{"id":1800,"date":"2010-03-01T05:08:33","date_gmt":"2010-03-01T05:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/2010\/03\/henri-nouwen-keep-living-where.html"},"modified":"2010-03-01T05:08:33","modified_gmt":"2010-03-01T05:08:33","slug":"henri-nouwen-keep-living-where","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2010\/03\/henri-nouwen-keep-living-where.html","title":{"rendered":"Henri Nouwen: Keep Living Where God Is"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following excerpt is from Henri Nouwen’s book, “The Inner Voice of Love”<\/a> (the one I’m always quoting from … it’s my favorite).
\nWhatever you are doing–watching a movie, writing a book, giving a presentation, eating, or sleeping–you have to stay in God’s presence. If you feel a great loneliness and a deep longing for human contact, you have to be extremely discerning. Ask yourself whether this situation is truly God-given. Because where God wants you to be, God holds you safe and gives you peace, even when there is pain.
\nTo live a disciplined life is to live in such a way that you want only to be where God is with you. The more deeply you live your spiritual life, the easier it will be to discern the difference between living with God and living without God, and the easier it will be to move away from the places where God is no longer with you.
\nThe great challenge here is faithfulness, which must be lived in the choices of every moment. When your eating, drinking, working, playing, speaking, or writing is no longer for the glory of God, you should stop it immediately, because when you no longer live for the glory of God, you begin living your own glory. Then you separate yourself from God and do yourself harm.
\nYour main question should always be whether something is lived with or without God. You have your own inner knowledge to answer that question. Every time you do something that comes from your needs for acceptance, affirmation, or affection, and every time you do something that makes these needs grow, you know that you are not with God. These needs will never be satisfied; they will only increase when you yield to them. But every time you do something for the glory of God, you will know God’s peace in your heart and find rest there.<\/p>\n

* Click here to subscribe to Beyond Blue<\/b><\/a> and click here to follow Therese on Twitter<\/b><\/a> and click here to join Group Beyond Blue<\/b><\/a>, a depression support group. Now stop clicking.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following excerpt is from Henri Nouwen’s book, “The Inner Voice of Love” (the one I’m always quoting from … it’s my favorite). Whatever you are doing–watching a movie, writing a book, giving a presentation, eating, or sleeping–you have to stay in God’s presence. If you feel a great loneliness and a deep longing for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration-and-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nHenri Nouwen: Keep Living Where God Is - Beyond Blue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2010\/03\/henri-nouwen-keep-living-where.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Henri Nouwen: Keep Living Where God Is - Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following excerpt is from Henri Nouwen’s book, “The Inner Voice of Love” (the one I’m always quoting from … it’s my favorite). 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