Notes of Faith December 29, 2025

Practicing the Presence of God

Fill Thou My Life

“The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord…. “When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?”

Isaiah 1:11-12, NIV

A strange danger lies along the paths of Christians, the temptation to start going through the motions. It seems incredible that we would become desensitized to the sacred, but that’s what happened to the people of Israel. Isaiah accused them of going through certain rituals without mindfulness of their meaning or holiness.

We, too, can become so familiar with the “typical” things we do as Christians (like carrying a Bible, going to church regularly, or saying grace at meals) that their significance and meaning fades in our hearts. How easy to sing a song or share in a prayer while our minds wander!

To change all this, we need to cultivate a sense of God’s presence and remember the personal nature of our relationship with Him. We need to worship Him with our study of the Scriptures. During the coming year, make time every day to go to God’s Word, allowing it to fill your heart and mind with His truth.

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, in every part with praise, that my whole being may proclaim Thy being and Thy ways.

Horatius Bonar

Let us “remember” that God is always with us, everywhere, at all times, even when we sleep. Remembering the presence of God will help us to not practice our spiritual lives in error, without significance and true heart response to God’s love for us. Ask yourself, as you go through a typical day and week, if you are simply practicing habits without any heart, mind and spirit involved. God desires relationship!

Pastor Dale