The Constant State - Chapter 22b

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

Now In this state of rest, is your soul active or passive? It is active! You are not in a passive state, even if you are resting. By what activity could there be resting? You are resting in the act of abiding in His love/ Can that be activity? Yes! Inside your spirit there is an act going on. It is a sweet sinking into Deity.

The inward attraction—the magnetic pull—becomes more and more powerful. Your soul, dwelling in love, is drawn by this powerful attraction and sinks continually deeper into that love.

So you see, this inward activity has become far greater than it was when your soul first began to turn inward. Under the powerful attraction of God drawing you into Himself, the inward activity has increased.

The difference is that at the outset the activity was more outward; now the activity has moved inside; it has become deep, inward, hidden and outwardly imperceptible.

To that Christian who is totally given up to God (that is, a Christian in whom this activity is taking place continually), there is not even an awareness of all these things! He cannot sense this activity because it is all a direct inward turning to God. Nothing is outward or surface.

This is the reason that some Christians who have touched upon this state have reported that they do nothing, that there is no activity and no turning taking place within them.

Unwittingly, they are mistaken about their own internal state; they are, in fact, more active than ever before and are continually turning to God. (they act each time they turn inward and return to God.)

The better report would be to say that they do not sense any distinct activity, not that they have no activity within.

Oh, it is true that they are not acting (or turning) of themselves. However, they are being drawn, and they are following the attraction. Love is the weight which sinks them.

If you were to fall into the sea, and were that sea infinite, you would fall from one depth to another for all eternity. This is how it is with a Christian who is in that place of continuous abiding. He is not even aware of his descent. And yet he is sinking with inconceivable swiftness to the most inward depths of God.

We are now at a point where we can draw some conclusions concerning the subject of this chapter.

First, let us not say we do not form the act of turning to God. We do! Each of us does turn within. The way we do it, that is a different matter. The way we turn within is not the same for everyone.

Here is the error, though, of the new Christian. Every person who desires to turn to God to abide with Him just naturally expects to feel the Lord’s presence and to experience Him outwardly.

This just cannot always be.

The outward experience is for the beginner! There are other experiences; these experiences are much deeper and far more inward. Such deeper experiences are laid hold of by these Christians who have progressed somewhat in spiritual experience.

Is the outward feeling of the Lord’s presence to be disdained?
Most certainly not!

It is true that the outward acts are very week touches of the Lord; and furthermore, they are of little value. For you to stop there is to deprive yourself of the deeper experience of a more mature Christian.

But—and you should be very clear about this—it is a great error for the new Christian—for you –to attempt a deep, inner walk without first experiencing the outward turning to Christ and knowing that outward sense of His presence.

The writer of Ecclesiastes said it: “To everything there is a season.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) This is especially true of your soul. Every state of transformation the soul passes through has a beginning, a progress, and a consummation. To stop at the beginning of any one of these stages is foolish. You must go through a period of learning, then a period of progress. At first you toil diligently, but at last you reap the fruit of your labor!

Let me illustrate. When sailors first take a ship out of port, it is difficult to head her out to sea. They must use all their strength to get that ship clear of the harbor. But once she is at sea she moves easily in whatever direction the seamen choose.

It is the sane with you as you begin to turn within to God. You are like that ship. At first you are very strongly bound by sin and by self. Only through a great deal of repeated effort are you turned within. But eventually those ropes which bind you have to loosen!

Keep on turning within!

Do so despite every failure! Despite all the distractions that pull you away!

If you will remain faithful and strong in this continual turning, gradually you will push off from the port of self. Leaving it far behind, you will head for the interior to an inner abiding with God, for that is your destination.

What happens once the ship has left port? She moves farther and farther out into the deep sea, and the farther from port she goes, the easier she moves.

There comes a time at last, when she can use her sails! Her oars become useless. They are laid aside! Now her course is swift!

And what does the pilot do? He is content to spread sails and hold the rudder. All he does now is keep the swiftly moving vessel gently on its course.

“To spread the sails” is to lay yourself before God in simple prayer. “To spread the sails” is to be moved by His spirit.

“To hold the rudder” is to keep your heart from wandering away from its true course. “To hold the rudder” is to recall the heart, gently. You guide it firmly by the moving of the Spirit of God.

Now as you begin to move into Him, He will gradually gain possession of your heart. He gains it in the same way—little by little—that the gentle breeze fills the sails and moves the ship forward.

When the winds are favorable, the pilot rests from his work. The pilot rests and leaves the ship to be moved by the wind. Oh what progress they make without becoming the least bit tired!

They are making more progress in one hour then they ever did before, even when exerting all their strength. If the oars were used now, it would only slow the ship and cause fatigue. The oars are useless and unnecessary.

You have just seen a description of your proper inward course.

If God is your mover, you will go much father in a short time than all your repeated self-effort could ever do.

Dear reader, try this path! You will eventually find it to be the easiest in the world.

Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ
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