Today Brother Lawrence spoke to me quite openly and with great enthusiasm about his manner of going to God. He said the most important part resides in renouncing, once and for all, whatever does no lead to God.  This allows us to become involved in a continuous conversation with Him in a simple and unhindered manner.

All we have to do is to recognize God as being intimately present within us.  Then we may speak directly to Him every time we need to ask for help, to know His will in moments of uncertainty, and to do whatever He wants us to do in a way that pleases Him.  We should offer our work to Him before we begin and thank Him afterward for the privilege of having done it for His sake.  This continuous conversation should also include praising and loving God incessantly for His infinite goodness and perfection.

Brother Lawrence declared that we ought to ask confidently for God’s grace in everything we do, trusting the infinite merits of our Lord rather than our own thoughts. He said that God would never fail to give us His grace, and that he could testify to this personally.  This brother in the Lord sinned only when he strayed from God’s company or when he forgot to ask Him for His help.

When we are in doubt, he continued, God never fails to show us the right way to go, as long as our only goal is to please Him and show our love for Him.

--Excerpts from The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence