When you think about prayer, do you consider the presence of the Lord? The Lord has told us that He will never leave us or abandon us. But are we aware of His presence?
In John 14-16, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit, saying that He is going to the Father and then sending the Counselor. The Counselor is the Holy Spirit – He is the very Spirit of God.
The discipline of prayer is to train our hearts to encounter the presence of the Lord. It is to train our minds to be quiet and submitted to our spirits. We must put aside all noise and distractions and set our focus upon the King. This world is so noisy, and there are many distractions we face day to day.
One of the most unique things about Christianity is that we can enjoy the presence of God. Sadly, there are people within the Christian faith who read the Word of God, and have good morals and principles and live by many truths, but they do not encounter the presence of the Lord.
“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Matthew 5
It was God’s idea for us to seek him in a secret place. He has invited us to enter his presence.
When we adore Jesus, he delights to be in the room. When Mary came into the gathering in Bethany and broke the jar of perfume and anointed the feet of Jesus, she was judged by those around her – but Jesus willingly received her adoration. “So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” John 12:3
Adoration has a scent. Adoration invites the King. When we adore him, He delights to be in the room. This quote about adoration from Eric Gilmour’s book, ‘The School of His Presence” really struck me, “adoration is not a state of mind; it is the preoccupation of the Soul with the beauty of the Lord.” -Eric Gilmour.
Read that again:
“Adoration is not a state of mind; it is the preoccupation of the Soul with the beauty of the Lord.”
-Eric Gilmour
The purest form of seeking God is when we come to him in simple worship. It can be easy to arrive to prayer with an agenda – we have our lists of requests for ourselves and others, and it’s easy to jump right in and begin making requests. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t ever ask the Lord for things we need, but remember, Matthew 6 tells us “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” (Matt. 6:32b-33) Sometimes what what we need the most is to sit in the presence of the Lord. Basking in His presence changes us in a way that it is hard to put into words.
Anyone can change their behavior by sheer willpower and discipline. We see people do this all the time, but only the Holy Spirit can change what’s inside of us. He is the one who transforms our hearts, from what it was, to what he originally designed it to be. The process of walking with Jesus and being transformed by the Holy Spirit is not only making us new in Christ, it’s also restoring us to what God originally wanted for us. He did not design us to be slaves to sin. Sin was not part of the original design for people. It came in from the outside and has been passed down through generations. However, when we are under the blood of Christ, we’re made new – restored to our truest self; the one that God designed from the beginning that we could be in fellowship with him.
When I was younger in my walk with the Lord, I did not understand this concept. So when I wanted to do the right things, I became very frustrated, because I “wasn’t good enough.” I was able to conform to outer expectations to an extent, but sin was still an issue in my personal life. As I grew in the Lord, I found that obedience comes out of love, and love is stirred up when we abide.
Abiding in the presence of Jesus changes us in a way that we can’t fully put into words. It’s the most beautiful transformation anyone can experience. (John 15) Instead of behaving myself into love and approval from God, Jesus loved me into good behavior. Abiding in the presence of Jesus allows us to experience His love. His love transforms our hearts. And then we have the power through the Holy Spirit to renew our minds. (Romans 12:2) When we have been transformed in our hearts, and our minds renewed day by day, our lives look very different.
So when we go to the Lord in adoration, and we feel his presence come into the room, what we do next is very important. How we respond to Jesus coming into the room matters. He arrived because we’re adoring Him, but when he arrives, we must not try to impose our agenda on him. It can be hard sometimes to simply sit in his presence. It’s easy to want to receive some kind of profound revelation or insight (which often does happen), but He asks us to submit our agendas to him. Allowing him to guide our hearts.
You need to have a submission to his presence. It is good to have a plan for your spiritual growth. But you must pair that discipline with submission to the Holy Spirit. Some of my most profound times with the Lord have primarily been simply sitting in his presence. These moments are sweet and precious to me.
Jesus is after our hearts. We get to choose whether or not we will yield to him in the stillness. If you can’t explain right away what happens in the secret place with Jesus, that’s okay. Eric Gilmour says, “Many times it could take weeks or even months to know what was actually happening to you as you stayed there in blissful adoration.”
When I first started sitting with the Lord and enjoying his presence, I would often ask him “now what?” and he would respond simply, “Just sit.” Again I would ask, “Can I journal my prayers?” “no” he’d say. “So what can I DO?” I’d ask… and he would respond simply, “Be still.”
Psalm 16:11 “You reveal to me the path of live; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.”
Practicing the presence of God is great preparation for heaven.
It is a discipline that must be practiced. It takes practice because there’s often so much going on in our lives that our brains will want to move on. They’ll tell us what’s next, or remind us of some thing that we’ve forgotten to do. We’ll feel the pull of the day, and the next thing on our plan. Because of this, I keep my journal next to me so I can write down anything that comes into my brain to get it out. Writing it down quickly helps me revert my focus to the Lord. Simple adoration. We don’t have to use big words or fancy phrases. Jesus is after our simple adoration.
And be careful not to rush. Eric Gilmour says, “I’m not in a rush because haste always muffles our ears.” We must make room to hear from the Lord. Sometimes he will speak, and other times we simply enjoy his presence. We can miss what he’s saying if we don’t quiet ourselves.
Your time, your attention, and your focus, where you put those things shows what you value. We invest into the things we care about and we spend time with the people we love. How much more should we spend time in the presence of the King who made us for relationship with him?
Just a simple adoration on our lips is an invitation to the one who has already invited us to abide with him. I exhort you – take Jesus up on his offer.
“The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”
John 14:21
Spending time abiding in Jesus is where He reveals himself to us. It’s where his love gets into our hearts and changes us from the inside out.
Make some time for soaking in the presence of the Lord today.
If this is a practice of prayer that you haven’t experienced before, I urge you to get alone as soon as possible and simply begin adoring Jesus. You can turn on what’s called ‘soaking music’ – William Augusto has beautiful compilations – or you can sit in the quiet and simply worship.
If this is your first time sitting seeking the presence of Jesus, be prepared for mental distractions and keep a journal handy to record any thoughts that come up, and after writing them down, simply begin adoring Jesus again.
Sarah Louise 