God Chasers Daily Devotion-#58

You must learn to love the cross. He who does not love the cross does not love the things of God. (Matthew 16:23) It is impossible for you to truly love the Lord without loving the cross. The believer who loves the cross finds that even the bitterest things that come his way are sweet. The Scripture says, “To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” (Proverbs 27:7)
Here is a true spiritual principle that the Lord will not deny: God gives us the cross, and then the cross gives us God.
(Madame Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, 38)

Madame Jeanne Guyon was born at Montargis, France. When she was only 15, she married an invalid who was 38 years old. Unhappy in her marriage, she soughthappiness in her devotional life. She lived in a convent under royal order for a year and then was imprisoned in Vincennes and the Bastille because of her religious beliefs. Almost 25 years of her life were spent in confinement. Many of her books were written during that period.
Writing that compels the reader to move into a living experience of Jesus Christ is Madame Guyon’s great contribution to devotional literature. Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ (sometimes titled A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer) has had a wide influence: Watchman Nee saw that it was translated into Chinese and made available to every new convert in the Little Flock; François Fénelon, John Wesley, and Hudson Taylor all highly recommended it to the believers of their day.