"Continual Prayer" - Chapter 12a

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"Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madame Jeanne Guyon

If you remain faithful on the things touched on up until now, you will be astonished to feel the Lord gradually taking possession of your whole being. I would like to remind you that this book was not written for your enjoyment. Neither is it presenting just some method of prayer. The purpose of this book is to offer a way in which the Lord Jesus can take full possession of you.

As the Lord gradually begins to do this, to take full possession of you, it is true that you will begin to enjoy a sense of His presence. You will find that this sense of the Lord’s Presence will become very natural to you. Both the prayer with which you first began and a sense of His presence which comes with that prayer, will eventually become a normal part of your daily experience.

An unusual serenity and peacefulness will gradually spread over your soul. Your whole prayer, your whole experience, will begin to enter upon a new level.

What is this new level? It is prayer. Prayer that consists of silence. And while in this silence, God pours into you a deep inward love. This experience of love is one that will fill and permeate your whole being. There is no way to describe this experience , this encounter. I would only say that this love which the Lord pours into your depths is the beginning of an indescribable blessedness.

I wish it were possible in this little book to tell you some of the levels of endless experiences you can have with the Lord, experiences that come out of this encounter with God. But I must remember that this little book is written for beginners. Therefore, I trust on some future day I will be able to relate these deeper experiences to you.

There is one thing I will say, however. When you come to the Lord, gradually learn to have a quiet mind before Him. One of the most important things you can do is cease from any self-effort. In this way, God Himself can act all alone. It was the Psalmist speaking for the Lord who said, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)

This verse gives you an insight into your own mind. Your self nature becomes so pleasantly attached to its own efforts that it simply cannot believe that anything is going on within your spirit. Unless the mind is able to feel and understand, it refuses to believe the spirit is having the experience.

The reason you are sometimes unable to feel God’s working within you is that the work is fully within the realm of the spirit, and not in the mind. Sometimes God’s workings in you are quite rapid, and yet the mind is not aware that you are making progress. The workings of God in you, always increasing more and more, are absorbing the workings of your self.

Let me illustrate this.

During the night the stars shine very brightly, but as the sun begins to come up, the stars gradually vanish. Actually the stars are still there; they have not stopped shining; but the sun is so much brighter that you cannot see them. The same is true in spiritual matters. There is a strong and universal light which absorbs all the smaller lights of your soul. The smaller lights of your soul grow fainter and eventually disappear under the powerful light of your Spirit. Self activity is no longer able to be distinguished or noticed.

Self-effort becomes swallowed up in the working of God.

Sometimes the question is raised, “Is not this prayer experience one of inactivity? The question would not even be asked if it were preceded by experience. If you will make some effort to obtain this experience of prayer, this deeper experience of Jesus Christ, you will be full of light and understanding concerning the state of your soul. No, the soul is not inactive-at least not because of barrenness or lack –but has become still because of great abundance.

The Christian who has laid a hold of this encounter will understand this and will recognize that this silence is rich, full, and alive! This silence is coming forth from a storehouse of plenty!

You see there are two kinds of people who keep silent. The first is one who has nothing to say, and the other is who has too much to say. In the case of this deeper encounter with the Lord, the latter is true. Silence is produced from excess, not from lack. To die of thirst is one thing; to be drowned is quite another. Yet water causes both. In one it is the lack of water, and in the other too much water causes death.

This experience with Christ has its beginning in a simply way to pray. Gradually, though it goes on from there. The experience deepens until the fullness of grace completely stills the activity of the self. Therefore, you see why it is of the greatest importance that you remain as quieted as possible.



"Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madame Jeanne GuyonDownload QuickTime Player
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.