Be Still and Know I am God. Psalm 46:10
I’ve been learning a bit more about prayer over the last few weeks. Prayer has been the focus of a book I have been reading by Jeanne Guyon entitled “Experiences the depths of Jesus Christ”. It’s a short book but I’ve found to be of great help and I highly recommend it. Written in the latter half of the seventeenth century, this book was publicly burned in France at some stage and it has also been received by seeking Christians as one of the most helpful and powerful Christian books ever written.
I’ve been teaching myself to be still in the presence of God, practicing this while being in a very quiet place and emptying my mind of all things – I’ve found emptying my mind to be quite hard, it’s amazing how many things – random things – keep popping into my brain. It’s becoming a little easier the more I practice but still a challenging thing to do. Thinking momentarily of a verse or silently calling on God - helps me to be still.
The result has been amazing, as I’ve had a little faith to know that God is dwelling inside of me, as I turn inwards to myself I have been able to experience a joyful lavishing of Gods’ love. I’ve learnt that no words are better than any words and in fact I’m struggling to find the right words to describe the experience. It makes sense though, we all know, listening is way more important (and harder to do) than talking when it comes to communicating with people. How can we really experience what God has to say if we don’t be still, observe or expect communication in both directions?
I feel I’ve only just scratched the surface of understanding all of this and there are further depths God can unveil if it’s his favour for me to experience more. Has anyone else had such close experiences in the silences of their prayers?
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1,5
My child, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways. Proverbs 23:26
To everything, there is a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1
I’ve been learning a bit more about prayer over the last few weeks. Prayer has been the focus of a book I have been reading by Jeanne Guyon entitled “Experiences the depths of Jesus Christ”. It’s a short book but I’ve found to be of great help and I highly recommend it. Written in the latter half of the seventeenth century, this book was publicly burned in France at some stage and it has also been received by seeking Christians as one of the most helpful and powerful Christian books ever written.
I’ve been teaching myself to be still in the presence of God, practicing this while being in a very quiet place and emptying my mind of all things – I’ve found emptying my mind to be quite hard, it’s amazing how many things – random things – keep popping into my brain. It’s becoming a little easier the more I practice but still a challenging thing to do. Thinking momentarily of a verse or silently calling on God - helps me to be still.
The result has been amazing, as I’ve had a little faith to know that God is dwelling inside of me, as I turn inwards to myself I have been able to experience a joyful lavishing of Gods’ love. I’ve learnt that no words are better than any words and in fact I’m struggling to find the right words to describe the experience. It makes sense though, we all know, listening is way more important (and harder to do) than talking when it comes to communicating with people. How can we really experience what God has to say if we don’t be still, observe or expect communication in both directions?
I feel I’ve only just scratched the surface of understanding all of this and there are further depths God can unveil if it’s his favour for me to experience more. Has anyone else had such close experiences in the silences of their prayers?
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1,5
My child, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways. Proverbs 23:26
To everything, there is a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1
The kingdom of God is within us. Luke 17:21
Check out the description of this book here.
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