How to Open Your Eyes to the Presence of God

Just because we have eyes that see does not mean we use them to see what we should.  

Close your eyes and think of everything around you that is green.  I remember the plant in the corner and the green tapestry in the drapes.  Now look around you and notice everything that is green. I see the palm trees on the coaster, the number on a dollar bill, the color of a pack of gum my husband left on the desk, the pencil holder, a button on my cell phone, the binding on a couple books on the shelf....actually, there is a lot more green around me than I realized!  I had to put on my "green glasses" to see them.

In the same way, we can develop "God glasses" - sensitivity to seeing evidence of what we know to be true about God in our lives, to see Him at work in us and around us.  If we know that God is with us, that He is omnipresent, how much time do we spend noticing? How can we see better?

Donald Whitney, associate professor of spiritual formation, gives some practical steps to opening your eyes to God's presence (from Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health):

1. Go often to the place where God has revealed Himself most clearly - the Bible.  Absorb it, linger over it, let it percolate the soil of your soul.
2. Acknowledge His presence with you by talking with Him.
3. Seek Him in the manifestations of His presence in congregational worship.  His presence there is accessible in ways different than solitary worship.
4. Continually reaffirm the truth that He is omnipresent.

I would add praying - being in conversation with God throughout the day, asking Him to give you His eyes to see as He sees, to love as He loves, to forgive as He forgives.  And then listening.