Customer Reviews

Experiencing God Through Prayer

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Madame Guyon teaches the simple truth. You must learn to pray from your heart not your head. She explains how to sit quitely (while being active) and wait on God. Col. 1:27 "Christ in you, the hope of glory." As a result of this short book, I could sense the Holy Spirit leading me back to a personal relationship with God - through His Word the Bible. As written on page 88, Romans 8:14 "Follow the example of Paul, allowing yourself to be 'led by the Spirit of God' He will lead you to the ultimate goal of enjoying God forever.....You are called to enjoy God - not only His gifts to you....The whole desire of our heavenly Father is to give Himself to every creature according to the capacity in which we will receive Him." This book is written for everyone to be able to read and follow.

Although this book does not speak in the expicit terms of "inner silence" and "monastic silence," it does speak of these things implicitly (and so at times not as straightforward as she could have), and she does a good job. The author speaks concerning a way of life and prayer which has been lost for the most part in conservative Protestant circles. To explain, and using the terms I've introduced, she speaks of inner silence. This does not mean what is meant by the meditations of eastern religions. Rather, this term refers to an inner lack of struggle---a lack of struggle with numerous voices and desires, because of the absence of the multiplicity of voices calling for one's attention. "Monastic silence" better explains this, for monastic has the form "mono" meaning one. The inner silence to which Guyon speaks is that silence of peace which comes when one is only hearing ONE voice, and that voice is God's.

The one who has come to experience what Guyon is speaking of has learned to allow only one voice (God's), and thus there is no competition or multiplicity of voices calling for one's servanthood. In addition, she speaks implicitly of not regretting such a dedication to God. That is to say, one may choose to hear and enjoy only God, but they may wish that they could have some other voices and enjoyments, thus they regret to some extent that God is all they have chosen. Guyon states that when we choose God and God alone as our desire and the voice to whom we listen, and we do not regret what we have abandoned, then we have inner silence, peace within ourselves. Again, this is what others call monastic silence, the silence/lack of struggle with the decision of choosing only one.

Luke 11:34 speaks of having a single (literally "unified") eye for God, and Philippians 3:7 - 15 speaks of this singleness of desire for Christ Jesus as God as the attitude and condition of a mature believer in Christ Jesus. Guyon speaks to this issue and does a fine job, though if she had explained certain things a little more, I would have rated the book with 5 stars.

This is an excellent book for learning how to seek the Biblical communion with God that is available to His people, without being superstitious in approach or speaking of weird things. Guyon speaks of going beyond "experiences" (spiritual signs, bells and whistles, ooh's and ah's, if you will) to rather reach the point of simple, intimate fellowship and satisfaction with God (satifaction with the Mono, the One). She speaks of simple abandonment of what perishes in preferment of the One who never perishes. She speaks of focusing on and enjoying the Giver rather than the gifts.

This is a useful basic book from a woman who understood how to dwell in God's presence and to appreciate that, while we are not God, we do have the kingdom of heaven living inside us in the form of the Holy Spirit if we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord. However, this is an abridged and highly paraphrased version of the translation which Gene Edwards was the editor of, <i>Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ</i>, so much so that it seems an almost wholly different book at times. You may want to compare the two.

Although one reviewer has stated that this book is a paraphrase of "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ," that is not so. Though highly abridged, this book is far closer to the original English translation of Madame Guyon's treatise, "A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer," than the Edward's book.

"Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ" leaves out a vast amount of Madame Guyon's material, radically changes much of her material that is used--even changing her doctrines to mean something other than what she said and believed, and includes a vast amount of material that is NOT in Madame Guyon's original text. So much so, that in many of the chapters it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to harmonize her text with the Edward text.

The best that can be said for "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ" is that it is LOOSELY based upon Madame Guyon's treatise.

On a Web site devoted to ancient Christian writings, this note is placed on the page introducing her work: "[Note: A modernized, heavily edited and much changed version of this manuscript is currently in print and being sold under the title, "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ" by SeedSowers Printing.]

If anyone wishes to read at least a few things of what she wrote in "A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer," then I highly recommend "Experiencing God Through Prayer"--understanding, of course, that is a very abridged version. If nothing else, the title of this book is closer to the theme of Madame Guyon's treatise than the title of the other bookl.

Jeanne Guyon touches an area in this book that has, for the most part, been long forgotten by the church of today: A deep relationship with the Saviour. Her passion for God is overwhelmingly obvious as you read each page. The book is both convicting and encouraging. A wonderful reminder and a practical guide toward that "one needful thing". A true classic!

Madame Guyon's Story is a very interesting one and most modern Christians are unaware of it. I loved this book: it was one of the few books on prayer that I have read that was hard to finish because I found myself stopping to pray so often! This book moved me into passionate prayer as I read it. This is a great book for Christians everywhere to read, and though it is very 'deep', it is also very short.

You could call this a beginner's guide to prayer.

Guyon speaks to many topics in this book: the Lord's prayer; meditation, praying the Word of God; prayer of faith; entering into effortless prayer; distractions; formal prayer; distractions, sacrifical prayer; and the Holy Spirit in prayer, among other things.

She speaks with some wisdom in these areas: "Do not become burdened by any one form of prayer;" "If you will not savor the cross, you cannot savor the things of God;" "If we deal with the matters of the heart, the outward concerns will follow quite naturally;" "God himself will show you the areas of your life which need attention;" and "there is no better way to learn how to love God than simply love Him." These are some nuggets of truth within the pages of this book which may help anyone who is just beginning.

"To belong to Jesus, we must be filled with His Spirit and emptied of our own self." The Bible says if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that God has raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. By virtue of receiving Christ, we are filled with His Holy Spirit.

"If we would teach our wandering brethren to simply believe and dilgently pray, rather than engaging them in endless reasonings, we would lead them into the arms of God." The Bible speaks that God has said "Come now, saith the Lord, let us reason together..." There are times when the disciple of the Lord must reason together with an unbeliever, and through the Holy Spirit, conversion takes place.

I believe she has brought to light some important facts about prayer. With Bible, you should and read Guyon and pray to the Father for His wisdom in prayer.

Staying focused on Christ seems to be my biggest problem. This book has been most helpful in keeping me focused and is the insturment that God seems to be using to teach me to have a closer union with Him. I recommend this book to everyone who desires a closer relationship with Jesus.

Madame Guyon's guide to prayer demonstrates that salvation is a
far more profound transformation than is realized by most people who call themselves Christians today. The reviewer who criticized her views on perfection forgets that Christ Himself said, "Be ye therefore perfect." Madame Guyon was persecuted by the Catholic church during her lifetime -- for reasons of jealousy, I believe. She obviously attained something very profound and wrote this guide in a sincere attempt to communicate it.

This was a woman was viewed as a threat by the Roman Catholic Church. Much like William Tyndale, John Hus and Martin Luther, she had an intimate relationship with Christ. She has alot in comon with the Apostle Paul and John Bunyan in that most her writtings where from prison.

She did not write so as to boast in her knowledge of how it was that she came into this state of union with God; rather it was because the Church of Rome commanded her to write much of her works. She was in prison while she wrote it.

Her emphasis is constant communication with God. Her works influenced the Moravian brethren, Francis Fenelon, John Westley, Charles Westley, Charles Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, Wachman Nee and A.W. Tozer all of whom God used powerfully and profoundly.

On reading her books the reader must first understand that she presumes that the reader has already experienced the spiritual "new birth" or what evangelical scholars deem "regeneration".

Many have misconstrued her writings to apply to all men, but they do not.