Seeking God’s Presence: 9 Ways to Increase Your Awareness
“God is always present, whether we feel his presence or not,” a wise older woman once taught me as we talked about seeking God’s presence. “When we speak of seeking his presence, we are talking about becoming more aware of him.”
I’ve returned to these words countless times over the years. God is always with us.
We cannot escape his presence, and we can’t outrun his love. Yet most of us experience times when his presence seems veiled or distant. When this happens, we remember that we walk by faith and not by sight.
Our feelings are ever-changing, and they are not a reliable indication of God’s nearness or distance.
Today, we’ll explore nine practical ways to seek God’s presence by becoming more aware of what he is doing around us. Be sure to read to the end of today’s post for a free devotional eBook to help you draw near to God.
Seeking God’s Presence
Every summer, our little family of five embarks on an epic adventure. We stuff our vehicle full of camping gear and drive to a remote part of the country for a week of backcountry camping and living off the land.
One summer, we spent over 60 hours crammed together in our small extended cab pickup truck, drove cross-country from Pennsylvania to Wyoming, camped in the wilderness for a week, and returned home with exciting stories about steaming geysers and Rocky Mountain thunderstorms. The trip was wonderful and terrible and everything in between.
As I reflect on it now, I often reminisce about the frigid mornings huddled around the campfire with mugs of hot cocoa warming our hands. Every morning in the mountains dawned damp, gray, and cold. Hidden behind the fog, we wondered if the mountains were really there and waited for the sunlight to disperse the fog and warm our bodies.
I had high hopes for replenishing moments spent connecting with God beneath the glory of his towering granite peaks. Disappointingly, I was so cold, exhausted, and focused on the needs of our children that God’s presence seemed just as shrouded as the cloud-covered mountains. I knew he was with me, but I couldn’t sense his presence.
When God Seems Distant: Seeking God’s Presence
Most of us experience times when connecting with God isn’t easy. We want to feel connected to him, but he seems to be nowhere to be found.
In these moments, it’s easy to become discouraged.
If you’ve ever felt this disconnection, I hope to encourage you today. Just as the mountains were present amid the misty morning fog, God has not left you or abandoned you. Perhaps it’s been months—or years—since you’ve experienced a sense of his voice or his love. Maybe you’ve never sensed his presence with you.
I’d like to remind you of something I often speak to myself: Our ability to sense God’s presence doesn’t change the reality that he is always with us. He never misses a moment of our lives. He cares about even our smallest needs, and he loves us in ways that surpass our human understanding.
God is with you today—even if you don’t sense his presence.
Seeking God’s Presence: 9 Ways to Increase Your Awareness Share on XRemaining Faithful in the Silence
When God seems distant, I often think about Mother Teresa. Throughout most of her life, Mother Teresa had no sense of God’s presence with her. This often led to anguish, especially as she listened to others talk about their sweet moments with the Lord.
Despite this sense of detachment, she continued to faithfully serve and honor God. She remained devoted to him. She carried his love to the poor and hurting by loving them with the love of Christ.
Seeking God’s Presence Through Awareness
If you’re looking for something practical today, here are nine concrete steps you can take to help you connect with God by becoming more aware of what he is already doing around you.
1. Pursue God in silence and solitude.
Most of our lives are full and noisy. We have trouble sensing God because there is too much outside noise.
Spending time in silence and solitude can be a helpful way of reconnecting with God. During this time, go somewhere quiet and peaceful. Spend a few moments focusing on your breathing. It might help to whisper a biblical truth about God’s presence as you rest with him, such as, “God is always with me,” or “Thank you for your presence with me, Father.”
In the silence, remind yourself that God is with you. Even when we cannot feel his presence, God is with us. Rest in this.
2. Give thanks.
Giving thanks opens relational neuropathways in our brains, allowing us to connect with God (and other people). Spend some time thanking God for his blessings, and you will open pathways for connection in your brain.
3. Open his Word.
God always wants to meet with us in his written Word.
One of the most important truths about connecting with God is that our feelings are feeble. We cannot trust our feelings to lead us to what is true. When we cannot feel God’s presence, we can connect with him by reading his written Word.
4. Go outside.
Spending time in nature can help us experience God’s goodness as we marvel at his created world. Seeing the Creator’s work helps us experience his majesty and his presence.
5. Seek him with others.
Gathering with other believers who are longing for God’s presence can help us become more aware of his presence with us. I’ve discovered that a morning over coffee with a friend who loves the Lord or a long walk down our country road stirs my heart to connect with God more readily.
6. Worship him in song.
When we worship God in song, whether alone or with others, we can rest assured that God inhabits the praises of his people. God is present when we praise him.
7. Connect with the body of Christ.
We were designed to seek God alongside others, not only in isolation. When I feel disconnected from God, I consider whether I’ve been regularly prioritizing corporate worship. Getting back into this setting often helps me reconnect with God’s presence.
8. Find someone to serve.
We experience God’s presence when we join him in what he is doing in the world around us. Finding someone to love and serve aligns us with God’s will. This is a key to seeking his presence by joining him in what he is already doing in our lives.
9. Remain faithful in the dark.
When God’s presence seems veiled, we can honor him by following Mother Teresa’s example. We continue to read our Bibles, attend church services, worship, and pray. We continue serving and loving others and remain faithful to God. Most importantly, we remember that some of the most important growth in our lives takes place in the darkness.
Reflect
Have you ever experienced a dark season in your life—a time when you couldn’t perceive God’s presence? Perhaps you are currently facing such a time, or maybe your entire life seems to be a dark season. What would it look like for you to faithfully follow and obey God as you continue walking through this season?
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If this post about seeking God’s presence blessed you, I invite you to explore our family devotional books and library of free eBooks and devotionals below. May you seek God and experience him like never before!
Calling All Parents and Grandparents!
As the parent of two sons and a daughter, I have a heart for helping parents develop deeper relationships with their children and with God. Our kids, ages 7, 12, and 16, share this vision. They have helped me write three family devotionals for parents or older relatives to read with the children and teens they love. I also recently released a teen devotional called Anchored, designed to help teens learn key biblical narratives and apply them to their lives. You can find these books here or read more below. 
Mother-Daughter Devotionals by a Mom and Daughter
Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section for moms and daughters after each devotion. I wrote this book with the help of our daughter, Bekah, when she was eleven. Find this one-of-a-kind shared devotional here.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, sexuality, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. Bekah and I will help you right here.
Devotions for Boys by Boys
God’s Warrior: Devotions for Boys Who Want to Grow in Courage and Strength helps young boys, ages 5-13, learn what it means to trust God and become strong warriors for his kingdom. Now, more than ever, our world needs men who are willing to boldly carry God’s love into the world. I wrote this boys’ devotional book with our two young sons, Aiden and Caleb, ages six and eleven! You’ll enjoy their honesty as we teach boys how to be strong warriors for the Lord. Find this life-changing devotional book here.
These Books Are Free on Kindle Unlimited: God Wants to Heal, Restore, and Refresh You
God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone. He also wants to help you establish a rhythm of meeting with him daily as you trust him with the hard parts of your life. Click here to explore two books that will guide you: Be Still and Trust and Lean Into Grace. They are free on the Kindle Unlimited program and for sale in print.
Download Your Free Devotional Here
Set Free: Let God Do What You Cannot explores ten realms in which most of us need God to work in our lives and bring deliverance. We’ll talk about finding freedom from fear, worry, insecurity, bad habits, emotional pain, and more. This short online devotional will bless you as you let God accomplish what you’ve been unable to achieve through willpower. Get your download for free with promo code GRACE or for a donation of 3.99 here. Thank you. This small gift helps keep this ministry running.
I also offer a library of free online devotional eBooks for free. I invite you to explore the collection right here!
