God is in the Room

Always. Now.

It begins with desire.

WHEREVER YOU ARE, there is a gentle, kind, loving, compassionate, peaceful Presence with you. A Presence who longs for you to experience love, hope, peace, freedom, joy. One who is even better than the best you can imagine Him to be. Our Helper, Deliverer, friend, Saviour . . . Lord.

It sounds amazing, doesn’t it? To have One with us who is so good?

Is there a way to become more aware of God’s presence? To increasingly allow His presence to inform and guide us in our daily lives? To more closely align with the Way of Jesus in paying attention to God and then responding to His invitation, presence and action?

It begins with desire Do you want to notice and be led by God? Why? Why not? As you explore your motivations, consider if you are: • Feeling uninspired Practicing the art of noticing God (discernment) is intriguing and can spark incredible creativity as we perceive the ultimate

Creator.

by Kathy Gust

A spiritual director, Kathy led a workshop on different types of prayer at our 2020 Women’s Conference. You’ll find the video on Baptist Women’s YouTube channel.

Unsplash.com/StephanieHarvey

• Wanting to experience more vibrancy of life. God is the source of all life and the more we spend time with and know

Him, the more fullness of life we experience. • Wondering how to discover one’s authentic self. Connecting with the One who created you helps you to understand who you are and gives you courage to release the things that don’t belong. • Ready to see more of God’s kingdom. We are invited to partner with God through noticing and responding to His presence and action in daily life. • Wanting to follow the Way of

Jesus. Jesus lived a life of consistent connection with the living

God. • Desiring a healthy relationship with God. Healthy relationships require noticing, listening, responding, and spending time with each other. • Wanting a life marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. This is the result of a life lived with the Holy Spirit.

There are barriers It’s important to be aware that there are barriers that work against our motivation to experience more of God’s presence. As you explore what might be a barrier for you, consider: • Does your attention span have room to notice God’s often subtle presence or are you too busy with other things? • How do you respond to the unknown? fear of the unknown can make us purposefully close our eyes to God’s action in our lives. • Are you concerned that if you try to notice God in your everyday life you’ll end up believing things that aren’t true and live in delusion? • Do you struggle with making decisions? Sometimes we don’t want to hear from God because we’re afraid He’ll ask us to do something we don’t want and then we’ll need to make a difficult decision. • Do you struggle with believing that God is real, good, or able to guide you? • Do you fear disappointment?

Sometimes we don’t risk taking

God up on His Word for fear of being disappointed. • Do you struggle with perfectionism? Noticing God’s presence is a skill like anything else . . . it takes practice, mistakes happen, and we risk feeling foolish in the process.

Noticing His presence The good news is that the better we know God, the easier it is to notice His presence. In human relationships, the more we know someone, the easier it is to pick out their voice in a crowd, to recognize them when we’re walking down the street, to find them when we need them. Healthy relationships foster love and trust. Deep relationships give us a sense of satisfaction and safety in being together. It is the same with God.

You are not abandoned. Being able to live a life connected with God is a promise of the Gospel that is freely offered and requires your response. If we want to say “yes” to living the Way Jesus lived, we’ll need courage, faith, discernment, humility and trust that God will lead and guide us into all truth.

Something I love about Jesus is that He meets us exactly where we are. Do you need more courage, faith, discernment, trust? Do you desire a greater capacity to notice and connect with God? Seek and ask God for these things. Do some of the barriers seem insurmountable? Share your concerns with Him. Pay attention to what happens next as you live your life with an increased awareness of your desire to notice and respond to God. Remember that not only are you longing for more of God in your life . . . He is longing for more of you in His. 