The Practice of the Presence of God

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Discover the transformative power of living every moment in the Presence of God. Through candid reflections on overcoming spiritual doubts and daily frustrations, you'll see how practicing the presence of God in daily life leads to peace, joy, and unwavering faith. Perfect for those seeking practical advice to deepen their spiritual journey and find meaning in everyday actions.

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[00:00:01] Bryan Entzminger:

Second conversation. That he had always   been governed by love without selfish views and that having   resolved to make the love of God the end of all his actions, he had   found reasons to be well satisfied with his method that he was   pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the love of   God, seeking him only and nothing else, not even his   gifts. That he had been long troubled in mind   from a certain belief that he should be damned, and that all   the men in the world could not have persuaded him to the contrary.   But that he had thus reasoned with himself about I engaged   in a religious life only for the love of God, and I have   endeavored to act only for him. Whatever becomes of me,   whether I be lost or saved, I will always continue to act   purely for the love of God. I shall have this good at   least, that till death I shall have done all that is in me to   love him. That this trouble of mind lasted four years,   during which time he had suffered much but that at   last he had seen this trouble arose from want of faith and   that since then he had passed his life in perfect liberty and continual   joy. That he had placed his sins betwixt him and God,   as it were, to tell him that he did not deserve his favors,   but that God still continued to bestow them in abundance.  

That in order to form a habit of conversing with God continually   and referring all we do to him, we must first apply to   him with some diligence. But that after a little care   we should find his love inwardly excite us to it without any   difficulty that he expected, after   the pleasant days God had given him, he should have his turn of   pain and suffering but that he was not uneasy about   it, knowing very well that he could do nothing of himself,   God would not fail to give him the strength to bear it.   That when an occasion of practising some virtue offered, he   addressed himself to God, saying, lord, I cannot do this   unless you enablest me. And that then he received   strength more than sufficient   that when he had failed in his duty, he only confessed his   fault, saying to God, I shall never do otherwise   if you leave me to myself if it is you who   hinder my failing, and mend what is amiss that   after this he gave himself no further uneasiness about   it. That we ought to act with God in   the highest simplicity, speaking to him frankly and   plainly, and imploring his assistance in our affairs,   just as they happen that God never failed to grant it,   as he had often experienced that he had been   lately sent into Burgundy to buy the provision of wine for the society   which is a very unwelcome task for him, because he had no   turn for business, and because he was lame, and could not go   about the boat but by rolling himself over the casks   that, however, he gave himself no uneasiness about it,   nor about the purchase of the wine and that he said to God   it was his business he was about, and that he   afterwards found it very well performed that   he had been sent into anvers the year before upon the same   account that he could not tell how the matter passed, but that   it proved very well so likewise in his   business in the kitchen, to which he had naturally a great aversion.  

Having accustomed himself to do everything there for the love of God,   and with prayer upon all occasions for his grace to   do the work well, he had found everything easy during   15 years that he had been employed there   that he was very well pleased with the post he was now in,   but that he was as ready to quit that as the former, since he   was always pleasing himself in every occasion by doing little   things for the love of God that to him   the set times of prayer were not different from other times.   That he retired to pray according to the directions of his superior   but that he did not want such retirement, nor ask for it, because   his greatest business did not divert him from God   that he knew his obligation to love God in all things and as   he endeavored so to do, he had no need of a director to   advise him, but that he needed much a confessor to   absolve him that he was very sensible of his faults, but   not discouraged by them that he confessed them to God, but   did not plead against him to excuse them when he had so done,   he peaceably resumed his usual practice of love and adoration.  

That in his trouble of mind he had consulted nobody   but knowing only by the light of faith that God was present in,   he contented himself with directing all of his actions to him,   that is, doing them with a desire to please him.   Let what would come of it, that   useless thoughts spoil all that mischief began there   but that we ought to reject them as soon as we perceived their   impertinence to the matter at hand, or our salvation,   and return to our communion with God   that at the beginning he had often passed the time appointed for prayer, in   rejecting wandering thoughts and falling back into them   that he could never regulate his devotion by certain methods, as some   do that nevertheless at first he had meditated   for some time, but afterwards that went off in a manner he could give   no account of that all bodily mortifications   and other exercises are useless and except as they serve   to arrive at the union with God by love that he   had well considered this, and found it to be the shortest way to go   straight to him, by a continual exercise of love, and   doing all things for his sake that we   ought to make a great difference between the acts of the   understanding and those of the will that the first   were of comparatively little value, and and the others all   that our only business was to love and delight ourselves in   God that all possible kinds of   mortification, if they are void of the love of God, could   not efface a single sin that we ought   without anxiety to expect the pardon of our sins from the blood   of Jesus Christ, only endeavoring to love him with all   our hearts that God seemed to have granted the greatest   favors for the greatest sinners, as more signal   mountains of his mercy that the greatest   pains or pleasures of this world were not to be compared   with what he had experienced of both kinds in a sinful   state so that he was careful for nothing, and feared   nothing, desiring only one thing of God, viz.  

That he might not offend him, that he had no   scruples for, said he, when I fail in my duty,   I readily acknowledge it, saying, I am used to do so,   I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself, I   fail not then I give God thanks,   acknowledging the strength comes from him.