Why I Love the Internet, part 4

The Practice of the Presence of God. A spiritual classic by Brother Lawrence. I have to admit, it makes me a little uncomfortable because it could easily be seen as inventing an imaginary friend. I don't want to pretend that God is with me, I want him to actually be with me, and for me to be aware of it. But then I remember what Dallas Willard wrote in Hearing God:

God wants to be wanted, to be wanted enough that we are ready, predisposed, to find him present with us. And if, by contrast, we are ready and set to find ways of explaining away his gentle overtures, he will rarely respond with fire from heaven. More likely he will simply leave us alone; and we shall have the satisfaction of thinking ourselves not to be gullible.

So, basically, I see The Practice of the Presence of God as a spiritual discipline: something that prepares me to receive God. He still has to act in order for me to receive him.