Do you feel God’s presence in your life daily?

Saint Stuart
December 26, 2022

This Christmas I started to think about what it is to feel life and the world as God’s Kingdom– to feel enchanted, like a saint, or a mystic, or just like the person you’ve always wanted to be, feeling deeply enriching natural ecstasy, discovering enlightened moments of divine wisdom–theosophy–and seeing my life as a continual process of benefit and love to the world we share. That’s what the Holy Spirit led me to. That’s what I found when I applied the teachings of Jesus to my life. That is the path that God leads me to show how to reveal the way to, by living devoutly to Him and His Word in every moment of every day. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” (Mark 1:3).

Making ourselves the rich soil in which the seeds of the gospel will grow is a crucial starting point, and knowing if we are working with our own finite understanding or God’s ultimate illumination is the difference between directing the progress of His kingdom to our own selfish ambitions or His perfect plans for all. The key to discovering that is in growing daily in interaction and communication with God. Keeping our minds focused on things related to Him, even if just for a few moments each day, will condition our souls to know His presence. Read a scripture verse, say a prayer, acknowledge Him when you wake and when you go to sleep each day, and know what it is to commune with God as a regular habit. That will help anyone discern whether divine or human understanding is at work in your life. Have you brought a belief to God who will reveal His wisdom concerning it or have you formed it based on a limited capacity of knowledge?

When devotions are a foundation to each day, you will notice when they are absent by being skipped or forgotten. When all of your beliefs are in line with God’s, you will notice when your mind is processing a belief that just won’t sit right. This is the preparation of the soil that will grow the seeds of God’s Word to bear rich, nutritious fruit, and roots that will grow deep and strong. It will be an ever-present source of life-affirming confirmation of God’s love for you.

Speaking of the seed that “fell on good ground, sprung up and yielded a crop a hundredfold” (Luke 8:8), Jesus said “are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). When we recognize the things of God, we value them and apply them to our lives as He guides us to. We mature.

If we don’t prepare our lives for the guidance of God, His divine wisdom–theosophy– will come into our lives, but easily wither away or become forgotten, and its enriching power will be lost to temptations and distractions. Know Him. Dwell on His Word and express your soul to Him daily. Prepare the temple of His spirit that He has made you to be and He will lead you to let your own spirit mature into the amazing person He wants you to be. You will feel what it is to be a part of His Kingdom and will probably start to wonder if other people have ever felt the same way.

When we learn to experience God’s presence each day, we also quickly learn what disrupts it– sin. Some days we might find ourselves fretting over trivial matters, our mind being tossed and turned by whimsical notions of no real importance, or barraged by negativity that evolves and develops instead of simply disappearing. What happened to the golden feelings that permeated our being just moments before? Why has a former way of experiencing life returned that seems so stale and pointless? We have likely let a sin come back into our life through a thought or a deed that we have difficulty acknowledging as such. When this mode of life returns to me, I immediately ask God to reveal why and He will focus my mind on a sin I committed. In that moment I deal with it. I confess and repent to God and later to a priest or brother or sister in Christ and receive forgiveness and prayer. The amazing feelings about life return and I feel God’s presence and favour again, ready to be guided in His ways and careful not to lose that opportunity again.

Some might go days, weeks, months or years not acknowledging sin in their life. They may not be familiar with God’s presence and have no issues with experiencing a life wrapped up in trivial matters. The seeds come into their life and turn them in the right direction once in a while, but they don’t take root or are strangled by thorns. The inevitable banality of life away from God’s presence returns and they may accept it as a part of life that is inescapable or simply purposeful in some unknown way. God may challenge them to consider their sin, but doing so is too uncomfortable –they lack courage. They might prefer their excuses for their sin, the comforts of non-confrontation and the challenge of pleasing themselves with their familiar life ignorant of God’s ways. People who live such a way, unfortunately, are on a slow path toward death. The wages of sin is death, and as much as God loves us, people who choose to hold on to their sin are doomed to follow its ultimate end — eternal destruction. 

How do we reach that type of person? One way is to share our quality of life in God’s presence with them. We can show them the joys of a deeply fulfilled life. They will see it and might begin to crave it. They may wonder about it and ask us one day why we are so different. They sense a quality of life that would be much more wholesome, healthy and spiritually fulfilling if they just made some simple changes, and we will have the answers for them that will lead them back to God who loves them. Don’t pass on that opportunity. Let God enrich your life through His ways every day. Amen.