To know the Lord's presence we must know our human spirit because this is the organ that we must use to contact the Lord (John 3:6b; 4:23-24; Romans 8:16). We can "sense" the Lord's presence because He is the Spirit indwelling our spirit (see John 14:16-18; 2 Cor. 3:17; Romans 8:6, 9-11). We must go deeper than what we experience or sense in our mind, emotion and will in order to touch and sense the Lord's real presence in our spirit. We will recognize the Lord's presence by the following sensations in our spirit:

Each of the comparisons above can be experienced in our soul as well as our spirit. This is why it is so crucial to have the Word of God divide our soul from our spirit (Hebrews 4:12). As we mature in the divine life throughout our Christian life, we begin to differentiate between the soul and spirit. Then we can more easily detect and follow the sense of the Spirit within us.

Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. (John 14:17)

As the verse indicates, we can know Him, the Spirit of reality because he abides with us and is in us. How do we know Him? By the sensation in our spirit. If we only exercise our mind, emotion or will, we are no different than an unbeliever and we can have sensations that are NOT from the Spirit. However, as we touch the Spirit in our spirit (John 4:23-24) we will have sensations of light where there was darkness, of strength where formerly we felt weak or impotent, of satisfaction where once we were empty, of peace where bitterness had filled our hearts, and of rest where matters formerly oppressed us and made us anxious.

This stage of our Christian growth in mainly related to the intuition in our spirit. We cannot necessarily explain the Lord's presence but we have a definite sensation indicating the Lord is with us. Just consider any of the basic sensations mentioned above and you will realize the Lord is with us constantly. For instance, many times we are physically tired and weak and we do not want to turn to the Lord nor talk to people; we only want to watch television. Then, a brother or sister in Christ calls us and speaks Christ to us. In a short time we are enlivened and desirious to love the Lord. We are strengthen to go out and care for others. Praise the Lord for His living presence!

Initially in our Christian experience we mainly have the sensations of the Spirit and of the Lord's presence. This is essential to our growth and health in Christ. However, in order to sustain a proper walk with the Lord, we must go deeper in our experience of the Lord's presence. This stage of life is related to our direct fellowship with the Lord as a Person. The Lord is no longer One who meets our need and mainly cares for us. Now, we have grown to reciprocate and desire the Lord and His Person as well.

To have fellowship with a person is a matter related to love and intimacy. We must know the other person well. We must be sensitive to their desires. It is the same with knowing the Lord and His presence. To have sensations of Christ is like being a child. They are happy as long as daddy or mommy is around. However, to fellowship heart to heart requires maturity in life. Therefore, Romans 12:2 says that we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We can only have intimate, loving fellowship with Christ if we grow in the divine life to the point where we go beyond our own desires and preferences to allow Christ to speak His life and Word into us.

2) realizing the two crucial elements in practicing the Lord's presence: (a) a desirous heart, and (b) a time every day which is separated to the Lord

3) practice to touch the Lord's presence early in the morning by using the following exercises to bring us into spirit: (a) calling on the Lord's name (Romans 10:12-13), (b) groaning in spirit (Romans 8:26), (c) praying genuinely, simply and sincerely (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 6:18), (d) mix prayer with your reading of the Word (Ephesians 6:17-18), and (e) singing (Hebrews 2:12; Matthew 26:30).