Spiritual Solutions

From the Fourth Conversation of Brother Lawrence in his book The Practice of the Presence of God, we learned some valuable lessons we can apply in our own spiritual practice, as follows: Let go everything which does not lead to God.

 Recognize God as being immediately present by having a continual conversation with God, with freedom and simplicity, and with praise and love for His infinite goodness.

Seek God’s help in knowing His will when things are not clear, or for your acting rightly when you see things clearly, and to pray for God’s grace with complete confidence.

Don’t do things to try to please others, but do all things purely for the love of God.

Put your whole trust in God, surrender completely to Him.

All things are possible to the one who believes; they are less difficult to the one who hopes; they are more easy to the one who loves; and still more easy to the one who perseveres in the practice of these three virtues. (This is powerful!)

Don’t be too concerned about troubles, temptations, oppositions and contradictions. Bear with them, and know that these things can be highly advantageous to us, making us more dependent upon divine grace - the outpouring of God’s love.

Filled with a sense of God’s immediate presence, do your work as well as possible. Afterwards examine if you did it well and if so, give thanks to God; and if not, ask pardon and set your mind right again as you continue to exercise the presence of God as if you had never deviated from it.

Let your example be a stronger inducement for others to adopt a spiritual life than any arguments for it.

Now we turn to the Letters of Brother Lawrence. Here is the First Letter;

Since you desire so earnestly that I should communicate to you the method by which I arrived at that habitual sense of God’s presence, which our Lord, of His mercy, has been pleased to vouchsafe to me, I must tell you that it is with great difficulty that I am prevailed on by your importunities; and now I do it only upon the terms that you show my letter to nobody.

If I knew that you would let it be seen, all the desire that I have for your advancement would not be able to determine me to do it. The account I can give you is:

Having found in many books different methods of going to God, and diverse practices of the spiritual life, I thought this would serve rather to puzzle me than facilitate what I sought after, which was nothing but how to become wholly God’s.

This made me resolve to give the all for the all; so after having given myself wholly to God, that He might take away my sin, I renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He, and I began to live as if there as none but He and I in the world.

Sometimes I considered myself before Him as a poor criminal at the feet of his judge; at other times I behold Him in my heart as my Father, as my God. I worshiped Him the oftenest that I could, keeping my mind in His holy presence, and recalling it as often as I found it wandered from Him.

I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued it, notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without troubling or disquieting myself when my mind had wandered involuntarily. I made this my business as much all the day long as at the appointed times of prayer; for at all times, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of interrupting my thought of God.

Such has been my common practice ever since I entered in religion; and though I have done it very imperfectly, yet I have found great advantages by it. These, I well know, are to be imputed to the mere mercy and goodness of God, because we can do nothing without Him, and I still less than any.

But when we are faithful to keep ourselves in His holy presence, and set Him always before us, this not only hinders our offending Him and doing anything that may displease Him, at least willfully, but it also begets in us a holy freedom, and, if I may so speak, a familiarity with God, wherewith we ask, and that successfully, the graces we stand in need of.

In fine, by often repeating these acts, they become habitual, and the presence of God rendered as it were natural to us. Give Him thanks, if you please, with me, for His great goodness toward me, which I can never sufficiently admire, for the many favors He has done to so miserable a sinner as I am. May all things praise Him. Amen.

I am, in our Lord,

Yours, etc.

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-six years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions or go directly to the Spiritual Solutions Blog

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