Do you love God, read your Bible, and attend church—yet still feel spiritually dry or distant? In this episode, we explore what it truly means to practice the presence of God. Discover why intimacy with God is not built on emotions or spiritual highs, but on the unchanging realities of the gospel. Learn how to cultivate a steady awareness of God's nearness and experience the joy and stability found in walking consciously before His face.

Checkout these other Family Fortress Ministries Podcasts:

TIME FOR THREE daily couples devotional: https://time-for-three.captivate.fm/listen

RELATIONSHIP REALITIES: https://relationship-realities.captivate.fm/listen

Donate: https://familyfortress.org/donate

Free Online Premarital Training: https://preparingforpartnership.org/

Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.

It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.

Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.

And now, here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.

Psalm chapter 16.

Let me just start at verse 8.

Now, David, it kind of, kind of gets context.

We don't really know the exact setting of this psalm, but certainly we do know that David was certainly being hunted down by Saul.

He was on the run.

He had been through many situations where that he was being attacked or there were situations where they could provoke a lot of fear.

And David says this, these verses.

He says, I've set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand.

I shall not be moved, therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices.

My flesh also shall rest in hope, for Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.

Neither will thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.

Thou wilt show me the path of life.

In thy presence is fullness of joy.

At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

So let me ask you something as we start out here, guys.

Something really very personal.

Do you feel close?

Do you feel near to God?

Do you feel close?

Do you feel near to God?

And I'm sure most of you here today would say, you know, I love God.

If you're a Christian here today, and I'm making the assumption right now that most of you are, all of you are.

You say, if you ask me, do I love God?

Yes, I love God.

Do I believe in God?

Yes, I believe in God.

I read my Bible.

I often pray.

I attend church here pretty regularly.

I give of my tithes and offerings, I think.

But if you're honest, and I've talked to a lot of men about this, many of you admit that God often feels to you maybe somewhat far away.

Not because you don't care, but because our days are very hurried.

Our minds can get very distracted.

Temptations to us are constantly around us.

Life sometimes feels somewhat relentless.

And I think spiritually, many Christian men feel like they're running on fumes and are spiritually sometimes dry.

We might could say that sometimes life feels very loud and God feels very quiet.

That isn't because God has withdrawn from us.

It's because our awareness of God has drifted from him.

So in this session, what I want to share with you here this morning, I want to talk about what it really means to practice the presence of God.

Not emotionally, not mystically, a Lot of times you talk about practicing the presence of God.

It seems very mystical, but not emotionally, not mystically, but biblically.

What does that mean?

But before we practice anything, we must understand this, this foundational truth.

God is already present.

Now that's important to understand, and that's foundational.

I mean, Scripture is very clear about this.

I remind you of a few verses in Psalm 139.

It says, where shall I flee from your presence?

You are there.

Colossians 3:3 says, Your life is hidden with Christ in God.

The presence of God is not a feeling.

I think a lot of times we think of it as a feeling.

It's a fact.

And I think that's so important to understand.

You don't enter God's presence.

You begin in God's presence.

You do not bring God into your situation.

You, you are already, or God is already ruling your situation.

You do not create closeness with God.

Christ secured that closeness with God for you already.

This means practicing God's presence is not about making God near.

It's about becoming aware of the God who already is near.

And this is a little different mindset, I think, than we sometimes think about when we talk about practicing the presence of God.

So let me take a minute and talk about what practicing God's presence is not.

And once we understand that God's presence is a gospel reality, we must, I think, clear away some misconceptions and common misunderstandings about it.

And practicing the presence of God is not emptying your mind.

Scripture never calls us to empty our mind.

It calls us to do what?

Renew our mind.

Okay.

Not empty it, but renew it.

Okay.

Practicing the presence of God is not mastering breathing techniques.

It's not a mystical self awareness.

It's not treating God like an experience instead of a person.

All these things, I think are misconceptions.

It's not chasing emotional highs if we base God's presence on our emotions.

Your emotions come and go, and so God might come and go, if that's what you base it on.

Many Christians confuse intimacy with God with emotional intimacy.

God's presence gets reduced to goosebumps.

We might say music swells spiritual highs at conferences or sometimes even at retreats.

And I've seen this many times.

I don't know if you're familiar with this, but back in the mountains of Tennessee, back in Kentucky, we have.

Sometimes they'll have what they call camp meetings.

Anybody familiar with camp meetings?

And you Go to a camp meeting and you got all the music.

You got a preacher probably who comes in is preaching messages really that are very emotional messages a lot of times.

So they can get a lot of amens.

A lot of people agree with them.

You'll get.

People get up and run around the building sometimes.

You may have never seen anything like this, but I'm talking about.

It's a very emotional time.

And you know, people get really.

It's like a, like a pep rally for God almost, you know, and people get very, very high.

And I've seen this at camp meetings.

And then a week or two later, they're very, very low.

You know, I think what happened, you know what happened during that time.

And you know, God engages our emotions, no question about that.

But his presence is never sustained by emotion alone.

Biblical intimacy is steadier, deeper and far more durable than a feeling.

Praise God.

If God's presence is real, and it is, and it's not emotional, then intimacy with him must be grounded in something much stronger.

And I want to share with you six things God's presence is.

You might jot these down.

I think it'll be very helpful to you to think about this.

So God's presence number one.

Practicing the presence of God is truth driven.

Is truth driven.

And let me give you a few verses for each one of these.

In John chapter 4 and verse 23 and 24, it says, but the hour cometh now is when the true worshiper shall seek, shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

For the Father seeketh such to worship him.

God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Intimacy with God is rooted in truth, not sensation.

We do not draw near to God through impressions or moods, but through what he has revealed about himself.

Jesus said that true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth.

What truth?

When truth shapes our.

Listen.

When truth shapes our thinking, our emotions follow our thinking, right?

Not the other way around.

That's important to understand in the day we live in.

A man anchored in truth does not ask, do I feel close to God today?

But am I believing what God has said about himself and about me today?

That's a big difference.

So the practicing the presence of God is truth driven.

It's also Christ centered.

Secondly, it's Christ centered.

Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19 says, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith.

God's presence is never excessed apart From Jesus Christ.

We do not come to God through experience, rituals or effort, but through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Our closeness to the Father rests in Christ's righteousness, not our emotional condition.

When intimacy with God is Christ centered, it becomes very stable.

A man's nearness to God no longer, we might say, rises and falls with his performance or feelings.

It stands firm and in who he is, his identity in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So we need to understand, secondly, that practicing the presence of God is Christ centered.

Thirdly, practicing the presence of God is Spirit enabled.

It's spirit enabled.

I remind you of the verse in Romans, chapter 8.

In verse 15 and 16.

For you did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that.

That we are the children of God.

Practicing God's presence is not something we manufacture.

I think a lot of times that's what people try to do.

They try to manufacture that is something the Holy Spirit enables us.

The Spirit opens our eyes to truth, convicts our hearts and draws us into communion with God.

The Spirit produces awareness of God's nearness, even when emotions are flat and circumstances are very, very difficult.

That's why spiritual maturity is marked not by constant excitement, but by quiet dependence on the Spirit's work within us.

Now, practicing the presence of God fourthly is word saturated.

It's word saturated.

Colossians 3:16 says, Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.

God has chosen to make himself known through His Word.

A man cannot expect to walk in awareness of God's presence while neglecting the very means God uses to reveal Himself to Him.

Scripture shapes our thoughts.

It corrects our assumptions and realigns our heart to God.

The Word of God does not merely inform us.

It trains us to recognize God at work in everyday life around us.

Let me say fifthly, practicing the presence of God is obedience expressed.

Obedience expressed.

And listen to this, and I will manifest myself to Him.

Intimacy with God is expressed through obedience to God, not emotional display.

Jesus said, those who love him will keep his.

What keeps?

Keep his commandments.

Obedience is not the price we pay for God's presence.

It's the fruit of it.

Let me say that again.

I think it's important.

Obedience is not the price we pay for God's presence.

It's the fruit of it.

A man who walks in obedience may not always feel spiritually energized.

But he will be deeply rooted, steady and close to God.

Let me say sixthly, practicing the presence of God is daily lived.

It's daily lived.

God's presence is not confined to worship services, is not confined to quiet times or spiritual moments.

It's practice in ordinary life, at work, in traffic, in conversations we have every day, in temptations, in decisions, and in our homes.

God's presence is not about escaping life to find God, but about learning to walk with God in the middle of life.

True intimacy with God is not found in chasing spiritual highs, but in a steady, reverent awareness of God, rooted in truth, centered in Christ, enabled by the Spirit, shaped by the word of God, expressed in obedience and lived out daily.

This brings us to what I would like to share with you, a biblical definition, practicing God's presence.

And I wrote these down, these words down, and I'm going to kind of then give you three pillows of practically applying this to your life.

I think a good biblical definition would be this.

Practicing the presence of God is living consciously before God's face.

That's called coram Deo.

Living consciously before God's face with faith, obedience and affection, because Christ has united us to Himself by His Spirit.

Let me say that again.

Practicing the presence of God is living consciously before God's faith, with faith, obedience and affection, because Christ has unified and united us to Himself by His Spirit.

Now this, this really includes.

That definition includes four theological realities.

The first is theology.

That is God is present, okay?

And it says, and I'm just trying to break this down, Christology, we unite it to Christ, okay?

Secondly, Pneumatology, and I'm giving you some theological terms.

The Spirit enables our awareness of God, okay?

In sanctification, we respond in obedience.

And those are four, I think, key things.

Theology.

God is present.

Christology.

We are united to Christ.

Pneumatology, We're Spirit enabled by the Spirit of God within us.

In sanctification, we respond in obedience to God.

And so practicing the God's presence is not mystical.

It's deeply biblical and deeply practical.

So I want to share with you.

I'm going to call these three pillows practicing God's presence.

Thank you for joining the Fortifying youg Family podcast.

And if you feel encouraged by today's teaching, give us a follow so we can invite you back and share us on your socials so more marriages and families can be strengthened and fortified through the truths of God's word.

Remember, fortifying your family starts with a strong belief in God's Word.