Yesterday we spoke of the essential need to practice the presence of God as your first thing of the day. Such a practice, such a habit, as BL reminds us, takes time and great patience. Both are necessary. So I remind my self that today God has given me 1,440 minutes of life, and so I need to remember that I need not fight and wrestle with 15-30 minutes out of the 1,440 minutes You have given me today, to spend time with You at the beginning of this day, dear Lord, luxuriating in Your presence, not interested at all with “what I get out out of my time.” I must be patient in Your presence, just learning to practice this every morning, just committing to Your presence in my life. And so I pray that You will help me to take time with You every morning and that I will exercise great patience with myself when I fail. I pray that such failures will not lead to habits of kicking the can down the path. I pray that You will pull me back to Your presence. Le me not be disheartened when I fail you, even though I often do! BL is right, dear Lord, when he tells me that “truly this habit can only be formed with difficulty.”
So let me build this vital and foundational habit into my life so that I can know the joy of Your presence. So I pray: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” Romans 5:5.
“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10.
“I keep the Lord always before me” Psalm 16:8.
“I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me” Psalm 16:7.
“I my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine” Song of Solomon 6:3.
“Do not quench the Spirit” 1 Thessalonians 5:19.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God” Psalm 51:10.
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