One of my favorite saints in church history, Brother Lawrence from the 1600’s was a lay-minister in a monastery in Paris. He kept a daily journal. He called himself a servant of the servants of God.

Snippet from the sermon:

In other words, he’s the one [Brother Lawrence] who worked in the monastery, served the monks, washed the dishes, prepared things, worked in the gardens, went into the villages, and bought what was needed for meals. He was a servant.

In his journal, Brother Lawrence talked continuously about his ongoing conversations with the Lord. It was the idea of practicing God’s presence on a daily basis. I have his little book called Practicing His Presence. There was a phrase he used that I think nails down what it means to practice the presence of the Lord daily.

Continuously throughout my day, I experience secret conversations of the soul.

What we need to understand is that what is absent in our lives is not the presence of God. How many know that you are always in His presence? We are always in His presence. So what is absent in our lives is not God’s presence. What is absent in our lives is our awareness of His presence.

The more acute our awareness is of His presence, the deeper our faith, the deeper our spirituality, the deeper our peace, the deeper our calm, in the midst of a challenging and uncertain world in which we live.

Guest Speaker | Vernell Ingle
The Great Invitation

Pastor Jared’s dad shared the Word with us on Sunday. Rev. Vernell Ingle has served in ministry his entire adult life, from local pastorates to the executive offices of the PCG. He has recently retired from a professorship at Messenger College, Bedford, Texas. He now resides in Joplin, Missouri surrounded by family and 10 of his 13 grandkids.