I started reading John Ortberg’s God Is Closer Than You Think, and already the first chapter is resonating with my heart. He describes how God’s Great Desire is to be in relationship with us. He uses the painting of Michelangelo where God is reaching out to Adam (The Creation of Man, Sistine Chapel). He then demonstrates that throughout the bible, the primary promise is “I am with you” (and not “I forgive you”). The rest of the book promises to help us experience the ‘everywhereness’ of God. At the end of the chapter he offers a list of “Foundational Truths of My Life with God”, which he encourages us to reflect on each day for two weeks, to help us cultivate the practice of God’s presence. I reproduce them here for our mutual benefit!

Foundational Truths of My Life With God

• God is always present and active in my life, whether or not I see him.
• Coming to recognize and experience God’s presence is learned behaviour; I can cultivate it.
• My task is to meet God in this moment.
• I am always tempted to live ‘outside’ this moment. When I do that, I lose my sense of God’s presence.
• Sometimes God seems far away for reasons I do not understand. Those moments, too, are opportunities to learn.
• Whenever I fail, I can always start again right away.
• No one ever knows the full exptent to which a human being can experience God’s presence.
• My desire for God ebbs and flows, but His desire for me is constant.
• Every thought carries a ‘spiritual charge’ that moves me a little closer to or a little farther from God.
• Every aspect of my life – work, relationships, hobbies, errands – is of immense and genuine interest to God.
• My path to experiencing God’s presence will not look quite like anyone else’s.
• Straining and trying to hard do not help.

Review these truths once a day for two weeks as you cultivate the practice of God’s presence.

(John Ortberg, God Is Closer Than You Think, p.27)