By Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 December 29, 2024
I want to start today by telling you two stories. Nicolas Herman was born in 1614 in eastern France. His parents were peasants, so his schooling was limited. He fought in the 30-Years-War where he was injured. He had an experience with God during that war which marked him for his whole life. The effects of a brutal war marked him as well, although he never spoke of it.
He was injured, and during his convalescence he served as a footman. Nicolas describes himself as “a great awkward fellow who broke everything.” When his service as footman ended he decided to seek spiritual fulfillment and so he joined a Carmelite monastery. There he became known as brother Lawrence.
He was never ordained. He spent most of his time cooking in the kitchen. When his injury to his leg flared up again the abbot reassigned him to the job of repairing sandals. Despite his lowly position, people often sought him out for spiritual direction because he exuded peace and the presence of God.
He ended conversing with a friend through letters. These letters became the foundation for the small book, “Practicing the Presence of God.”
To summarize what he said in the book and his approach to the spiritual life he would say that he is governed by love. He “resolved to make the love of God the end of all his actions. He was pleased when he could pick up straw from the ground for the love of God. His goal was to seek only God. He said that washing dishes is the same as praying. We do it for the love of God.
It sounds a lot like what Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Henri Nowen said when he first read Brother Lawrence’s ideas, “they seemed simple, even somewhat naive and unrealistic.” But the more he reflected on his advice he became aware that it “is not just a nice idea for a seventeenth-century monk but a most important challenge to our present-day life situation.
Practicing the Presence of God.
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Second Story
Frank Laubach was a missionary to the Philippines in the early part of the 20th century. He hadn’t accomplished much, and he was pretty discouraged over the state of his spiritual life. But on January 20th, 1930, he records in journal,
But this year I have started out trying to live all my waking moments in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, “What, Father, do you desire? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?”[1]
His journal goes on to detail his successes and failure with what he calls this experiment.
After about four weeks he says
I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before. I need something and turn round to find it waiting for me. I must work, to be sure, but there is God working along with me. To know this gives a sense of security and assurance for the future which is also new to my life. I seem to have to make sure of only one thing now, and every other thing “takes care of itself,” or I prefer to say what is more true, God takes care of all the rest. My part is to live this hour in continuous inner conversation with God.
His journal goes on to talk about the challenges and glories of living this way.
What fascinates me, is that from lonely missionary post in the Philippines, God gave him a way of reaching people. He was said to be responsible for teaching half of the 90,000 people in his area to read. He founded the World Literacy Crusade, that is still in operation. He was raised to the level of Christian world statesman. Although he had no political appointment, he became very influential on United States foreign policy after World War 2. But he was always asking, God what do you desire, what do you desire done this minute. He saw the kingdom of God breaking in.
We are approaching a new year. I am not a big fan of New Year resolutions. They don’t tend to stick. But I am a fan of asking the question, what is the one thing I could adjust to make the biggest difference in this coming year?
The answer for me and, I believe, the answer for most of you is to become more God conscious in our daily lives. I believe that if you and I were to achieve that, that this would be our most glorious year yet.
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But I have to say I am not good at this. I am not like Brother Lawrence. I do not find loading and unloading the dishwasher a spiritual experience. I am not like Frank Laubach. I make most of my decisions every day without asking the question, “Lord, what do you want me to do this moment?”
In fact, hearing about Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach can be discouraging. It seems like they are super-saints and, well, you and I are just ordinary saints.
But here is the thing. You don’t have to become a super-saint next week or next month or next year. But what would happen if you a lot more God conscious this year that you were last year. Would that make a difference? I believe it would make a huge difference.
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Let me ground this in scripture.
Psalm 139 – tell us the God is present everywhere.
Psalm 139:7–10 (NIV)
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
But scripture goes further. If you are a follower of Jesus and put your faith in Jesus, there are some things that are true about you.
Paul writing to the church in Colossae, talks about the great mystery of our salvation. He says, when you boil it down our salvation is about
Colossians 1:27b (NIV)
27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ lives in you.
So, when we talk about being God conscious – we are talking about becoming more aware of the fact that God is all around us and Christ lives in us.
Becoming more God conscious is also about fulfilling the commands of Scripture.
1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NIV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances;
And we think, how do we do that?
We read, Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
In order to do those things, we have to become more God conscious.
But the question is, how do we do that? I don’t know about you, but I cannot read a book or do paperwork and pray at the same time. I just don’t have the mindspace to do two things at once. If I am fully present to someone in a conversation, then I have real difficulty focusing on them and being fully focused on God at the same time.
Yet my guess is that many of you want the grace and peace and joy and love that God promises you. In order to find that we are going to have to become more God conscious. We need to learn to become aware of his presence and bring is power to bear on every part of our lives.
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So, the question is, how do we bring him into the whole of life? Or maybe a more accurate question is, how do we become aware that he is present in every part of our lives – because he is? How do we become aware of his presence?
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Let’s go back to the Brother Lawrence verse.
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Whatever you do, make it a prayer. Your actions become prayers; your eating becomes worship.
A friend of mine walked the El Camino in Spain. It was a pilgrimage of sort, where they walked the over 800-kilometer trail. He entitled his blog – every step a prayer. It wasn’t that he was praying all the time – but his steps were a prayer. They were dedicated to the glory of God.
That is a great metaphor for life. Every step a prayer. Every car ride, a prayer. Every meal, a prayer. Every social media post, a prayer. Every day at work, a prayer. Every step a prayer.
But here is the thing, every step only becomes a prayer if you let it become one. The reason why Paul has to say
1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Is because there were some things going on in the Corinthian church that were not to the glory of God. So, how do we make every step a prayer? How do you become aware of the presence of God and bring is power to bear in every part of your life?
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The goal is that you will get to a place in your spiritual life where this is as natural as breathing. You don’t have to think about it, because it is just who you are. But until we get to that place, we need to do the work of making turning to God throughout a day a habit.
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A habit like this is not formed accidentally. You have to make the choice – I am going to learn to become more God conscious. It is one of the most impactful decisions that you as a Christian can make. But you have to make it. Are you willing to do that?
When you make that decision then you need to figure out how to actually do it. Let me teach you the way to become more God conscious. I have taught this once before but I believe it bears repeating.
I want to teach you the Four “R’s”
Remember
Routine
Respond
Reward
The bible tells us to remember about 250 times. Why? We are prone to forget.
So, how do you Remember that God is with you and in you? How do you remember to ask the Laubach question? What, Father, do you desire? What, Father, do you desire done this minute?
We are prone to forget that God is with us. We are prone to forget to ask the question – Father what do you desire?
What we need is something to help us remember. What we need is something to trigger us to remember that God is with us.
You have all kinds of things in your daily life that you can use as a trigger. By the way, this is how you develop most habits.
Some of you experience a trigger when you walk into the kitchen. Some of you walk into the kitchen, that triggers a routine where you walk to the refrigerator and grab something to eat. That may not be the best trigger, but you get what I mean.
Most of our life is run on habits like these. We get up in the morning. We go into the bathroom. That is the trigger to brush our teeth, we go through the routine of brushing our teeth. The reward is a fresh mouth and good teeth.
The first “R” is remember. So, if we are going to remember that God is part of every part of our lives, then we are going to need a set of triggers, that will cause us to remember.
I am going to give you two sets of triggers that you can use. Pick the set that is right for you.
The first set of triggers is the traditional triggers or the basic triggers. These come from the practice of monasteries, and have been adapted to regular life. The triggers are
When you get up in the morning
Before every meal
When you go to bed at night.
Some of you do this already. It has been part of your life. You pray when you get up. You pray before meals, and you pray before you go to bed at night.
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Since I am talking about this, let me give you a piece of culturally relevant wisdom. How you start your day really matters. In fact, the first half hour to hour of your day will set the tone for your whole day.
Around Asbury we talk a lot about discipleship. But let me ask you this question, what is the primary discipler in our culture? It is our phones. I know that many people’s first impulse when they get up in the morning is to check their phone. Check the social media feeds, Facebook, Instagram, or twitter. Then they will move on to check their email. Then they will check their preferred news source.
How you start your day really matters. I want to urge you to spend time with God. Or at least, don’t be discipled by your phones for the first hour of your day.
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Let me get back on track. The first set of triggers for remembering God in all of life is the traditional one – When you get up in the morning, before every meal – or every snack. When you go to bed at night.
Another set of triggers that you can use is each transition in your day. This one can be added to the traditional set of triggers. So, when you get into your car, or when you get to work, or when you take a coffee break, or when you move from one task to another. This set of triggers is far more pervasive, and a little more difficult initially, but help more in the long run. It is a question of effort.
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What triggers will you use. You decide on a set of triggers that are going to help you remember God in throughout your day. If this is new to you, this takes time and work to put into practice. You probably won’t get it right, right away – but keep on making the effort.
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The next “R” is Routine.
So, you remember to practice the presence of God, what do you do. There are a number of things that you can do. You can chose to give thanks that God is with you and in you and you can ask – Father what do you desire in this moment. If he shows you something – do it.
So, the whole prayer would go something like, Jesus thankyou that you are with me and in me. (Pause) Father what do you desire in this moment?
(Pray a couple of times)
How long will that take you to pray. Probably 10 seconds. Depending on what you are doing you may stop, or you may pray this prayer as you transition from one task to another.
Again, if you want to pray a different pray, do that. These are breath prayers. You are just saying a simple prayer. Recognizing God’s presence and you are looking for his will to be done, and you to cooperate with him.
The next “R” is “Respond.” Most times God will just have you do what you have been doing. But by asking the question, what do you desire in this moment, you open yourself up to the possibility of being led by God in different ways. If he leads you – Respond by doing what he asks
Now we move to the Reward.
Usually the reward for this shows up over time. It like working out. You don’t lift weights and then say, I feel so much better. In fact, starting out is hard. But if you keep with it you will see the difference.
When you become conscious that God is with you, and when you are inviting him to work in your life and you are looking for his guidance – something will happen. You will start to see God show up more and more in your life. You will be reminded to pray for a person and then you will see God answer more prayers. As you look for God in your daily life, you will find him showing up more.
Making every step a prayer will take your spiritual life to a whole new level. God is going to show you new things. It is a guard against anxiety because you are bringing God into each situation. You will start to see more answers to prayers, because you are praying about more things.
So, my question to you is will you practice the presence of God. Will you make goal to become more God conscious in the coming year. Becoming more God conscious will move you forward in you your life like nothing else.
Remember. What are you going to use to remind you that God is in you and around you. What triggers are you going to use?
Routine. When your God consciousness is triggered, what are you going to pray? It could be something like, Father thank you that you are with me and in me. What do you desire? What, Father, do you desire done this minute? It could be something else. But determine what you are going to pray.
Respond
Reward
As you draw near to God you will find him drawing near to you. As you pray about more things, you will find more answered prayer. As you learn to make every step a prayer, you will find your life being lived for the glory of God.
If we all did this, our lives would be substantially better this time next year. Our church would be an incredible place where we gathered together after being God conscious throughout the week. Our worship would be sweeter. Will you choose to do what you need to do to become God conscious.
[1] Laubach, Frank. Letters by a Modern Mystic (p. 4). Purposeful Design Publications. Kindle Edition.