Gathered Around the Fire

Download QuickTime Player Prayer Requests...(Download mp3 Audio) Psalm 23 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”. As you continue in this venture with Christ—this venture that began as a simple way of prayer—yet another experience may await you. It is this: Do not be too surprised if you find you are no longer able to offer up prayers of petition. You may find that prayers of request become more difficult. Yes it is true that in the past you offered up petitions and requests with complete ease. Until now, praying this way was never difficult. But in this new relationship with your Lord, it is the Spirit who prays! And as the Spirit prays, He helps your weakness. He is making intercession for you. And He is praying according to the will of God. For we do not know how to pray as we should; but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:28) There is your will; there is God’s will. There is your plan; there is God’s plan. There is your prayer; th...

Download QuickTime Player The Scripture...(Download mp3 Audio) For the last few chapters we have been discussing a deeper experience of Christ, and in the last chapter we looked at how to deal with sins and confession. Let us now go on to consider what other experiences with Him go deeper still. Let us take the Scripture first. Is there a deeper use you can make of the Scripture than has been mentioned up until now? Remember please, from an earlier chapter that reading the Scripture is a way into prayer. Remember, too, that what you read may become prayer. Is there yet more scripture can provide? Yes you can use the Scripture in yet a more refined manner than has been mentioned before. Let us consider that way. I will give you a brief, practical description. First come before the Lord and begin to read. Stop reading just as soon as you feel yourself being drawn inwardly. Stop reading when you feel the Lord drawing you in your inward parts to Himself. Now simply remain in stillness. St...

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...