The Highest Privilege and Priority in Life

The Big Idea: The fundamental privilege and priority in life is to live in the presence of God.


John 14:16-20; 15:1-8


“I would do anything to have a body like that - except diet and exercise” -Jay Leno


1. Get Comfortable With Your Helper.


Romans 8:5-11


2. Practice the Presence of God.


“The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees before the Blessed Sacrament.” - Brother Lawrence


“The first and most basic thing we can and must do is to keep God before our minds... This is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls. Our part in this practicing the presence of God is to direct and redirect our minds constantly to Him. In the early time of our “practicing” we may well be challenged by our burdensome habits of dwelling on things less than God. But these are habits - not the law of gravity - and can be broken… A new grace-filled habit will replace the former ones as we take intentional steps toward keeping God before us. Soon our minds will return to God as the needle of a compass constantly returns to the North. If God is the great longing of our souls, He will become the pole star of our inward beings.” - Dallas Willard


3. Create a New Faith Scoreboard.


“The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy. This is the feature of human character that explains why the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.” - Dallas Willard