The Ecstacy of Loving God by John Crowder

Author:John Crowder [Crowder, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780768496994
Publisher: Destiny Image, Inc.

Visions are essential in that they would propel us deeper into the heart and bliss of Jesus. They are frivolous when they become a riddle of ends in themselves and distract us from the main thing. Because of the nature of our ministry at Sons of Thunder and our desire to pursue the enigmas and wonders of Heaven, it is not unusual for us to receive five-page e-mails detailing someone’s random dream or vision. It is amazing how we can obsess over details and lesser revelation, and miss the intimate depths of His glory.

In the place of union, you are not focused on anything else other than His thick, rich honey presence. Visions and inspired ideas may come, and this is great. We do not reject them, but we no longer have strength to pursue them. We are lost in love.

Union is a lesser ecstasy. There is continuity between union and rapture.

“I wish that I could explain, with God’s help, the difference between union and rapture, or elevation, of flight of the spirit or transport for they are all one. I mean that these are all different names for the same thing, which is also called ecstasy,” says Teresa of Avila. “[Ecstasy] is much more beneficial than union, its results are much greater, and it has very many other effects as well. Union seems to be the same at the beginning, the middle, and the end, and is altogether inward. But the ends of rapture are of a much higher nature, and their effects are both inward and outward.”4

In mystic union, feelings of love are always produced as well as sentiments of pleasure—Teresa speaks frequently of the “great delights,” though these are not always present in the prayer of quiet. “There is always a pleasure inherent to the prayer of quiet. But at times, and even when it is of considerable strength, we are hardly aware of it. In such case we should feel more enjoyment, although of another kind, when reading an interesting book or engaging in conversation,” she says.5 Nevertheless, the prayer of quiet brings sudden bursts of “ardent spiritual delights,” especially for those more exercised in it. There are often intermediate stages between union and ecstasy.

The Prayer of Ecstasy

Ecstasy, stage four, is the highest state of prayer. It occurred to me one day that there is no need of going back and forth from recollection to meditation to union to ecstasy to union to meditation and back and forth and so on all over again. Why not get stuck in stage four? How would you like to live a stage-four lifestyle, a continual happy collision with the glory cloud of His presence? I think it is more than possible—it is probable if you set your heart to it. It is easier to get into the glory than it is to get out of it. Once you get lost in stage four, it is like being smothered in honey and stuck to the wall of the Most Holy Place! You don’t have to come out of the glory zone unless you want to.

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