True simplicity regards God alone; it has its eye fixed upon Him, and is not drawn towards self; and it is as pleased to say humble as great things.
All our uneasy feelings and reflections arise from self-love, whatever appearance of piety they may assume. If we would live in peace, we must lose sight of self, and rest in the infinite and unchangeable God.
✦ The Only Thing He Desires
Guyon strips everything to the bone. Not your talent. Not your service. Not your journal entries. Not your morning devotions. Your heart. That is the only thing God wants. And the self-returns — the endless circling back to examine yourself, measure yourself, worry about yourself — are the very thing that withholds it.
All our uneasy feelings arise from self-love, whatever appearance of piety they may assume. Even the spiritual anxiety — am I growing? Am I faithful? Am I close enough to God? — is self-love dressed in devotional clothing. The eye turned inward. The piety that is occupied with its own progress is still occupied with self. 🙏
You act as a person who, being called before a king, instead of regarding the king and his benefits, is occupied only with his own dress and appearance.
God wishes to disarrange you — to destroy self; and you wish to preserve what He would destroy. Be more afraid of self than of the evil one. It is the spirit of Satan to exalt self above God, and this spirit is fostered by these continual returns you make upon your own doings and misdoings, which leaves no place in your mind for the occupation of God.
✦ Before the King — Checking Your Hair
Standing before the King — and checking your hair. The King is speaking — and you are adjusting your collar. The single eye sees only God. The divided eye sees God and self simultaneously — and the self always wins, because it is closer and louder.
Be more afraid of self than of the evil one. One of the strongest warnings in twenty-nine days. The enemy works through what remains of self. The continual self-returns — examining your own doings and misdoings — leave no room for God. The mirror is the enemy's best tool. Not the obvious mirror of vanity. The subtle mirror of spiritual self-examination that never puts the mirror down. 🙏
We should not depend on ourselves for our move to France. God sold an apartment that wasn't even listed. He can move us too — and we follow His lead. 🙏
The testimony that silences the self-returns. The apartment was not listed. No strategy. No marketing. No management. God sold it. And the soul that watched God do that — without self's involvement — has no reason to depend on self for the next step. The move to France is His to manage. The same hands that sold the unlisted apartment will move the ship to the water. We follow His lead.
"God sold an apartment that wasn't even listed. He can move us too."
Le · The testimony that silences the self-returnsAlthough there are impenetrable mysteries in God's dealings with souls, it is true that each soul, aside from the ordinary means common to all, has a specific training, and this method of the divine order can alone accomplish the work. The means that sanctifies another may not sanctify you.
Forget yourself as the man to whom many eyes are turned, and become the little, helpless one, who cannot take care of itself, but lets another care for it. The pride, presumption, and vanity of the natural man must give place to the littleness and simplicity of the child.
Says our Savior: "Except you be converted, and become as little children, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."
✦ Your Road — No One Else's
Each soul has a specific training. Do not measure yourself by others. The means that sanctifies another may not sanctify you. Le's road is not anyone else's road. The motorhome. The morning devotions before dawn. Three pastors across the day. Madame Guyon read in Normandy and Caldas. This is Le's specific training — and no other soul's path can replace it.
And Guyon returns to the child. Twenty-nine days — and she closes where she has always been. The state of infancy. The suppleness. The helpless one who lets another care for it. The child does not manage the move to France. The child follows the Father's lead. Matthew 18:3 — unless you become as little children. Not a suggestion. A condition. The kingdom has a height requirement — and it is measured in smallness. 🙏
The Single Eye
True simplicity regards God alone. The divided eye sees God and self — and self always wins. The mirror of spiritual self-examination is the enemy's subtlest tool. Put the mirror down.
The Unlisted Apartment
God sold it without a listing. No strategy. No management. The testimony that silences every self-return. He can move us too. We follow His lead.
Become as Children
Each soul has a specific training. Do not measure by others. Become the little helpless one who lets another care for it. The kingdom's height requirement is measured in smallness.
Guyon's twenty-ninth day. And today she returns to where every day has pointed: forget yourself. See only God. Become the child.
Day one — the religion of the heart: Enter the closet. Retire within the heart. Speak few words. Receive the Holy Spirit. And today: true simplicity regards God alone. The closet was always about this — a place where self is forgotten and only God remains. Twenty-nine days later, the instruction is the same. The depth is different.
Day nine — unction of grace: "The polished intellect, the elaborated argument." And today: "You act as a person called before a king, occupied only with his own appearance." The polished intellect was checking its own reflection. The unction of grace has no mirror. It sees only the King.
Day twenty-two — the gentle authority: "We want to be abandoned in His goodness." And today: "God sold an apartment that wasn't even listed." The abandonment is not abstract. It is the lived experience of a God who acts before self can manage. The unlisted apartment is the proof that the gentle authority is real.
The 500 denari thread — the specific training: The means that sanctifies another may not sanctify you. Le's path — Father Joe James at midnight, the 500 denari debt, the conversion, the morning devotions, the road, the motorhome, the packing — is her specific training. No other soul's path can replace it. And the testimony today confirms it: God is working the specifics of Le's life. The apartment. The move. The timing. All His. All specific. All real.
Twenty-nine days with Guyon: And the lesson that runs through every single day is today's title: forgetfulness of self. The religion of the heart — forget self, enter the closet. The walk by faith — forget self, trust the unseen. The vacuum — forget self, let God fill. The bird released — forget self, fly. The writing on sand — forget self, the wind erases. The silence — forget self, listen. The current of love — forget self, flow. Every image, every teaching, every day has been saying the same thing: stop looking at yourself. Look at God. He will do the rest. 🙏