Life is about God. As I wake into this Sunday, which is the day of the week that I choose to celebrate as my Sabbath day of rest, I am focusing not on myself, my journey, my life, or anything else but simply focusing on God.

I am reading through a devotional book: “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Day By Day” and I came upon this quote:

“Although I often try to pull it off, I know that I cannot really be present for another person when my inner world is filled with preoccupations and distractions. This is one of the biggest challenges I face in being present for others – being still within my own soul. Stillness is the precondition of presence. I must first be still to myself if I am to be still with another. And, of course, I must learn to be still before God if I am to learn to be still in myself. Presence begins with a still place within oneself. If I have no such still inner place, I cannot really be present for others.” – David G. Benner, from the book: “Sacred Companions: The Gift Of Spiritual Friendship and Direction”

I love the part about stillness within myself:

“Stillness is the precondition of presence.”

In all my years on this journey, it’s been hard for me to explain to others how I hear God’s voice, to explain my relationship with Him to others. 

How does one explain such a thing as this?… I’ll try again.

I hear God by being still within myself and listening. As I am still in the quiet places, God speaks to me as anyone else would. I listen as He speaks. I recognize the sound of His voice, the tones, the emotions in His Words, the images He wants me to see, the visions, etc. when I am listening to Him in that quiet stillness within it’s as if all that is me has become quiet and unmoving within me and all my focus is on what He is communicating.

Sometimes He breaks into my day. I’ll be doing the dishes, or the laundry and He will make a comment about something. Most of the time He makes me laugh with what He says because it’s funny. He has a wonderful sense of humor and loves to make me laugh. I am smiling thinking about this part of our relationship and the moments I’ve had with Him that come to mind.

The sense of His presence varies in strength from time to time depending on the circumstances and moment I’m having with Him. Sometimes we talk and I have no sense of His presence but His voice. At other times I’m bowed down with my face to the ground, and He is speaking deep into my soul. At other times I’m curled up in bed and He is just holding all that I am still and comforting me. Sometimes I feel something like a wind blowing over me in a room without a door or window open to the world and no fan blowing. Sometimes I feel fire on me, like my body has become very warm, not uncomfortably so, most of the time, but warm. A sensation of heat that accompanies His presence.

So, we return to the quote: “Stillness is the precondition of presence”. I agree.

It’s important to keep in mind that a relationship with God is just that. Mine has been growing and developing over the course of my 42 and a half years since God created me. I’ve heard His voice since always… my earliest memories of life include him speaking… but my confidence that it is in fact Him speaking has grown as our relationship has grown. 

So, I encourage you to seek Him in the quiet stillness where He can be found. Read His Word. Listen to the records of Him speaking that have been written for you in the Word of God. Get to know Him. Listen and continue to listen. As your relationship with Him grows so with all the other aspects of it.

I know who I am because He has told me who He created me to be. He has been shaping and redefining my identity these past six and half years. You can read about all that in this book series. The Book Of Benjamin Kareth is my testimony and my relationship with God on display for you.

One of my favorite verses is this one, it’s John the Baptist speaking:

“John replied, “A man can receive nothing [he can claim nothing at all] unless it has been granted to him from heaven [for there is no other source than the sovereign will of God].” – John 3:27 AMP

Do you want a deeper relationship with God? Have you tried asking Him for it and giving God the time for the relationship to develop?

As I sit here I feel God’s presence overwhelming me. That tells me that He is pouring this Word out onto this page for you to read.

A warning of course that I must give… He is fire and He is flames. Remember what God told Moses about the mountain where God’s presence was being manifested?:

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, so that they do not break through [the barriers around the mountain] to the Lord to see [Me], and many of them perish [as a result].” – Exodus 19:21 AMP

Do you want a relationship with God? Then you will have to die… to yourself. I wrote the book of this series called “Entering The Flames” Part 22 of The Book Of Benjamin Kareth and it is all about God’s presence and relationship with Him. Read it. God is Fire and He is Flames. He consumes all who come near Him.

Does your heart cry out, “Let me see your glory!” Then climb the mountain and enter into His presence. The man or woman who enters into His presence is never the same.

God once had a friend that bought me a t-shirt when I was homeless and had nothing. This shirt read: “You become what you behold.”

This can be understood better by this verse:

“Beloved, we are [even here and] now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children] be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory]. And everyone who has this hope [confidently placed] in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (holy, undefiled, guiltless).” – 1 John 3:2-3 AMP

“We will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is.”

But this principle is even now at work in the world for all of God’s children who seek to behold Him. 

Is there a hunger burning in you to know God as I do? All relationships take time to develop. If you’ve begun that journey with Him then continue it. If you haven’t started it then start it. It will cost you everything. God will have no rivals for your attention or affection. He is a jealous God and as you get to know Him more and more you’ll learn what this truly means.

So… practically speaking how do we seek Him?

Well, I can’t really tell you that. But I can tell you where to find Him. He is in the quiet stillness of the secret place. That’s where you’ll find Him.

Perhaps Jesus instructions will help you here:

“But when you pray, go into your most private room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. [1 Kin 18:25-29]” – Matthew 6:6-7 AMP

Get alone anywhere. Still your inner self. Then just be with Him. Talk to Him. Listen to Him. Walk with Him. Let Him speak to you throughout your day. Read His Word.

Your relationship won’t look like my relationship does… they might have similarities but don’t forget we are all uniquely created to relate to God as we have been created to do so.

And don’t ever stop seeking Him… this is vital. He likes to hide himself and test your sincerity. He does this quite often with me. He will get really quiet and won’t speak for days or weeks. But even in His silence He is speaking to me.

I am single. I am not married or dating anyone. God gave me a wedding ring awhile back. I wear it. He explained that He had begun the relationship with me and He was promising me that He was going to maintain it. He has held onto me tightly over the years. I belong to Him. I am held by Him. I am sustained by Him. If ever there was a moment that He stopped thinking of me I would cease to exist.

Perhaps there is someone you know that’s been struggling to get to know God? Maybe share this with them? Encourage them to keep seeking as I’m encouraging you to seek Him.

He is the prize. He is the meaning of life. He is all that is worth having. He is everything beautiful and lovely. He loves you and created you with purpose. He created you for Himself, to belong to Him.

I look forward to spending the eternities of the eternities with Him and with all those who chose Him as well.