So Eric we're talking about practicing the presence of God, experiencing His presence.
And you mentioned that one of the major issues is distractions.
Yes.
How do we get rid of distractions in prayer?
I use two "R" words, remove and refuse.
I remove my attention from everything and give it to Him.
And then I sustain it there by refusing entrance of other attentions.
And so that really helps me a lot as a thing that I like to do that really helps me when
I have a thought come up.
I say, "Shh" and it really helps.
One of the most powerful things the Holy Spirit ever said to me in prayer was, "Shh."
Because I had all these things going on.
You see, there's stillness that's external; then there's also stillness that's internal.
Stillness that's external is removing yourself from the noise of life, while stillness that's
internal is removing yourself from the internal noise of your own mind, and your own anxieties
and things like this.
And how do you do that?
I mean let's say you're going through a very difficult time.
Maybe there's financial pressure or whatever.
How, how do you keep those things from just pressing in and barging in?
Right.
I think David is the one that we look at for, for key devotional keys, or bullet points.
"To you, oh God, I lift up my soul."
"I will lift up mine eyes to the hills."
It's pulling your attention away from the things that are here and giving your attention
to Him.
That's why he says, "I lift up mine eyes," away from the Earth.
And this is what has to happen.
A lot of times our eyes are here at ourselves.
We have to remove them from ourselves and the Earth and look unto God.
Lord, I choose to look at you.
This is the issue.
And once a man begins to look at the beauty of the Lord he's blinded to all the distractions
of self and this life.
So that's how a man does it: remove and refuse.
Remove your attention and refuse the entrance of attention.
And look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith.
You make this sound really easy.
Yeah.
Is it, is it easy for you?
Well it is very easy.
I think the only difficulty is thinking that it's not easy.
Yeah, so it's, it's very easy.
I mean Jesus says, "You know, my yoke is easy, you know my burden is light."
The thing that makes it so difficult is that we have thought it's more than what it really
is.
It really is just simply looking to Him.
Just as I look to you right now, I'm giving my attention to you, it's the same way.
Even as I talk to you I can have my attention upon Jesus.
A man can be in a meeting, listening to the meeting and totally present but at the same
time looking at Jesus.
As a matter of fact the soul was made to do everything while looking at Jesus.
A lot of people think, "I've got a lot of stuff going on and I've got a lot of things
I have to do, and because of this there's no way I can give my attention to God."
They fail to realize that the soul is made by God to look at God, and be empowered by
God, to please God and glorify Him in the Earth.
So this is the issue: I can look at Jesus; it's very easy.
And I can -- I can keep my gaze upon Him, and from there receive or extract strength
to be able to live my life.
We have a saying, a popular saying that somebody can -- is so heavily minded that they're no
earthly good.
What I hear you saying is the more heavenly minded the more earthly good?
Yeah because everything's enriched by God, by His presence.
And empowered.
Powered, yeah.
But how, you know, I've never asked you this before, so I may be putting you on the spot
here but what you're saying is very good in theory, right?
And that's what most people are going to say: "Yeah, that sounds really good, theologically
sound, makes sense."
"Except when I'm going through something really difficult, and the theory has to be put into
practice then it doesn't work so smoothly."
Have you had to put this into practice in your own life during a season of turmoil or
where the pressures of life really were trying to overwhelm you?
Yeah, as a matter of fact I find that the most difficulties in this life have to do
with how self-centered I am, and how self-conscious I am.
So it gets harder and harder the more pressures of life try to make you look at yourself and
look at this life.
But when you can pull yourself away from those things, in exact proportion to the difficulty,
He will give you comfort.
And that's, that's where He shines brightest is when it's darkest.
So what I hear you saying is when, when we're in those seasons of difficulty and darkness
and pressure the temptation is to put our focus on those things.
But actually the more we put our focus on them the more difficult they become.
Yes, definitely.
But what you're saying is the thing that seems counterintuitive, which is taking our attention
off of them, putting it on Jesus makes the burden lighter.
Right.
And makes even going through the trial easier as we focus on Him.
Yeah, most definitely, yes.
And that's what Jesus is showing us when He says, "Salvation."
David calls God actually "Salvation".
Several times he says, "You are my salvation."
Other times he says, "My salvation."
He actually names Him "Salvation."
Salvation is being delivered out of a life that does not have His presence.
That's what salvation is.
He's called us to Himself.
So really what God has given to us through the shedding of His blood is a reconciliation.
The ripping of the veil and entrance into Himself, so that man can dwell there and live
there.
And so this is what salvation actually is.
And if He does -- if He does not have the power to deliver us out from the oppressions
of this life then what is salvation if it is not delivered out from a life apart from
His presence and into a life that lives with his presence?