EXPERIENCING GOD THROUGH PRAYER

[maria_t (maria_t)]

This is one of the books that I have been studying of late and the Holy Spirit laid it on my heart to share it here on Factnet.

Experiencing God through Prayer, Jeanne Guyon.
Donna C. Arthur, Editor.

It starts with the basics of prayer and each chapter gets better and better. This is an "FYI" study, for those who care to flame Jeanne Guyon save your time and breath, she's already gone on to be with her Lord and I won't be responding to any negative posts in regards to the text. If it blesses you, then thank the
Lord and not me. Its been of great help to me personally.

Love in Christ,
Maria}

[maria_t (maria_t)]

Chapter One

Everyone is capable of praying, but many have the mistaken idea that they are not called to prayer. Just as we are called to salvation, we are called to prayer.

Scripture commands us to pray without ceasing. (I Thess. 5:17). Prayer is nothing more than turning our heart towards God and receiving in turn His love.

Meditating on God's Word in prayer is desirable but known by very few. For those who are seeking salvation, meditative prayer is not what God requires of you or what I would recommend.

Are you thirsting for those living waters Jesus promised when He said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." (John 7:37).

Are you tired of feeling like a "broken cistern that can hold no water? (Jeremiah 2:13)?

Then come, you starving souls; come and be filled!!!

Come, bring your affliction, pain and misery, and you will be comforted!

Come, you who are sick and filled with disease, and you will be healed!

Come, draw near to your Father who desires to embrace you in His loving arms!

Come, you poor, wandering sheep back to the Shepherd!

Come, sinners to your Savior!

Come, you who are uneducated in spiritual things! You are not incapable of praying!

Let everyone, without exception, come! For Jesus Christ has called all of you!

Yet, those who are without a yielded heart are excused. For there must be a heart yielded before Him to receive His love.

Come, then give your hearts to God and learn the ways of prayer.

For those who have the desire, it is easy to pray. The Holy Spirit has enabled common men to pray great prayers by His gifts and grace.

Prayer can help you to attain perfection, because it will keep you in the presence of God.
Genesis 17:1 says, "Walk before me and be thou perfect." We are brought into His presence and kept there without interruption through prayer.

There is only one requirement, though, that you must follow at all times. It will not interfere with outward actions. It may be practiced by
princes, kings, priests, soldiers, children and laborers.

This simple requirement is you must learn to pray from your heart and not your head.

The reason is man's mind is so limited in its operation that it can only focus on one object at a time. But the prayer offered from the heart cannot be interrupted without reason. Nothing can interrupt this prayer except confused affection. When you have enjoyed God and the sweetness of His love, however, you will find it impossible to set your affections on anything other than Him.

I have found it easy to obtain the presence of God He desires to be more present in us than we are to seek Him. He desires to give Himself to us far more readily than we are to receive Him. We only need to know how to seek God, and this is easier and more natural than breathing.

Oh dear ones, do not think of yourselves as misfits. By prayer you can live in God's presence with as little effort as you live on the very air you are now breathing.

Is it not sinful to neglect prayer? But you do not have to live this way once you have learned this easy method.

Let us prepare our hearts now as we begin our study of prayer.


more to come....

[maria_t (maria_t)]

Chapter Two:

SPIRITUAL MEDITATION

There are two ways of introducing you to prayer. One is by meditation on the Word. The other is by reading the Word and then meditating in prayer.

To meditate on God's Word simply means to take a portion of Scripture and begin the following procedure. Read only a small section and allow that passage to be "digested" before going on to another.

Draw from it its fullest meaning. Think it through. Try to relate it to other similar scriptures. Commit it to memory. Then, having thoroughly examined the passage, proceed to take another one and do the same.

Try not to read more than half a page at a time. Its not the quantity of Scripture that you read, but the quality that will be used to your benefit.

Those who are fast readers gain more advantage than a bee would by skimming the surface of a flower rather than penetrating it to extract its pollen.

Speed reading can be used for other subjects but never for divine truth.

To receive profit from the Word, you must read it as I described. I am certain that by doing this, you will have made meditating on the Word a habit that will cause you to grow as a Christian.

In physical food you receive no nourishment until you chew and swallow the food. The food may taste good in your mouth as you continue to enjoy its flavor. But it is in the swallowing and digesting that benefits the body.

In an act of love, full of respect and confidence in God, swallow the blessed spiritual food He has given to you. It will cause you to become a mature Christian.

A word of caution for beginners. Don't wander from truth to truth and from subject to subject.
The right way is to allow each individual truth to be meditated upon while its sweet flavor remains fresh. You certainly would not stuff your mouth with another bite of food until you had swallowed the last one. Scriptural truth should be digested in the same way.

As you form the habit of meditating on God's Word, it will become easier for you to bring to remembrance other Scriptures of the same nature. This will further enhance your ability to bring the Word of God into reality in your life.

The second method is to learn to pray the Word.

When you come to God in prayer, open your Bible to where you have been meditating. Remember at this point that your main objective is to focus on God's presence. Your Scripture verse will keep your mind from straying to other things.

This method of praying can be used by those of you with even a small portion of faith, because it will keep your mind from distractions. This way even a small amount of faith will enlarge in
proportion when viewed by itself.

Oh, dear one, God has promised that He would come and make His abode with him who does His will. (John 14:23). He has promised to dwell in our innermost being - the new Holy of Holies place.

St. Augustine once blamed himself for all the lost time trying to find God's will when, from the very beginning, he could have done so by this manner of praying the Word.

When you have settled into a peaceful spirit and are fully aware of God's presence; when earthly distractions are not your primary thoughts; when your soul has properly fed on God's Word and you have chosen by an act of your will to believe it, you are now ready to communicate with your Heavenly Father.

Oh you who desire a deeper walk with God, come, enter into His presence through His Word. It is God's desire to communicate Himself to you, to impart abundant grace, and allow you to enjoy His presence.

more to come............

[maria_t (maria_t)]

Chapter Three:

BEGINNING THE JOURNEY

Let us begin now to practice praying the Word to God using the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 as an example.

Dear reader, know this fundamental truth as you begin. When Jesus prays for God's kingdom to come, remember that He said, "the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21).

Before we had invited Jesus to come into our heart, we were lost sinners. The only promise available to us was that our wages for sin was death. (Romans 6:23).

But now that we have repented from our sin, turned to Christ to be cleansed from our sin, and invited Him to take up His abode with us. He brought us with Him the Kingdom of God with all its benefits and promises.

Let me say something now to those in the clergy I know many of you tell your parishioners what waits for them at the end of their earthly lives. However, you often do not give clear or sufficient instructions as to how to attain it.

Make the steps to salvation understood by even the least educated in your congregation. Their attention should be on Jesus Christ alone.

Then, teach your people, by an act of profound adoration before God, how to find Him in prayer. Tell them how to get quiet inwardly, how to keep their minds from wandering, and how to build up their faith in God through meditating on His Word.

Now, let's look together at the Lord's prayer and ponder the meaning of the words.

Dwell on the words, "Our Father." God has taken the initiative to invite you to become His child. He deserves to be your Father. Pour out your heart's desire to Him.

Now, wait a few moments in silence before Him.
Always allow some quiet time as you pray in case our Heavenly Father wants to reveal His Will to you.

Come to the Father as a feeble child, soiled and bruised by repeated falls, destitute of strength to stand or of power to cleanse yourself. Allow the Father to see your confusion. Then, intermingle a word of love or grief for past sins and sink once again into silence before Him.

Continue on in the Lord's prayer in this same manner. Beseech the King of Glory to reign in you. Abandon yourself to God to do a finished work in you. Acknowledge His right to rule over you.

If you feel as though you should remain peaceful and quiet rather than continue on with the prayer, do so.

Then, when you are ready, continue on with the second petition, "thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Ask God to accomplish in you and through you His will on earth. Surrender your freedom and will into His hands to be disposed of as He pleases.

When you find that it is God's will for you to be loving, you will desire to love. You will seek Him first and His love in which to love others.

Don't burden yourselves with frequent repetitions of set forms or studied prayer. When you meditate on the Lord's prayer only once and then pray it out to the Father, it will produce more fruit than meaningless repeated words.

When you come to the verse, "Give us this day our daily bread,"place yourself as a sheep before your Shepherd, feed your flock with Yourself. You are indeed our daily bread.

Tell the Father all about your family's needs, but do so remembering the one great principle of faith--God is within us.

As you pray, don't form any image of God in your mind. All our imaginations of God amount to nothing. You may, however, remember Jesus Christ in His birth or crucifixion, provided you always seek Him in His Resurrected state.

Perhaps, on some occasions, you come to Him needing a physician. Then, come without mental aggravation, because He has the healing virtue for all our maladies. You have no need to exert yourself in prayer. Simply yield to God's operations within you until He completes His work.

As you experiment with prayer in this manner, you will enjoy a deeper walk with God than you have ever known before. You will relish these times of rest and quiet in His presence.

It is attainable for all of you who earnestly seek God. The only requirement is to begin.


More to come........

[countdown]

very good stuff

[coral]

Thanks for bringing up this thread, countdown, I'm going to study this page. If you are reading, let yourself meander on to some of the posts that will tell you why we are here! I am still healing, as many of us are. Please know that.