The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

Week 3: Letters One through Four — Beginnings, Struggles, and the Torrent of Grace

Read Letters One through Four of The Practice of the Presence of God.

In these four letters, Brother Lawrence writes with great personal candor — describing his method, his ten years of suffering, his hard-won peace, and the breathtaking image of God as a King who serves His guests at His own table. Read them as letters written to you.

Discussion Questions

8 questions

1.In the First Letter, Brother Lawrence writes that reading many books about the spiritual life made him feel 'puzzled' rather than helped. He resolved instead to 'give the all for the All' — to give himself wholly to God and renounce everything that was not God. What do you make of that phrase, 'give the all for the All'? What would it cost you, concretely, to make that resolution?

2.Brother Lawrence describes his early practice in the First Letter: 'I made this my business, not only at the appointed times of prayer but all the time; every hour, every minute, even in the height of my work, I drove from my mind everything that interrupted my thoughts of God.' He adds: 'I found no small pain in this exercise.' What does the admission of 'no small pain' tell us about the nature of spiritual formation? Does it change your expectations of what practicing God's presence will feel like at first?

3.In the Second Letter, Brother Lawrence describes his first ten years as a time of suffering, doubt, and spiritual instability — feeling that 'all creatures, reason, and God Himself were against me and faith alone for me.' Then, 'all at once,' he found himself changed: 'My soul, which, until that time was in trouble, felt a profound inward peace, as if she were in her center and place of rest.'

a.Have you experienced a period of sustained spiritual struggle that eventually gave way to a settled peace? What was that transition like?

b.Brother Lawrence says that the prospect of spending the rest of his days in trouble 'only served to increase my faith.' How is it possible for prolonged difficulty to deepen rather than destroy faith?

4.In the Second Letter, Brother Lawrence describes his 'most usual method' as a simple, affectionate regard for God — and then offers this image: he finds himself 'often attached with greater sweetness and delight than that of an infant at the mother's breast,' and calls this state 'the bosom of God.' What does this image communicate about the kind of relationship Brother Lawrence has with God? How does it compare to the way you normally think of prayer?

5.Also in the Second Letter, Brother Lawrence describes himself before God as 'the most wretched of men, full of faults, flaws, and weaknesses.' Yet he also describes God as a King who 'embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, and gives me the key to His treasures.' How do these two realities — deep unworthiness and extravagant welcome — coexist in his experience? How do they coexist in the gospel itself?

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Closing Prayer

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Lord, we confess that we have taken so little when You have had infinite treasure to give. We have filled our hands with routine and our minds with trifles, and then wondered why Your presence feels distant. Like Brother Lawrence in his years of suffering, we have sometimes felt that everything was against us and only faith remained. Teach us to hold fast to that faith — and then, in Your mercy, surprise us with the peace that comes when we stop striving against You. You are the King who serves His own guests. You give the key to Your treasures to people who know themselves to be unworthy. We receive that with wonder. Make us, we pray, into stones that yield to the Carver — and shape in us the image of Your Son. Amen.

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