Toward the Center - Chapter 11

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"Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madame Jeanne Guyon
In the last chapter we discussed dealing with the outward senses. Here was our conclusion: If at any time you find your desires stirred up, those senses can best be deadened by a gentle retreat inward to a present God. Any other way of opposing your restless senses will merely stimulate them further.

As you come into this deeper level of knowing the Lord, you will eventually come ot discover a principle I will call the law of central tendency.

What do I mean by the law of central tendency? As you continue holding your soul deep in your inward parts, you will discover that God has a magnetic attracting quality! Your God is like a magnet! The Lord naturally draws you more and more toward Himself.

The next thing you notice is this: As you move toward the center, the Lord purifies you of all the things that are not of Him.

This is illustrated in nature. Observe the ocean. The water in the ocean begins to evaporate. Then the vapor begins moving towards the sun. As the vapor leaves the earth, it is full of impurities; however as it ascends, it becomes more refined and purified.

What did the vapor do?

The vapor did nothing. It simply remained passive. The purifying took place as the vapor was drawn up into the heavens!

There is one difference between your soul and those vapors. Although the vapor can only be passive, you have the privilege of cooperating voluntarily with the Lord as HE draws you inwardly toward Himself.

When your soul is once turned toward God—the God who dwells within your spirit—you will find it easy to keep turning within. The longer you continue to turn within, the closer you will become to God and the more firmly you will cling to Him. Of course, the closer you are drawn to God, the farther you are removed from the activities of your natural man. The natural man, to be sure, is very opposed to you inward drawing toward God. Nonetheless, there will come a point when you will finally be established in having turned within. From that point on, it will be natural for you to live before the Lord! In the past it was natural for you to live on the surface of your being; now it will be habit to live in the center of your being where your Lord dwells.

May I remind you that you are like the vapors ascending to the heavens; you must not think that you can bring all this about by exerting your efforts. The only thing you can do –actually the only thing you should attempt to do—is to keep withdrawing yourself from the external objects. Keep turning from external objects and keep turning within to your spirit. There is very little you should ever do, but that one thing can do! Yes you are capable of that much cooperation with divine grace.

Beyond that though, you have nothing more to do but continue firmly holding on to your Lord. At the outset of this venture, all this may seem somewhat difficult to you; but be assured that this kind of inward turning becomes very easy. You will advance spiritually very naturally and effortlessly.

Again, this is because God has a magnetic attraction. He is within you, always drawing you to Himself.

You can see this principle in the natural elements. The center of anything always exerts a very powerful drawing force. That fact is even more true in the spiritual realm. On the one hand, there is a drawing force in the center of your being; it is powerful and irresistible. And on the other hand, there is a very strong tendency in every man to be reunited to his center. The center is not only drawing the object away from the surface, but the object itself tends toward the center!

As you become more perfected in Christ, this tendency to be drawn within to the Lord becomes stronger and more active.

What might slow down the process of this central tendency?

Only some obstacle which stands between the outer object (you) and the inward magnet (Christ). As soon as anything turns toward the center, it will rush there very rapidly unless it is hindered.

Take for instance, a stone. When you drop a stone from your hand, what does it do? It immediately falls to the earth from whence it once came. The stone returns to its original source. The same is true of fire and water. They always seek to return to their centers.

Your soul, once it begins to turn inward, is brought under this same law of central tendency. It too gradually falls toward its proper center, which is God. The soul needs no other force to draw it than the weight of Love.

The more passive and peaceful you remain, the more quickly you will advance toward God. The freer you are from exerting your own effort, the more quickly you will move toward your Lord.

Why is this? Because there is a divine energy drawing you. When this divine energy is completely unhindered, He has complete liberty to draw you just as He pleases.

Jesus Christ is the great magnet of your soul, but of your soul only. He will not draw the impurities and mixtures that are mingled with it. Any such impurities prevent His full power of attraction.





If there is no mixture in your soul, the soul would instantly rush toward the all-powerful, irresistible God within to be lost in Him. But if you are loaded down with many material possessions—or anything else—this attraction is greatly hindered. Many Christians seize some part of this world or some part of self with so tight a grip that they spend their whole lives making only a snail’s progress toward their Center.

Thank God, sometimes your Lord, out of His boundless love strikes the burden violently from your hand. It is then that you realize just how very much you have been hindered and held back. Dear Christian, only allow everything to drop. How? Simply withdraw your hands from self; withdraw your hands from every other person and all things. Of course, that is something of a sacrifice. It can even be called a crucifixion.

But you will be amazed to find that there is only a very short space between your sacrifice and your resurrection!

Is it proper for the soul to become so completely passive?

Some seem to feel that, according to what I have said, the soul is required to become dead—dead like some lifeless object—before God has His will in it. Actually, the very opposite is true.

The main element of the soul is the will, and the soul must will to become neutral and passive, waiting entirely upon God. Can you not see that this condition of utter passivity, this state of doing nothing and waiting upon God, is actually the highest activity of the will? Listen to your soul as it says, “I am willing with all the power of my being that the desire of God be accomplished within me. I am willing to be here, ceasing from all my activity and all my power, so that God might have His desire of fully possessing me.”

When the soul has done this, it has actually exerted the highest possible action of the will. The soul has taken the action of total surrender to another will, the Divine will!

Therefore dear reader, give all your attention to learning how to turn within and dwell in your spirit. Do not be discouraged by any difficulties you may have encountered this far. Before long, God will give you abundant grace, and all this will be easy.

I would add only one admonition. You must remain faithful in humbly withdrawing your heart from outward distractions and occupations. Form the habit of continually returning to God, who is your center, with a peaceful tender love.


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Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Madame Jeanne Guyon
Other resources on praying scripture:
“Praying The Bible” The book of prayers by Wesley & Stacy Campbell...Please feel free to share this with a friend by sending them a link. Why not e-mail me with your comments.