Points of Presence

A number of years ago I read the classic from Brother Lawrence The Practice of the Presence of God. I found the concept winsome and alluring but did not see how I could adopt his practices into my life. He was a monk who spent time peeling potatoes and, well, being a monk. My life was filled with work and family that is both highly cognitive and highly relational. I tried many things to develop the habit of practicing the presence of God but failed miserably.

Then about 10 years ago I came across Frank Laubach's Game with Minutes. Here was a man who led a worldwide organization that taught millions of people to read. Clearly Frank was not living the lifestyle of a monk. Yet he claimed that through the habit of the Game with Minutes, he was able to connect with God / to be aware of His presence 24/7. He journals about the difficulty at first but that he finally achieved a breakthrough where for the rest of his life he was able to connect with God every minute of every hour of every day. Again, the Game with Minutes was a failure for me. I was never even close to acknowledging God every minute of every day.

Recently I was preaching on the 24/7 presence of the Holy Spirit and developed a simple spiritual discipline that I call Points of Presence. For the first time, I am seeing progress in learning to practice the presence of God. I have used this to provide points of intersection with God's Spirit throughout the day.  I offer it to you with the prayer that you would learn to walk with the Spirit / to keep in step with the Spirit throughout your busy and cluttered life.

Points of Presence

A Simple Spiritual Discipline

Objective: To learn to acknowledge God in everything you do and everywhere you are[1]

Steps:

Pick a Trinitarian name to acknowledge throughout the day as a breath prayer[2]

• Jesus
• Father
• Spirit
• Lord
• Abba

Pick just one thing that you do many times every day to use the breath prayer throughout the day

• Send / receive email
• Send / receive text
• Make / receive a phone call
• Drive past a stop sign
• Move from room to room
• Pick up your phone

Example:

I drive a lot, send a lot of emails and pick up my phone a lot throughout the day. The idea was to take these things I do many times every day and build a habit of acknowledging God when I do them. It was very important for me to do this one habit at a time. I started with driving. Every time I pass a speed limit sign, I take a deep breath and exhale: “Jesus” or “Father” or “Thank You.”  After I ingrained this point of presence into the fabric of my life I added another point of presence. And so on. Now, every time I pick up my phone or send an email I take a deep breath and then exhale: “Lord” or “Abba.” In another month or two I will add yet another point of presence.

I strongly encourage you to build these up one at a time.  Don’t add another until you have this built in as a habit (for me about a month).  Then add another.  And so on. Keep going until, “In everything you do and everywhere you go” you acknowledge God (See Proverbs 3:5-6). 

As this process of "acknowledging" has grown, I have begun to deepen the breath prayers from one-way monologues into times of listening or intercession. For example: “”Bless Jon as he receives this email.” OR “Speak Lord.” As you expand your points of contact with the presence of God throughout the day, you can begin to listen for His voice during these points of presence.

Here are some other books that have helped me along this path:

Present Perfect by Greg Boyd - This was a wonderfully helpful book. Greg wrote it even though he hasn't perfected the discipline. And that helps. He provides several ways to practice the presence of God at the end of each chapter. Don't miss them.
Life in the Presence of God by Ken Boa - this book has over 100 every day ways to connect to God. This might help you more than it helped me. I need things that repeat day in and day out so that I can cultivate the habit. 
The Attentive Life by Leighton Ford - This book takes a little different turn - and although it didn't move me down the field in terms of cultivating a 24/7 habit, it presses the same point with different helps along the way.

May the Lord use this simple discipline in your life to deepen your relationship with Him.