The Fruitful Ministry of Simply Being Present
By: John Thomas
Tags: Spirituality, Christianity, Life, Faith, Religion

“Surrender your own poverty and acknowledge your nothingness to the Lord. Whether you understand it or not, God loves you, is present in you, lives in you, dwells in you, calls you, saves you and offers you an understanding and compassion which are like nothing you have ever found in a book or heard in a sermon.”

Thomas Merton, The Hidden Ground of Love

Presence is a powerful thing.

It has the power to comfort, sustain, and even transform. Jesus’ presence on earth 2000 years ago provided proof that God loves us. His continued presence inside of us declares that he always will.

A few years ago when my son was not yet two he sat in his high chair peacefully munching on Cheerios and watching with curiosity as a complete stranger hammered and banged on our kitchen cabinets. The man, having come to repair water damage, was completely unknown to my son. Yet my son was not afraid of this man or his loud noises: because I was there too.

Presence is a powerful thing.

Seven years ago this month it was our Heavenly Father’s presence on a weekend retreat in the hills of Virginia that plucked me and my wife from the swift-flowing current of the American Dream and called us to a life beyond ourselves.

To answer this call has meant joy and struggle

But God’s presence has not left us for one minute of those seven years. It has been the driving force in all we do and has transformed us into what we have become, are becoming.

Two and a half years ago we cashed in all our chips and followed that call to its inescapable end, a city in Central Asia. We boarded a plane with our children, three and one at the time, twelve sixteen-gallon black Sterilite storage lockers, and God. That first year was impossibly difficult. “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side…”

Presence is a powerful thing.

Our presence in this city, this country brings with it the one who is present within us and therefore hope. He is at work here drawing men and women out of darkness into the marvelous light of his presence.

Presence is a powerful thing.

They are like sheep without a shepherd not knowing where to turn to satisfy their hunger for truth. They are weary from the Spiritual rat race of works religion. So they try the New Testament. They order it online and have it delivered to the post office so no one will know.

I call them. “Would you like to meet?”

“Yes,” they say.

We meet, maybe at a coffee shop maybe at a tea house. I have no lofty speech, no magic words to bring to these meetings. I have never spoken a convincing word to anyone in English or any other language. I speak like a child.

All I can offer is my presence and the presence of the one inside me.

That presence is a powerful thing.

We talk, we read, we pray. No decisions are made at the table over coffee. But they can sense my freedom and they long to be free. They sense that they are talking with a man who has been in the presence of his maker and they long for that presence too.

After we separate I maintain a presence in their lives

I become the presence of truth, the voice of one calling out in the wilderness: make straight the way of the Lord. Though I am not worthy to untie His sandals, hardly a day goes by that I don’t, with a message, bring them into the presence of his word. And as time goes on I decrease and He increases.

In late January I traveled to a distant province. Only eight or nine small candles of faith flicker in this dark corner of the world. The presence of the Lord has yet to dwell fully. I met with another lost soul hungering for the satisfaction that is found only in His presence. He canceled an appointment to meet me. We talked, we read, we prayed. The Lord’s presence was with us.

A few weeks later we travelled as a family to the same province. I invited the man to come and worship with us at the small storefront church in the city center. A small glimpse of God’s presence. He came. We spent time together enjoying each other’s presence.

We came into the presence of the Lord together.

Recently I got a message from that man. Translated into English it read: Today I have accepted Jesus. Angels are rejoicing in God’s presence. Now ten candles burn in a dark province as the presence of God grows stronger, brighter.

Presence is a powerful thing.

John Thomas lives and serves in ministry in Central Asia. He has written for Mere Orthodoxy, Christianity Today, and Desiring God. He writes regularly at medium.com/soli-deo-gloria.