Just this morning, when I was waiting for my churchmates (our pastor, her wife and one of my churchmate-classmate in Bible School) to fetch me and go with them to school, I had this opportunity to read a book. Since it will take them a while to arrive, I sat there in the sidewalk and started reading.
The title of the book is Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Jeanne Guyon and I was on the fourth chapter entitled The Second Level. The first parts of the book tells of ways on how to go deeper in our prayer life. But what caught my attention was the end part of the book. It struck me so much that after reading, I shared it immediately to may churchmate-classmate and she too was surprised. On our way home, I also shared it with our pastor, and he too was amazed at that truth. What is it? Here it is:
Before we finish this chapter, I would like to talk with you just a moment about the motive of your heart in your seeking the Lord.
After all, why do you come to the Lord? Do you come to Him for the sweetness? Do you come to Him because it is enjoyable to be in the Lord’s presence? Let me recommend a higher way.
As you come to the Lord to pray, bring a full heart of pure love, a love that is not seeking anything for itself. Bring a heart that is seeking nothing from the Lord, but desires only to please Him and to do His will.
Let me illustrate. Consider the servant. The servant takes good care of His master; but if he does it only to receive some reward, he is not worthy of any consideration whatsoever. So, dear Christian, as you come to your Lord to pray, do not come for spiritual enjoyment. Do not even come to experience your Lord.
Then what? Come just to please Him.
Once you are there, if He chooses to pour out some great blessing, receive it. If you have difficult time in prayer, receive that. Joyfully accept whatever He desires to give. Believe that whatever happens is what He wants to give you.
Let me repeat that, for it is very important! It is especially important to you for any future growth in experiencing Christ. Believe by faith that whatever happens is His desire for you at that time.
When you have come to the Lord this way, you will find that your spirit is at peace no matter what your condition. When you have learned to come to the Lord with this attitude, you will not be upset if the Lord withdraws Himself from you. The times of spiritual dryness will be the same to you as the times of spiritual abundance. You will treat them both the same. Why? Because you will have learned to love God just because you love Him, not because of His gifts, nor even for His precious presence.
That truth really changed my perspective on why I desire to come to the Lord. Before, my main focus was to enjoy the presence of the Lord, which I believe is the same for most of us (which is not wrong by the way). But there’s more to that! That is coming to the Lord just to please Him, and Him alone, without expecting anything in return.
That was the reason why King David was called a man after God’s own heart because he knows the key in coming to the Lord:
One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
May this truth stir-up our hearts and create such desire know Him more and more.
God bless everyone!
Everything starts with an introduction, so I might as well start with it.
