When you first hear the words “practicing his presence,” that all seems easy enough, right? Well… maybe not so much. I’ll take myself for example – when I first heard that phrase, I thought I had an idea of what it meant but soon realized that I was totally clueless. How so? Well, because I didn’t know HOW to practice His presence.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve talked with several people asking me how to see better in the spirit and/or engage the Kingdom Realms of heaven. Several conversations later, I’m beginning to realize that people don’t understand practicing. How do you truly “practice” God’s presence?
Most of my readers know by now that I’m a music teacher. That means I play a musical instrument and have spent many years learning how to perfect the art of playing that instrument. Because I was a band director, I learned to play all of the band instruments – many of them just good enough to be a step ahead of the students. My main instrument is the clarinet with my secondaries being piano and saxophone. I joke with my college students that I’ve spent more years in a practice room than they’ve been alive. I’m probably not overestimating that either… it’s the truth. To be a good classical musician, you have to practically be married to your instrument and a practice room.
In a conversation with a young man, he said that over the last year or so, he’d been trying to see with his spiritual eyes but is struggling with the “how to” in doing it. Yes, he can see things but often doubts what he sees. My questions to him were “Do you spend time every day going to meet Jesus and spending time with Him? Do you write down what you see and hear? Do you go back and ask for more revelation into what you previously saw and/or heard?” Not surprisingly, his answer was that he’d not been consistent. Key word here… CONSISTENT.
Let’s take a look at the typical classical musician’s life… As an undergraduate, I spent a minimum of four hours a day in the practice room. There were times that I’d literally spend my entire practice time on three or four measures, gradually moving the metronome up notch-by-notch until my hands were screaming “enough already!!!” I didn’t care… they had to obey me and if that meant doing it over and over until they cried “Uncle!!!,” I was going to do it. Pretty much, all the way through my doctoral program, I had the clarinet in my mouth at least 10 hours per day. By the end of the day, my chops (slang for embouchure) often felt like raw hamburger.
Fast forward to my teaching career… Part of learning to be a musician is getting some basics down. Some of those basics include “scales and arpeggios.” Whatever you start learning, it’s going to take more time at first but you have to get the patterns in your hands and brain as well as setting a routine. The more consistent and accurate you become, stuff gets easier and takes less time. All of my new students come in each fall and are hit with “you have to play all scales and arpeggios for a grade at the end of the semester.” I love the look of torment on their faces when I say this (sinister laugh here…). The point is that those students who do it EVERY DAY by starting slow and gradually speeding up, have their scales and arpeggios (cue up Aristocats movie scene…) at a solid performance level by the end of the semester. As students improve, playing scales and arpeggios becomes second nature to them.
How do you transfer this to the spiritual? That’s easy… you do exactly the same thing that I describe with learning scales/arpeggios to anything spiritual you’re learning. It’s called “do it every day.” When I first started learning to see in the spirit, I saw very little but… I kept at it. The more I did it, the more I saw. My goal has always been intimacy with the Father. If that’s not you’re main goal, you’re in trouble. And, I don’t say that lightly.
In my “Learning to Live in the Kingdom Realms” class, I teach people HOW to practice and find time to practice even with a busy lifestyle. I guess it’s time to ask the hard question… “how bad do you really want this?” If you’ve been listening to teachings and haven’t been practicing on a daily basis, you won’t see much change. You’ll have all this stuff crammed into your brain but have little practical experience in how to walk it all out.
I love Ian Clayton’s and Mike Parson’s teachings. They are so full of goodies that guide us to living as Sons of God. The process involves engaging in the kingdom realms IN heaven and spending time with the Father IN heaven as you build intimacy. To do that, you have to spend time in His presence. That’s what “practicing His presence” is all about. You literally practice by doing. The more you do it, the more it becomes a part of your lifestyle.
What if you doubt what you’re seeing and hearing? You imagine going UP into the Kingdom realms. That’s what John did; he heard a voice that said “come up here” so he went up into the presence of God. If you want more assistance in practicing, consider downloading the first four lessons in the “Learning to Live in the Kingdom Realms.” The individual lessons are on the PRODUCTS page of this site. Next, consider signing up for Ian’s or Mike’s classes (links on the RESOURCES page). There is also the group, NW Ekklesia, where you can sign up for group activations. Some are free and others cost a little bit based on the “class” you sign up for.
Bottom line… if you want to learn how to function in the spirit realm, you have to build a relationship with the Father just like you do with friends and family. Reading the Bible will only get you so far. You know the Father by spending time with Him, not just reading about Him. You do that by spending time in His presence or… practicing His presence. If you don’t do this daily, then it’s gonna be a lot more difficult.
Everything comes at a cost. So, what are you willing to “pay?” A time commitment of practicing and being in His presence is a good place to start. The rest often falls into place once you get some habits established. What do I see as the biggest road block for people? They give up too soon and don’t seem to have the drive to keep at it. Sorry, but the microwave mentality of “I want it now” doesn’t work in Kingdom principles. I would reiterate that the first cost will involve time. What are you willing to set aside to develop a relationship with God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit? Some of it may be easier than you think. It’s just a matter of changing some thought and behavior patterns.
Are you ready to practice His presence?