The Presence of God

The Presence of God


Henry Palmieri


What does it mean to practise the presence of God? This can best be answered by illustrations.


There is a delightful story told concerning the late beloved and highly esteemed Principal Cairns. In spite of his great learning and high position, he was a very humble man. He had an odd way when approaching a doorway with another person of standing aside and saying, “You go first, I follow.” When he was dying friends noticed that his lips were moving, so bending down to listen, they heard him whisper, “You go first, I follow.” The habit of a lifetime found fruition in his death as he followed the Saviour into glory.


Let us prayerfully acquire the habit of humility; Christ first, we follow.


“Not I, but Christ,” said the saintly missionary, Mary Slessor, adding, “If I have ever done anything, it was because Christ went in front.”


“You are not afraid to die,” tenderly whispered Hudson Taylor to his wife as she died. “Do you not know,” came her reply, “there has not been a shadow between my Lord and me for the last eight years.”


These saintly persons knew what it was to practice the presence of God. Do we know anything of such wonderful experiences?