Brother Lawrence first steps to arriving at the continual sense of GOD’s presense:
- He resolved to give all for the All — total surrender.
- He gave himself completely to GOD and made restitutions of his sins as much as he could.
- He renounced everything that was not God.
- He began to live as if there were no one in the world but GOD and him — A life of complete devotion to God.
- He worshiped Him as often as he could, keeping his mind in His Holy Presence.
- Whenever he noticed his mind has wandered, he brought it back to GOD.
- He made this a constant practice all day, whether it was the appointed time of prayer or not.
He said by repeating the above practice, it becomes a second nature, and the presence of GOD will become our normal state of mind.
Brother Lawrence walked before GOD in faith, humility, and love. He tried diligently to think nothing or do nothing which may displease GOD.
Brother Lawrence constantly directed his affection to GOD. He calls it the “actual presence of God”, which is a habitual, silent, and secret communion of the soul with God. Henry Scougal said in his book “The Life of God in the Soul of Man” that only GOD deserves our love (this kind of love is an affectionate love and passionate love).
Sometimes when he becomes aware that he is a little absent from this Divine presence, God immediately makes Himself felt in his soul in order to call him back. This happens most often when he is engaged in some outward activity. When this happens, he responds with perfect faithfulness to these inward impulses. He lifts his heart towards God by a meek and tender surrender to God or by words of love that come naturally upon these occasions. — Excerpt from the book.
The less value we place on the presence of GOD stops the flood of his infinite treasures of his goodness that ensues from His presence.
The practice of the presence of God demands that we empty our hearts of all other things, and let GOD possess our hearts alone.
Brother Lawrence said that the practice of GOD’s presence does not weary the body. But it is important and helpful to often abstain from some innocent and lawful bodily pleasures, because God will not permit a soul, which desires to be devoted entirely to Him, to also desire other pleasures than Him.
He said we can make our hearts a chapel where we can often withdraw and commune with GOD in meekness, humility, and love. Meaning, we need not shout or cry out loud before He can hear us.
He advises when our thoughts and mind wanders away from GOD while praying, we should use our will to bring them back to GOD. He further advises that we should not use much and monologue words in prayer, because they cause the mind to wander away from GOD.
One way to focus the mind easily during prayer, and preserve it in peace, is not to let it wander too far at other times during the day. You should keep it strictly in the presence of God. If you are accustomed to think of Him often, you will find it easy to keep your mind calm during the time of prayer, or at least to bring it back from its wanderings. — Excerpt from the book
How can we pray to Him without being with Him? How can we be with Him unless we think of Him often? And how can we think of Him often unless we make this a holy habit? — Brother Lawrence