FINAL STEPS IN CHRISTIAN MATURITY
(THE SPIRITUAL ADVENTURER)

By Madame Jeanne Guyon

“There are many willing to bear the cross; almost none… the infamy.”

 

 

WHAT IS THE MOST COURAGEOUS OF ALL ABANDONMENTS?

• • How far are you willing to go in yielding your will to God? How far is proper?
  • What are the limits of obedience, the ends of abandonment, the ultimate willingness of the will?

The Song of Songs, Ch5, records a possible insight, for there you find a soul giving up the hope of eternal life! This does not mean that this particular believer had eternal life taken from him/her! It simply means that this believer offered up to God even that hope. All hope of any personal reward for loving God was abandoned and sacrificed. There was now nothing but a present love for God.

From a human and earthly viewpoint, this believer looks as though they were in the hands of the raging enemy (as if God has abandoned them); and they may even think themselves to be lost (for they have relinquished their hope of salvation).

Here, then, you see a true and great sacrifice, a monumental yielding of a soul abandoning itself to God – an illustration of a pure sacrifice, for the motive behind the sacrifice is Love, even excessive love. This sacrifice is accompanied by an abandonment of every selfish interest, (as in preferring hell to sinning). Paradoxically, he may still feel that he is committing some terrible sin – the pain can be very deep. This pain is present because he has a deep sensitivity to having offended God – even feeling it necessary to cry out, “Destroy me, oh Lord, but allow me not to sin!”

Other Christians may fear hell because hell is a punishment for sin, but here is a soul who demands to be sent to hell rather than to sin willfully against his God! (Later in his spiritual growth, this sense of unworthiness before the Lord will diminish, as a result of resignation, patience, and quiet.)

Let us take this high-water mark, this extreme view of yielding and abandon, and hold it before our eyes as we venture into the interior of life.

 

 

THE BLESSEDNESS OF WINTER

I see the season of winter as an excellent example of the transforming work of the Lord in a Christian’s life. When winter comes, the vegetable world, it seems to me, reflects the image of the purifying which God does in order to remove imperfections from the life of one of His children.

As cold comes on the wings of a winter storm, the trees gradually begin to lose their leaves. The green is soon changed into a funeral brown; soon they fall away and die. Behold the tree’s appearance now! It looks stripped and desolate. Behold the loss of summer’s beautiful garment! As we look upon this poor tree – we see a revelation.

Under all the beautiful leaves there had been all sorts of irregularities and defects. The defects had been “invisible” because of the beautiful leaves hiding the branches and main structure; but now they’re startlingly revealed! The tree is no longer beautiful in its surface appearance.

But has the tree really changed?… not at all. Everything is as it has always been, exactly as it was before – just that now the leaves are no longer there to hide what is real! The beauty of the outward life of the leaves had only hidden what had always been present in the first place.

The same is true of all believers – we can each look so beautiful – until life disappears! Then, no matter who, the Christian is revealed as full of defects. As the Lord works on you to produce purification, you will appear stripped of all your virtues! But, in the tree, there is life inside; and, as the tree, you are not actually becoming worse, you are simply seeing yourself for what you really are!

No, the believer’s inmost being has not been deprived of its essential virtue. He has lost no advantages – rather, only lost something human, a sense of his own personal goodness… and has discovered, instead, his utter wretchedness! He has lost the ease of following the Lord. That ease was born more of ignorance of self, than anything else.

As with the tree – so with you. The Christian, now spoiled and naked, appears in his own eyes to be a denuded thing; and all those around him see his defects for the first time: defects which were previously veiled, concealed by outward graces. (Sometimes, such revelation is so devastating to the pride of a Christian, he simply never recovers, and decides to be a Christian on some other level; or gives up following the Lord entirely.)

 

 

WINTER’S WORK

Throughout the long cold winter, the tree certainly appears as dead as the very deadest of all trees in the forest. The tree knows no reality. Here is total destruction, it seems, but the truth lies somewhere else.

That tree is actually undergoing and submitting to a process which preserves its life and strengthens the tree! After all, what does winter do to a tree? Winter contracts the tree’s exterior so that the life within no longer is uselessly expended! Its life, rather, is concentrated within the deepest part of the trunk and in the hidden portions of the root. The life is forced deeper and deeper into the inmost part of the tree!

Winter actually “preserves the tree” no matter how dead it may appear. Yes, its leaves have fallen away and its true, deformed state has been exposed; yet the tree has never been more alive than at that time! During winter, the source and principle of life is more firmly established than in any other season! In all other seasons, the tree employs the whole force of its life in adorning and beautifying itself (doing so at the expense of expending its life), taking its very vitality from the roots and the deepest part of the trunk. Therefore, there must be winter, for it is necessary for the tree (if it is to live, survive, and flourish).

Virtue has a way of sinking deep within the Christian, while totally disappearing from the surface, leaving the outward and natural defects in very conspicuous view! Grace operates in your life in exactly the same way. God will take away the leaves. Somethingwill cause them to fall, and the outward virtue will collapse. He does this so that He may strengthen the principle of the virtue.

The source of virtue must be built up. Something deep within the soul is still functioning. Somewhere within the spirit, the functions that are the highest (in God’s estimation) have never rested. What is going on is exceedingly hidden. It is humble.What’s happening is pure love! 

What is going on in the inmost part is absolute abandonment and contempt of self. The inward man is making progress – the soul is venturing forth into the interior. True, it seems that the operations of God are concentrated on the external parts of the believer, and even a moment’s glance reveals that the exterior things are not pleasant to look upon. Yet, in truth, no new defects in the soul have developed! Only the uncovering of old faults has come about!

And, as they are exposed, they are better healed. If you dare the spiritual pilgrimage, you need to remember in times of calamity, and in times of what appear to be dry spells, and in that time which men will call a spiritual winter: Life is there, deep within!

 

 

IN QUIET

One of the first things a spiritual pilgrim must learn is to be quiet before God and to remain before Him – coming without any request or even any personal will in any matter. If the believer chooses to act on his own, he is, of course, hindering the progress of God. He is being active strictly for his own activity’s sake. (He has chosen to do something for God rather then by God.)

It is better for the believer to learn to die to all influences of motivation that originate in the self, which – after all – only magnifies his self-nature.  If one remains before the Lord without will, he becomes like soft wax, a perfectly manageable instrument in the hands of God.

Now then, the believer passes into a new state (as soft wax), that of being active, yet having a will that is yielded up, with no motive of its own. The believer’s actions are no longer self-originating; they come from those gentle and loving influences of an indwelling Holy Spirit within his bosom.

 

 

OUR DESIRE: FROM SELF OR FROM GOD?

Let us see now a person who has surrendered his life to his Lord. None but that one who dwells in God by love can place all his happiness in God alone. For to seek placing your happiness in God by the strength of your will, or out of fear, or even “to please God”, are all horrible states to be in, and poor motives.

Love alone should cause anyone to yield up his will to the Lord. If it is not love that produces submission, eventually that submission will come out as something brutish. When the believer relinquishes his soul, his will, his all, to his Lord, desiring nothing of himself and desires always God for the sake of God, (and that, in a state of passionate love), then we see that he has made a good beginning. Why? Because here is a state where there is no enjoyment with self, as an end in view!

The glory of heaven is not the motive. Nor can the motive be the wonderful feeling of the Lord’s presence. There must be no object, earthly, or heavenly, that is your ultimate desire. It is only that you have loved Him, have fallen in love with Him, and are in a state of continually loving Him.

It has been wisely said that, “motive is but the child of Love”. If I love God alone for Himself alone, with no thought of self, then my desire will be in Him alone. There is no dominance of “vivaciousness or spunk” in the desire of love. Rather, there is an element of quietness and rest. Pure motives and pure desire are quiet and restful, filled and satisfied.

If a love is expressed towards an infinite God, and that love itself has its origins in Him, then the desires within the heart of that believer could not be manifested in something as common as restlessness or unsatisfied wants. There must be present a sense of rest, a sense that “I have no ungratified wish, no unfulfilled, personal desire.”

Please realize that this foundation alone can be the true foundation – and the only unshakable foundation for the believer to build his spiritual life upon. Be mindful that most believers love God with some other state than this mixed in. There is a love for God that has within it a regard for the self and its needs… But worse, and perhaps more common, is the believer whose love for God is actually a love (and a seeking) for the gratification of his own being.

He is seeking God, because of what he feels when he loves his Lord. When that love dies, (that is when the feeling that goes along with that love dies), this Christian loses a great deal of interest in God! This is a self-seeking state, and it must be abandoned if we are to know true spiritual growth.

 

 

PURE LOVE

We must love Him without any end in view, and even – as must come – without any feeling present to bolster us! We must love Him with total disregard to dry spells and to times of spiritual abundance, otherwise we are built on sifting sand. Our love must pass beyond the gratification that we get in loving God.

It is true that God may plant desires within you. He does plant motives within the heart of a believer. One such example we see in Paul, when he states, “I am in a straight between two alternatives: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, and yet I also need to be here with you.”

And later, the same Paul would cry out under the influence of his love in Christ for his Hebrew brothers, “I would that I could be cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.” When he cried all these words, it was also with an absolute freedom from any personal considerations. Self was not there! Here Paul expresses contradictory feelings, and yet they are perfectly reconciled in the depths of the human spirit.

There’s something going on there in a depth of the spirit which never changes. The only happiness and interest of the believer is in the blessedness of God, for God, and in God. All perceivable desires of that believer have merged with and been swallowed up in the desire for God. Nonetheless, there is deposited within (internally) a desire which originates in God, a desire which is best for God and for His kingdom.

The desire that is born within the self, but has a reference to the self, is the result of a will that is still unpurified. It is your Lord’s desire to bring that will do nothing… until the will is one with your Lord. Therefore, your Lord must from time to time, absorb – yes, and destroy – self originating desires.

By what evidence then can you know that you are in a state of self-originating desires, and not in a will which is in concert and aligned with God?

• • A believer, who has been persecuted and becomes bitter…
  • A believer who has known disappointment, because of the conduct of another believer (or someone in the world) and is resentful…
  • And most of all, that Christian, who has been disappointed in God, because of what HE has done, and is unhappy with God, and with the state he is in at the hands of so unfair of a God.

Such a person who is allowing these emotional experiences to sway his perspective and love for God, is in a state where self is originating the desires of the heart. When the Christian fixes his mind on what God should be, then, (when God does not act, according to his/man’s expectation), he will surely suffer disappointment. Furthermore, be sure, he has not a soul abandoned to the providence of God! He is not seeking the bliss and the well-being of God alone…

…Rather, there is a mixture – which can destroy his inner walk with the Lord!

As the believer deepens in his abandonment to Christ, outward things (caused by persecution, injustice, and even what is perceived to be the unfairness of God, and the displeasure of God) are things no longer perceived, nor reacted to.

 

 

HIS WILL – YOURS

There comes a point in the Lord’s dealing when He desires to give a believer, some spiritual blessing, some experience, or perhaps even some material thing. How is it that the Lord plants His desires within the bosom of the believer?

At this point, we must understand the way of prayer. The Lord prepares the heart of the believer to receive the blessing, then He gives that believer the desire which blossoms forth from within the heart. (Psalm 37:4 – “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”) How does the Lord do this?

The Spirit of God, (who dwells in you), begins to make intercession in you; and that intercession is for you… and, it is according to the will of God. He intercedes, and He requests (from within you), the very thing which is the desire of His heart! Now it is no longer only the desire of God and the Spirit, it also has become the desire within the bosom of the believer!

The request actually comes from the Holy Spirit; the desire actually comes from the Father. The believers will only become one with that desire.

Take note that the desire for humiliation on the part of the believer is a state far beneath the desire of the believer to loveGod; and yet, sometimes it pleases God to humble the Christian, (perhaps by means of slander); therefore, the Lord infuses into the Christian, a great thirst for humiliations. I called, it “the thirst” deliberately here, to distinguish it from the word “desire”.

There are other times, when the Lord will incline the believer to pray for particular things. The believer is perfectly aware that this prayer does not originate within his own will. Rather, the prayer and the desire have originated in God. The believer is not free to pray, for whom he pleases, for what he pleases, or even when he pleases when these inclinations appear/arise.

In this better way of prayer, the Christian is never vaulted up, nor proud, nor has self-congratulations when this prayer is specifically answered. He knows perfectly well that it was the Lord who first possessed that desire, that it was the Lord who prayed it, and that it was the Lord within him Who granted His own petition!

 

 

THE POWER OF SIMPLICITY

The purer an element is, the simpler the structure of the element. The more extended is the selflessness of the element, the more ways it can be used. For example, nothing can be purer, nor simpler than water. Why? Because of its fluidity.

It has no sensible qualities of its own. It is ready to receive all sorts of impressions and be contented. It is tasteless in itself but can carry an infinite variety of tastes. It is not correct to say that water in itself possesses qualities of color and scent – for these qualities are impressed upon the water by that which is put within the water!

It is the very capacity to be free from taste and color, to be pure and to be simple that allows water to exhibit such a great variety and abundance of applications. Therefore, if you ask water “what are your properties?” …The water will reply “my properties are to have no property at all. I am inert.”

“But I see you have a red color”, you may reply – but the water will respond “but I, nonetheless, I am not red by nature, nor do I question what is done with me, either in imparting to me flavor or color.”

Furthermore, water treats form the same way it treats color. It is fluid and yielding. It instantly and exactly assumes the form of the vessel in which it is placed. So it is with the indwelling Holy Spirit; so it is also with the human will… When the will is in a state of simplicity and purity.

Water has no flavor nor color derived from its own self, so it is with a human will abandoned to God! God is the author of whatever is manifest. I see this to be the proper state of the believer’s will. The soul no longer distinguishes or takes knowledge of anything of itself; the will sees nothing as belonging to itself.

There is its purity. Everything that comes to it from the Lord, it receives. Nor does it withhold any part for its own self. Yes, there is personal loss, but oh, what gains!

THE PATH TOO OFTEN FOLLOWED

One who is enjoying God in an unspeakable degree, has indeed acquired a very refined taste, and is not easily pleased by earthly things. He who has known this high state, and who then leaves his Lord and permits himself to be guilty of offenses against Him, is one who saw Him only for His delight, and His goodness. He did not seek Him for Himself alone.

When the Lord takes things away, when He allows harshness, when things seem unjust – then invariably, this “seeking one” will leave and find his pleasure elsewhere. When God no longer pleases him, he looks to the world, to other people, perhaps even to other believers, to please himself.

But mark this; his state has not really ever changed! He is simply looking for that which will make him happy! That is his constant state. He cares for himself, for what makes him feel nice inside. This is, of course, nothing more than self-gratification, using things spiritual to obtain that gratification.

Almost every soul who suffers will find himself seeking too much comfort! He will be too eager to get out from under his suffering. Rather than being willing to die, he is looking for a way out. At this point, one of two things usually happen:

1. 1. The believer will turn back, seeking his former activities, seeking (in them) to recover from the suffering and pain, seeking to enjoy that which was long… seeking comfort.
   2. Or perhaps (which is far worse) discovering he has no sense or feeling of God, he will find sense and feeling somewhere else!

I have stated before that such love for God is impure, and it is sensual, entirely selfish. When there are no longer delights in God in which to be indulged, such a soul will begin to slip away from God. Satisfying the senses with spiritual experience is not a spiritual walk!

Francis De Sales stated, “the moment the pleasures in God cease, they turn to those pleasures which are unlawful. If their taste has been refined by their participation in spiritual enjoyment, they cannot now be satisfied with other things, except by an infinite and unceasing amount of inordinate pleasure.”

Such ones are seeking to stifle the conscience, and perhaps their remorse, by a very unbridled license. Had they loved God with an affection that was completely pure, they would not have fallen at the time when they entered into suffering.

 

 

REFINEMENT OF SUFFERING & PAIN

In truth, this introduction to great pain is the most dangerous period of one’s whole spiritual life. When the Lord takes away interior support, the soul of the believer will invariably desire to turn to external sources for pleasure and comfort, and to once more have delights. As time passes, it becomes clear that he is seeking for a way out of this uncomfortable state. Many a spiritual pilgrim has been destroyed here. This is a matter that I have consistently pointed out in my writings.

Certainly, in the beginning, and from time to time there, after, the Lord draws us with great delight, and with much heavenly comfort – He draws us with something that is strong and powerful, sometimes even overwhelming. But, since the injustices, sufferings, and pain of life so often distract the believer, we make a most significant discovery; the blessings of God are not really strong or lasting at all… (on earth that is).

The memory of the most wonderful heavenly delights ever known can quickly vanish from memory in the face of injustice, persecution, suffering, and pain. This is why it is so important when the Christian begins to encounter suffering in his life, that he does not run from the sufferings, but accepts them… that he does not seek to be relieved of them, nor to have them ended by embracing comforts and delights.

The believer must come to a point when he is no longer blown around (tossed to and fro) by these winds. Later, he must not be subject to frailties. He must come to a place where he does not stumble in the hour when he must live in ‘less than heavenly delight’. Yet this state must not be simply an exercise of a strong human will.

To live out your life in less than heavenly delight is to be expected… for these things do happen to believers! Furthermore, the loss of heavenly delights is often accomplished by what John of the Cross called the “night of the senses” – When the senses begin to fall into a dark night.

The sense of the spiritual disappears. Yes, this is very frightening for the believer, though it needs not to be so if he perseveres through this time and does not seek a way out.

RIGHTEOUS ABANDONMENT

A believer who seeks God for God alone, may often appear to be one who has been abandoned, rather than gratified! However, he is not abandoned by God. Sometimes this believer will even realize that it is better to fear blessing, instead of receiving it; and he will love the cross without fearing this instrument at all.

There is a place which can be reached by the soul that might be referred to as total death. The soul of the believer becomes so confirmed in God, that it can find nothing satisfying in all creation. To leave God after coming to this state, would render that soul the most miserable thing in the universe, because he knows that he will never derive any pleasure from external sources.

The more advanced Christian seems to sense that if he does not follow on with the Lord, his own state might be similar to Lucifer’s; therefore, he dare not fall. This is a Christian, who is resting in God, who does not need delights, (nor the fleeting rescue provided by external comforts), in order to keep following his Lord.

Again, this is why I say it is difficult for a more advanced believer to fall away. He sees the end result of what will take place in his life. Little by little, he is settled into a fixed state. Eventually, it will take pride and maliciousness of purpose to move him from his relationship with the Lord (which is possible for him to fall, of course, just as it was possible for the rebellious angels to do so; but see how difficult it was for them to return to God?)

Falling away and returning both come very close to being impossible. In all situations we face, the Lord furnishes every one of us with means of salvation; but on account of the wickedness of such a departure (from the Lord), repentance would be difficult.

But let us return our concentration to those who are just entering the interior way, and who may experience a “night of their senses.” Such souls are not firmly established in God. There has been no experiencing of death to self (though it was accomplished on the cross of Christ). When they find out they are no longer experiencing delights which they originally found in first knowing God, they turn to worldly and carnal enjoyments, which are not found in God.

However, the worldly pleasures they discover, are blunted; therefore, they must run in excess to find emotions that will satisfy them. It is a miracle when such ones turn again to God, for when they have once tasted of the good things, (the heavenly things of God), and have abandoned them – return is indeed difficult…though not impossible if one sincerely calls out to God yet again.

 

 

GOD CANNOT BE FOUND OUTSIDE OF HIMSELF

The question often asked,  “should not the novice, a beginner in the inward way, seek the Lord outwardly first, and move from there to seeking Him within?” A spiritual beginning is not a beginning when it seeks God in a roundabout way! To consider such a proposition is a great mistake. If a young believer seeks God externally, he will be looking for a God Who is distinct and separate.

And what will be the result? This young believer, instead of becoming internal in his Christian walk, and collecting all of his being in the presence of God and calling on his Lord from his internal being – instead of doing that, he will dissipate and waste his strength in looking for his Lord, in a place where He is not.

You are familiar with the principles by which an artist works to obtain the proper lines within his painting. He brings in certain lines coming from scattered and many places on the canvas, moving the scene toward a central place within the picture; each line becomes stronger as it nears another, with all the lines moving toward some central point. Counter wise, each line becomes feeble and indistinct as it recedes from the center – so it is with the believer…

The believer turns within to his spirit, and the Lord comes and joins him there – in the realm of the spirit. The more this occurs, the greater is the drawing to God; and the more is appropriated to that believer in the power of performing His work.

Again, as you look at the painting, you may notice the lines widely scattered, but gradually coming to unite in a central place. So also, the soul, coming from many scattered in different places, centers in on one particular place, where nothing is divided, and nothing is divisible. It is at that point that the soul has the ability, yes, the power, of finding God.

If a Christian is to become interior and is to become spiritual, he must begin by seeking God within… By collecting together all of his thoughts. Unless he does that, he will never reach that central place where God dwells. But once he has arrived there, he must depart again (not by returning to the many external places, but by passing through and beyond himself) and go even further inward toward the center of his God.

This is the true going forth from himself. The believer departs from himself not by going outward away from himself, but by going inward away from himself. It isn’t the collecting together of thoughts, and the whole being, but it is, having done that, to move further beyond one’s self  (the center of the creature) into the center of the Creator.

Think of the center of the soul as a sort of halfway house, i.e.: an inn or hotel. The traveler must necessarily pass by that inn at some point on their journey. When they have stayed at the inn a while, and are prepared to depart, they do not retrace their steps (backward), but rather go onward up the high road. The further he goes beyond that inn (temporary resting place), the further he also leaves self behind, both in sight, and in sensual feelings.

As one moves towards the center of his being, there he will find God. He is invited to come forth from himself and pass further in. When reached that point, then it is that we pass into our Lord. It is here, at the center of our being, that we meet Him. Beyond even that point, we truly find Him in the place where self no longer is. The further we journey forward, the further we advance toward HIM, the further we depart from self!

 

 

FROM SELF → TO GOD

A Christian’s progress into God should be measured by his separation from self. How do I define self?

• • It is the individual’s views;
  • his feelings;
  • the things which he remembers and thinks about;
  • his own personal self-interests and self-reflections… This is self.

When a believer first comes into the presence of his Lord and begins advancing towards the center of his being, he will be very much absorbed in self-reflection and will be very aware of himself. The nearer he comes to the center of his being, where he will meet his Lord, he is even more absorbed with himself!

When, however, he has actually arrived at the center of his being, he ceases looking upon himself. His feelings, his remembrances, his self-interests, and self-reflections become less and less. In proportion to his passing away from – and beyond – himself, he sees less and less of himself, because his face is turned, not toward himself, but in another direction.

Self-reflection is helpful and important in the beginning of ones walk with the Lord; but at this point (more advanced relationship) would not be helpful, but injurious (harmful). For when one sets out to move in the inward way, be sure that his views will, necessarily, be self-directed, and they will be complex – this is as it should be.

But they will eventually become simple and more centered in the spirit, yet without ceasing to have self-direction. Later the soul is still directed, but it is not centered on itself. At this point, the soul is gifted with a single eye.

Once again, I will speak of the inn (temp-resting house). As a traveler approaches this halfway house, and as that house comes into full view, he has no need to look for directions or wonder where he is. He can fix his eye on the first goal of his journey: the inn/house which is currently before him.

Now, as he enters into the inn, he no longer has to think of the passage to the inn, nor of the inn itself – for he has come to a place of rest. He has arrived at the center of his soul. The problems of the journey, and arriving at the inn, are now behind him.

The Christian learns to pass beyond even this point to a place where self-perception almost ceases, and there is only a perception of God, of being with God, of being in God, and perhaps even being lost in God. There is less and less a concentration upon self, and more of being lost in God – I would even say “lost in the abyss of God.”

He may even reach that place where he no longer knows, nor discerns anything but his Lord. (It goes without saying that any personal reflection at this time would be harmful to his fellowship with God).

 

 

PASSING BEYOND SELF

Now we must ask, “by what means does one pass beyond self?” The answer is, by means of the surrender of the will. What do we mean by that?

The will is the ruler of our understanding, and our memory. Those two may be distinctly separated, yet they are definitely one. When one has come to the center of his being (when he has come to the halfway house) his understanding and his memory have been surrendered over to God.

These two elements specifically have to be surrendered over to God, and not anything else; not to self, nor to others, but only and wholly to God! A person who has passed beyond this point (the leaving of self, the surrender of his will) is – in his function – almost a wholly different person from the one who started out striving to reach the center of his being.

Now I submit to the believer, who is seeking after God, that he must go beyond this point. If one is to be established firmly in God, he must put a great distance beyond this point. The inward parts of a man are not easily changed or converted. You see, on arrival at his halfway house, one penetration into the depths of God, changes us not at all. If we are truly to be converted, we must continually endeavor to recollect ourselves in our center.

Therefore, I would never pause or dwell on anything which has been said in this book thus far! One should not be taught, nor should one teach over and over what has been said up until now. This would be like asking the food in the stomach to return to the mouth again – that would be a forerunner of death!

No, the halfway house is still only introductory. Do not remain here! And if you teach the interior way and can bring others only to here, then you have accomplished little, if anything at all. Having learned to come to the halfway house, the Christian MUST now explore areas beyond that! He must do so frequently and continually, for we are only gradually converted.

 

 

THE TRUE BEGINNING OF THIS ADVENTURE

When a Christian has first taken the inward way, he will find many difficulties in applying the illustration of the halfway house from the previous paragraph. But when he has ventured beyond that point, and left behind the wandering mind, the many thoughts, and begun his first experience of a oneness with God, he will find much joy and much delight!

He may also make a great mistake, saying “here at last is the Christian life”. Nothing could be further from the truth. In this period of the Christians life, the Lord draws him with the joys, with spiritual senses, and with many graces. Truly, this is a wonderful and memorable time in a believer’s life. But the true adventure lies ahead – and so does the test.

Unfortunately, not many Christians seek after a deeper walk with the Lord. Not many even try to find a halfway house; and many who do, get discouraged. Those few who travel on – and begin to touch a oneness with Christ and are refreshed by many spiritual graces and wonderful discoveries – will, nonetheless, very often fall away at the later time when enthusiasm has died down, and when they have become used to spiritual encounter. The “new” wears off as they grow older in years.

There comes a time in the believer’s life when the Lord withdraws the joy. He will seemingly withdraw the graces. At the same time, the Christian may also find himself in a period of persecution – persecution, no less, then that coming from Christians in religious authority. Further, he may find much difficulty in his home or private life. He may also be experiencing great difficulties with his health.

Somewhere, there will be a great deal of pain or other losses too numerous to mention. The believer may also be undergoing experiences, which he feels are totally unique to himself. Other Christians, in whom he has put his trust, may forsake him and mistreat him.

He may feel that he has been very unjustly treated. He will feel this toward men, and he will feel it toward his God, for – in the midst of all this other pain and confusion – it will seem that God, too, has left him.

FIERY TEST OF DISCIPLESHIP

Even more believers give up on the journey when the Lord seems to have forsaken them in the spirit, and left the spirit dead – while the world, and all else is crashing in on them, friends forsaking them, and great suffering and pain abounding everywhere in their lives.

Now comes the true test of discipleship. It is only here that our commitment to Christ is tested. There has been an adventure, enthusiasm, and the excitement of launching out into the unknown, as well as the joy of finding a deep fellowship with God… but the true Land of Promise always lies beyond a vast wasteland; promise is found only on the far side of the desert.

When a Christian has reached this wilderness, this desolate place, this dark night of the senses, this time that touches the very experience of Christ when He cried out “Why??”… it is only at that time, when the believer walks by naked faith, that he begins to become truly established and well founded in his Lord.

Only a few will, quietly and serenely, continue to seek after Him.

> Hidden.

> Humble.

> Unnoticed.

> Unrewarded.

> Unproclaimed.

Expecting nothing, except that God be blessed! Not the creature, but the Creator!

We only begin (there, within our inmost being,) where we have lost everything… Yes, even our deeper relationship to Christ (which we think we have)! When you can walk to the halfway house without feelings, without sense;

…when you can go beyond that place, and, not seeing your Lord, believe He is there by the eyes of faith alone;

…when you can walk further and further into Christ when there are no senses, no feelings drawing you in further, not even the slightest registration of the presence of God;

…when you can sit before Him when everything around you and within you seems to be either falling apart or dead;

…and when you can come before your Lord, without question, and without demand, serene in faith alone… and there, before Him, worship Him without distraction, without a great deal of consciousness of self, and with no spiritual sense of Him…

… yet with your whole being centered, and turned on Him, then will the test of commitment begin to be established. Only then will begin the true journey of the Christian life!

 

 

SPIRITUAL ADDICTION, REPUTATION, & THE CROSS

The Christian soul must partake of, touch, and embrace the Lord’s own experiences, which is an enigmatic state. The way of the Christian’s soul is but a constant succession of encounters with the eternal cross, with ignominy (humiliation, shame, disgrace)and confusion. Many people abandoned themselves, quite successfully, to certain encounters with the cross; but refuse to abandon themselves to all such encounters.

One thing they can never prevail on themselves to allow: that their reputation, in the sight of men, be taken away. And yet it is here, at this point, and similar points, where God is aiming. He will bring you even there! And expect of you… No bitterness!

Your Lord intends for your soul, to really die to the ways of the self-nature! He sometimes permits an apparent (not a real) mistake to be made, so that your reputation will be destroyed in the eyes of men.

I once knew a person of the interior way, who came upon a number of most terrible crosses. Among them was the loss of her reputation, which was something to which she was extremely attached. She could not bring herself to give up her reputation and begged her God that He give her any cross, but that; thus, she formally refused her consent to the cross.

She told me that, since that time, there has been no spiritual progress in her life, she has remained where she was – stagnant. So total and so fatal was this reservation to her progress that, since that time, the Lord has never once again given her humiliations in the sight of men; nor, since that time, has He given her the grace of spiritual progress!

Another note to mention is that God will sometimes call a Christian to turn back from the inward, and to apply himself to things without, the outward things. Why? Because that person has become addicted to an inward retreat! Many a believer is quite certain that he will never have to bear this cross; but if leaving inward solitude is the necessary thing, in order for us to encounter the cross, then that is what the Lord will do.

And God really does sometimes separate a Christian from spiritual things which – perhaps unknown to himself – the Christian is addicted to, or prideful in; becoming prideful about this inward, frequent retreat, and not knowing of his own pride.

 

 

THE SPIRIT’S DARK NIGHT

There is a night, and obscure night of the spirit. It is the Lord’s way of purifying. There comes a point in the spiritual pilgrimage, when many of the defects of the inward man seem to have disappeared. But they do make their reappearance!… Not in the inwardman, but on the surface. They reappear in the outer man!

In this reappearing, they carry stronger features than ever before. I refer to matters of temper, hasty words, action, reaction, rebellious thought, and capricious conduct. The Christian finds he can no longer easily practice virtue and good works. All of his imperfections seem to reappear!

God lays his hand heavily upon this person. Those around him slander him. He is subject to the most unexpected types of persecutions. His own thoughts become rebellious. It seems he is under siege from Satan himself.

But it is in this terrible array of crucifying instruments that the inward man is made to succumb and yields to death. If any of these elements were missing, then the deep imperfections of the inward man would remain.

When I speak of defects, I speak of something that is not voluntary, but rather, things within us of which we are not conscious of. Nonetheless, the recent absence of God leads the believer to think that his own faults are the cause of the loss of God’s presence.

The believer seems suspended, as it were, at a distance from God. His misery is complete. The Lord seems to thrust this poor soul out the door. At this point, the believer often finds himself caught up in the commerce of the world. This is not where he wishes to be, but it is where he has been placed.

Let us review what is happening… Here is this poor creature, discovering, almost hourly, his own defects. He is under the strength of God’s strongest hand. He is experiencing his own weakness, and the malice of men, and the opposition of devils. God is working His purpose.

Sometimes, in one stroke, the Lord delivers this one from every foe and receives him, purified, back into himself – but often the opposite is true. At this point, the soul seems cast off and experiences nothing of the Lord but indignation. The question becomes now: where does this believer look for help at such a time?

There are two choices. One is to turn toward the Lord, and the other is to fixate/look at the temptations, the wretchedness, the poverty, the imperfections. In the beginning of the spiritual adventure, we often see the soul suffering persecution with calmness and resolution. Where does he find such reserve? He is clearly aware and keenly conscious that what is happening to him is undeserved. However, in the second option I just mentioned above, that is no longer true.

On this dark night, he really feels that what is happening to him, is his just dessert; and added to it are inexplicable confusions and humiliations. All this serves to point out to this one his need of Christ, the need of being detached from things of this creation, and even from spiritual enjoyment – and to realize what he really is, apart from Christ’s grace.

Unbeknown to him, despite the ties of this earth, the heavy weights, the throes of agony, which sweep over him 1000 times a day, and the sense that God has moved away to some other universe… the Christian pilgrim is actually progressing!

 

 

ONLY A FEW TOUCH THIS EXPERIENCE

This Christian has deeply loved his Lord, but now, all things of his interior life seem to be dissolved. He is forced to abandon the precious solitude he has enjoyed, his strength is gone, and Grace is gone. He despairs of himself – he hates that which he sees of himself and is resolved to have no more to do with trusting in his own nature.

He expects nothing from himself and begins to wait upon God – the God who is not there, knowing that he must trust in this Lord!

Do not think that these kinds of experiences will ever come in the same way to those who are unconverted, or those who follow an external walk. They simply cannot feel such deep pains, for they are quenching the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and such matters.

Those that do undergo such experiences are deemed worthy only because of the fact that they have an element of unconscious fidelity toward their Lord and a deep humility. They do not perceive either of these elements within themselves.

 

REBELLION WHICH MAY NOT BE REBELLION

There is a word of comfort I would bring here. It is important to bear in mind that there are two ways to resist God. One is voluntary and willful – this kind of resistance (rebellion) stops the work of God, for your Lord cannot violate man’s freedom of will.

But there is also a resistance that can be called “the resistance of nature.” This resistance lies in the will, but it is there without being voluntary. I speak simply of the human tendency and repugnance (repulsion) towards one’s own destruction, the instinct of survival.

We recognize that God relates to this type of resistance in a totally different way than He does to rebellion. In the face of this resistance of nature, the Lord does not cease His effectual working; rather God seeks to take advantage of a true consecration, which this believer once made to his Lord and to himself: a willingness toward total abandonment, a willingness which has never been withdrawn, and which is not now withdrawn.

This will itself has remained submissive, perhaps, even subdued to God, despite the rebellion that is found in the feelings. This abandonment, and the submission of the will is concealed – somewhere in the very depths of the soul – and is often not recognized by the Christian… But only seen by God.

I have called this, “the passage of the hand of God” for here is something deep within us, which only God can see, and having seen it, He is able to continue His purifying operation in us without violating our freedom!

 

 

GOD’S PLAN

There is but one way God explains His design for your life. It is this: He does it by putting the soul of the believer into the crucible of the most severe trials. He brings that soul to the point of sacrifice onto his Lord; all that he possesses, and not only what he possesses, but his entire being, and not just for a time only, but for all eternity.

How is such a sacrifice accomplished? One writer of the interior way says that the only way we will ever come to such a sacrifice is by “the soul’s absolute despair of itself.” This has been called the holy despair. Despair must become so intense that every support in the individual is taken away, and he is forced into an unconditional abandonment of himself into the hands of God.

Most Christians do not know what it means to despair of themselves, fewer ever know the utter limits of that despair… The despair of all of despairs, when you come to know exactly what you really are! It is a terrible, devastating thing to discover what you really are.

You must remember this; the more you despair of self, the more you trust in God… and no, you can be sure that you do not always recognize the second part of this truth. Nonetheless, it is true. The further removed you are from certainty, the further you are also removed from a faith which rests on sight and the more deeply you enter into faith in God.

This comes when you are stripped of every support. Whenever God takes away anything from the believers’ soul, it is sacrifice. The pure sacrifice is the last sacrifice, made by the willing soul of the believer. This ultimate sacrifice might be described as: the believer has utterly abandoned the entirety of his soul to God. He has abandoned his self-nature, and he has abandoned the things of the creature, only to discover that he has been abandoned by God.

At this discovery, the Christian cries out to his God, “oh, God, why have you forsaken me!” (the entire and absolute sacrifice of Jesus Christ can be found in the words, “My God, why hast Thou, forsaken me?” and “into your hands, I commend My spirit.”)

It is the surrender of the whole self, for all time and eternity, which is given up to God. This is, in fact, the last sacrifice. The cry, which comes after that, “it is finished,” announces the completion of the soul’s sacrifice.

All of our troubles spring from our resistance; and our resistance comes from our attachment to things. The more you torment yourself over your suffering, the sharper that suffering becomes. But if you surrender yourself to suffering, more each time, and if you allow the crucifying process to go on undisturbed, the suffering is utilized more effectively.

Do not come to this immature idea that “I will be one of those who constantly follows God’s will, and I will always surrender to suffering; then He will not find it necessary to deal with me so harshly.” There is no such person. There is no such possibility, nor will there ever be.

Self is great in all of us, and the revelation of our true nature is shocking. We all must know  unbelievable, almost unbearable suffering. Nor can you seek and find your weaknesses and quickly deal with them. Your arrogance only shows itself, and your pride betrays itself when you entertain such thoughts. The soul becomes acquainted with its hindrances only after those hindrances are removed.

 

 

WHEN REVELATION PROCEEDS SUFFERING

In the Song of Songs, chapter 5, you find a reference to two kinds of resistance of which the soul is capable of. The voice of the Groom calls to His spouse, “Open the door for me, for I am heavy with the drops of love.” Here the soul sees clearly that the Lord, who has come, is a Lord loaded down with grief. He has come to make her a partaker of his suffering.

As He speaks, there is evidence of pain. She senses this. She understands it is a grief almost indescribable. If she could be strong in her suffering, she would bear that grief gladly.

The One speaking to her lets her know she will suffer, not only physical pain, but the loss of reputation, and will know persecution by slander – and so it comes to pass.

Why does He do this to her? So that she might learn the absolutely innumerable frailties, which she has, and to help her to understand her own wretchedness. The only way this is possible is by a loss of strength and virtue, toward resisting those things that are actually repugnant, offensive, or revolting to her – yes, the loss of ability to do good works. She is covered within inconceivable confusion; she suffers great and immense distress.

He delivers the external part of her being to many outside calamities, and to the maliciousness of man, and even to the powers of darkness. It appears that He has given each of these attackers an unrestricted power over her external nature. Furthermore, the Lord lays His hand heavily upon her interior nature.

Even the thought of such things makes one shutter! While the believer passes through this trial, he probably feels extreme rebellion against the suffering. He looks about for some traits of abandonment he once had toward his Lord. There is nothing there – neither without nor within. He cries from deep within his inmost being for strength or for deliverance. It seems that neither comes.

Interestingly, just before these things happen in the lives of many believers, there is actually a revelation. Perhaps we should call it an infusion of divine justice. There comes a sense that whatever the Lord does in our lives, it is just! The believer realizes that, whether it be an attack from the powers of darkness, or simply his own natural weaknesses exposed… whatever is about to befall him, it is justified. He is being prepared for something.

He is being prepared to face what is before him without reservation, and without any distinct view in mind as to what the outcome will be. He has been given the ability to surrender to whatever it is the Lord is about to do (though this does not guarantee his survival, it only guarantees that he has given God unlimited access to do, at his full power, and sovereign, well, whatever he decides to do.)

In such a moment of calamity, the previous revelation of divine justice is often not there. But on other occasions – in the very depths of all of this calamity – a sense, an apprehension, and yes, even a love of divine justice does return. And when that happens, the soul of the believer cannot refrain itself! Once more that Christian will renew his sacrifice at the altar of the Lord.

Be assured though, when the tempest reaches the Apex of its fury, once more the thoughts of such consecration vanish; the awareness of devotion to the Lord passes away. The believer forgets his sacrifice and his love of justice; he is simply overwhelmed by the repugnance of what is happening. He knows only an experience of the pains of death.

 

 

TEST OF SACRIFICE

There are other things which may happen just before one is plunged into such trials. On some occasions, God will set before the soul of that believer an understanding of what suffering is… And then request that the believer consent to what is about to take place. Some refuse; others simply are not able to yield to such known sacrifice.

While some refuse absolutely, others will take a few days before they can render up that sacrifice. In every case, the resistance to what has been placed before them comes with great torment, especially to the believer, who has in previous times been yielding and obedient. This type of a believer may very well be facing the fact that God is exposing a secret pride which has developed in him, (because he has been faithful in the past).

The Lord allows us to resist the sacrifice and the cross. There is a reason for this resistance, and it is the same one that the girl felt in the Song of Songs… she was filled with repugnance and disgust at receiving a groom who was covered with blood, and who had come steeped in such great grief!

But the believer does not, and must not, resist for a long period of time. The resistance is necessary, and we might even say that it is good, for it convinces the believer of his frailty, and proves to him how far he is from possessing the courage he so fondly imagined he had.

What is true of him is also true of you and all of us. There simply is no such thing in any of our lives (the imagined courage we think we posses). If we perceive that we are so endowed, we are but fooling ourselves.

 

THE OPENING OF THE SOUL TO THE GROOM

The young maiden in the Song of Songs has just known a wonderful and pure experience of the delights of mutual love, given and received, between herself and her Lord. Now, suddenly she finds herself very weak, when love comes making demands in the form of crucifixion!

Why this change in attitude? Perhaps, it is because this one, having previously been faithful, now experiences great pain seeing the demands of crucifixion, and wonders at its purpose and its necessity.

The knowledge of just how weak you really are, when faced with the cross and with suffering, is very revealing; and in that knowledge itself is great pain and suffering.

In chapter 5 of the Song of Songs v6, the believing one does open her heart to her beloved. From this new opening of the soul, there comes a renewed abandonment. Resistance has been laid aside. The soul makes a new expressed act of surrender and abandonment to the Lord. Once a soul has been unfaithful – or resistant – the Lord will always return to extract just such a demand, so that the believing one may renew, and return to his onward course with the Lord.

 

 

THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS

A trial is set before a Christian. Along with this trial is the experience and revelation which this person is going through by seeing his own wretchedness. He finds himself stripped of all support, and there is nothing of his own righteousness to hold him up. (I stress the point, his own righteousness.)

It is good that this person knows that there is no righteousness and fidelity which has any real merit in his own life. Why? To appropriate the things of God to your own nature (that is, to think that things which are characteristic of God are also characteristics of yours), this must pass away! There must come that moment, when the believer confesses that all righteousness belongs to God alone, that nothing is righteous outside of Him.

One must come to that point where he has become so weak, and so unstable in his own view of himself, that he has no recourse left to him, but to trust only in the righteousness of God. He recognizes God’s all and his own nothingness; God’s omnipotence, and his own weakness. He is soon thereafter, established in abandonment that is rarely, if ever, shaken thereafter.

 

 

FIRE HAS ITS CONDITIONS

When a fire reaches the forest, it blackens the wood before it burns the wood. So also, is the approach of fire as it closes in upon the soul. The fire blackens the soul before it burns the soul. Dryness in wood is necessary for its burning, and blackening always proceeds burning.

Wood may also be discolored by moisture; but if there is wetness, the wood is not fit to be burned. In fact, wood can become so wet that it will not burn at all!

“Such is the blackness of those who depart from you, oh, God! Such are those who go forth into adultery with the world.” Psalms 73:27.

Such ones shall perish, but not the soul that is rendered dark–complected in the way recorded in the Song of Songs, chapter 1. You, oh God, will cleanse from her everything opposed to your purity. You take away the water and render her dry. When You love, Your love is always excessive.

Your love is intended to perfect us… in Yourself. You show us that we are dark–complected before you consume us.

 

DARKNESS & GOD’S PRESENCE

John of the Cross speaks of several purging’s that the spiritual Pilgrim passes through on his way to the depths of God. He calls the first stage “the night of the senses”. He calls the very last stage, “the night of the Spirit”. It is in this last state that your God communicates Himself to the soul of the believer in a way that is far more perfect than He does in any other stage through which the soul will pass.

The greater the purity of a dark night of the spirit, the greater the sublimity of the manifestation of that night. The more terrible the absence of the Groom, the more complete, the greater the purification.

The measure of His hiding from you seems to match the measure of His revelation. These ultimate trials (the experience of the night of the spirit) become even more agonizing than others, because, in addition to the absence of the Groom, the believer’s soul is overwhelmed with a deep conviction of his own wretchedness. There is distress in this, and usually – almost always – there is an accompanying persecution from men, (it seems as if it is from devils).

The Lord’s hiding from the believer’s spirit is well termed a night and a death. Your Lord is the light, and your Lord is the life of your soul. Therefore, it seems when the light goes out, the soul is in terror.

But there is another way for you to consider this thing called the dark night; and that is to realize that when light is intensely bright, it shows objects to be far more horrible and more terrifying than they were when they were in the dark.

Look upon the dark night of the spirit as a terrible revealing of the truth of what you already are. As you pass through this inexplicable experience, and when you have lost all hope of ever beholding another dawn, remember that to Him, even darkness is light. (Psalms 139:12)

 

 

INWARD & OUTWARD WOUNDS

There are wounds that are inflicted upon you at the discretion of your Lord. These are the agonies of the soul, and they are inward. But there are also ones that are without… persecution, malice, and those things inflicted by man and by the realm of darkness. There must be wounds from within and wounds from without.

We have been speaking of a dark night of the spirit, an apparent loss of the Lord’s presence. The spouse, during this time, is not occupied with self, nor with other creatures. She is, in fact, further away from being unfaithful than at any other time in her experience (though she doesn’t know/realize this).

Actually, she thinks that she has lost the presence of her well-beloved, and she continually grieves at the seemingly perpetual absence of her Lord. What she does not know is that there is, deep within her, and interior eye, which is turned toward God, and is unfailingly preserved – though she is not conscious of it.

The spouse never forgets her groom. The absence of her Lord is so all-consuming that she loses attention to herself without even realizing it. And though she feels her Lord is gone, her heart is applied toward Him. This is so totally unlike those who forced Him out of their mind so that they could return to sin without restraint.

Upon her awakening, she will learn a most valuable lesson: the sense of void, that sense of nothingness, that sense of lostness, that sense of being forsaken and abandoned by God… that powerful, ceaseless sense, which is with the interior believer day and night, awake or asleep… even this is Christ!

PERSECUTION FROM 4 SOURCES

There are those who seek to serve the Lord. It is common, at the very beginning of this serving, to experience persecution of the hands of the ungodly. But the more such a Christian is persecuted, the more he seems to discover those around him who share his common interest in serving Christ.

This is not so with those who devote themselves to the interior life. They suffer persecution at the hands of the godless world, but they also receive persecution from people who live ordinary lives; and even more they suffer from pious andreligious minded men and women who are not interior.

It is the religious minded who persecute as a matter of duty! In our day and the ages proceeding us, and perhaps, in whatever years lie ahead, the pattern is the same – for people are not able to recognize any other way as right, except the one that they are walking.

 

 

THE JEALOUSY OF GOD

Yes, the Lord is jealous – but why? One reason is because there is such a small number of those who consecrate themselves to Him without any reservation. There are so few, He does not allow for a rival, for He takes little delight in divided souls.

Those who are entirely devoted to Him, He loves; and He regards them as His own peculiar property, and thus He exercises all His rights over them. (He does this without interfering with their freedom of will, for, after all, their abandonment is open, is hearty, and is perfectly voluntary.)

Nonetheless, He has a jealousy for this kind of believer. He cannot abide the flaws that are in them. They (the believer) are His choice and are locked up in the inmost part of His heart. He does not often allow them to be seen by the curious gaze of an unappreciating world. They are mostly hidden ones.

 

 

THE TRUE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN’S FREE WILL

God has a tendency to reunite Himself with the believer. It is natural to His being to communicate, and He must necessarily communicate Himself to every person who is disposed to receive His gift. The dew falls upon every object that is exposed to the sky, so God is relentlessly communicating Himself to you.

However, when God created man, He created man free. Man, therefore, has the power of shutting himself up – yes, even sheltering himself from the celestial dew of heaven! Man can turn his back upon God, and lay hindrance upon hindrance in the path of his Lord. Man will find his God, unless he deliberately shuts the doors!

What is the effect then, when a man begins to remove some of those barriers which he has put in the way? He is induced to turn toward the source, even his Lord. After all, who could not turn when unceasing love rains upon the heart.

No sooner is the heart turned and opened a little, then the dew of His grace comes falling gently into that heart. And, according to the amount of the love that falls, so is the growth of love in that heart toward the Lord.

There is something you must remember: Love prepares His own way! No one else can prepare the way for the Lord, except the Lord himself. He prepares your heart and leads your heart from fullness to  fullness. He is the one who enlarges; and AS He enlarges, He FILLS! Your Lord abhors an empty heart.

It is true that it seems sometimes that God reduces the soul to emptiness  and nakedness, but the desolation is only external.It is only an appearance of desolation. Surely it is true that He is thrusting out everything that is not God.

But remember, just as God is love, so He can only permit Himself – and nothing else – into the soul of the man. All else that is in that soul is offensive to Him and must be vanquished. Therefore, He sets in motion the means to purify this creature, enlarge the soul, extend – and magnify – in order that He may have enough room to dwell therein!

 

 

PETITION TO GOD

            Oh, Holy Love, my Lord, where are the hearts that will submit to be thus purified? Who will allow himself to be enlarged and extended by your hand? Your operations in us seem harsh only because we are impure. Open our eyes to see that You are always gentle and tenderhearted.

            It is a wonderful thing when a soul will open his heart to You and allow Your admission, even if he does it with the greatest of hesitation. How straightened You are in such hearts. What confined quarters, what an unclean residence is found therein for the infinite God of purity.

            Oh Love, our Lord, are you not powerful? Must we make no other use of our liberty but to resist Thee? Oh, what a sad gift it is when we employ the ability to resist you!

            Oh freedom of will, oh gift – your only true employment is the sacrificing of yourself onto your Lord. Our only true employment, oh, God, is in sacrificing all to Thee!

 

 

THE CONSUMMATION OF THE INTERIOR LIFE

Most of those who have spoken on the interior away, speak of its consummation in the next life. When I think of the next world in relationship to the interior life, I too, see and experience of the consummation of grace and glory, and a completion of all increase in merit… the fruit and the recompense of the unclouded employment of the truth of those things which are deep within us.

But as to the interior life itself, I see that life completed in the perfect proportion – and in final proportion – while still here, in this present life. After all, the interior life is begun here – is begun with a redemption that is perfect in every sense.

The progress of the interior life is here too; the hunger of always seeking after God is here. The end of the interior life is also here on this earth. I would qualify that by saying that I speak of the state of Rest, and the state of satisfaction in the Sovereign Good. For this state of rest in God has been the object of the soul’s desire from the moment of its first seeking to know Him.

When I speak of the completion, (that is, the maturity) of the interior life in this lifetime, it must be remembered that this does not impede further progress in God, in the life to come. The state may be perfected here, but of course, it is truly finished only in relationship to the perfecting hand of God.

I would like to illustrate with the human body how this matter appears to me. We call a body complete when it has all of its members. Now, all around us are those who are lame and blind and maimed. The members of their body are present, but they are not mature and not complete. There is a difference.

We seek after a physical body that is mature, and that is proportioned in every way, a body which possesses the full use of all its members. Though, beyond this maturity, there is another form and another beauty.

When the body is not only complete and mature in its members, but also, when each separate member has full proportion, color, and harmony in relationship to a matured, harmonious, perfectly formed body. When there is beauty, harmony, and proportion, then we think of the body as being complete and mature, both in its parts, and in its whole. (I do not deny that this is nothing to be compared with the perfection that will come with glorification of the human body.)

I see a fully matured interior life in the same way. In the life to come, we will, of course, enjoy a totally different perfection as the mortality puts on immortality, and even the body becomes a spiritual entity. Nonetheless, there is a maturity for here now, for each part to be complete and whole, for each part to be mature, and for all parts to be in harmony with all the other parts – thereby making a whole, which is perfectly mature in growth, in proportion, in beauty, and in harmony!

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Your Lord is never more present to you than in those seasons of bitterness. During those times, He dwells in the very midst of your heart
• All the operations of God in your interior are towards two things:
  • One is to deliver the soul from wickedness, and from the malignity of its fallen nature
  • The second is to restore the interior, the soul itself, to God. To restore as fair and pure as can be rendered this side of the fall
• I have noticed that advanced souls frequently experience something rather surprising. During the night, while they are more or less asleep, God seems to operate more powerfully than during the day
• In the soul that watches for its God, (even though its exterior is dead, stunned, and benumbed, like a body that is in deep sleep) – there is still the constancy of the heart, retaining a secret and hidden vigor, which preserves that soul’s oneness with God
• To that believer who has reached God, there is no longer any winter. There is a season composed of the other three seasons, joined together as one. Having reached an inner-winter, the soul passes through all the seasons of the spiritual life, re-entering into a perpetual season that is spring, summer, and autumn combined:
  • The mildness of spring does not prevent the fervor of summer, Nor the fruitfulness of autumn
  • The heat of summer does not interfere with the beauty of spring, nor the abundance of the autumn
  • And the fruits of the autumn interpose no obstacles to the enjoyment of sprain, nor the ardor of summer
• As God reigns in Jesus Christ, in the same way, Christ reigns in pure hearts. This inner place is a kingdom to us and God makes us partakers of His Royal estate
  • As the Father has appointed the Lord Jesus a kingdom, and He shares the glory of that kingdom with His Son, so too, does His son share that state with us – His beloved Bride!
• When the soul is perfected, or matured, in a oneness which can no more be interrupted by things that happen on the outside, the mouth of the believer is imbued with the praise appropriate to that state
  • The beautiful harmony between the silent word of the soul, and the sensible speech of the body, constitute the maturity of praise
  • This is the doctrine of pure love, the doctrine of sanctification, and of the Holy Spirit indwelling us. He is the life of our own life
• Those believers who follow the will of God blindly, are used to assist others into an interior path. You see, as they have nothing more to lose and have no longer any anxiety in regard to themselves, God can use such a person to bring others into the way of His will
• There are some souls who cause me great suffering. Selfish souls who are full of compromise and speculations, and desire others to accommodate them and their inclinations
  • I find myself unable to administer anything to them, because of their self-love. I cannot give such a person anymore place in my heart than God gives them, for I cannot adapt their superficial state, nor can I respond to their profession of friendship – they are repulsive to my feelings
  • The love which dwells in my heart is not a natural love, it arises from a depth which rejects what is not in correspondence with it – that is, what is not in unison with the heart of God
  • I cannot be with a child without caressing it, nor with a child-like soul without tender attachment. I do not regard the external person – but rather – the state of the soul, its affinity with God, and its inclination of oneness with God.
• The interior life, and the oneness of the human will with the Lord’s will is an area into which people should not intrude on their own. That is, none should go there, but those whom God calls, having by His Spirit, prepared them
  • This creates a potential problem – those who have been ravenous for the first fruits of divine union and then have such an experience with the Lord of all, they feel a strong desire to share this grace with everybody else, and to make their experience abundantly known
  • What this person doesn’t realize is that he is taking a small grace and distributing it to everyone when it was given to him privately and personally for him alone. Such a believer has passed out too freely the holy oil poured into his own lamp
  • The wise will watchfully keep their oil until they are introduced into the Groom’s chamber. Then they may share their oil, because the Lamb is the light which illuminates them
• Naked faith, and total abandonment can be likened unto two Cherubim which cover the ark:
  • Faith covers the soul, hindering the soul from examining itself, and seeing anything that is opposed to it
  • Abandon hides that soul on yet another side, preventing it from regarding itself, from seeing its own loss, or its own advantage, thereby obliging it to abandon itself blindly to God
  • Faith and abandon look upon each other, as did the cherubim upon the cover of the ark – the one cannot exist without the other, so both are needed in a well-regulated soul.
  • Faith perfectly responds to abandon, when abandon is submitted to faith

 

 

ADDITIONAL SELECTIONS

ALL RESTORED AGAIN

Let us look up on Job’s experience as a mirror of the whole spiritual life:

• God stripped him of his goods, which are gifts and graces;
• then of his children, which is stripping him of his faculties or good works, these being our offspring and our dearest productions;
• next He takes his health from him, by which is meant the loss of virtues;
• then He makes him to putrify, rendering him an object of horror, of infection, and of contempt

But after he has rotted on the dunghill, and there remains nothing but his bones, and he is a mere corpse, God gives Job back everything: goods, children, health, and life. It is the same with those who have been crucified and buried with Christ, after they are resurrected into newness of life – all is given back, together with an admirable facility in making use of them.

            All is done in God, divinely, using things as not using them. In this state, there is true LIBERTY and true LIFE. “If ye have been like to Jesus Chrit in His death, you shall be like Him in His resurrection” Romans 6:5. “If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” John 8:36

 

DESTROYED AND RUINED

Job 19:10 “He has destroyed me on all sides, and I am ruined; He has taken away from me all hope, like a tree, which is plucked up by the roots!”

The means of reducing a soul to total ruin, is to take from it all support, and to destroy it on all sides; for if it found the smallest prop, or the least support, it could not be destroyed. In like manner, so long as there is even a small piece of which we (flesh) are not destroyed, we are not ruined.

That is why Job says that since he is destroyed on all sides, he is certainly ruined. Also, the Hope which he had in himself or anything, has not only been cut off like a tree, which is cut down and can grow back, but snatched away like a tree which is plucked up by the roots, therefore, it cannot spring up anymore, for nothing of it remains (no roots).

• If there remains only a little root in our flesh, it will again shoot forth; anything of the self-life in us which is not taken away completely, will gradually spring back up and increase
• This is why God, wishing to be very merciful to the soul, does not allow the least substance to remain

 

LOVE BEGETS KNOWLEDGE

1 John 4:7-8  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Whatever pains the philosophers have taken to know God by the effort of their intellect, they have not known Him, because they have not loved Him. And, because all the rest of the knowledge of the most learned men of the world, who are destitute of love, is a deception.

In God, love brings forth knowledge, while among the creatures, love implies acquaintance. We no sooner love Him then we begin to have a real knowledge of what He is, and of what He deserves; it is a knowledge by experience, which is only given by love.

“Taste and thou wilt see…” (Ps. 34:8) – taste in the first place, by love, how lovable God is, and then you will see, by knowledge, which will be given to you in loving. Oh, how mistaken or those who make all piety consist in the effort of their minds to know an incomprehensible object, and who persuaded themselves that prayer should be a continual reasoning. Oh, no! Prayer should be a continual loving! Begin your prayer with acts and movements of love towards this God, Who is all love, and not by reasonings (which amuse your intellect yet leaves your will without nourishment).

God only gives knowledge of Himself by His love; he who loves the most, knows the most. Knowledge, then, is communicated through love: it is God’s love expressed in and by us, which moves God to discover Himself to us, to reveal Himself in us, as Jesus said.

He only manifests Himself in proportion to our love. This shows us that love is not born of knowledge, although implicit knowledge proceeds it, but that knowledge is beget by love; although afterwards, the acquaintance which love begets increases that same love, and the growth of the love gives a clear acquaintance, and so on forever, the creature, through all eternity, loving more and knowing more; as new fires of love arise, new illumination is given. Love, burns (or warms), and also lightens – just like the two inseparable qualities of fire: to heat, and to lighten.

But the first action of fire is to heat before it illuminates, although the same energy that generates the heat brings forth the light. Its nature is to heat, and that it only lightens is because it burns. Whenever the light ceases, the heat still remains, which shows that heat is the principle of light.

Now, also, this love of God produces in us the love of our neighbor, because, being children of God by love, that same love which makes us love God as our Father also makes us love our neighbor as our brothers and sisters.

 

THE HIDDEN MANNA (Mystical Sense of Sacred Scripture)

            The more a man believes in the all-power of God and His love for men, the more he lets himself be conducted to God by a blind abandon, the more he will love purely, the more also he will be enlightened as to the truths that are contained in the mystical sense of the sacred scriptures.

He will discover then an infinite joy that all interior experiences are there described in a manner simple, yet clear; he will find himself happy in meeting a Guide to pass over the Red Sea, and the frightsome desert that follows; but he will not comprehend his perfect felicity (delight), until he be arrived at the promise land where all his past laborers will appear to him as dreams.

Of so great a people that came out of the land of Egypt, there only arrived two persons into the promise land. How come? From want of courage, regretting unceasingly that they had left. If they had only been courageous and faithful, only a few months would have been necessary to arrive there; but murmuring and despondency made them remain on the road 40 years. They revolt against their leader. They do not wish so delicate a food as manna, they desire something more sensible.

Let us take courage, let us endeavor to reach the goal without ever being discouraged by the difficulties that we find on our way. For we have a sure Guide, Who is this cloud during the day, (which conceals us from the brightness and hotness of the sun), leading us more surely. We also have during the darkest night of the faith, the pillar of fire, which guides us also. What is this pillar of fire, if not sacred love, which becomes all the more glowing, even as faith appears to be obscure and dark?

Let us be content with this hidden manna of the interior, which will nourish us as better than the grosser meats that our senses so fervently desire. Let us choose the mystic tomb, and not that of concupiscence (lusts).

 

LEAVING IT TO GOD

The stripping of the soul must be left to God. He will do it to perfection. But to try and do it of oneself is to spoil all, and make of a divine, a common state. Thus you see some, who, from having read, or heard that the soul must be stripped of all, set about it themselves and continue always thus without progress; for, as they strip their own selves, God does not clothe them with Himself; for, it must be observed, the divine purpose in unclothing is only to clothe upon!

He impoverishes only to make Rich, becoming in secret, Himself, the substitute for all that He takes away from the soul. This is not the case for those who act in this matter for themselves. They lose, indeed, by their fault, the gift of God; but they do not, for all of that, possess God.

 

DRIVEN INTO THE DESERT

Leviticus 16:9-10 “He shall offer a sin offering of the goat on which the lot fell. But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat, he shall present living before the Lord, to offer prayers upon him, and to send him away into the desert.”

There are two kinds of deserts; the first relates to ourselves, and through which we must pass before being able to aid others – the desert of ourselves: the separation and division from all things, and ourselves by dying to and renouncing everything – by relinquishing ourselves so absolutely that we no more take part in what regards us, then, if we existed no longer – leaving ourselves destitute in God’s hands, and lost in Him for time and eternity.

The other desert is that to which of the Apostolic man is often banished for his brother’s sake. He must bear his weakness, be exiled, so to speak, from God, on account of him, bear his different dispositions, be driven into the desert; for he has been made as a scapegoat for his brethren; and this is an extension of the mission of Jesus, and of the Apostolic life.

The lots cast upon the two goats and the destination made of them by the Lord, mark that all purified souls are not called to the apostolic life. These two goats represent two kinds of persons called of God to be offered up to Him by different sacrifices. Some, (by the loss of themselves into God,) peculiarly belong to Him, and He destines them to the most outstanding grace, which is, to be reserved for Him alone. Others are destined for good works – for holy activities – and finish their life thus and holily, and receive their reward of God.

 

THE WAY, TRUTH, & LIFE

John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

It is I, said Jesus, Who am the Way, leading you. I will not let you go astray. It is necessary that everyone walk in this way, for no one can follow after Me, except by living as I have lived. And when one shall have walked in this Way, they will enter into the Truth, unto which this Way leads. I am, Myself, this Truth. As a man, I am the Way that the believer must follow; as Word, I am the Truth which teaches him who listens to it, and who loses himself in this same Truth.

Therefore, in following the human life of Jesus Christ, we enter into His Truth by the Word – by listening to Him as the Father has instructed us, namely: “this is My well-beloved Son, whom I have begotten uniquely by the way of knowledge; listen to Him!” He is the truth Who can speak only of God.

The heart of man is made in an admirable manner to receive this Truth of the Word, which is none other than His Spirit. We must not move, except to listen, be open to this Word, and be closed to all the rest. This is the office of the heart of man, whose one duty is to listen to the Word which is sent.

After the soul has walked in the Way of Jesus Christ (as a man) and has entered into Jesus Christ as the Truth (the Word), it receives afterwards a new inflowing of His life. Then He forms Himself in the soul (He is incarnated there, so to speak)… and it is then, after having followed Jesus Christ as both man and entering his Truth, (the Word), He comes in to give life to the believer in His state of man–God; giving a life humanly–divine and divinely–human to the soul, in which only He lives, and which has no more of its own (carnal, self) life.

All this must be taken in the mystical sense, as it has been said so many times. Nevertheless, it is impossible ever to reach the Father, except by the Son, and without having followed Him (Jesus Christ, the Son), at least as the Way, we cannot be saved.

 

TABOR, THEN CALVARY

(Tabor = the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus)

Matthew 17:4 “Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three tabernacles (shelters) —one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

Jesus chose three apostles to be witnesses of His glory, in order to strengthen them to endure future sufferings; and that they might be steadfast at the time of His passion (that they might not be offended at his ignominious/humiliating death).

At the same time, He transports them in spirit to God, where God gives to them the knowledge of the life of the Word (His Son); for it is not to be supposed that He revealed to them the glory of His humanity by a privilege so singular, without exalting them to some deep knowledge of His divinity.

Up to that time they were well satisfied that Jesus was the Son of God, and the true God. But these three disciples, so favored, received a deeper knowledge of the Life of the Word in the Father, and of the Father in the Word. The regular life of Jesus was a common life, in which there was a little that was extra-ordinary in regard to His person. But His transfiguration was a phenomenon by which He wished to distinguish, (and a place remarkable by the reflection that was made without/externally of the glory that was hidden within/internally.)

When a soul is advanced in God, it sometimes reflects externally something of that which takes place within/internally; but this is rare, especially in souls of faith, who lose all, and whom God loves to keep concealed. It is this common state that Jesus bore the most, hiding His true nature, beneath the life of a captive; becoming like men, and appearing (to the spiritually blind) as other average men.

Also, the transfiguration of the Savior was a short duration, because He must live in an ordinary manner, in order that all may imitate His life, and especially to give to those who have surrendered all, the example and the grace of a permanent life, which is a life of faith and of the heart, and not a life of lights and illuminations (the latter gifts being fleeting and gifts which we are not to desire).

But because it was necessary that Jesus Christ should sanctify all the state, He bore also that of the transfiguration state; that it might be an example of the state of transformation which takes place in the soul, when God causes it to pass into Himself with an unspeakable purity; and being delivered from itself – to pass into God: it loses its form in order to be lost in the divine immensity.

            This takes place in the depth of the soul, which remains a long time in this divine life and center before the transformation of the soul goes beyond to the outward transformation, which only takes place very late. The conversation of Moses and Elijah with Jesus, was a resignation, or abolishment of the severity of the law, to give place to the gospel of grace, and a testimony that ‘the spirit of Jesus Christ was interior’ – in other words: the soul and the life of all “the law and the prophets”.

            How many times do we commit similar infidelities and fall into worse mistakes than those of Peter, seeking rest and life, when the question is one of suffering and death; we go about demanding the glory of Tabor, when it is necessary to go to the sacrifice of Calvary; entertaining ourself in the enjoyment of the peacefulness of a small gift of God, which is only given to us that we may go beyond it, and create a desire to seek God only!

            A soul, which is not yet advanced, and experiences some communication of the glory of the Son of God, may wish to remain there always, and to establish there its rest, seeing nothing better. “let us make here tabernacles in order to rest here, and to lead a tranquil life” – Oh, poor, blind souls.

The question here is concerning the cross, and not yet our enjoyment. Peter acted here like all beginners in the spiritual way; he wished to keep all, joining the old law to the new, uniting the austerity of Elijah with the gentleness of Jesus Christ. That is inconsistent. It is necessary that one should give place to the other – therefore these young believers, earlier in the race, do not yield to the spirit of Jesus Christ, because they wish to keep all, and to lose nothing.

            It is only necessary to have a tabernacle for Jesus Christ: the servants must submit to the master, and when God wishes to come Himself, all the devices and works of men must disappear. The tabernacle of Jesus finds more satisfaction in the crucified than in the illuminated soul.

IN, OF, & FOR GOD

The holiness that God demands of us is a holiness relating to His own. The holiness of God is in Himself, of Himself, and forHimself; it is, therefore necessary that the holiness of the souls be in God, of God, and for God:

• IN God, existing only to Him, otherwise, it would be proprietary and would rob him of something
• OF God, seeing that our holiness, that is not received from God, cannot be called such
• FOR God, as it must refer to Him as to its end and center, and must serve His glory.

The soul, which has arrived into God, has no longer anything in itself, for itself, nor of itself; but by its loss into God, everything is received in him alone; and that which it possesses is not for itself any more than it comes from itself. But as everything has come from God (the beginning), so everything flowed there again (the end, finale). So, the cycle of life.

 

TAKE HEED HOW YOU JUDGE

Those who look at a tree with an evil eye account its fruits to be evil. I am said to being judged for hypocrisy. But it is certainly a strange hypocrisy, which voluntarily spends its life in suffering; which endured the cross in its various forms, (the slander, the poverty, the persecution, and every kind of affliction) without any reference to worldly advantages.

It was not earth, but God, that called me. I heard a voice which I cannot disobey. I desire to please God, alone, therefore, I saw Him, not for what He might give me, but only for Himself. I had rather die than do anything against His will. This is the sentiment of my heart, a sentiment which no persecutions, no trials, have made me alter.

——————————————————————————————————

 

And always remember our Lord’s promise in Psalms 89:33-34:

“BUT I WILL NEVER STOP LOVING HIM NOR FAIL TO KEEP MY PROMISE TO HIM.

NO, I WILL NOT BREAK MY COVENANT; I WILL NOT TAKE BACK A SINGLE WORD I SAID.”

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Louise XIV ordered Jeanne Guyon to the city of Meaux, dare to appear before archbishop Bossuet (who was perhaps the best-known churchman of all Europe) and two other well-known Roman Catholic bishops. Madame Guyon was to spend several days being grilled by these three men on the subject of her teachings.

There were two possible accusations, which they might charge her with: one called “heresy” and a lesser, but still very serious charge, called “novel opinions”. Guyon was not one to walk away from what she consider to be a misunderstanding of her teachings, so she faced these three men in full confidence that she would be vindicated – perhaps even commended – not condemned! Unfortunately, it was not to turn out so favorably.

Wisely or unwisely, she decided to assist these Churchman in making their decision by presenting – in writing – a full explanation of her teachings. During a period of 50 days, she wrote a treaties that, when published, was three huge volumes of some 400 pages, each, entitled The Justifications. To our knowledge, there has never been a publication of this work in English, and the only French editions still in existence, if there are any, probably exist in some musty vault somewhere in France. A smaller English edition of these three volumes, excerpts if you will, did appear in 1915. This is a modern edition of that small condensation.

What are the Justifications? Guyon Took extracts of writings of the saints of the past – people whom the Roman Catholic Church had given its blessing – and then compare those teachings with her own. She was proving she had “justification” for her teachings and the terminology she used.

For a very long time, nothing happened, and she spent nearly 6 months in the convent in Meaux, directly under Bossuet’s supervision. Mentally, he released her. When the king found this out, he went into a rage at the very thought of this strange woman being loose again in the world. Louise immediately ordered her arrest and imprisonment; the rest is history.

One thing is obvious, someone selected these excerpts* with great care. The modern Christian would do well to read, reread, and reflect on the contents of the small but remarkable book.

*The content reflected on this webpage is about 90-95% excerpts from the actual book entitled Final Steps in Christian Maturity.

 

Final Note:

Dear reader, if you have such amazing literature that has carried you through your own season as its time, please do not hesitate to reach out and let me know about it so that we may all continue edifying the other, sharpening iron on iron.

Thank you, and be sure to check out the other resources available thus far. Your presence, prayers, and support are Always appreciated and welcomed!

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!