An Experiment

by Ben

I read Psalm 66-72.

I'm trying an experiment that I got from the Ohio Christian Educators Association conference. One of the sessions that I went to was titled "Experiencing God." Basically, the leader of the session suggested that many (if not all) of our problems stem from the fact that we fail to remember Christ throughout the regular events of our daily life. That if we would remember Christ constantly, we would solve many of our problems.

Think of it, would you be more or less likely to sin if you were thinking about Christ's sacrifice? So, how do we remember Christ in every moment of every day? Well, the speaker offered the titles of a few books that deal with the subject (namely, "Practicing the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence) and then offered his own process:

Every morning, wake up and thank God for the opportunity to serve Him that day (you may need some sort of physical reminder for this). Every time you talk to another person, pray for them. This does not have to be a long or extensive prayer, but they can be. (I have found that as I am walking between places that I have plenty of time to pray). The speaker also suggested memorizing Scripture and meditating on that Scripture while you do mundane things.

It is amazing to me how easy it is for me to forget that I am doing this. I have been doing this experiment for about 4 days and I continually forget to pray for the people I've interacted with. (Although, if you keep up with this, you'll have had several hundred conversations with God each day!). Also, I used to claim that I had trouble memorizing Scripture, but I've found that it was just a mental block to keep from having to do it. My Scripture knowledge is increasing as I do this.

I recommend trying this out. In fact, I'm challenging my youth to do an experiment to see if they can do it for one week. I am looking forward to seeing how God changes me from the inside out.