PRESENCE PRAYER AND MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness can be described as the practice of paying attention, with an intention, and in the present moment. So mindfulness is a key aspect of Presence Prayer.

God Is mindful towards us and that is where the original concept of mindfulness came from. 

Hebrews 2:6 What is man, that you are mindful of him (mnaomai), or the son of man, that you care for him? This Scripture is quoting David in Psalm 8:4-6 and is speaking of the Father being mindful of Jesus but it is ultimately speaking of God being mindful of all of humanity. 

People in our Western culture use mindfulness as a practice for sharpening their focus of attention in the present moment for doing productive things or for engaging in leisure or creative skills, and also as a form of emotional therapy for staying calm in times of stress. It has generally become a psychological discipline that is useful for finding some order in a busy and agitated world. That is well and good and helpful, but it does not reach the highest goal of conscious mindfulness that God has prepared for us. 

Our mindfulness of God does more than just help us to pay attention to the inner space of what is meaningful in our life, it puts us in touch with the source of all meaning in our life, God himself. David also wrote of God’s initiative in this mindfulness. 

How precious are your thoughts (rêa – intentions, purposes) towards me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (Psalm139:17 )

It was God who invented the practice of mindfulness and we can see that he is focussing his full attention upon us with an intention of seeing us becoming the person we were created to be from eternity, and in the eternal now present moment. And he wants us to get to know him and also to know that we are known by him – so it is a two-way thing -  God starts the process of mindfulness towards us and invites us to respond. When we complete the loving circle of mindfulness back to God it delights his heart, which yearns for that intimate connection (James 4:5 - The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously. And right there begins a divine process of inner wholeness and transformation for us. (Romans 12:2 - being transformed by the renewing of the mind). So What becomes transformed is more than just our behaviour - it is the consciousness of who we really are in union with God through Jesus. When this consciousness is front and centre in our mind we become actively guided by his attentive gaze, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. (Psalm 32:8). We also read in Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the thoughts I have towards you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’

God wants us to know that we are known. God wants to help us locate our known self within himself – and that is our inner source of power and love- the treasure in the earthen vessel. That is the wellspring, the fountain of living water. We can’t find it on our own, we are taken there by the Holy Spirit. 

John 16:14 he takes of what Jesus has said and of who Jesus is and reveals it to us. 

He takes us on this journey of mindful focus and intention. The Holy Spirit hears the cry of our heart which says; I want to know someone who really knows me and can help me find who I really am and who understands how I feel so that I can be who I really should be. That is powerful – and that is why David exclaimed ‘What IS man that you are mindful of him – are you that interested and focussed in me? – in us?

Our life as part of the human race, created to be part of God’s family is about knowing God and becoming KNOWN! – Known of God; Galatians 4.9. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world? 

When a person really feels heard they are tremendously grateful. They feel like saying – ‘how wonderful to know that someone is beginning to understand what it is like to be me’. And God says; ‘how wonderful that someone is beginning to want to know me and to be KNOWN by me’. And he then says My presence will go with you and I will give you rest, for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name. (Exodus 33:14 ) and also Behold, I have written your name on the palms of my hands; (Isaiah 49:16 ). 

We have to know we are being heard by a merciful God without being judged, condemned, or rejected for imperfect performance. This is because he knows we are serious about knowing Him. When we begin to understand this and believe this that we are known like this we enter into the healing  light of his lovingkindness where our darkness can be conquered. ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you to me.’ (Jeremiah 31:3)

We develop in the growth of mindfulness with God through the challenges of life. We each have different personal situations to contend with; relational, financial, self-worth, and general fears and anxieties. But the greatest challenge is not what the actual external situation is but the fear on the inside that needs to be faced and met with faith. Our state of mindful faith in these situations determines the quality of peace and stability in our personal lives. Otherwise, life becomes a series of reactions because we are not in that settled place of mindful faith within ourselves and this affects the quality of our wisdom in decision making and the ability to recover from the consequences of our mistakes and from the mishaps that happen unexpectedly. ‘be anxious for nothing, but talk to me about what your needs are, with hope and thanksgiving in your heart. And the peace of God which surpasses understanding will guard your hearts and minds…’ Philippians 4:6

When we are flowing in mindfulness with God we can not only find a place of peace within ourselves but a place of empowered faith in God that makes us more aware of his compassion for the pain and suffering for others that we know, so that we can touch his compassion and be more effective in providing help and care and prayer. In this way we can come together in many places as groups and gatherings of faith and love and care, being mindful of one another that we are all going through different things at different times at different levels, and being aware of a ‘faith safety net’ of common goodwill and care in the group. In this year of my own grief and loss and other difficulties I have felt that safety net of your intercessory prayer for me in this way.

In the Book of Joshua when Joshua prepared to take Isreal across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, he told the company of twelve priests (representing the twelve tribes) to carry the ark upon their shoulders across the flooding river (Joshua 3:8 – shoulders speak of representative authority and bearing burdens). The ark contained the presence of God, and the people were to follow this company at a distance of 2000 cubits. The priests were commanded to stand at the edge of the Jordan River and God said he would do a great miracle and drive out all their enemies before them. The people were told ‘When the priests who are carrying the Ark touch the water with their feet, the river will stop flowing as though held back by a dam and will pile up as though against an invisible wall all the way back to Adam!’ This was the work of God, not the work of the priests; all they had to do was to carry the ark, the presence of God, but they had to have faith that God would do the mighty miracle work in the world of the unseen. Their natural minds would have said ‘We are going to drown in there’, but they would have had no doubt that they were bearing the presence of God on behalf of all the people.

Then all the people crossed at a spot where the river was close to the city of Jericho, and the priests who were carrying the Ark stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan and waited as all the people passed by.

The people would never have entered into the Promised Land or entered into a new life under God where they could give thanks to have his spiritual blessings and his provision of fields and crops and houses. They had become used to struggling and straggling in the wilderness without hope or confidence – and now their time had come. But it required that the priests stood in the gap. Those priests who were 2000 cubits in front of the rest were a prophetic picture of Jesus as our High Priest overcoming darkness and death for us almost 2000 years ago on the cross so that we could enter into the fulness of the Promise of God in Jesus and could be included in his life, and his baptism in the Jordan river was a picture of his death and resurrection

Today we can be like those priests that stand in the gap for others, carrying the presence of God in our hearts for his supernatural working in the world of the unseen not only in our lives, but also in the challenging situations of those people in our world that we stand in the gap for. Everything about this battle is about celebrating victory rather than fearfully anticipating the dreadful sense of failure or helplessness – no, we expect the supportive and authoritative burden carrying power that God has given to each one of us, as Paul wrote in Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ. So enter into the simplicity of this, it not complicated, and don’t expect to have to have some ecstatic feeling or experience of the presence of God – no it is by faith. You’ve heard all the Scriptures today, look them up. Know that this is the purposeful intention of God and know that he gave those priests a commandment to carry his presence for themselves and for the other people. At these times you may not feel very confident but you don’t need to have confidence in your own strength – it’s not you, it