Within v. Without

Luke 17:21 "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

I am afraid we redefine the presence of God with those things "without" rather than "within." Jesus said eternal life is to know Him and that knowing comes from within us not from outside of us. There is so much today to stimulate our senses. We rely on visual images, flashing lights, relevent music, dramatic audio versions of the Bible to draw near to God. While these things can be tools in our walk with God individually as well as corporately, we cannot depend on certain outward conditions to worship and spend time with God. The true test of our relationship is "when the music fades, and all is stripped away. . ." as the old worship song says. We must not replace our senses in the natural for the real manifest presence of God. Let us "be still and know that He is God" (Ps. 46:10). Lord, teach us to live "the inward life" in all we do, and like Brother Lawrence "practice the presence of God."