What is devotion? It is the unceasing practice of acknowledging God’s presence, with the ultimate goal of living your life as one long prayer.
Is it possible to maintain awareness of God’s presence in every moment? Think of it this way: When you fall in love, you hold the thought of your beloved in the back of your mind throughout the day, even while concentrating on difficult tasks. It is not outer activity but inner restlessness that distracts you from God.
Think of God as your beloved and your life will change overnight. Welcome God into your heart and your consciousness, and you will forever be graced and embraced by God’s loving, comforting presence.
A daily prayer can help you stay intoxicated with God’s presence. Here is part of a prayer I use daily. Feel free to use whatever part speaks to you. Better yet, create your own prayer and revise it whenever you are inspired to do so. (I’ve highlighted in blue the portions I’ve borrowed or adapted from Self-Realization Fellowship.)
DAILY DEVOTIONAL PRAYER
Thank you, God, for guiding me with infinite wisdom and with deep love.
Thank you for working through me to do your work in this world.
Thank you for bathing me in your loving consciousness, in your holy, healing presence.
Thank you for blessing me with every moment of this sweet life. Every moment is a gift.
Guide me to behold only that which is good,
To speak only that which is pure and true,
To love as God loves, purely, unconditionally,
And fill my soul with that bliss which draws me ever forward down the path of that which is right.
I am an instrument of God, humble and steadfast.
God, when people see me, let them see you.
When people hear me, let them hear you.
I yearn for unbroken attunement with thee.
I surrender my life to thee.
Do with it what you will, the better to serve you—unconditionally, joyfully, honorably, and for all time.
Thank you, God, for bathing my home in your deep love, for bathing my heart in your deep love.
With aspiring mind, with zealous heart, with flaming soul,
I lay at thy feet of omnipresence all the flowers of my devotion.
Everything I do is for God.
Everything I have, everything I am, is from God.
Whatever God brings to me, I want.
Thank you, God, for guiding me to do your work—effortlessly, and with great joy, love, skill, enthusiasm, humility and service.
Click here to view all my posts about Paramahansa Yogananda and Self-Realization Fellowship.
Tags: bliss, daily prayer, devotional prayer, every moment is a gift, God, humility, infinite wisdom, instrument of God, life of devotion, loving God, service, serving God, spiritual, surrender to God, unconditional love
Triumph of the Spirit 
September 1, 2008 at 8:35 PM
>>Everything I do is for God.
Everything I have, everything I am, is from God.
Whatever God brings to me, I want.<<
I love these lines, so true. God owns it all and He will bring it our life if we are open and willing to accept it. For that reason, there is nothing to fear.
September 1, 2008 at 9:02 PM
Yes, I only wish it were easy to remember to live by these words. I remind myself repeatedly throughout each day that whatever God brings to me, I want. But it’s so easy to lapse back into maya.
January 24, 2009 at 1:42 PM
hello again phil… thanks for directing me to this blog entry… btw, im just here visiting in sunnyvale because of an accident that my son had last nov 4 when he was hit by a car… before leaving manila for san francisco, i had written an entry which i would like to share with you…
lost in transition
i was browsing along in the computer section of Powerbooks when i suddenly see Beema coming over crying while talking to someone on her cellphone…. i knew instantly that something was terribly wrong. Beema hands over the cellphone to me and i hear the voice of Beema’s sister Grace… and after a few minutes, that’s when it suddenly dawns on me…. Ira, my son, who was in San Francisco… was hit by a car and was rushed to the hospital… Grace could only share that Ira’s arm and legs were fractured, but more than that, she had to make an immediate
decision, have the doctors operate and do a procedure on his head, because a scan had shown too much blood accumulating in his head and they were afraid if it was coming from the brain….
what does a parent think, or do during circumstances like these?…for someone like me who has always been circumspect in all matters, who puts up a logical perspective like a tv screen in front of him before making decisions…. how do i decide on anything at all? when real circumstances are lost in transition… or translation? … because once you hear that something has happened to a person that you love most dearly… everything seems to just spin around in your head, a sudden feeling of helplessness, of anger, of varied emotions… i hold my tears
back, try to settle myself…. someone had to be strong for the two of us, beema and i…. but those are times you’d wish that she was the stronger of the two… so that you’d just let go of everything… and cry.
so many thoughts invade my mind… of possible death, of a possible permanent incapacitation… hit and run?… fly off immediately to San Francisco to be with my son!…. shattered dreams for Ira…. he is so physically fit, had just finished a course in the North Carolina School of Arts where he studied movie stunt choreography where he was only one of six who were accepted to the workshop… from thousands of applicants… he had worked so hard to get his black belts in different martial art forms, he founded Parkour Philippines to teach this new French art to fellow pinoy practitioners… he strived so hard to get into
that workshop which was handled by his idol, the stunt choreographer of the Jason Bourne series and the Dark Knight… and his loving heart made him choose to work as a physical therapist helping out senior citizens in his county… he was coming home this nov 30… and i had missed him so much…
a myriad of emotions creep on me… until a brief moment when i look into the teary eyes of my wife Beema… i felt a sudden calmness and reassurance…. i whispered to beema, i know that everything will be alright… let us go to the Adoration Chapel and pray… He is the only One that matters at this time… because this time is when everything you learned during one’s formation on faith, on righteousness, on belongingness, on stewardship matters the most… For what use is it to learn about faith if one cannot trust the Lord to bestow his Divine and Tender Mercies, His Amazing Love? … for i believe that Ira is loved by Him just like the rest of us… yes, i continued praying, for it may just be the strongest medicine i can offer my son at this moment… and i know that while i can’t be beside him at this trying time, the Lord is my emissary and in Ira’s mildly sedated state, Ira will know that he would be holding my Lord’s reassuring hands and telling him not to worry, just as any loving parent would.
i can only try to start thanking my rivers community for the prayers that they have said for Ira… literally storming the heavens with our combined petition for his physical salvation, for his wellness and recovery, and that his dreams for the future is not shattered at all… i had already changed my page’s shoutbox to “God is truly good, all the time!” for my belief, my faith and my trust in Him is true… nothing at all lost in this translation. I left the decision on Ira’s medical procedures to Grace for her to decide because she is there and aware of real circumstances… it was as if i left the decision to God, knowing that
Grace’s faith and trust is mine too, her trust in God is mine too.
Ira is now stable and no longer in critical condition… his arm and legs in
casts… under observation in the ICU for the next 48 hours… responding with body movements when he hears his name… and i know that all of you will still pray along with me that his body will respond to medicine that will make his blood clot more quickly and properly…i know that it was God who created ira, and it will be God who will restore him and make him physically fit again…. do pray this with me…
but most of all, i know that GOD IS TRULY GOOD, ALL THE TIME!
January 24, 2009 at 2:02 PM
You are a gifted writer, Henri. Thank you for sharing this with me. My prayers are winging their way toward Ira as I type this. Thank goodness he is recovering well. What is his status today? He sounds like a true earth angel and a son who would make any father proud. You are very blessed.
February 13, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Yogananda called it “practicing the presence of God.” It isn’t so easy, but it’s essential. A solid meditation practice helps because it makes God real. Then you tend to notice the Divine in all things. Thanks for the reminder…
February 13, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Your reminder is appreciated as well, Pamir. We all need reminders, the more the better!
March 25, 2009 at 9:32 PM
What beautiful, compassionate, inspiring words! As a yoga practitioner and yoga instructor my personal practice and teaching are forms of prayer as an offering of gratitude to the Divine within me and in others.
I also love and use Sri Dharma Mittra’s phrase, to be silently offered with every action performed throughout the day: “Lord, this is for you.”
Only with such forms of complete surrender to God can we attain the highest.
Blessings and Peace
March 25, 2009 at 9:43 PM
Yes, and no matter what comes your way, you accept it with humility and gratitude, with these three words always on your lips: “As you wish.”