Tozer Devotional-Daring to be Different
29 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christian, Christianity, Evangelism, God, holyspirit, Jesu, Old Testament, Religion & Spirituality
Daring to be Different
The fear of man brings a snare, said the prophet, and this enemy, too, must be defeated. Our whole modern world is geared to destroy individual independence and bring all of us into conformity to all the rest of us. Any deviation from the pattern, whatever that pattern may be at the time, will not be forgiven by society, and since the Christian must deviate radically from the world he naturally comes in for the world’s displeasure. If he surrenders to fear he has been conquered, and he dare not let this happen. Other enemies may be identified, such as love of luxury, secret sympathy with the world, self-confidence, pride and unholy thoughts. These we must resist with every power within us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Tozer Devotional-Looking Back While Pressing On
28 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: A. W. Tozer, Christ, Christ Jesus, Christian, Christianity, God, Jesu, Religion & Spirituality
Looking Back While Pressing On
Another enemy is complacency.“ Woe to them that are at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1). The contended Christian is not in danger of attack, he has already been attacked. He is sick and does not know it. To escape this we must stir up the gift of God which is in us. We must declare war on contentment and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Again there is self-righteousness. The temptation to feel morally pleased with ourselves will be all the greater as our lives become better. The only sure defense against this is to cultivate a quiet state of continual penitence. A sweet but sobering memory of our past guilt and a knowledge of our present imperfections are not incompatible with the joy of the Lord; and they are of inestimable aid in resisting the enemy.
Tozer Devotional-Faith Living and Faith Believing
27 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christ Jesus, Christian, Christianity, God, holyspirit, Jesu, Lord
Faith Living and Faith Believing
One enemy we must resist is unbelief. The temptation is strong to reject what we cannot explain, or at least to withhold belief till we have investigated further. This attitude is proper, even commendable, for the scientist, but wholly wrong for the Christian. Here is the reason: The faith of the Christian rests down squarely upon the man Christ Jesus who declares that He is both God and Lord. This claim must be received by pure faith or rejected outright; it can never be proved by investigation. That is why Christ’s appeal is directed to faith alone. The believer thinks, it is true; but he thinks because he believes, not in order that he may. Faith secures from the indwelling Spirit confirmation exquisitely perfect, but only after it is there without other support than Christ Himself.
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Tozer Devotional-In the World But Not of It
26 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christian, Christianity, Church, God, holyspirit, Human body, Religion and Spirituality
In the World But Not of It
The Church lives in a hostile world. Within and around her are enemies that not only could destroy her, but are meant to and will unless she resists force with yet greater force. The Christian would collapse from sheer external pressure were there not within him a counterpressure sufficiently great to prevent it. The power of the Holy Spirit is, therefore, not optional but necessary. Without it the children of God simply cannot live the life of heaven on earth. The hindrances are too many and too effective. A Church is a living organism and is subject to attack from such enemies as prey on living things. Yet the figure of the human body to stand for the Church is not adequate, for the life of the body is nonintelligent, whereas the Church is composed of moral beings having intelligence to recognize their enemies and a will to enable them to resist. The human body can fight its enemies even while it is asleep, but the Church cannot. She must be awake and determined or she cannot win.
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Tozer Devotional-That Bent to Backsliding
25 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Asia, Christ, God, Jesu, John 21, Laodicean Church, Religion and Spirituality, Sin
That Bent to Backsliding
Someday the church can relax her guard, call her watchmen down from the wall and live in safety and peace; but not yet, not yet. All that is good in the world stands as a target for all that is evil and manages to stay alive only by constant watchfulness and the providential protection of Almighty God. As a man or a nation may be in deepest trouble when unaware of any trouble at all and in gravest danger when ignorant that any danger exists, so the church may be in greatest peril by not recognizing the presence of peril or the source from which it comes. The church at Laodicea has stood for nineteen hundred years as a serious warning to the whole church of Christ to be most watchful when no enemy is in sight and to remain poor in spirit when earthly wealth increases, yet we appear to have learned nothing from her. We expound the seven letters to the churches of Asia and then return to our own company to live like the Laodicean church. There is in us a bent to backsliding that is all but impossible to cure.
Tozer Devotional-Setting Sights on the Highest Goals
24 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christianity, God, Jesu, Lord, Religion and Spirituality, Satan, Temptation
Setting Sights on the Highest Goals
“Thou art to know that thy soul is the center, habitation, and kingdom of God,” says Miguel de Molinos. “That therefore, to the end the sovereign King may rest on that throne, thou oughtest to take pains to keep thy soul pure, quiet, void and peaceable; pure from guilt and defects; quiet from fears; void of affections, desires and thoughts; and peaceable in temptation and tribulation. Thou oughtest always then to keep thine heart in peace, that thou mayest keep pure that temple of God, and with a right and pure intention thou art to work, pray, obey, and suffer, without being in the least disturbed, whatever it pleases the Lord to send unto thee.” To enjoy this growing knowledge of God will require that we go beyond the goals so casually set by modern evangelicals. We must fix our hearts on God and purposefully aim to rise above the dead level and average of current Christianity. If we do this Satan will surely tempt us by accusing us of spiritual pride and our friends will warn us to beware of being “holier than thou.” But as the land of promise had to be taken by storm against the determined opposition of the enemy, so we must capture new spiritual heights over the sour and violent protests of the devil. As we move farther up into the knowledge of Christ we open new areas of our beings to attack, but what of it? Remember that spiritual complacency is more deadly than anything the devil can bring against us in our upward struggle. If we sit still to escape temptation, then we are being tempted worse than before and gaining nothing by it. “Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount . . . Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land” (Deut. 1:6, 8).
Tozer Devotional-Determining to Know God
23 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christian, Christianity, Experiential knowledge, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Paul
Determining to Know God
The experiential knowledge of God is eternal life (John 17:3), and increased knowledge results in a correspondingly larger and fuller life. So rich a treasure is this inward knowledge of God that every other treasure is as nothing compared with it. We may count all things of no value and sacrifice them freely if we may thereby gain a more perfect knowledge of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This was Paul’s testimony (Phil. 3:7-14) and it has been the testimony of all great Christian souls who have followed Christ from Paul’s day to ours. To know God it is necessary that we be like God to some degree, for things wholly dissimilar cannot agree and beings wholly unlike can never have communion with each other. It is necessary therefore that we use every means of grace to bring our souls into harmony with the character of God.
Tozer Devotional-Christ Our Mediator
22 May 2012 1 Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christian, Christianity, Evangelism, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Religion and Spirituality
Christ Our Mediator
How two wills set in opposition to each other, and both free, could be harmonized was God’s problem and His alone; and with infinite wisdom and power He solved it through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Because Christ is God and man He can properly represent each before the other. He is the Daysman who can stand between the alienated man and the offended God and lay His hand upon them both. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5) . All this is such a familiar part of evangelical theology that it may safely be assumed that the majority of my readers know it already. That is, they know it theoretically, but the experiential aspect of the truth is not so well known. Indeed large numbers of supposedly sound Christian believers know nothing at all about personal communion with God; and there lies one of the greatest weaknesses of present-day Christianity.
Tozer Devotional-Rejecting Our Option to Experience God
21 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Adam, Christ, Christianity, Denominations, Eden, Eucharist, God, Religion and Spirituality
Rejecting Our Option to Experience God
That first picture of God and man at the time of the creation shows them in close and openhearted communion. Adam listens while God explains how it is to be with him in his Eden home and lays down a few easy rules for his life on the earth. The whole scene is restful, relaxed and altogether beautiful. But the communion did not last. Adam’s very likeness to God, viz., his freedom to choose, permitted him, though it did not compel him, to make a choice contrary to the will of God. So sin entered and the wondrous fellowship was broken. Seen from our human standpoint redemption must rank first among all the acts of God. No other achievement of the Godhead required such vast and precise knowledge, such perfection of wisdom or such fullness of moral power. To bring man into communion with Himself God must deal effectively with the whole matter of justice and righteousness; He must dispose of sin, reconcile an enemy and make a rebel willingly obedient. And this He must do without compromising His holiness or coercing the race He would save.
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Tozer Devotional-Exercising Our Option to Experience God
20 May 2012 1 Comment
in A. W. Tozer Tags: Christ, Christianity, Churches of God, Denominations, Eucharist, God, Jesus, Religion and Spirituality
Exercising Our Option to Experience God
Without doubt the greatest need of the human personality is to experience God Himself. This is because of who God is and who and what man is. God is the essence of intelligent, self-conscious life and man is created in His image. God is love, and man is made for God. God and man exist for each other and neither is satisfied without the other. Though God is self-sufficient He has sovereignly willed to have communion with the being He made in honor next to Himself, and He takes every means to secure this communion short of coercion, which would be a violation of man’s free will. Were God to override our wills He would be forcing Himself upon us and by so doing would make us a little less than human and so a little less than the being He made for Himself.
