Practicing God's Presence

Introduction

Good evening everyone,

This evening I’m going to try to wrap up our series on Prayer and Listening as well as reflecting on that first Palm Sunday.

We’ve looked at different things in our series on Prayer and Listening - we’ve looked at 1) prayer as a conversation with God, 2) praying with authenticity, 3) the prayer of request, 4) listening to God in prayer, 5) praying for others as Jesus did … and this week we are looking at the final topic: Practicing God’s Presence.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Practicing God’s Presence

Rejoice - be glad, delight - it’s not just a feeling, it’s a choice - Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Choosing to be joyful - choosing to delight - even when it’s not something that we feel like doing

Pray continually - pray without ceasing - it’s a hard task - a high calling. But it doesn’t mean that you should sit reverently in church all day every day. Rather it’s about choosing to pray throughout each day, wahtever tasks you are doing.

In an earlier sermon in this series, I spoke about the monastics, people who committed themselves to a lifestyle of prayer - and this was one of the key verses of Scripture for them. And they had to learn what it meant for someone to pray without ceasing.

Giving thanks in all circumstances

It’s God’s will for us in Christ Jesus

We often steer clear of terms like ‘will’ - but the passage does say that it is God’s will for us to live in this sort of way

Why is it his command to live this way? … I think it is because he knows that it is the best way to live. He commands us to … because of his love

Being thankful for his presence with us

Palm Sunday

When we think back to that first Palm Sunday ...

The disciples and the crowd that gathered around them were celebrating Jesus entry as King.

We heard in the reading: John 12:13 “They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

He came like a conquering hero …

Two centuries before Simon the Maccabee, a Jewish warrior, led an army to victory against Syrian forces who had captured Jerusalem, and he entered Jerusalem as a conquering hero to music and the waving of palm branches.

There was a longing for a Messiah - a saviour - to come to the people of Israel. There were differences of opinion as to what this Messiah would look like - but the prophecies spoke of one in the line of David - who was a victorious king.

The word ‘Hosanna’ means ‘give salvation now’ …

And there was a strong nationalistic group in Judea at that time who longed for someone to lead a revolt against the Roman authorities. And it is quite possible that the crowds thought that Jesus was going to be this leader … as they shouted “Blessed is the king of Israel!””

Although, he didn’t come on a majestic warhorse in the same way that a conquering military king might, but on a young donkey.

And the disciples don’t quite understand the significance of all of these things …

John 12:16 “At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.”

The disciples and the crowd that gathered around them didn’t need to practice God’s presence like we do … they had the son of God, Jesus Christ, in their midst. They could listen to him speak, they could adore and worship him - they just needed to go to where he was

John 12:12–18 “The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.”

It is possible to pray hoping that God who is distant might somehow hear our voices somehow flying around the universe and reply

But when we pray in that way, it feels beyond hope - that God is not really there, or if he is, he is so distant that we would probably imagine that he would not hear us - why would he?

Transendence

Immanence

Psalm 139

End of Job

When we pray - we hold both of these things together … we speak to the God who is above all of his creation - who created all of it and sustains all of it

At the same time - Psalm 139

He is familiar with all my ways - incredible

Practical

Have some songs

Memorise Scripture

Prayer diary

Anchor point prayers - Ffald-y-Brenin

“You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”

G. K. Chesterton

Garmin - making little changes - starting small