Discovering the Lord's presence in your "quiet place"

Last week we discussed the importance of finding a place to quiet your mind. It is in this place where you can learn to discover the Lord's presence in  your life. If you tried the excercise last week, you most likely will have discovered how alive your senses can be while using your imagination. Generally people find themselves feeling relaxed and calm when they allow themselves to rest in their "quiet place"

If you regularly practice quieting your mind, you will find it easier and easier to quickly "get" to this place.  Once you are comfortable with relaxing and enjoying the images, you can simply invite Jesus to join you or ask Him to allow you to feel His presence.  While asking Jesus to join you may help you to become better positioned  to look for Him or listen for His voice, the reality is that too often all of us forget the Lord is already with us all the time.  The problem is not that He has left us, or He does not understand what we are going through or what we are feeling; the problem is that WE have forgotten the Holy Spirit LIVES within us and is ALWAYS with us. Therefore one of the benefits of quieting our minds and becoming aware of our senses is that it allows us to begin to experience the reality of the Lord's presence in our daily lives.

There is no magic formula or any specific way to ask the Lord to make His presense real for you.  I can only suggest you speak from your heart.  Perhaps you may want to simply ask Him to let you feel His presence, or maybe you will choose to ask Him if there is something He wants you to know.  Maybe He needs you to confront something that is uncomfortable for you, or maybe He just wants you to feel the peace He offers by just being with Him. 

It doesn't matter.  What matters is that you are waiting on Him and eagerly looking forward to forming and/or enhancing your relationship with Him. If you are committed to listening and waiting, I am certain you will begin to not only feel His presence, but you will begin to recognize His voice. 

All of this leads to one of the most common questions pertaining to prayer and "listening".  That question is: "If I hear something, how will I know if it is God?"  Next week we will discuss "Discerning the voice of God".