Do you realize that all Christians have been exhorted to abandonment?
The Lord Himself has said, “Take no thought for tomorrow, for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things” (see Matt. 6:34). Again the Scripture says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:6). Again, “Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established” (Prov. 16:3). In the book of Psalms, it says, “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Ps. 37:5).
True abandonment must cover two complete worlds, two complete realms.
There must be an abandonment in your life concerning all outward, practical things. Secondly, there must also be an abandonment of all inward, spiritual things. You must come to the Lord and there engage in giving up all your concerns.
All your concerns go into the hand of God. You forget yourself, and from that moment on, you think only of Him.
By continuing to do this over a long period of time, your heart will remain unattached; your heart will be free and at peace!
How do you practice abandonment? You practice it daily, hourly and by the moment. Abandonment is practiced by continually losing your own will in the will of God—by plunging your will into the depths of His will, there to be lost forever!
And how do you begin? You must begin by refusing every personal desire that comes to you just as soon as it arises—no matter how good that personal desire is and no matter how helpful it might appear!
Abandonment must reach a point at which you stand in complete indifference to yourself. You can be sure that out of such a disposition, a wonderful result will come.
The result of this attitude will, in fact, bring you to the most wonderful point imaginable. It is the point at which your will breaks free of you completely and becomes free to be joined to the will of God. You will desire only what He desires—that is, what He has desired for all eternity.
Become abandoned by simply resigning yourself to what the Lord wants in all things, no matter what they are, where they come from or how they affect your life.
What is abandonment? It is forgetting your past; it is leaving the future in His hands; it is devoting the present fully and completely to Him.
Abandonment is being satisfied with the present moment, no matter what that moment contains. You are satisfied because you know that whatever that moment has, it contains—in that instant—God’s eternal plan for you.
You will always know that that moment is the absolute and total declaration of His will for your life.
Remember, you must never blame man for anything. No matter what happens, it was neither man nor circumstances that brought it. You must accept everything (except, of course, your own sinfulness) as having come from your Lord.
Surrender not only what the Lord does to you, but also your reaction to what He does.
Do you wish to go into the depths of Jesus Christ? If you wish to enter into this deeper state of knowing the Lord, you must seek to know not only a deeper prayer but also abandonment in all realms of your life. This means branching out until your new relationship includes living 24 hours a day utterly abandoned to Him.
Begin to surrender yourself to be led by God and to be dealt with by Him. Do so right now. Surrender yourself to allow Him to do with you exactly as He pleases—both in your inward life of experiencing Him and also in your outward life of accepting all circumstances as from Him.
Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717) was a French Quietist who had a tremendous impact on church history. She was a mystic who was imprisoned for her writings, which were considered heretical in her day.
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