Episode 18 Jesus Is Here

God’s omnipresence is easy to affirm and surprisingly hard to live. We’re Scott and Amy, and we get honest about the gap between Christian belief and Tuesday afternoon behavior. Psalm 139 says there’s nowhere we can go from God’s presence, but most of us still move through the day like we’re on our own, filtering our choices based on who we think is “in the room.”

We dig into how Jesus actually lives. In John 5:19, Jesus describes a dependent relationship where he does what he sees the Father doing, a life shaped by attention, trust, and responsiveness. If that’s how Jesus walks, then Christian discipleship is more than learning ideas; it’s learning awareness. We talk about the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God here and now, and why “God is with me” changes the way we handle stress, temptation, joy, and everyday decisions.

Then we make it practical. We share how the spiritual discipline of solitude trains us to recognize God’s presence, how ordinary places like your car can become a space for ongoing conversation with Christ, and why the mindset matters: doing life with God instead of doing tasks for God. We also bring in Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, plus simple tools like saying “Jesus is here” and setting a repeating phone reminder to re-center your mind.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s one moment today where you want to practice remembering God is here?

The Practice of the Presence of God: Lawrence, Brother: 9780883681053: Amazon.com: Books

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello, listeners. This is Scott. I'm here with Amy. And we're glad that you guys are following along. Listen to our podcast. We're in it together. We're brothers and sisters who talk about life in the kingdom of God and things that we're learning and how to be disciples of Jesus and follow him and live to become like him in every way possible. And so we're glad that you're with us today. We've got a uh a fun topic that I love to talk about today that we're gonna discuss, and it's the omnipresence of God. And if you're not familiar with that term, uh you know, Christian fundamental belief is that God is present all the time, everywhere. There is nowhere that God is not present or able to be present. And so, Amy, I think you have a verse that you wanted to read to kind of start us off.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Yes, uh this passage is Psalm 139, verses 7 through 10. Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I descend to the heaven, you're there, and if I make my bed in sheep, oh you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

No matter where we go, no matter what the situation is or the circumstance or the location, the Lord is present and able to be with us and to guide us, to be a shield to us. And so, you know, in Christian, you know, belief, we believe that God is omnipresent, right? There are a couple other omnis, then you know that he's all powerful, omnipotent, he is the all-knowing, he's omniscient. And and I like to also reach out and believe that God is omnitemporal, but we won't get into that today. He's he is not limited by time. Omnipresent, like God is everywhere all the time. And we, it's a tenet of our faith, but what I've come to realize is that we don't really practice what we believe real well a lot of times. And so I guess it I would raise the question of like, how well, how much of your life do you live being mindful and cognizant and practicing the reality that God is with you, next to you, sitting with you, walking with you, wherever you are all the time. Because I know as a kid, you know, before my Jesus days, I tend to cuss like a sailor. But when an adult was around, I acted differently. And, you know, I think that there's a lot of truth in learning how to live like Jesus and become like Jesus and have Jesus alive and in me, and learning how to practice the reality that God is present. I think this is how Jesus lived. I'm gonna read a passage from John's gospel, John chapter 5, and verse 19, Jesus says, He gave them the answer. Very truly, I tell you, the son can do nothing by himself, he can do only what he sees his father doing. Because whatever the father does, the son also does. For the father loves the son and shows him all that he does. Yes, he will show you even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed. Right? There's this clear pattern that in John's gospel, where we see John showing us time and time again, Jesus saying, Look, I simply do what I see my father doing and say what I hear my father saying. And if you understand that from the lens of omnipresent, like Jesus lived his life constantly aware of and cognizant of who the that the father was present. The father wanted to show him things, and Jesus said, These are the things that I do, and wanted to say things, uh, reveal truth that was coming straight from the Father. And it's repeated time and time again through the Gospel of John. And so if this was true for how Jesus lived his life, then we're really getting into a how of what is available for us and how to live our life. Jesus sent the Spirit that we can have this same, dare I say, codependent relationship, this dependent relationship where we are looking to and mindful of and cognizant of the presence of God in our life. And Amy, this really started to take root in my life when I started to learn how to engage some disciplines, specifically the discipline of solitude. And so we haven't really gotten into disciplines yet in our podcast much. I think they've been briefly mentioned, but when did when do you feel like you started to be more mindful and aware of trying to practice the presence of God?

SPEAKER_02 5:28

That's a great question. Solitude is definitely helpful. The thing for me, there's one thing that really comes to my mind, and that was being challenged through Bible study about belief in God. Like I believe God for my eternal salvation, but do I believe him about all these other things? And that God being present throughout the earth at all times is pretty much just a pillar, pillar of Christian faith. And so it really challenged me to think of how he was present in my day, and did I live in a way that truly was living out what I believed. And so for me, it it probably started just driving in the car. Like when I was by myself driving in the car, I considered that Christ was with me. And pretty much when I'm in the car, that is one place that I just feel like I have an ongoing conversation with the Lord. Whether it's oh my gosh, that is the most beautiful tree, you know. Like I've never noticed how it blooms that way, but how creative are you to come up with that tree and then the hundreds of other trees that I see behind it. You know, I just started using my thought of life in the car to kind of include God. You know, he's there, he's present with me, and I just started being more mindful of that, and I think that that's something that solitude really helps with, it shuts out a lot of the world and helps us to really pause and be mindful of the things of God.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Right. And this is so paramount in what we see in the life of Jesus, that again, you know, the whole the whole reason that we started this podcast was we felt like, well, maybe it would be helpful for us to share, you know, with with other people what we're learning about how do we live a life, how now then do we live based on Jesus' teachings and how Jesus lived. If being a disciple is living to become like him in every way possible, then what are we learning and how can maybe that could be of encouragement to other people?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

You know, we're we know that we're finding life from it. And this is a huge piece that I found a ton of life in. You know, I have friends that, you know, when they were single, they would intentionally schedule a time to go on a date with Jesus and you know, to go have a picnic in a park by themselves physically, but literally practicing this reality and loving Jesus, you know, practicing that he was present with them and they were not alone. I think that's beautiful, and I think that Jesus was probably very honored to uh you know to see that practice.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

So there's another thing that comes to my mind years ago I was in a women's book club that we would choose a Christian classic as one of our books. I would never read a Christian classic on my own, as on my genre, but because it was our book that I read it, and it was the book Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. Excellent. I cannot recommend that book, Hallina. It's a very small book. Brother Lawrence was like back in the 1600s, he was like Catholic friar or something like that. And what I remember about the book was him working in the kitchen, and the joy that he had just doing his little kitchen work, whether it was washing dishes or whatever he was doing, he just did it with the Lord, and he was the happiest little man. Like it is just the sweetest, sweetest book. I remember finishing that book and thinking, this is so beautiful, it just was so happy and life-giving. And he did it, I don't know, it was just a very small way that he lived, but he lived with such kingdom mindedness that it feels like giant.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yeah, you've you've never hand washed a dish until you've hand washed a dish with the mindset of what if this was the dish that Jesus was going to eat off of if he were in my house right now. It is a complete game changer and joy. And and you'll wash that dish until it is spotless. I'll just tell you that too. Like your your spouse is not gonna be disappointed in how clean that dish got, right? It is, and but there's a joy in practicing that, like to honor him and to consider that. And so just a little side note, like the discipline of dishwashing, you know, is incredibly life joy, life-giving. And so, you know, but what if what if that's more how Jesus is inviting us to live? You know, the culture that we live in is great at training us to live a certain way. What if, what if Jesus has something way more for us than what we've imagined? And that's really why we're having doing this whole podcast, is that hopefully you can learn with us, listeners, that man, there may be a whole lot more to how this affects my life and how now then do I live if Jesus came to confer infer upon us a kingdom in which to live in here and now that is different than the kingdom of the world, because I think that's the very message of Jesus' gospel. So, a couple little tips that I just love to throw out there. I think these have been helpful for other people that I've discipled or you know, encouraged in trying to practice the presence of God.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

Hey, Scott. Yeah, Scott, before you give the tips, can I I just say one thing?

SPEAKER_00 13:47

You can say whatever you want.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

I I think to practicing the presence of God, there's a mindset in it for me. It's about doing things with God, not feeling an additional burden to do things for God that makes me like that that kind of falls into some legalism. Like I have to do this perfectly because I'm doing it for God. No, it's that I get to do it with God, right? And so I get to tap into how he would do something if he were me.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Right.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

And he brings me such joy in doing it that it's no longer about whatever the task is. It's just that oh my gosh, that was just amazing and so life-giving to do it with Christ.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Right. Yeah, like you know, I love to go fishing with my son, you know, and when we go fishing together, I don't go fishing for him. Like my whole focus is to do it with him and and he with me, and it's and it's a joy that we get together, right? But there's not a yeah, but that's a great perspective, Amy and I'm glad you threw that through that in there.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Okay, sorry. A couple helpful tips, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:29

And now if you if you've listened to many of our podcasts, you'll pick up that like the way God created my brain is to think in picture form, like almost don't have a thought that doesn't have a picture associated with it. And so it was, you know, just leaning on that reality. It was very helpful for me as I developed some principles, some practices, I guess, in when I first started practicing solitude. That's learning to sit still and be in God's presence, recognize God's presence. And so a couple tips that were helpful for me doing that is like, so when I'm teaching or meeting with a couple guys in discipleship, and we talk about this, I like I'll pick one of them to give an example of, make an example of, and ask him, let's just say his name's Ben. And I asked Ben, because I literally did this with a guy named Ben recently. I asked Ben, all right, Ben, close your eyes. And he closes his eyes, and other guys are like watching. And then I'll get up out of my chair, and this is really uncomfortable, like for me and for Ben. Right. I'll I get up out of my chair and I go put my cheek right next to Ben's cheek, but not touching him, right? And but I am so close and so up in his personal space that with his eyes closed, he will start to smile and naturally start to kind of pull back because it's so uncomfortable, right? He can feel me breathing, right? Yeah, on his on his, you know. And so I'm like, do you did you feel my presence? And he's like, Oh yeah, I felt your presence. It was almost uncomfortable. And I was like, go let your mind go to that space when you're present, when you're when you're practicing solitude, that you're sitting in your chair, and that you're mindful that the the presence of God is that near that you can feel him even though there wasn't the physical touch. Right. And that was very that mindset was very helpful for me in learning how to step into solitude. And, you know, because when someone is that close into your space, you're not distracted. Like they're so present that you are fully focused on this person is all up in my space. And it was it is it is a distraction from any of the other things that would be distracting. And that is ultimately a valuable piece to be able to get to in solitude. And and here's where practicing the discipline trains and prepares us for a life with God and being a disciple of living to become like Jesus in every way, is that learning to practice this or recognize this is like, you know, because of spending time in solitude and practicing something as simple as that, like in any second of the day, like I can quickly get to this point of recognizing that God is present or be reminded that God is present. And it's very tangible and real to me because I've become more and more and more comfortable through practicing it in solitude. That now the presence of God is the most present thing in my life, and the other things that I was focused on aren't the main focus. And that is incredibly valuable. I believe that that is how Jesus lived his life in relationship to the Father, and I believe that that is what Jesus is offering, a part of what Jesus is offering and sending us his spirit, that we can live in this intertwined, connected relationship with the presence of God, the spirit of God, here and now, as he did with the Father when he was walking as a man on the earth. And it changes everything.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

I think I just kind of want to wrap up kind of a summary of you know what this is. We're again we're talking about living to become like Jesus. We're talking about what is life like if Jesus came to to offer us a life in the kingdom here and now. And it's an eternal life, not just one day when you die, but it has already begun. And how do we live to engage that and to walk as Jesus did and to let him be on the throne of our life? And where we're, you know, living in an inner interconnected relationship with him as he did with the Father. I think that this is glorifying to God. And this is a big part of what the Lord desires from how we live our life is, you know, where I think a lot of, you know, I've been guilty of this. Believing that God, you know, as a tenant of faith, believing that God is omnipresent and that He could is present all the time everywhere, but not practicing that belief. And the more that I grow to practice this belief, the more I think my life is glorifying God.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Um Scott, I I was with a friend not too long ago. It was a baby shower, and her sisters were part of hostesses that were hosting a shower. And at some point in the shower, they were gonna take some diamonds and pray for the baby and family. And the sisters, she had quite a few sisters, they kind of led that diamond, and they started it by just coming around her close, and they clearly this is something that they do as a family, you know, like growing up. And the sisters just started saying the way. they started the prayer was Jesus is here then another one sister would say Jesus is here and another one would say Jesus is here then another one would say Jesus is here and it just the prayer time I was like wow I've never seen that done before that was such an incredible way just to be mindful of the presence of Christ when we pray but but really I was thinking oh my gosh like I could do that anytime like because sometimes we have to like say it to ourselves you know okay don't lose heart Jesus is here and I know like Jesus is here he is not a left he holds all things together in him and through him all things are held together he's here so just that seeing someone else do that you know this is part of the benefit of community we all get to to practice things together we learn from one another or we grow with one another and that was just a beautiful display of the presence of God.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

It's awesome I love that um yeah another quick tip and then we're going to kind of wrap this up is like one thing that I think has been helpful for people this is you know it's again we're accustomed to hearing information and then kind of going on and be like okay that's good information to hear hopefully you're encouraged by the the things that Amy and I are sharing today. But that's not why we're doing this we're trying to make this a practice of our life we're trying to live a life differently than we did yesterday and grow each each day of being more mindful and aware and living in the reality of the kingdom that is present. And so one helpful tip is maybe set an alarm on your phone. Start with an hour and you know just let it be on repeat or you know you do that with a timer maybe and that let that little alarm just remind you oh I'm going to turn my mind to the reality that God is present and he is with me and I am not alone in this moment. And there are things that he ultimately is going to lead me in a life of showing me things and telling me things. And I want to just get into a practice of being letting my mind turn to the Lord and praising him that he is present and with me. No matter what's happening when that timer goes off you're growing to become mindful and aware of practicing what we say we believe. And so let us just close this show by saying Jesus is here. You know, wherever you are when you're listening to this maybe you're in your car maybe you're in a commute maybe you're in a library or who knows where you are but Jesus is here. And we just invite you to join him in the life that he wants to live with you and through you as you live to become a disciple of his and become like him in every way possible. So thanks for listening. We're glad you guys are here with us and we're excited for what he has in store for you as he shows you what he is up to and speaks life into the circumstances that you're in the middle of so y'all have a great week we will see you next week