Born in Montargis, France, Guyon married an invalid man aged over twice her then 15 years. Unhappy in this marriage, Guyon looked for happiness within a devotional life. After living in a convent for a year she was imprisoned for the next 25 because of her religious beliefs. During this time she wrote many books including Experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ from which the following quotes were garnered. Guyon’s spiritual influence was vast.  Watchmen Nee had the book translated into Chinese and recommended it to every new convert. Francois Fenelon, John Wesley and Hudson Taylor all commended this text to the believers of their day.

Concerned with the inner life of the new believer Guyon penned two suggestions for those seeking to know Jesus. The first was to ‘pray the Scriptures’ and the second ‘beholding the Lord’. Both of these methodologies require discipline and a bible in order to encounter God.
Praying the Scripture involves:

"reading and prayer. Turn to the Scripture; choose some passage that is simple and fairly practical. Next, come to the Lord. Come quietly and humbly. There, before him, read a small portion of the passage of Scripture you have opened to... Taste it and digest it as you read."

The objective of this exercise is to slow the reader down in order to focus not on the overall theme of a passage of Scripture, rather to encounter God in the detail. In this method "you do not move from one passage to another, not until you have sensed the very heart of what you have read."  From there you will take that portion of Scripture and turn it into prayer.

This method ensures that at the end of a devotional time very little is read but the essence of what is read is well understood and absorbed.

Beholding the Lord has an altogether different purpose from praying the Scriptures. This methodology moves the reading of Scripture from the centre to the periphery. Its purpose is to provide a springboard into the presence of God. "Once you sense the Lord’s presence, the content of what you have read is no longer important. Scripture has served its purpose; it has quietened your mind; it has brought you to him."

Guyon commends this practice in order to turn our minds from the outwards things to the "deep parts of your being. You are not there to learn or to read, but you are there to experience the presence of your Lord!"

These practices while mutually exclusive in their execution provide a reminder for the use of Scripture to be not simply a conduit of spiritual advice or point of scholarship. No, these exercises of reading the Scriptures are designed to lead us deeply and directly into the heart of God.