I have always advocated that the fastest way to learn something is to learn from a mentor. If I desire to grow in leadership, I should learn from a great leader. If I desire to grow in preaching, I could accelerate my personal growth by gleaning from great preachers. This is the power of mentoring.

Madame Guyon is known as one of the greatest spiritual teacher in prayer and intimacy. Through my research, I have found some simple but powerful key truths that Madame Guyon embraced in her spirituality. My earnest desire is for you to grow deeper in prayer and intimacy with God as you reflect on the writings below.

Madame Guyon's Spiritual Contributions
Madame Guyon’s personal breakthrough in prayer came through an encounter with a religious man of the order of St. Francis when he said, “it is because you seek without what you have within. Accustom yourself to seek God in your heart, and you will there find Him[1].” This started Guyon on a new discovery in Quietism; one form of mysticism she embraced. Her constant trials and pain fostered with her a tenacity to pursue Christ and no other passions; which is a hallmark of her resolute commitment to bearing the cross of Christ. This nature of prayer led her to a life of abandonment to Christ and His will where in “losing all gifts, she found the Giver”[2]. She became known for propagating “a union so great with the will of God, that her own will seemed entirely lost.”[3]  

Guyon advocated two ways of prayer; “one is by meditating on the Word and the other is by reading the Word and then meditating in prayer”[4]. Contrary to popular beliefs that Guyon’s mysticism is based purely on experience and not on Scriptures, her discourse ‘Short and Easy Method of Prayer’ promotes a strong foundation of using and praying Scriptures as a basis to draw near to God. Every believer, laity and even the least uneducated, must focus on Christ alone; and be taught the act of adoration, the value of silence, and a building of faith in God through His word[5]. Guyon argued that prayer is not passivity but rather a yielding to His grace in a state of peace, rest and non striving of self. [6]  

Another outstanding difference in Guyon’s prayer teaching refers to the matters of the heart. Perhaps, this statement sums up the importance of prayers from the heart; “once the heart is gained, how easily is all the rest corrected![7]” In an era where rationalism and intellectualism ruled even the religion, Guyon championed as an apostle of prayer[8]; teaching prayer as from the heart and not the head nor understanding[9]. Yet this kind of prayer is not devoid of understanding or objectivity but rather an act of commitment of the will in total submission to the purposes and love of Jesus Christ. She sought to redeem the relational dimension of prayer with a loving God in an environment where religious formalities and rationalism devoid of love, commitment and surrender[10].

Guyon’s teaching on prayer from the heart does not rule out the head completely. Prayer from the heart is not based purely on emotions. From Guyon’s writing, such prayer is from the deepest of an individual; the seat of human decision, volition and affection. It is an exhortation true to the religious climate of its time to enter into relationship with God without the religious trappings. It is important to realize that that such intimacy with God does not take place in the vacuum of the Holy Scriptures. From the writing on ‘A Short and Easy Method to Prayer’, it is obvious that it is scriptural and Guyon advocated prayers based on meditation, reflection, prayer and obedience to the Word of God. Such prayer as the Quietists defined is a prayer that confirms the obedience of the Scripture. It is not the use of mystic experiences to judge Scripture but rather using scripture in prayer to judge one’s obedience and experience in Christ.

Guyon’s personal life testimony and moral character is a true reflection of her commitment to Christ and the gospel. Her teachings on prayer and spirituality promise to bring believers to a deeper dimension of Christian spirituality; where a willing and utter surrendering of one’s will to the grace and love of God brings a union which produces pure love, pure faith and pure commitment.

Guyon left behind a legacy of mysticism that brought renewal to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Besides her two published works, ‘A Short and Easy Method of Prayer’ and a commentary on the Song of Songs, she also had forty volumes and a commentary on the Bible[11]. Guyon is recognized as an authority on spirituality among the Pietists, Quakers, Methodists and other movements of the time. In fact, Guyon’s works are “read in North America, since the mid-eighteenth century, first by the Protestants from groups outside of established churches, then by the adherents of the nineteenth-century revivalism and finally by members of cross denominational movements stressing on ‘inner’ and ‘deeper’ Christian life[12].” It is also noted that great Christian leaders like Watchman Nee, Hudson Taylor, Andrew Murray, Jesse Penn-Lewis uphold Madame Guyon in high regard for her life and contribution to the Christian Body[13].  

Blessings in Jesus,
Rev. Bryan Tan
Bryan Tan Ministries
Lifting People into their Destinies