GOD’S
PRESENCE
A still, small voice.
The Bible, 1 Kings 19:12 kjv
A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
The Bible, Psalm 84:10
God has two thrones: one in the highest heaven; the other is in the lowliest heart.
Author unknown
Many who do come into the secret place, and who are God’s children, enter it and leave it just as they entered, without ever so much as realizing the presence of God. And there are some believers who, even when they do obtain a blessing, and get a little quickening of soul, leave the secret place without seeking more.
William C. Burns
Hence that dread and amazement with which, as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed when they beheld the presence of God. When we see those who previously stood firm and secure so quaking with terror, that the fear of death takes hold of them, nay, they are, in a manner, swallowed up and annihilated, the inference to be drawn is, that men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.
John Calvin
Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me,
Be thou a smooth path below me,
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me,
Today – tonight – and for ever.
Columba of Iona
The seed of God is in us. Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer, it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordingly its fruits will be God-nature. Pear seeds grow into pear trees, nut into nut trees, and God seed into God.
Meister Eckhart
What our Lord did was done with this intent, and this alone, that he might be with us and we with him.
Meister Eckhart
A man may go into the field and say his prayer and be aware of God, or he may be in Church and be aware of God; but if he is more aware of Him because he is in a quiet place, that is his own deficiency and not due to God, who is alike present in all things and places, and is willing to give Himself everywhere so far as lies in Him … He knows God rightly who knows Him everywhere.
Meister Eckhart
Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on Earth! I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Maybe in His mercy He shall give me a host of children that I may lead them through the vast star fields to explore His delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, touch His garments, smile into His eyes – ah then, not stars nor children shall matter, only Himself.
Jim Elliot
Just as a lamp lights up a dark room, so the fear of God, when it penetrates the heart of a man illuminates him, teaching him all the virtues and commandments of God.
Abba James
I no longer believe that God is up there, and I do not believe that God is only within me, and I do not believe that God is merely out there in history. I think we are actually in God at all times.
Sister Madonna Kolbenschlag
I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King. Touched with a sensible regret, I confess to Him all my wickedness, I ask His forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands that He may do what He pleases with me. The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence.
Brother Lawrence
[Brother Lawrence said] that it was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times; that we are as strictly obliged to adhere to God by action in the time of action as by prayer in the season of prayer. That his view of prayer was nothing else but a sense of the Presence of God, his soul being at that time insensible to everything but Divine Love; and that when the appointed times of prayer were past, he found no difference, because he still continued with God, praising and blessing Him with all his might, so that he passed his life in continual Joy; yet hoped that God would give him somewhat to suffer when he should have grown stronger.
Brother Lawrence
I know that for the right practice of the presence of God, the heart must be empty of all other things, because God will possess the heart alone; and as He cannot possess it alone without emptying it of all besides, so neither can He act there, and do in it what He pleases, unless it be left vacant to Him.
Brother Lawrence
I continued some years, applying my mind carefully, and even in the midst of my business, to the presence of God, whom I considered always with me, often in me.
Brother Lawrence
God is always near you and with you; leave Him not alone.
Brother Lawrence
Packed in my skin from head to toe
Is one I know and do not know.
Edwin Muir
One of the most powerful concepts, one which is a sure cure for lack of confidence, is the thought that God is with you and helping you. This is one of the simplest teachings in religion, namely, that Almighty God will be your companion, will stand by you, help you, and see you through. No other idea is so powerful in developing self-confidence as this simple belief when practiced. To practice it simply affirm “God is with me; God is helping me; God is guiding me.” Spend several minutes each day visualizing his presence. Then practice believing that affirmation.
Norman Vincent Peale
Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which he imparts to us.
Sadhu Sundar Singh
[God] is not far away from us. Rather he awaits us every instant in our action, in the work of the moment. There is a sense in which he is at the tip of my pen, my spake, my brush, my needle.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
When the Lord so wills, it may happen that the soul will be at prayer, and in possession of all its senses, and that then there will suddenly come to it a suspension in which the Lord communicates most secret things to it, which it seems to see within God Himself. These are not visions of the most sacred Humanity; although I say that the soul “sees” Him, it really sees nothing, for this is not an imaginary, but a notably intellectual vision, in which is revealed to the soul how all things are seen in God, and how within Himself He contains them all.
Teresa of Avila
God walks among the pots and pipkins.
Teresa of Avila
When Jesus is present, all is well, and nothing seems difficult.
Thomas à Kempis
We should always honor and reverence Him as if we were always in His bodily presence.
Thomas à Kempis
When we sing, “Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,” we are not thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship. It is for increasing degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.
A.W. Tozer
Best of all is, God is with us.
John Wesley