A Spiritual Word
Bruce Weatherly
Aug 13, 2026
As I’ve stated before, my two most influential mentors lived and died about 400 years ago. Back in May, I shared quotes from Francois Fenelon, the 17th century church father whose writings have greatly shaped my faith and understanding of the spiritual life. This month, I would like to share and comment on a favorite quote from my number two ranked mentor, a great mother of the church, Jeanne Guyon. Jeanne Guyon was a French aristocrat who suffered much at the cruel hands and carnal minds of the 17th century French religious establishment. She was persecuted for her religious writings and booklets, penned for the poor and illiterate of her day.
Madame Guyon spent seven years in prison, four of them in the notorious Bastille, her writings and teachings feared and condemned by the Roman Catholic church of her day. Her health would never be the same after those days. Hundreds of copies of her writings about Christian spiritual living and prayer were gathered and burned by the Roman church. She was also greatly persecuted by her husband’s mother and sister, with whom she and her husband lived.
Interestingly, Madame Guyon was a contemporary of and correspondent with the archbishop of Cambrai, France, that same Francois Fenelon. Fenelon would go on to say that he was greatly influenced and built up in the faith through his exchanges with Jeanne Guyon. So, judge for yourself as you slowly and thoughtfully read this quote and my comments. Listen to the Holy Spirit speak to your heart and illumine your spirit. “For it is the spirit [Spirit] in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.” Job 32:8
“Great faith produces great abandonment.”
“Abandonment” is a spiritual word (1 Corinthians 2:13) meaning abandonment of self to God, a complete and total surrender and letting go of control to God. It is a felt truth. It is felt deep inside, and it is delightful. It is based on a certainty that as I completely let go of self and control to God, He will indeed be filling, controlling, and living through me. Thus, great faith produces great abandonment.
This abandonment to God results in great peace, joy, and fruit as the indwelling Jesus indeed fills, controls, and lives through you as you just live. It is the outliving result of believing that I no longer live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20) and that I am controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if [because] the Spirit of God lives in me. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. (See Romans 8:9) Or, in other words, if you are a reborn Christian, you have the Spirit of Christ living in you, and He is and will be active in and through you as you just live. It is fact that the indwelling Spirit of God will be moving and filling you as you are just living. Abandonment = just living and just living = abandonment. “Just living” is likewise a spiritual phrase that will be more felt than understood.
“We can learn nothing of the gospel except by feeling its truths. There are some sciences that may be learned by the ear, but the science of Christ crucified can only be learned by the heart.” Charles Spurgeon
Abandonment happens as and when I believe Jesus is and will be living through me as I just live. Abandonment is because I believe Jesus lives through me now. I say to myself every day, “I died with Christ, but Jesus lives in and through me now, so I can just live.” This explains what Paul means in Galatians 2:20 as well as what he means when he speaks of living by the Spirit in Galatians 5:16, Romans 8, and throughout the New Testament. What a freedom. Oh Dad, Lord, Holy Spirit, thank-you for the New Covenant of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:4-6).
Thanks for reading.
Bruce
bruceweatherly.com
