How to Practice the Presence of God
A Guidebook for Knowing God More Intimately
God is nearer than your next breath. This guidebook shows you how to recognize that nearness and remain there through the ordinary hours of your day.
Inside you will find prayers and simple step-by-step exercises that teach you to feel God’s presence and hear His voice with greater clarity.
Also available to read free with Kindle Unlimited.
What Sets This Book Apart
Learn what His presence feels like, and how to live in constant awareness of His presence every day.
Experience God’s Presence as Easily as Taking a Breath
Many believers who love God deeply still describe their relationship as distant, and they long for a nearness they cannot quite describe or attain. How to Practice the Presence of God was written for that hunger.
If you have ever wondered what God’s presence actually feels like, this book takes that question and offers a clear, practical path into constant communion with the One who loves you most.
Written by Someone Who Has Been in Your Shoes
Years ago, I prayed, I bought lots of books and listened to all the sermons I could find to try to understand how to hear God’s voice and learn how to practice His presence. Many books described someone else’s experience with the presence of God, which was encouraging, but I longed to experience Him myself. This book is a compilation of my search. I take all the research I did and my own experiences to share with you “HOW” I came to experience God’s presence.
This book is different than all the others. It tells you what God’s presence feels like, how to recognize it in the moment, and how to cultivate and sustain that awareness through the ordinary rhythms of your day.
I lead you through ten chapters of biblical teaching and lived experience, to help you cultivate awakening to His presence and to live in His abiding rest.
Along the way you will discover what God’s voice sounds like and how to discern it from the enemy’s whisper, how to worship your way into His throne room, how to meet the Living Word in Scripture, and how to still your soul in a world that never stops talking.
What You Will Learn
Solid biblical principles, present-day examples, and exercises you can start today.
- Discover what God’s presence feels like and what His voice sounds like.
- Learn to practice His presence as easily as breathing.
- Hear His voice clearly, even in the noise of life.
- Identify the reasons you may not be hearing from God or feeling His presence.
- Quiet your mind and still your soul with a simple biblical exercise.
- Abide in Christ throughout your day, not only during prayer time.
- Receive emotional healing and clarity in His nearness.
- Cultivate joy, trust, and intimacy with the Father, moment by moment.
Whether you are a seasoned believer or new to faith, this guidebook was written for anyone who wants to experience the fullness of God’s presence in everyday life.
What Others Are Saying
Readers who have experienced Him through the pages.
This is the first book I have come across that gives guidance. I’m very excited to try all the steps to get into God’s presence. This is a great book.
It shows you how to clearly sense the presence of God in various ways, also how to clearly and consistently hear the voice of God, whether you are a beginner or whether you are a more seasoned Saint.
Cynthia Johnson’s book offers what most Christians desire in their walk with God. I can attest to these methods described in her book as being true and tried. Her tips do work.
Chapter Summaries
A glimpse of the journey.
Ten chapters, one ancient path. Every chapter closes with a section called Cultivate God’s Presence, where a short prayer and a simple exercise turn the teaching into something you can practice the same day.
-
To Know Him and Enjoy Him
Anchors you in your deepest purpose, to know God and delight in Him, and unveils the layers of revelation that draw us from a distant glimpse of the Creator into true intimacy with Him.
-
Awakening to God’s Presence
Calls you from spiritual sleep into a living awareness of God, names what His nearness feels like, and shows how holy desire stirs a slumbering heart awake.
-
Knowing Christ in You
Turns you inward to the kingdom already planted within, where the Spirit flows like an underground spring, and offers the honest-hearted prayer that clears the way to that living water.
-
Knowing God’s Voice
Helps you recognize how God speaks and the many ways He communicates. Learn to distinguish His voice from the enemy and from the soul’s own noise, with practical checklists, journaling keys, and a method for quieting a restless mind.
-
Knowing God’s Presence in Worship
Reveals worship and thanksgiving as the ancient gateway into God’s throne room, and shows how a lifestyle of praise holds the heart in His nearness.
-
Knowing the Living Word
Invites you to feed on Scripture as daily bread, sweet as honey, and to meet the Living Word who still speaks fresh life into hungry hearts.
-
Knowing God’s Presence in Prayer
Frames prayer as the two-way breath of relationship, an exhale of the human spirit and an inhale of God’s Spirit. Reveals the many avenues through which He answers and speaks.
-
The Abiding Presence
Leads you down the ancient, hidden path to a place of continual rest in God, where His presence becomes a settled and abiding home.
-
Knowing God’s Presence in Community
Shows how private intimacy with God overflows into love of neighbor, and weds the inward disciplines of the heart to the outward life of the body of Christ.
-
God’s Grand Scheme
Lifts your eyes to God’s purpose that spans generations, and reveals how one faithful life becomes a bright thread in His grand and eternal design.
Not Ready for the Whole Book?
Start with a free gift. 25 Amazingly Simple Spiritual Growth Tips gives you short, practical exercises for awakening to more of God’s presence, drawn from the same teaching that shaped this book.
You will also receive one inspirational devotional email each month. Unsubscribe anytime.
About the Author
After all these years, still passionately in love with Jesus.
Dr. Cynthia K. Johnson is an ordained minister, author, and cofounder of Deeper Walk Ministries, Inc. She has served as an associate pastor, a leader in Christian education, and the director of a faith-based women’s rehabilitation center.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education and English, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Church Ministries and Leadership. Her passion is to equip believers with practical skills for spiritual growth, so that knowing God becomes an everyday experience rather than a distant idea.
She and her husband, Howard, have been married more than thirty years and live in Northwest Florida. They have three grown daughters and six grandchildren.
Common Questions
What readers ask before they begin.
What is How to Practice the Presence of God about?
It is a practical guidebook for experiencing God’s nearness in everyday life. Across ten chapters it teaches what God’s presence feels like, how to recognize His voice, cultivate a life of God’s presence, and how to carry that awareness through an ordinary day. Each chapter closes with a short prayer and a step-by-step exercise, so the teaching becomes something you practice rather than only something you read.
Who is this book for?
It was written for both seasoned believers and those new to faith. If you love God yet still feel a distance you cannot explain, or if you have never been shown how to sense His nearness, you will find a starting place here. The exercises assume no prior training, and yet the biblical teaching goes deep enough to serve those who have walked with God for decades.
What does God’s presence feel like?
God’s presence often feels like deep peace, warmth, and love. The revivalist Charles Finney described it long ago as a tingling liquid love. Some people sense a stirring in their spirit, or lightness or joy in the heart. Others sense a quiet inner knowing, and still others sense strength to face a hard day. His presence always carries peace, love, and joy, never fear or confusion. You can read a fuller answer in What Does God’s Presence Feel Like?
Why can’t I feel God’s presence?
Most often, clutter in the soul dulls our awareness. Hurts, fear, unforgiveness, disappointment, and the constant noise of life form a wall over the heart. Striving adds to it, because the heart must be at rest to perceive Him. Chapter two of the book addresses this directly, and you can also read Why Can’t I Feel God’s Presence? 7 Tips
Which Bible translation does the book use?
Scripture is quoted from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted. A few passages appear in the NIV, NKJV, The Passion Translation, or The Message, and each of those is clearly marked where it appears.
Do I need to read the chapters in order?
Reading in order helps, because the chapters build. The early chapters awaken awareness, the middle chapters teach recognition through worship, Scripture, and prayer, and the later chapters lead into abiding rest. That said, each chapter stands on its own with its own exercise, so you can return to a single chapter whenever you need it.
Is there a companion journal?
Yes. The 90-Day Spiritual Awakening Journal offers ninety days of writing prompts and short practices, and it pairs well with this guidebook. Many readers work through one chapter at a time while keeping the journal alongside it.
Is it available on Kindle Unlimited?
Yes. The Kindle edition is included with a Kindle Unlimited membership. The book is available for purchase in paperback, audible, and Kindle eBook.
Complete the Series
Books for Spiritual Growth Series
Renew your mind. Grow spiritually. Transform your life.
You are here
How to Practice the Presence of God
A guidebook for knowing God more intimately, with prayers and step-by-step exercises for feeling His presence and hearing His voice.
Amazon Bestseller
The 90-Day Spiritual Awakening Journal
Ninety days of writing prompts and short practices that turn your attention toward God right where you already are.
New Release
When Thank You Isn’t Enough
Fresh biblical insights on gratitude that uncover the hidden barriers around your life and show you how thanksgiving takes them down.
Return to Eden
The quest for God’s presence and the life you were created to live.
Are you tired of Christian life that feels like a performance? You have tried to do more, pray harder, and search out your purpose, yet you still feel stuck and unclear about who you are. This book takes you back to the beginning, to the Garden as the master pattern for identity, relationship, and unhindered intimacy with your Creator.
His presence is not reserved for a chosen few
Take the first step today on a journey to discover more of God’s presence than you could ever imagine.