Planning to Practice the Presence
Exercise thyself unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” — 1 Timothy 4:7-8
On October 27, 2019 I preached a sermon (link here) at Friendship UMC on practicing the presence of the Holy Spirit. In the sermon I urged those who wanted to deepen and strengthen their life with God to come up with a plan to do so. I think having a plan for ones life with God is so important that I decided to publicize the method I use. I doubt anyone will adopt it wholesale, but my hope is that it may provide a helpful start to those who need a place to start.
Buy a planner or create your own daily to-do list
I keep a journal and a planner. My journal is for capturing thoughts and reflecting on things that happened. I use my planner for, well, planning my days. (I'm actually considering creating a planner specifically for those who want to plan their days with the intention of practicing the presence of God.) I tried several different planners until I found one that worked for me. I encourage you to do the same, but it is important that you are comfortable with whatever you use.
Start at the End of the Day
I like to plan out my days in the evening time, usually around 8:30pm. This is because one day is coming to an end and another is around the corner. I used to plan it early in the morning, but it was hard for me to develop that habit. So around 8:30pm I will set aside between 10-20 minutes, grab my planner and sit down to review and prepare.
Review
Here is where practicing the presence of God begins. I do not simply look back to see if I did what I said I would do, but I do so prayerfully. Starting from the top to the bottom I take the time to consider how God was with me in that moment. This provides me the opportunity to praise God, express gratitude and extend repentance. Many people think that God has never answered their prayers, but this is simply because they never look back to see whether he did. Reviewing my day with praise, gratitude and repentance helps me see how God has been with me. As an aside, the more I see that God has been with me, the more confidence I have that God is, and will remain, with me.
I must warn you, if you are seriously planning on practicing the presence of God sometimes the Spirit will prompt you to do something that is humbling. The repentance I mentioned above may not simply be repenting to God, it may be calling someone you wronged earlier that day and repenting to them. Same goes for gratitude. I struggle remembering to express gratitude to people and it is often during this review process that I will sense the Spirit saying, "Let (so and so) know how much what they did impacted you." When we practice the presence we must expect God to actually be with us to help us. When you get those nudges obey; even if what is being asked is difficult, obey. Remember, the Spirit is with you and will help you do what God is commanding.This review time also reminds me of things I have left undone, and prompts me to add it to the next days tasks.
Prepare
In Soul Keeping, John Ortberg tells a story of when he was struggling with how to practice the presence on a daily basis, so he did what he had learned to do when facing a difficulty; he reached out to his good friend Dallas Willard. Here is what Dallas told him:
You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy and confidence in your everyday life with God.
Keep this in mind as you move to the preparation phase.If you want to know the presence of the Holy Spirit throughout your day, you must plan your day accordingly. Please give yourself permission to fail several times, but keep trying different things until you find something that works for you. Here is what works for me right now.
The planner that I use prompts me to select a "Daily Big 3." These are the three most important things that I need to do that day. Since my number 1 goal is to become like Jesus the top thing on my list is always to devote myself to God. Through the years as I tried different ways of devoting myself to God I came to realize that an extended time of worship in the morning was crucial for me. I came to see that if I won the morning I would win the day.
Therefore, the first thing I do when I wake up is thank the Spirit for keeping me and my family as we slept, then I renounce the authority I have over my life and transfer it to him (See Luke 14:33). Following this renunciation and recommitment I will proceed to devote myself to God in whatever way I choose (prayer, study, reading, silence, journaling, etc).
The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger life come flowing in. — CS Lewis
My morning devotion usually takes up the most time (not more than an hour), but I came to realize that it wasn't sufficient for me to be led by the Spirit all day. I discovered that as the day went on I would quickly seize control of my own life and begin doing things my way. Therefore, as part of my devotion to God, I schedule for times during the day when I turn my eyes back to God (practice the presence). Those times are 5AM, 12PM, 5PM, and 8:30PM (also my review time). At 12PM and 5PM I typically just take a few moments (no longer than 5 minutes) to look to Jesus in some way (prayer, reading a scripture, whatever the moment calls for).
After scheduling what's most important, I move on to fill in the rest of my schedule, but even here I am doing so prayerfully. I don't just write down, for example, "Prepare for Staff Meeting," but as I'm doing so I am asking the Spirit help me look to him in those moments. I do this with everything I put on my schedule for that day (including recreational activities and even down time), because I want to do all that I do in the power of the Spirit. Again, I cannot stress this enough, as I'm doing this I try to listen for anything God may be trying to tell me. If one is going to practice the Presence, one must expect the Spirit to be present; therefore, listen!
When I have finished filling out my planner for the day I add them to the calendar on my phone so that I can get reminders of when I need to wrap up a task and begin the next task. After completing the whole day I conclude with a prayer of thanksgiving and put my planner away, but I do carry it with me the next day so that I can check things off as I accomplish them (what a satisfying feeling this is!).
This is the method that I currently use and I have found it incredibly helpful. As my life with God continues I expect that the ways I practice his presence will change, then I will adjust the way I spend my days with him.
I thank God if this article gives you a good start. I'm always interested in hearing how you might practice the presence. If you feel comfortable enough to share, please do so in the comments section.
Thanks for your attention.