I picked up the Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, yesterday after a few months break. It is a rather inspiring book and I recommend it to anyone. I like it because it is short and can be finished in an afternoon. I also like it because it takes a very practical approach (as the title implies) to something that is often handled mystically. I don’t like it when a book gives you a bunch of theory but then does not tell you how to actually live it out. This book is quite the opposite. Brother Lawrence’s suggestions are very encouraging, because he shares how he was personally able to grow closer to God. Brother Lawrence died in 1691 and this book was compiled from his own writings and accounts of his friends shortly after. It has remained a Christian classic for the last 300 years and has been quite helpful to me.

It is important to first point out that this book presents itself in a rather unusual fashion. It was not really written by Brother Lawrence, but rather compiled after his death by his good friend Father Joseph de Beaufort. The first section of the book consists of accounts by friends of conversations which they had with Brother Lawrence throughout his life. The second section consists of letters written by Brother Lawrence to friends. The third part is the only part which Brother Lawrence actually wrote as anything to be read. This is a collection of spiritual maxims that he has found to be true. Finally, the book ends with a short account of his life by Father de Beaufort. This format is actually rather encouraging. All to often I have been discouraged by books that present high and lofty ideas that are detached from the author’s actual life. In this book, however, the simple ideas are presented within the context of the life of a man who actually walked them out.

Brother Lawrence’s method is fairly simply. He advocates simply keeping in touch with the presence of God. His practical method of achieving this is to simply remember God and his presence as often as possible and spend as much time as possible with our attention fixed on him. This seems a little obvious or trite, but as he explains his daily life, it becomes clear that what may seem obvious is hardly practiced by all of us. He speaks of always striving to remain in the presence of God and actively avoiding things that would draw us away. I like the fact that he doesn’t really address theological issues, such as “what exactly separates one from God and how?” We all know of things we do that draw us away from God, yet we do them anyway.

Reading this book made me think about several issues that come up in the Bible quite often. I think that we often treat verses like “abide in me and I in you.” as some overly mystical theological concept. However, I am slowly learning that many of the things we read in the Bible are immediately applicable, practical facts of life. Phrases like “draw near” often turn up when I am reading the Bible, and I often skip past them without asking myself “how exactly do I draw near to God?” or more importantly, “am I drawing near to God, or have I missed something important?” Brother Lawrence, however, exhibits a life that is close to God and his presence, and he shares simple and practical ways of living it out.

Abiding in the presence of God is becoming increasingly sweet to me as I dwell with him. It is impossible for our hearts to fall in love with Christ when we do not spend time with him. Long distance relationships are tough and usually end in flames. I am also learning that abiding in Christ does not mean having a 15-minute quiet time in the morning then forgetting him the rest of the day. To ‘abide’ means to ‘dwell’ or ‘remain.’ We can be with Christ and live with him throughout the whole day.

One of the most helpful things that I learned from this book is the idea that we can remain in God’s presence even while we do other things like work. Prayer and worship are simply special times that we can use to give him all of our attention and offer our time to him. This does not mean that when the time of prayer comes to an end we leave his presence. It was also helpful for me to read about the need for simple sincerity in our relationship with Christ. Brother Lawrence warns against having a set of special devotions that simply become a memorized prayer with little heart. Rather, he advocates that we pour out what is really on our hearts at all times to him.

More and more I am realizing that Christ is a real person. When we treat him as some abstract concept written about in a book, it is easy for us to create dead religious ritual. However, the ideas that I am learning now are easily discovered when Christ is treated as a real person. I have a real relationship with him, and he really loves me. I put all those “real”s and “really”s in because it is important to stress the immediacy of his presence, rather than the concept of his presence.

I encourage everyone to read this book.  It has been quite profitable and inspiring for me.  If you are looking for an easy and quick read I recommend the version on Amazon that I have linked to on the side bar and the picture at the top of this article.  I recommend this because it is has been updated into modern English and is much easier to understand.  However, the original text is available online here.