Day 39 – Continual Joy
Brother Lawrence noticed that “for him, mental prayer had become the experience of God’s presence, his soul having withdrawn from everything except love. He hardly noticed any difference outside of this time since he kept himself close to God, praising and blessing him with all his strength, spending his life in continual joy.”
The kind of praying Brother Lawrence learned in his daily time with God became his experiential goal for every moment – loving God, living with Christ as a friend, enjoying life in the Spirit.
Moving from the prayer closet to the kitchen or the workshop were no different to him. His awareness of God’s presence and love was the same everywhere.
Sounds biblical!
• Offering up to God a continual, even sacrificial, feast of praise (Proverbs 15:15; Hebrews 13:15).
• Taking delight and finding joy in the Lord (Psalm 37:4; Isaiah 58:14).
• Rejoicing and being joyful in God our Savior (Habakkuk 3:18; Luke 1:47).
• Loving the Lord our God with all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30).
All these and more make up a glad heart bundled up in God, living recklessly for Jesus, walking cheerfully in energy of the Spirit.
When I became a Christian as a teenager, Jens Sorenson, an older man who was an intercessor in the church, was overjoyed with all the young people that were coming to faith in Christ. He had been praying toward this for years, and he was seeing God answer his prayers.
During one testimony meeting, sitting towards the back, he was happily saying repeatedly, “Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!”
Someone later asked him, “Jens, how did you like those testimonies?” He said he was rejoicing in seeing these young people testify, but he admitted that he couldn’t hear any of them! He had a hearing loss.
“Then why did you keep saying, ‘Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!’ so frequently if you couldn’t hear them?” He replied that he was having his own praise meeting with God!
Brother Lawrence’s life was a continual prayer meeting, an ongoing praise service, an uninterrupted celebration of joy!
Action Step: Break out with joy and singing to the Lord for all his goodness to you!
This is God’s Word for you today,
Pastor Dave
