God with you

One of my favourite books on prayer is The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, a French Carmelite monk who lived in the 1600s.

I first read this little book in the 1960s after finding it in the library of my great-aunt who had died just before then.  I have come back to it many times since.

It is a book filled with the joy of talking with God.  The first part is a series of interviews by a friend and the latter half includes several letters he wrote to some friends who asked the secret of his prayer life.

In spite of the somewhat stilted English of the translation, the book glows with hope and the pleasures of conversing continually with God.  His prayer life clearly changed Brother Lawrence and attracted people to him.

The key point in the book is that you can talk with God continually - even in your daily activities - just as the apostle Paul calls on us to do in 1Thessalonians 5:17.

"The time of business," said he, "does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament."

It took time for him to "practice" the presence of God.  Brother Lawrence knew that Jesus' promise that he would always be with us was true.  He pictured Jesus being with him and fixed his mind and heart on him as he spoke to him and listened to him in his spirit.

When his mind wandered away from God, Brother Lawrence didn't get frustrated, but simply turned back to worshiping him and enjoying him.  Over time, this way of praying became second nature.

There is spiritual wisdom on almost every page of this short book. It has inspired many generations of people including evangelicals such as John Wesley and A.W. Tozer.

If you're interested in reading it yourself, you can go to this link for a PDF version:

http://www.tochrist.org/Doc/Books/Lawrence/The%20Practice%20of%20the%20Presence%20of%20God.pdf