Gathered Around the Fire

Download QuickTime Player A New Look At Confession of Sin...(Download mp3 Audio) "Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madame Jeanne Guyon Let us go on a little farther now and consider confession of sin There is awaiting you a higher understanding and a higher experience of confession and repentance. Should you truly desire to walk these paths, you should be aware of something about confession of sin which is generally misunderstood. In the past when you have confessed your sins to your Lord, you have most likely felt regret for those sins, have you not? There is a higher experience of repentance, and there is a deeper experience of confession of sin, than the feeling of regret. In fact, you will find those feelings of regret replaced by something else—replaced by a love and tranquility. That love, that tranquility sweetly saturates your soul and, having saturated it thoroughly, takes full possession of it. Repentance that is sweet? Confession of sin th...

Download QuickTime Player A New look At Self Examination ...(Download mp3 Audio) "Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madame Jeanne Guyon Where does confession of sin and examination of your life concerning sin fit into the life of a Christian following this path? How does he deal with these important matters? Let us take this chapter to open up a clearer, higher view of self-examination and of confession of sin. It is commonly taught that self-examination is something that should always precede confession of sin. Though this may be correct, the manner of the self-examination is dictated by the level of your Christian experience. I would recommend for a Christian whose spiritual state has actually advanced to the stage which was described in the preceding chapters that when you come to the Lord concerning sin and confession, you do this: Lay your entire soul open before God. You can be certain that the Lord will not will not fail to enlighten you concerning your...

Download QuickTime Player Silence ...(Download mp3 Audio) "Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madame Jeanne Guyon The point to which this venture has led us is a state of silence and continuous prayer. Let us go back a little a take a closer look at this matter of silence. Why, for instance, is being silent before the Lord when you first come to Him so important? First of all it is because of your fallen nature is opposed to God’s nature. The two of you are not at all alike. Secondly, Jesus Christ is the Word, the speaking Word. He can be heard! But for the Word (Jesus Christ) to be received by you, your nature must be made to correspond to His nature. Let me illustrate further. Consider the act of hearing. Listening is a passive sense. If you ever want to hear anything, you must yield a passive ear. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word. He and He alone, is the source of new life to you. For you to have new life, He must be communicated to you....

Download QuickTime Player Abundance ...(Download mp3 Audio) "Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madame Jeanne Guyon In the last chapter, we spoke of entering into a deeper level of experience with Jesus Christ. At the very outset of this journey, you found that the only preparation you needed was a quiet waiting before God. The same is true in this new level of experience. This is no longer a rare experience, nor an occasional experience; gradually it becomes your daily experience. The presence of God begins to be poured forth within you. Eventually it will become yours almost without intermission. In the beginning, you were led into His presence by prayer; but now, as prayer continues, the prayer actually becomes His presence. In fact, we can no longer say that it is prayer that continues. It is actually His presence that continues with you. This is beyond prayer. Now a heavenly blessedness is yours. You begin to discover That God is more intimately present to you t...

Download QuickTime Player Continual Prayer 12b...(Download mp3 Audio) "Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ" by Madame Jeanne Guyon Chapter 12b – “Continual Prayer” 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. May I illustrate this again? When a baby is born, it draws milk from its mother’s breast by moving its lips. However once the milk begins to flow, the child simply swallows without any further effort. If the baby continued any effort, it would hurt itself, spill the milk, and have to quit nursing. This must be your attitude in prayer. You must act this same way, especially in the beginning. Draw ever so gently. But as the Lord flows out of your spirit into your soul, cease all activity. How do you begin? By moving...

Download QuickTime Player Continual Prayer ...(Download mp3 Audio) "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 pr...

Download QuickTime Player Toward the Center...(Download mp3 Audio) "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 natu...