Is Christian mindfulness Biblical? Yes. The Bible offers the foundation for God’s invitation to this practice, also known as practicing the presence of God in the present moment.
First, we know God is always present. To quote Psalm 139: 7-10: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
Jeremiah 23: 23-24 says: “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.
Clearly, God is omnipresent. That’s the first Biblical foundation of Christian mindfulness. Becoming increasingly aware of that is a relational response. Not only does Christian mindfulness build our relationship with God, the awareness can replace anxiety, fear and other negative emotions.
The second Biblical foundation: God asks us to walk with Him to be effective Christians. As Paul writes in Galatians 5:16: “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” A few verses later, in Galatian 5: 25, he added: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
And Ephesians 5:2 says: “And walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
John agrees. In 1 John 1:7, he writes: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
What does walking with God imply?
- An ongoing close relationship
- Awareness
- Shared life
- A walk that is one step at a time
Can we do this without focusing on Jesus? No. Christian mindfulness is a practice that allows us to focus so we can truly walk with God.
The third Biblical foundation is the invitation to abide in Christ. As Jesus says in John 15:4-5: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Is Jesus asking us to stay connected to him all the time or to visit occasionally?
The fourth Biblical foundation of Christian mindfulness is the command to pray continually. 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 says: “Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Continual prayer is not nonstop talking, either internally or externally. It is a continual orientation toward God. We rest in God rather than exhausting ourselves with effort.
Christians Who Practiced the Presence
Brother Lawrence is the person most associated with Christian mindfulness. But he was not alone. Other prominent Christians who practiced the presence of God include these three, two of whom lived before Brother Lawrence.
- Augustine of Hippo (354-430): He described God’s presence as intimate, interior, and all-encompassing, famously stating that God is closer to me than I am to myself. From Augustine, we learn:
- To encounter God, we must look beyond the material world and turn within, as the soul bears God’s imprint.
- The loss of God’s felt presence is not due to God’s withdrawal but to human choice, as we turn away to focus on lesser things.
- Teresa of Avila (1515-1582): Teresa of Avila defines prayer as an “intimate sharing between friends,” emphasizing a personal, frequent, and loving conversation with God who loves us. This approach focuses less on words and more on developing a deep, relational and enduring bond with God, often described as simply being in His presence. Teresa taught:
- Practicing the presence involves “frequently conversing in secret” with God, whom she describes as a close friend.The goal is not emotional consolation but a union of will with God, leading to a changed life.
- Encouraging us to realize that God is looking upon us with love.
Another person is one of the Reformation heroes.
- John Wesley (1703–1791): Founder of Methodism, known for striving for holy living and continuous awareness of God’s grace. He taught the use of persistent prayer, regular Bible study and service to the poor as means of grace for increasing awareness of God’s presence. (The Method in Methodism.) Wesleyans were not to wait passively for God’s presence, but to actively “use” the means of grace.
Christian mindfulness is a joy, rather than a burden. We’ll learn some exercises to help us develop our practice in the next post.