The Lost Art of Practicing His Presence, by James W. Goll
Jen Drury reviews this book for members of King’s Church.
What the book is about
Jesus seeks intimacy with us but this is not something we will ever casually or accidentally enter into. The author says that intimacy with God requires something on our part which must be deliberately planned for, diligently pursued and consciously desired: Stilling ourselves before God. The Lost Art of Practicing His Presence is about just that: the discipline of Christian “meditation” and “contemplative prayer” and knowing His presence in our daily lives.
Who I’d give the book to
I’d give this book to anyone who says that the chaos of their daily life constantly competes for and diverts their attention away from fixing their mind on fully God during prayer; to anyone who feels stuck in a conversational prayer life of lifting up word-laden, shopping-list prayers, but who wants to move into a full and satisfying relationship with Jesus; finally, to anyone who wants to know Jesus more!
‘Wasting’ time
The author does not suggest short-cuts or quick fixes to building, or repairing, intimacy with Jesus but makes a radical suggestion by the world’s standards: be extravagant in your worship by ‘wasting’ your time on God in contemplative prayer. It struck me that ‘to waste’ often has negative connotations because we learn that the consequence of ‘wasting’ is detrimental in some way. However, the consequence of ‘wasting’ your time on God is an expression of extravagant worship and the consequence of which is only good: knowing more of Jesus. Only by spending time with Him can we know Him and be changed to become more like Him.
Initially I was held back by a number of stereotypes I had about “meditation” and “contemplation” but Goll makes an essential distinction early on in the book which rescues Biblical meditation from any confusion with contemporary counterfeits: counterfeits are man-centered whereas Biblical meditation is God-focused and Jesus would have us fill our mind and heart with Him. Rather ‘quietness before God’ as something passive, I now understand it as a time which is very much active.
Brother Lawrence’s Letters
Part four of the book is an abridged, contemporised version of the letters of Brother Lawrence which were originally written in 17th century. I would recommend reading Goll’s book first and resist skipping straight to the letters. I feel that I understood Brother Lawrence’s closeness in his relationship with God having first read Goll’s book (there is a reason why Brother Lawrence’s Letter are at the end!).
And finally….
Goll does cite other authors extensively, and this does not always make for the smoothest of reads, but when this book is read slowly and digested section by section then I think you’ll agree that it is definitely worth sticking with it. The author writes passionately about living fully in the presence of God and I get the impression that he would be heartbroken if he thought his audience, having read the book, added the knowledge from this book to their repertoire simply for analytical debate: The Lost Art of Practicing His Presence communicates a passion for lives transformed by living in the fullness of the presence of God.
