Prayer is Basically Entering into the Presence of The LORD!

by Howard Beam

Feb 19th 2025

When you think about prayer, what comes to your mind? Most of us would describe aspects of prayer as praise, petition, intercession, warfare, confession and repentance. These are all accurate descriptions of what should take place when we pray. But I’m coming to understand that prayer at its basic level is simply and purely spending time in the presence of the Lord.  

Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (NKJV)

Meditate on the words of the song by Don Moen which expresses this thought so beautifully:

“I Just Want to Be Where You Are”

I just want to be where You are,

dwelling daily in Your presence

I don't want to worship from afar,

draw me near to where You are

I just want to be where You are,

in Your dwelling place foreverT

ake me to the place where You are,

I just want to be with You

Chorus

I want to be where You are,

dwelling in Your presence

Feasting at Your table,

surrounded by Your glory

In Your presence,

that's where I always want to be

I just want to be,

I just want to be with You

I just want to be where You are,

to enter boldly in Your presence

I don't want to worship from afar,

draw me near to where You are

Coda

Oh, my God,

You are my strength and my song

And when I'm in Your presence

Though I'm weak You're always strong

I just want to be

I just want to be with You

---

This is the month when we think about that special person or persons in our lives that we love – that special Valentine. And we try to make a special effort to demonstrate that love in tangible ways. We may give gifts, go out to eat at a special restaurant, say, “I love you”, or do something around the house that our wife has wanted done. But one of the best ways that we can show love to someone is to spend time with them – to be in their presence.

When you love someone, you want to be with them. It’s no different with God. He created us for His pleasure, and He desires to be with us. If we desire to be with Him, we will set aside time each day to just be in His presence.

Brother Lawrence’s book, The Practice of the Presence of God, is still in print and widely read by Christians around the world.  That might be a good place to begin as we learn better how to give God quality time. Leonard Ravenhill said, “To be much for God, we must be much with God.”

Nick Harrison, author of “Magnificent Prayer - 366 devotions to deepen your prayer experience”, said, “When a pray-er leaves his time with God, he’s different from other people, and it shows. A person who has visited with God has become extraordinary.” 

In Acts 4:13 we read, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” I wonder, does anyone marvel that we have been with Jesus?

Jesus is calling to us saying, “Spend time with Me!”

Will you answer that call?