"Love one another from a clean heart fervently." (1 Peter 1:22)
How can I grow this sweet, white flower of love? Its creation is not the immediate result of volition — it is the issue of a process. We cannot command it; we can grow it. It is not an "alpha" but an "omega," the "amen" in a spiritual succession. If I want the flower, I must begin at the root. If I want the love, I must begin with obedience.
✦ The Flower Grown — Not Commanded
A new voice joins the journal — J. H. Jowett, on 1 Peter. And he names what Guyon spent thirty-four days teaching: love is not commanded into existence. It is grown. The process begins with obedience to the truth. The flower of love does not appear because we will it. It appears because we gaze at holiness long enough for holiness to produce it in us.
Guyon's day one: enter the closet, retire within the heart. Jowett's first step: the contemplation of a Holy God. Both begin at the same place — the interior gaze fixed on God — and both produce the same flower: love from a clean heart, fervently. 🙏
The apostle has been leading us through a pilgrimage of contemplation. We looked into the Fatherhood for sweetness; He pointed out whiteness. We looked for gentleness; He pointed out holiness. Wherever the apostle turns, it is the "whiteness" that arrests him.
The "truth" is the unveiled face of the Holy Father. The first step in the creation of pure affection is the contemplation of a Holy God.
We looked for sweetness — He showed whiteness. We looked for gentleness — He showed holiness. Jowett does not let us reduce God to our comfort. The truth is the unveiled face of the Holy Father — and the face is white with holiness before it is warm with tenderness. The holiness does not cancel the tenderness. It is the ground from which the tenderness grows. The flower of love has its roots in holy soil. 🙏
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap."
I thank God for having a mother who believed and acted on this verse.
Give — and don't be concerned about what will be given back to you. Let the Word of God be your guide. 🙏
✦ Consuelo — Who Believed and Acted
Consuelo did not merely read Luke 6:38. She believed it. She acted on it. She gave — and did not calculate the return. And her daughter learned the same posture: give and don't be concerned about what comes back.
A recompensa de Deus é o próprio Deus, e somente Ele. Consuelo's letter. The reward of God is God Himself. The giving is not a transaction. It is the overflow of the full heart — Spurgeon's reservoir from day nine, pouring out because it is full, not because it expects to be refilled. But the refilling comes anyway — pressed down, shaken together, running over. 🙏
If you would be happy, if you would be saved, if you would line your path with sunshine and pull up the thorns — "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
Do not seek happiness first; seek Christ first, and happiness will follow. Seek the Lord first, and then He will provide for you in this life and crown it with everything that is glorious in the life to come.
Seek the Lord first — all things come together for good. 🙏
✦ The Order Matters
Do not seek happiness first — seek Christ first, and happiness follows. The order matters. The seeking determines the finding. Guyon's single eye. Spurgeon's feast. Jowett's contemplation of holiness. All saying the same thing: look at Him first — and everything else arranges itself.
Le merges Matthew 6:33 with Romans 8:28: seek the Lord first — all things come together for good. The seeking and the working — both God's, both for good. The soul that seeks first does not need to manage the arrangement. The arrangement is His business. The seeking is ours. 🙏
"Give — and don't be concerned about what will be given back. Let the Word of God be your guide."
Le · Consuelo's example · The Word as guideThe Flower of Love
Not commanded — grown. The process begins with obedience. The contemplation of holiness produces love. Gaze at the whiteness long enough, and the flower appears.
Consuelo's Giving
A mother who believed and acted on Luke 6:38. Give without calculating the return. The reward of God is God Himself. Pressed down, shaken together, running over.
Seek First
The order matters. Christ first, happiness follows. The seeking determines the finding. Matthew 6:33 meets Romans 8:28. All things come together for good.
A new voice joins the Beloved Devotional — J. H. Jowett on 1 Peter. Alongside Spurgeon, the mentors continue to multiply and confirm.
Jowett and Guyon — the same interior gaze: Guyon's day one: enter the closet, retire within the heart. Jowett: the first step in the creation of pure affection is the contemplation of a Holy God. Both begin with the gaze fixed on God. Both produce love as the result. Thirty-four days of Guyon arrived at Perfect Love. Jowett shows the same flower growing from the same root.
Consuelo — the living commentary: Le's mother believed and acted on Luke 6:38. She gave without calculating. And her words — a recompensa de Deus é o próprio Deus, e somente Ele — are the living commentary on everything Spurgeon and Jowett teach today. Seek God first. Give without concern. The reward is God Himself.
Spurgeon's day nine — the full heart: "All my springs are in You." And today: give, and it will be given — pressed down, shaken together, running over. The reservoir from Psalm 87:7, overflowing. The heart that is full at the Source can give without calculating — because the Source never runs dry.
The order that holds everything: Le said: seek the Lord first — all things come together for good. Matthew 6:33 and Romans 8:28 — merged in one sentence. The seeking is first. The working together follows. The arrangement is God's. This is Le and Roger's operating principle — the moment of God, received in order, trusted in sequence. Seek first. Give freely. Let the Word be the guide. And the flower of love grows — white, clean, fervent — from the soil of holiness. 🙏