love to him.” In times of suffering it is love that sweetens pain. “When one loves God, one suffers for his sake with joy and courage. He is the Father of the afflicted, always ready to help us. He loves us infinitely more than we imagine. Love him, then, and seek no consolation elsewhere.”

Scripture: 1 Cor. 13, 1 Jn. 4:16-18, Jn.3:16

Reflection: God showed us His love to us by sending his son to die for our sins. Do you love him back by showing thankfulness and being grateful for everything he is doing in your life?