Calm And Quiet Soul

A Calm And Quiet Soul

As I was praying about this study and what direction I should go, my thoughts went to a book I had read at the beginning of my cancer journey, 9-years-ago. It was called,

The Practice of the Presence Of God

by a 17th century monk named Brother Lawrence. In reality, he would probably have been shocked at his writings being published. The book contains a narrative about his life, which isn’t the meat, and his letters, which are amazing. He was a Catholic Monk. His brothers were amazed at his absolute faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. They watched as he lived a life confident of being right with God. He knew his sins were forgiven, having entered into a close, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Listen to these words that are almost 400 years old:

“Whatever remedies you make use of, they will succeed only so far as He permits. When pains come from God, He only can cure them. He often sends diseases of the body to cure those of the soul. Comfort yourself with the Sovereign Physician of the soul and body.”

These words encouraged me in my relationship with Jesus Christ; to know him and the power of his resurrection! It was necessary for me to know that his presence was open to me and that I would be healed of those pains that came from him. Only God knows if the cancer came from him or not, but I am confident other aspects of the battle did: a wearied soul, sadness, an emptiness that I could not fill. God had to make me feel empty so that I knew the condition of my heart. I had to be flat on my face so he could build in me what he wanted. Is that how you are feeling today? Let’s go on a little journey of heart, mind, body and soul. Let’s enter into that presence of God.

Seven Steps To Experience The Presence Of God

They are:

A relationship with Jesus Christ

Be humble

Live a simple life

Make good choice

Be like a child

Speak less, listen more

Hope in God, with faithfulness and loyalty to Him, in service to others.

A relationship with Jesus Christ

“What then are we afraid of? Can we have too much of God? Is it a misfortune to be freed from the heavy yoke of the world, and to bear the light burden of Jesus Christ? Do we fear to be too happy, too much delivered from ourselves, from the caprices of pride, the violence of our passions, and the tyranny of this deceitful world?” ― François Fénelon

If you ask the believers in the room, they would tell you that they wished they would have come to Christ an hour earlier or a day or a month or even a year. What did they put it off for? Without a close, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we can never experience the closeness of our heavenly Father. What are you waiting for? If you do not know Jesus, stop what you are doing, and pray these words:

Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins. Forgive me. I have sinned against you and now I abandon those sins with your strength. Wash me and make me clean. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I give you my life because you have loved me and I trust you better than I trust myself. I will follow you wherever and whenever. Be my Lord. Thank you for being my Savior. In Jesus name, amen. Giving your life to Jesus will be the greatest thing you have ever done. Welcome to the family of God.

The Ascending Psalms

Psalms 120-133 are called songs of Ascents.

The Jewish pilgrims used to sing these songs as they would “ascend” to the city of Jerusalem which is on a mountain. Seeing this in a spiritual sense, we begin our journey as a pilgrim, at sea level, the port of Caesarea or from the desert to the east, wanting nothing more than to know Jesus and to lay our burdens down at his feet. An argument can be made that only a person who considers their life important has burdens. Those who are others centered have resources for which to help others. Resources and burdens are similar and can be money, property, depression or difficulty. It can be a trial you have gone through. Yes. These are resources to the humble pilgrim that wants to grow deeper with Christ. Let’s read one of the Ascending

Psalm 131 I have loosely based this outline on this Psalm. (read the psalm)

Psalm 131 NKJV

A Song of Ascents. Of David. Lord, my heart is not haughty, Nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, Nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord From this time forth and forever.

Humble Yourself

“Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23–24, NKJV)

"But when we are faithful to keep ourselves in His holy presence, and set Him always before us, this keeps us from offending Him and doing anything that may displease Him, at least willfully. It also produces in us a holy freedom and, if I may so speak, a familiarity with God that enables us to ask successfully for the graces we need." —Brother Lawrence

We must ask the question about what we truly want in this life. We can have Christianity the way we have always lived it, or we can be transformed and changed into a new creation in Christ Jesus. The greatest of all things to be grasped is a familiarity with the Father. Of course he is the majestic and mighty God of all Creation and we should have respect for him and honor him with everything that is within us. If our goal is to know him, then the only way to do so is to humble ourselves and see our lives renewed. This is what Brother Lawrence called, “Keep ourselves in His holy presence.” Always humble, putting God first.

It takes a lot of humility to lay flat before God. It takes everything within us to be reduced to nothing, to take up the cross and allow it to crucify our flesh. But once we are, we find the peace we are looking for.

Jesus’ words seem upside down. To our world there could be nothing more alien than to “take up your cross and follow him.” The cross is a symbol of death to self, which is horribly painful to the flesh. If we want life, we have to lose it? That is humility. It is there we find true freedom. What I missed for so many years was “the why” of this freedom. Because when I don’t have an agenda, Christ’s will gets done. I am able to rejoice in the work that he does, not even worried about whether it looks like success or not, just desiring to see him glorified.

Live A Simple Life

Be satisfied with the condition in which God places you however happy you may think I am, I envy you. Pains and sufferings would be a paradise to me while I suffered with my God, and the greatest pleasures would be hell to me if I relished them without Him. All my consolation would be to suffer something for His sake. —Brother Lawrence

This requires discipline. Remember when Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all that he had, then for him to follow him? Jesus knew what his problem was. His possessions had a hold of him and he needed to let them go. The young ruler was rich, which meant that he knew how to manage whatever resources he was given. God wanted him reduced to nothing in order to build in him something new. What we give up is nothing compared to what we gain in Christ. But that is not why we get rid of our treasures, to get more and better valuables.

No. The things of the world have a hold one us. We release them so that we can live a more simplistic life. Then we’ll see how deeply we are drawn into his presence. The point is to lose everything and gain him. Missionary Jim Elliot once said: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

To be in the presence of God is greater, and worth every pain and every loss we could ever bear.

Make good choices

“Be content with doing calmly the little which depends upon yourself, and let all else be to you as if it were not.” ― François Fénelon

Practically speaking, do your job well. Don’t worry about management or about the direction of the company because those are not decisions you can affect. Be so good at what you do that you are later asked your opinion to make the necessary changes. Making good, Spirit filled choices, being men and women of integrity, honesty and honor gives us strength and courage. We should work as if everything depends upon us, knowing that it all depends upon the Lord. That is a little paraphrase of what Fenelon said. Humbly make good decisions. Make the good choice to intentionally enter the presence of God.

Be like a child

"This is still Jehovah's special title: the God who answers prayers. We often come from the throne of grace as certain that God heard us as we were sure that we had prayed. The abounding answers to our supplications are proof positive that prayer climbs above the regions of earth and time and touches God and His infinity. Yes, it is still true, the Lord will hear your prayer." —Spurgeon

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16, NKJV)

The only one who could come boldly into a throne room would be a child. Children almost always have access to a parent.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” (1 John 3:1, NKJV)

Isn’t it amazing how much God loves us? We have this kind of access.

“Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.” (Mark 10:13–16, NKJV)

A child is fully trusting.

I was 24 and my oldest, Cody, was 4 years old. I didn’t know much about parenting or how much a child trusts his parent. He was walking on the stage of the theater at Point Fermin Park, and I was walking below next to him, turned sideways. I saw out of the corner of my eye Cody leaping into the air, trusting with all his heart that I would catch him! I turned just in time to catch him! It taught me a lesson.

Children are fully trusting. They have no worries, they have absolute faith that their dad is trustworthy. This is what it means to have a deep relationship with God. We are going even further into the presence of God. We are heading to a place of no return. Either God is faithful or we will lose everything. That is how much we as his children trust him. This can be so fearful because it is the antithesis of everything we know. But it is the pathway to a deeper relationship, a greater joy and a truer freedom than we have ever experienced. It is childlike surrender to the will of God.

Speak Less, Listen More

“Silence promotes the presence of God, prevents many harsh and proud words, and suppresses many dangers in the way of ridiculing or harshly judging our neighbors ... If you are faithful in keeping silence when it is not necessary to speak, God will preserve you from evil when it is right for you to talk.” ― François Fénelon

Such wonderful wisdom. I can’t tell you how many troubles I have gotten myself into by talking too much. I am probably doing so right now! The deepness of a relationship with God will always overflow into a right relationship with others. The more we speak, the more trouble we will get in. But when we are willing to listen, two wonderful things happen.

The fist, we will hear what the other person is saying. We will be showing compassion and grace with them. Sometimes all someone needs is for someone to hear them. They don’t need advice. They don’t anything but to speak to someone and get their words out and off their chest. The second is that we will be able to know them better, understand their issues or their joy, and be able to respond appropriately. I guess a third thing is that I am not getting myself into trouble by talking too much!

“Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.” (Proverbs 17:28, NKJV)

This is the trouble I was talking about. The quieter I am, the more people will think I’m a pretty smart guy.

“Do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” (Proverbs 29:20, NKJV)

Oh, God, I can sometimes be this way! I need forgiveness and mercy. I can be hasty, respond before there needs to be a response, because I can see where they are going rather than just listening all the way through. I can also speak about something I know very little about. Ugh. That is why this is one of the seven. I need this aspect because allowing the Spirit of God to work out patience in me, I bring a little bit of the presence of God into someone else’s life. There is nothing like the peace of a tongue held.

This promotes the presence of God… practice listening.

Hope In God, With Faithfulness And Loyalty To Him In Service To Others

Hope tells us that if God was with us in the past, we can trust that he will be with us in the present and in the future. We are, Fully Reliant On God, not on our circumstances. That kind of hope only goes so far. But Biblical hope is not subjective, but is grounded on the confidence, goodness, and grace of God who has saved us in the past through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and will continue to save his in the future. We have a great hope that persists while it transcends life itself.

"We ought not to grow tired of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed" —Brother Lawrence

This is so important when it comes to faithfulness and loyalty.

We did not come to Christ for what we can get out of him. He gave me forgiveness for sins, a relationship with him, the hope of heaven and so forth, but I did not come to him for an earthly treasure. We do not come to Christ not for what he can give, but for what he has given. Therefore, our response to what he has given should not be trite or selfish, but it should be, in-kind.

We should surrender everything to Christ, even if it means nothing more than a relationship with him. Even if there is no great ministry or no name recognition or money or large church or whatever things men desire. No, it should not be contingent upon the reward we get, but upon the love God has given to us. What greater reward could there possibly be?

Conclusion

Let’s continue to enter into that presence of God. The seven ways I have based today’s study on are:

A relationship with Jesus Christ

Humble yourself

The Simplicity of life

Making good choices

Be like a child

Speak less, listen more

Hope in God, with faithfulness and loyalty to God and others

And then I want to continue with what I was talking about in number 7. We spoke about hope, but what about

faithfulness and loyalty?

I don’t have that much time, but these two are hallmarks of everything we are speaking about. Being in a relationship with Jesus will promote humility, which helps us make good choices. If we are willing to be like a child, speaking less and listening more, then our hope in God will spill out into our personal lives. But all this is about knowing Christ so much more than we have ever before. This leads to a love, loyalty and faithfulness to God and to our fellow believers. Look around the room. We should know each other intimately and lovingly willing to take care of one another whatever that means. We should serve each other in love and by being committed to our local Fellowship and our pastor. In all this, finding that losing our lives will be the greatest way we have found out who we truly are and the freedom to serve God like never before.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”” (John 13:34–35, NKJV)

Let us enter the presence of God

Another song of Ascents is Psalm 122. It begins with:

Psalm 122:1 NKJV

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

Indeed, let us enter into the presence, in the house of the LORD. If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus…