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“Submission is the first and last duty of man. That is exactly what I have been needing in my Christian life. Two years ago a profound dissatisfaction led me to begin trying to line up my actions with the will of God about every fifteen minutes or every half hour. Other people to whom I confessed this intention said it was impossible. I judged from what I have said that few people are trying even that. But this year I have started out trying to live all my waking moments in conscious listening to the inner voice, asking without ceasing, ‘What Father, do you desire said?What, Father, do you desire done this minute?’…
…respond to God as the violin responds to the bow of the master. Open your soul and entertain the glory of God and after a while that glory will be reflected in the world about you…
I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in the little things is what astonishes me. I seem to have to make sure of only one thing now, and every other thing ‘takes care of itself,’ or I prefer to say what is more true, God takes care of all the rest. My part is to live in this hour in continuous inner conversation with God and in perfect responsiveness to his will. To make this hour gloriously rich. This seems to be all I need to think about…
How infinitely richer this direct first hand grasping of God is, than the old method which I used and recommended for years, the endless reading of devotional books…
Oh, this thing of keeping in constant touch with God, making him the object of my thought and the companion of my conversations, is the most amazing thing I ever ran across. I cannot do it even half a day–not yet, but I believe I will be doing it some day for the entire day. It is a matter of acquiring a new habit of thought. Now I like God’s presence so much that when for a half hour or so he slips out of mind–as he does many times a day– I feel as though I had deserted him, and as though I had lost something very precious in my life.”
Frank Laubach
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