A Person of His Presence: Welcome God's Presence Into Your Busy Life by Iann Schonken
Main Themes:
Cultivating a lifestyle of God's presence: The book explores practical ways to invite and experience God's presence amidst a busy modern life.
Transformation through God's process: Spiritual growth is likened to the potter's process, requiring surrender and allowing God to mold us into vessels for His purpose.
Characteristics of a person living in God's presence: The book highlights ten key qualities, including prayerfulness, principled living, proper perspective, passion, power, purpose, price-consciousness, purity, poise, and patience.
Most Important Ideas and Facts:
1. Prayer as a Lifestyle:
Prioritizing connection with God over personal gain: "When you spend time with God for who He is, rather than for what you can get from Him, you will discover everything He is."
Integrating prayer into daily routines: Schonken suggests incorporating short prayers throughout the day, from waking up to bedtime.
Understanding the purpose of prayer: Aligning oneself with God's will and actively participating in His work on earth.
2. Principled Living:
Aligning with God's standards: "The point is that a believer’s life is about pleasing our Heavenly Father. We do not live to please our selfish, fleshly desires."
Finding strength in God's Word: "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11 NIV)
Living a morally upright life to experience God's presence: Avoiding compromise and maintaining conviction in God's principles.
3. Proper Perspective:
Seeing situations through God's lens: "With the proper perspective, you see everything in a meaningful relationship. You serve God and know that your life is in His hands."
Focusing on eternal treasures: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth... But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven..." (Matthew 6:19-20 NIV)
Choosing God as the ultimate authority: Recognizing the influence of our chosen "master" (God or material wealth) on our perspective.
4. Passion Ignited by God:
Experiencing God's passion for the lost and hurting: "You cannot enter the presence of God without being touched with God’s passion for the lost and hurting!"
Being consumed with zeal for God's house: "'I am consumed with a fiery passion to keep your house pure!'" (John 2:17 TPT)
Discovering and pursuing God's calling: "When you become a person of God’s presence… You will become passionate about what God has called you to do on the earth."
5. Power through the Holy Spirit:
Access to supernatural power: "The Greek word for power is dunamis... It is the power to perform miracles, and it is the moral power and excellence of the soul."
Boldness to witness and act for God: "When you spend time in His presence, His great power comes upon you."
Overcoming challenges and living a supernatural life: "You were born to live a supernatural life doing God’s work by God’s power." (Wilkinson and Kopp)
6. Living with Purpose:
Discovering the reason for existence: "A person with purpose is someone who has discovered the reason why they exist."
Seeking God's plan for our lives: "It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny." (Rick Warren)
Aligning actions with discovered purpose: "Purpose has the power to shape our lives only in direct proportion to the power of the priority we connect it to.” (Keller and Papasan)
7. Price-Consciousness:
Shifting values to align with God's kingdom: "When you spend time in the presence of the Lord, you begin to value things and people in a different way."
Recognizing the worthlessness of worldly pursuits compared to Christ: "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Philippians 3:8 NLT)
Understanding the cost of discipleship: Being willing to make sacrifices and follow Jesus regardless of the consequences.
8. Purity in Word and Deed:
Striving for holiness and freedom from sin: "Purity is defined as freedom from anything that debases, contaminates, or pollutes."
Recognizing the power of words: "What you say flows from what is in your heart.” (Luke 6:45 NLT)
Taming the tongue and aligning speech with God's truth: "Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God." (James 3:10 NLT)
9. Poise in Difficult Circumstances:
Maintaining balance and composure: "Poise is not a very common word in our culture, but it is descriptive of godly people."
Responding with faith and patience instead of emotional impulses: "Poise is also an ability to control initial emotional impulses." (Laurie Beth Jones)
Finding stability through praise: "I have found that the quickest way to regain my poise in a difficult situation is to take some time to praise the Lord."
10. Enduring Patience:
Embracing God's timing and plan: "God is running the universe, not just your life. He is sovereign."
Developing patience with oneself, others, and God: "You must be aware that there will be a great need for an enduring patience as you continue on your journey into knowing Him."
Trusting God's faithfulness to complete His work in us: "He who has started His work in us, will be faithful to complete it in each one of us."
Call to Action:
Invite God's presence into your daily life.
Cultivate the ten characteristics outlined in the book.
Embrace a lifestyle of prayer, surrender, and purpose.
Live with an expectant heart, looking for God's hand in every situation.
Overall Impression:
"A Person of His Presence" offers a practical and inspiring guide to experiencing a deeper connection with God. By focusing on specific character traits and providing biblical examples, the book encourages readers to embrace a lifestyle transformed by God's presence and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Get your copy and get a few paperbacks for your friends for Christmas:
Paperback: $9.99 | Kindle: $9.99 | PDF+epub Ebooks: $1.99 (limited time 80% discount)
