Author: Jay Forrest

If you don’t know God by personal experience, you have a hand-me-down religion. You have a second-hand religion, not a first-person encounter. You are missing the boat.

The good news is that God wants you to know him personally. That means to actually experience a sense of oneness with him. This isn’t just reserved for mystics and saints, it is for all believers.

Conversion

And there’s a pathway to this. It begins with conversion. A real conversion, not just saying some prayer. Saying a sinner’s prayer does not make you a Christian. And many have been deceived into believing they’re Christians, when they are not.

True conversion is turning from a self-centered life to a God-centered life. It means making Jesus Lord and Savior. You make him Lord by changing your heart from serving yourself to serving God, and you make Jesus Savior by believing in his death and resurrection for your sins.

The Three-fold Way

Then you enter into the three-fold way, which is purgation, illumination, and union with God. Purgation deals with habits of mind and body. Illumination deals with false beliefs and illusions. And union deals with entering into oneness with God in conscious awareness.

Many people misunderstand asceticism and its relationship with mysticism. Asceticism is self-discipline. It deals with the spiritual practices that we use in order to open ourselves to the presence of God.

Mysticism is the experience of God. It’s the experience of oneness with God. This is both a gift of God and something we prepare ourselves for. But even in the spiritual disciplines we need grace.

It is not mysticism or asceticism, but rather it is both. We need to do the spiritual practices to prepare our heart, to deny ourselves, and to die to self. It is through this death to self that we move into oneness with God.

Both the spiritual disciplines and the experience of God are given by grace. It is God working in us both to do and to will for his good purpose (Phil. 2:13). We would not seek God unless God had first sought us. We love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Miguel de Molinos rightly explained, “There were three kinds of silence; the first is of words, the second of desires, the third of thoughts.”

Absence of Words

The silence of words is the one that most likely comes to mind when we think of the word silence. In this context, is the absence of talking.

Absence of Desires

The second kind of silence is a silence of desires. Desires speak to us in impulses rather than words. Just like words, they push and pull on our mind. They redirect and distract our mind from more important things.

Absence of Thoughts

The third kind of silence is the silence of thoughts, thoughts can be words or images in the mind. And just like desires. These redirect and distract us are more important things.

Spiritual Discipline of Silence

Silence is a spiritual discipline that moves us from the mundane distracted world into the inner world of Divine reality. Silence removes the hindrances to hearing and knowing God.

Talking is a hindrance to listening to God. Desires are a hindrance to sensing the movings of the Spirit. And thoughts are hindrances to being aware of the presence of God within.

If you want to live a spiritual life, and really know God in personal experience, it takes a change of behavior. Habits can help us or they can hinder us. Here are five habits to help us.

1. Prayer

The first habit is prayer. Most Christians don’t pray on a regular basis. It’s important to form a routine of prayer. We should at least have a prayer time every morning and evening.

My personal suggestion is that you use the Book of Common Prayer (1979). In it you’ll find devotions for individuals. This would be a great thing to do everyday. At least do the morning and evening prayers. There’s also an online version of this as well by Forward Movement.

Another thing that I do is I use a prayer rope and do the Jesus prayer. I do 100 Jesus prayers at least once a day. After I do the Jesus prayer, I sit in the presence of God and open my heart to him. This sometimes leads me into contemplation.

2. Worship

Another daily habit would be worship. By this I mean verbal or singing praises and thanksgivings to God. I personally like praise and worship music.

3. Reading

Another daily practice should be some kind of reading. By that, of course, I mean spiritual reading. This should be of the Bible or other spiritual masters.

To read devotionally means to slow down and really soak in what you’re reading. Ponder the words, meditate upon it. Sometimes the most meaningful reading is reading very little, but reading with depth.

To help you in this process, I suggest you buy the book “Let Go” by Francois Fenelon. And read only one chapter a day. But read it slowly, very slowly. Read it if it was written directly to you.

4. Contemplation

Another daily practice should be contemplation. By that I mean you should take moments where you sit quietly in the presence of God. This is usually best after prayer or worship. Just sit and listen to God.

In Eastern spiritual practices this is called meditation. But in Christianity it’s called contemplation. It is about becoming mindfully aware of the presence of God within you, around you.

In order to become aware, quiet the mind through the Jesus prayer or mindfully following your breath. Just sit in the stillness. Open your awareness. God’s presence is like the rays of the sun, it is an invisible warmth and expansion of awaeness.

5. Work

And lastly, you should do some kind of moderate work regularly. For many of us, this is our job. But if you have a mental job, you should add in some walking or exercise. I’m lucky, in my job. I walk several miles everyday.

And if you’re retired, you should find something to do to exercise your body. Whether that means going for a walk, playing golf, or exercising in a gym. Physical activity is important.

Conclusion

Well there you have, five things mystics do everyday. These will help you to grow spiritually, and draw you into oneness with God. Make it your purpose to please God in all you think, say, or do. May God increase and you decrease.