Barnabas Letters
#3
June 22, 2006

Practicing His Presence

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit , and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
John  4: 23-24


    Hi friends, yes it has been a couple of weeks since you have heard from me in a Barnabas letter. I do apologize and will attempt to not be so distracted with life as time goes on.

    I want to thank all of you who have read my book and encouraged me with your positive remarks. Please remember to post your review of my book on Amazon.com and send me a copy of it and I will also post it on my website.

    Also, I have begun to set up some speaking engagements on the websites calendar if you are interested in attending. 

    Today’s letter is a piece of my journal which I began to write today.

    I have begun an exercise of practicing the presence of Christ in my life and decide to journal each day so I could look back and see how I am doing when the days are tough. In the midst of writing the journal today, God impressed me to share parts of it with you for encouragement. I hope you are encouraged and please feel free to email me with any comments or concerns you may have.

    So, here we go!

Jeremy’s Journal
Begun June 22, 2006

June 22 2006
11:15am
   
    It has certainly been a long road to this point in my life.

    Several days ago I read “Practicing His Presence”, a story of two men, Frank Laubach who lived from 1884-1970 and Brother Lawrence (Nicholas Herman) a Frenchman born in 1611. Both  these men in their later years dedicated their lives to practicing the presence of God every moment of every day of their lives. Why? Because they were not satisfied with their fellowship with God.

    I too, have found myself dissatisfied with the depth of my fellowship with God. I want more of Him than I have ever had, and so, on I proceed as did the former men of long ago, who developed such a deep and meaningful relationship with God, Jesus oozed from every pore of their being.

    I have certainly been a wanderer in my life and am guilty of “a wandering few months” out of Gods will and into my own self indulgent ways, in the not too distant past.

    I rediscovered the emptiness that fills a mans life when he does it his way, and the pain of disappointment in the eyes of those he loves the most, as he wallows in storms of his own making. I had grown weary of the politics and hypocrisies within the church.

    Drawn by the temptations of an old life from the past, I wandered out into the world on my own, angry and just wanting some peace in life for once.

    Peace failed to show itself, with the exception of a fleeting second or two within the duration of my staggering rebellion. I attempted to ignore God and what I knew was right, but quickly discovered, I could not resist the pull of my loving, compassionate, and merciful friend.

    Jesus, as He had promised, never did leave me. I continually sensed His whisper within my heart, “Come Home to Me, and I will Give You Rest”.

    I did come home to Jesus, and am so grateful to Him for His mercy poured out upon a broken man. Directly thereafter, I chose to never again wander from my Savior, Jesus Christ, and went about the writing of my book “Just Loving Them”.

    Writing the book was a matter of obedience, not desire. I had made the decision to follow the desires of Christ, not my own. I obeyed to the completion of the book, knowing His hand upon me throughout.

    The book now completed, I sense myself drawn to write the next book, which God has already placed within my heart, title and all.

    But then, there is that matter of a deeper, and more satisfying  relationship with God.

    I figure, if those two men from the past can achieve such a thing, so can I, with a lot of help from my friend.

    God intoxicated, as defined by Frank Laubach. That is what I desire more than life itself, to become God intoxicated.

    At this point in my life, I do have a wonderful relationship with Jesus, but as stated before, I am not satisfied, and have chosen to follow the designs written in the book “Practicing His Presence”. I could say, I have begun to imitate the lives of those two Godly men, with sturdy determination.

     Since beginning this exercise several weeks ago, I have discovered the task of acknowledging the fullness of Christ’s presence, to be quite the struggle. It seems I am able to focus upon His presence for only moments at a time, until some distraction takes place.

    Each day lends itself an exceptional challenge to think upon Jesus as I move and work physically. Though the deeper I dig, through prayer, bible study, and just spending time meditating upon His presence in the moments of daily living, I am discovering a greater love for Jesus taking place. I find the once time consuming things of distraction, such as television and surfing the Net, have become less important. The struggles which come alongside daily life are becoming less of a battle as each day becomes a renewed effort in the exercise of practicing the wonderful presence of a very gentle Jesus.

    I had great concern as to the total giving up of my will, for Gods will in Jeremy’s life, and how difficult a battle that might become as time goes by in my Christ filled exercise. I have been elated to enjoy a subtle, not unpleasant, exchange of my will for Gods will taking place naturally as I seek Him and His presence with my heart.

                              Gods Blessings,      Jeremy