Touches with the Lord

Here is the error, though, of the new Christian. Every person who desires to turn to God to abide with Him just naturally expects to feel the Lord’s presence and to experience Him outwardly.
This just cannot always be.
The outward experience is for the beginner! There are other experiences; these experiences are much deeper and far more inward. Such deeper experiences are laid hold of by those Christians who have progressed somewhat in spiritual experience.
...It is true that the outward acts are very weak touches with the Lord; and furthermore, they are of little value. For you to stop there is to deprive yourself of the deep experiences of a more mature Christian. But – and you should be very clear about this – it is a great error for a new Christian – for you – to attempt a deep, inner walk without first experiencing the outward turning to Christ and knowing that outward sense of His presence.
The writer of Ecclesiastes said it: “To everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). This is especially true of your soul. Every state of transformation the soul passes through has a beginning, a progress, and a consummation. To stop at the beginning of any one of these stages is foolish. You must go through a period of learning, then a period of progress. At first, you toil diligently, but at last you reap the fruit of you labor! ~~ Madame Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717)