Practicing the Presence of the Lord

On a thread title such as this, I doubt there can be "right" or "wrong" ways of "doing" ... rather, it would profit many with an open talk on the subject.

Some thoughts...

Has the Lord been the one to initiate intimacy?

Do you have a place/time where you set aside true "quiet" time?

Are you comforted of His presence, challenged, reminded, rebuked?

Are you disappointed when you have such times with the Lord and "feel" nothing?

Must you "feel" Him (sense of blessing) in order to have heavenly approval? Sure, a silly question, but does that feeling or lack of it effect your heart/manner with Him as you draw near?

Finally, how can we build each other up in this, in such a way that it comes as a "flow" of your (and His) love, than a duty?

Q. Has the Lord been the one to initiate intimacy?

A.Gee this is a hard one. Intimacy here is as in friendship.

Q. ?Do you have a place/time where you set aside true "quiet" time

A. No. I'm going deaf so quiet is not a blessing. The noisier the better. I think place and time is getting old for us. We are progressively nowhere and everywhere all the time. There is no place we are not there and at no time are we apart.

Q. Are you comforted of His presence, challenged, reminded, rebuked?

A.Comforting, challengeing and re-minding are usually our joy. We do this to each other--I think.

Q.Are you disappointed when you have such times with the Lord and "feel" nothing?

A. Impossible. When things go well or not-so-well we definitely "feel". When something's wrong with my baby something's wrong with me, and when my Lord dances the dancing is usually extra good.

Q.Must you "feel" Him (sense of blessing) in order to have heavenly approval? Sure, a silly question, but does that feeling or lack of it effect your heart/manner with Him as you draw near?

I don't understand this question. It's like your asking a question about an eight track push button car radio in a 1961 Plymouth Valiant with the stick shift of the dash and I just graduated to sirius radio in my standard 5 on the floor Corola or something like that....

Or to know Him is to love Him, and to know to never divorce Him is approved of I think. I think it takes a bit of smarts to know that. And the divorce thing works both ways--for both parties.

Q.Finally, how can we build each other up in this, in such a way that it comes as a "flow" of your (and His) love, than a duty.

A. Jesus is a teacher of talk and walk--learn to speak and walk from him before you open your mouth on life and spiritual matters that are said to be Christian. Don't run a marathon on the one k you trained for--even though you think yourself a navy seal in the Lord. Be patient. Live, love, drink and make your dreams in Jesus, all of Him not just bits here and there. Avail yourself of the Kingdom while you can. Use your own words when you talk to God and He will talk to you so you can understand. Be honest. Don't use the words of other men or women or books and their ideas which you do not fully undertand in your heart. And in all this be good and wholesome to all, and to all of the Lord's creation-- which includes yourself. Don't be overly critical for your days of reading parables as if they were literal. Learn from this. To the question ," What do you what to be when you grow up?" don't be afraid to say, " A saint." No matter what your shrink or the world says.

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This is just a quick approximation....really.. peace bros.

But why do I fear I am not answering the questions you are driving at?

StriperAddict said:

On a thread title such as this, I doubt there can be "right" or "wrong" ways of "doing" ... rather, it would profit many with an open talk on the subject.

Some thoughts...

Has the Lord been the one to initiate intimacy?

Do you have a place/time where you set aside true "quiet" time?

Are you comforted of His presence, challenged, reminded, rebuked?

Are you disappointed when you have such times with the Lord and "feel" nothing?

Must you "feel" Him (sense of blessing) in order to have heavenly approval? Sure, a silly question, but does that feeling or lack of it effect your heart/manner with Him as you draw near?

Finally, how can we build each other up in this, in such a way that it comes as a "flow" of your (and His) love, than a duty?

Click to expand...

When I pray, I feel His presence on an extraordinary scale. I can't even say grace without a tear filling my eye. I am all those things you have said, when I come before my Lord in prayer. That is my quiet time with Him. It is also my witness for Him when I have the occasion to pray with, or in front of others. It is a humbling and beautiful experience. I do not ever feel that He is not there when I pray.

I feel myself on my knees, and then I feel His hand pulling me up to stand with Him.

I guess you could say that I initiate it, but He taught me how to do it.

ted_BSR said:

When I pray, I feel His presence on an extraordinary scale. I can't even say grace without a tear filling my eye. I am all those things you have said, when I come before my Lord in prayer. That is my quiet time with Him. It is also my witness for Him when I have the occasion to pray with, or in front of others. It is a humbling and beautiful experience. I do not ever feel that He is not there when I pray.

I feel myself on my knees, and then I feel His hand pulling me up to stand with Him.

I guess you could say that I initiate it, but He taught me how to do it.

Click to expand...

Buy the way my brother, I will be going to a very old ladies funeral tomorrow. She prayed, no wait, she loved to pray all her life. I never knew her to not have a smile and a pleasant conversation with everyone. She had many children and two husbands. She had a chiwawa that would swallow the needles who fell on the floor from her sewing ( she was a seemstress and a maid) and managed to get it (dog) through two or three surgeries, even if she was kind of low on resources. She is the only person I know who had a real bonafied passion for prayer. The word prayer alone, made her smile really.

She was beautiful all her life and the fact that she openly admitted that she "loved" to pray and how she missed reading prayers, when she became blind in old age made her that much more beautiful. She ended her life with no hair on her head and a wing that was never really correctly placed...but O how she was beautiful. One could tell that buy her eyes this lady had lived with many visitations in prayer. She was loving, practical and a real sweet heart.

Prayer in your case, I suspect, is not just a routine, it is a gift. And also, I like your favored song you sing to your little girl and thank you for sharing it in Favorite Songs.

Thanks for you thoughts. I hope the funeral was blessed.