God Reveals Himself (and others)
"I saw also the Lord...Then said I, Woe is me! I am undone" (Isaiah 6:1, 5).
I often wonder how so many people can live with a continuing hope that they will in some way be able to commune with God through their intellectual capacities. Where will they realize that if they could possibly "discover" God they realize that with the intellect, they would be equal to God?
Isaiah is a dramatic example of God's revelation of Himself to mankind. Isaiah could have tried for a million years to reach God by means of his intellect. But brainpower is not the means by which we find God!
Brethren, it is true that all of us would still be far from God if He had not graciously and in love revealed Himself to us. In the space of a short second of time, the Lord who loves us can reveal Himself to the willing spirit of a man or woman. It is only then that an Isaiah, or any one of us, can say with humble assurance, "I know Him!"
A committed Christian, then, should have upon him an element that is beyond psychology- beyond all natural laws and into spiritual laws!
Lord, thank You for what we can know about You through the various encounters we read in the Bible. Lord, I want to be prepared in my heart to hear Your voice when You speak. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
_______________________
Jesus Said He Was God
"But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8).
The more we study the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when He lived on earth among us, the more certain we are about who He is.
Some critics have scoffed: "Jesus did not claim to be God. He only said He was the Son of Man".
It is true that Jesus used the term, "Son of Man" frequently. But He testified boldly, even among those who were His sworn enemies, that He was God. He said with great forcefulness that He had come from the Father in heaven and that He was equal with the Father.
Bible-believing Christians stand together on this. They may differ about the mode of baptism, church policy or the return of the Lord. But they agree on the deity of the eternal Son. Jesus Christ is of one substance with the Father - begotten, not created (Nicene Creed).
In our defense of this truth, we must be very careful and bold - belligerent, if need be!
Christ is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of God's Person!
Lord Jesus, the only hope the world has is that You are One with the Father. You are God Almighty! You are our Messiah! I worship You today and every day. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
___________________________
Both Lord and Christ
"God hath made the same Jesus...both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36).
No Christian believer should ever forget what the Bible says about the Person and the offices of the eternal Son, the Christ of God.
"God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). Jesus means Saviour; Lord means Sovereign; Christ means Anointed One.
The Apostle Peter did not proclaim Jesus only as Saviour - he preached to them Jesus as Lord and Christ and Saviour, never dividing His Person or His offices.
Remember, also, the declaration of Paul: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus...thou shalt be saved!" (Romans 10:9).
Three times in the passage to the Roman Christians telling how to be saved, Paul calls Jesus "Lord." He says that faith in the Lord Jesus plus confession of that faith to the world brings salvation to us!
Sovereign Lord, You are the One I choose to serve. Help me to meditate on this truth as I journey through some mundane tasks today. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Saturday, May 19, 2018
A Divine Voice Calls (and others)
A Divine Voice Calls (and others)
"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9).
There is a divine voice that continues to call. It is the voice of the Creator God, and it is entreating us. Just as the shepherd went everywhere searching for his sheep, just as the woman in the parable went everywhere searching for her coin, so there is a divine search with many variations of the voice that entreats us, calling us back.
If we were not lost, there would be no Father's voice calling us to return, calling us back. So, I say again that we have not been given up.
Think of the Genesis account: Adam fleeing from the face of God, hiding among the trees of the garden. It was then that the sound of God's gentle voice was heard, saying "[Adam,] where are you?"
I would remind you that His seeking voice has never died out. The echo of that voice is sounding throughout the widening years. It has never ceased to echo and reecho from peak to peak, from generation to generation, from race to race, and continent to continent, and off to islands and back to the continent again. Throughout all of man's years, "Adam, where are you?" has been the faithful call.
I pray earnestly, O God, that I may not be found among those with hardened hearts, no longer able to hear Your voice. Please speak to me today...I'm listening. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
Our God: All Sufficient
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
Have we modern men and women never given thought or meditation concerning the eternal nature of God? Who are we to imagine that we are "bailing out" the living God when we drop a$10 bill in the Sunday offering plate?
Let us thank God for the reality of His causeless existence. Our God only is all-sufficient, uncreated, unborn, the living and eternal and self-existent God!
I refer often to the great worshiping heart of Frederick William Faber, who in these words celebrated his vision of God's eternal self-existence:
Father! the sweetest, dearest Name,
That men or angels know!
Fountain of life, that had no fount
From which itself could flow.
Thy vastness is not young or old,
Thy life hath never grown;
No time can measure out Thy days,
No space can make Thy throne!
Dear Heavenly Father, my daily problems must seem so trivial to You, the eternal God. Yet You invite Your children to bring their cares and concerns to You. Praise be to God! Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________________
Sharing God's Nature
"Precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).
Our heavenly Father disciplines us for our own good, "that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Hebrews 12:10). God's motives are always loving!
I have known people who seemed to be terrified by God's loving desire that we should reflect His own holiness and goodness. As God's faithful children, we should be attracted to holiness, for holiness is Godlikeness - likeness to God!
God encourages every Christian believer to follow after holiness. We know who we are and we know who God is. He does not ask us to be God and He does not ask us to produce the holiness that only He Himself knows. Only God is holy absolutely: All other beings can be holy only in relative degrees.
Actually, it is amazing and wonderful that God should promise us the privilege of sharing in His nature. He remembers we were made of dust. So He tells us what is in His being as He thinks of us: "It is My desire that you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Me. I want you to be more like Jesus, My eternal Son, every day you live!"
Lord, thank You for allowing us to share in Your divine nature. I want to become even more like You, but I need Your Spirit's help and encouragement. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9).
There is a divine voice that continues to call. It is the voice of the Creator God, and it is entreating us. Just as the shepherd went everywhere searching for his sheep, just as the woman in the parable went everywhere searching for her coin, so there is a divine search with many variations of the voice that entreats us, calling us back.
If we were not lost, there would be no Father's voice calling us to return, calling us back. So, I say again that we have not been given up.
Think of the Genesis account: Adam fleeing from the face of God, hiding among the trees of the garden. It was then that the sound of God's gentle voice was heard, saying "[Adam,] where are you?"
I would remind you that His seeking voice has never died out. The echo of that voice is sounding throughout the widening years. It has never ceased to echo and reecho from peak to peak, from generation to generation, from race to race, and continent to continent, and off to islands and back to the continent again. Throughout all of man's years, "Adam, where are you?" has been the faithful call.
I pray earnestly, O God, that I may not be found among those with hardened hearts, no longer able to hear Your voice. Please speak to me today...I'm listening. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
Our God: All Sufficient
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
Have we modern men and women never given thought or meditation concerning the eternal nature of God? Who are we to imagine that we are "bailing out" the living God when we drop a$10 bill in the Sunday offering plate?
Let us thank God for the reality of His causeless existence. Our God only is all-sufficient, uncreated, unborn, the living and eternal and self-existent God!
I refer often to the great worshiping heart of Frederick William Faber, who in these words celebrated his vision of God's eternal self-existence:
Father! the sweetest, dearest Name,
That men or angels know!
Fountain of life, that had no fount
From which itself could flow.
Thy vastness is not young or old,
Thy life hath never grown;
No time can measure out Thy days,
No space can make Thy throne!
Dear Heavenly Father, my daily problems must seem so trivial to You, the eternal God. Yet You invite Your children to bring their cares and concerns to You. Praise be to God! Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________________
Sharing God's Nature
"Precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).
Our heavenly Father disciplines us for our own good, "that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Hebrews 12:10). God's motives are always loving!
I have known people who seemed to be terrified by God's loving desire that we should reflect His own holiness and goodness. As God's faithful children, we should be attracted to holiness, for holiness is Godlikeness - likeness to God!
God encourages every Christian believer to follow after holiness. We know who we are and we know who God is. He does not ask us to be God and He does not ask us to produce the holiness that only He Himself knows. Only God is holy absolutely: All other beings can be holy only in relative degrees.
Actually, it is amazing and wonderful that God should promise us the privilege of sharing in His nature. He remembers we were made of dust. So He tells us what is in His being as He thinks of us: "It is My desire that you grow in grace and in the knowledge of Me. I want you to be more like Jesus, My eternal Son, every day you live!"
Lord, thank You for allowing us to share in Your divine nature. I want to become even more like You, but I need Your Spirit's help and encouragement. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Ministry of the Church (and others)
Ministry of the Church (and others)
"The house of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).
Not all of the pooled efforts of any church can make a Christian out of a lost man!
The Christian life begins with the individual; a soul has a saving encounter with God, and the new life is born.
All else being equal, every individual Christian will find in the communion of a local church the most perfect atmosphere for the fullest development of his spiritual life. There he will also find the best arena for the largest exercise of those gifts and powers with which Go may have endowed him.
Unfortunately, the word "church" has taken on meanings which it did not originally have. The meaning of the word for the true Christian was fixed by our Lord and His apostles, and no man and no angel has authority to change it!
The universal Church is the body of Christ, the Bride of the Lamb, the habitation of God through the Spirit, the pillar and the ground of the Truth.
Without doubt the most important body on earth is the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood!
Heavenly Father, equip and empower Your Church to fight the plague of evil rampant in our generation. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
____________________________
A Believing Remnant
"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Romans 11:5).
What is God trying to do with His believing people? - the Bible calls us a remnant according to grace, believers taken out of the great, teeming swarm of so-called religious people in today's world.
I am inclined to join others in wondering if the Lord is postponing His coming because He is trying to get His Bride ready.
For years it has been the popular idea in evangelical Christianity that the whole body of believers in Christ would rise like a flock of frightened birds when the Lord comes. But A. B. Simpson and William MacArthur and others in the past generation said, "Oh no! The Lord will take with Him those who are prepared and ready for His coming!"
I do not presume to give an answer satisfying to everyone in our churches. But I know that many Christians are too smug about this, saying in effect: "I am converted to Christ through grace, so I can live as I please!"
Of some things we cannot be dogmatic; but we know this for sure - God has no halfway house between heaven and hell where He takes us to fumigate us!
Dear Lord, today I pray for my pastor and my local church. Help us as a congregation not to be surprised on the day of Your return! Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
___________________________
Christ Will Rule
"I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
I am not surprised that I still meet people who do not believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to earth. In fact, some of them, armed with their own Bibles and interpretations, are insistent on setting me straight.
One gentleman has written saying that I have it all wrong, and that Paul did not mean what I had said he meant, as I applied Paul's statement to everyday life.
It took time to write a reply: "When it comes to saying what he meant, Paul's batting average has been pretty good up to now. So, will string along with what Paul plainly, clearly said."
I did not figure I needed someone to straighten me out - particularly someone who had decided the Bible does not mean what it says.
No one is going to argue me out of my faith in what God has revealed and what God has said. As far as I am concerned, it is a fact that Jesus is coming again! The question I do raise is this: Are we prepared spiritually for His coming? Are we tolerating conditions in our midst that will cause us embarrassment when He does come?
Dear Lord, grant me courage to live today - indeed, every day of my life - as though You were coming back this afternoon. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
"The house of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).
Not all of the pooled efforts of any church can make a Christian out of a lost man!
The Christian life begins with the individual; a soul has a saving encounter with God, and the new life is born.
All else being equal, every individual Christian will find in the communion of a local church the most perfect atmosphere for the fullest development of his spiritual life. There he will also find the best arena for the largest exercise of those gifts and powers with which Go may have endowed him.
Unfortunately, the word "church" has taken on meanings which it did not originally have. The meaning of the word for the true Christian was fixed by our Lord and His apostles, and no man and no angel has authority to change it!
The universal Church is the body of Christ, the Bride of the Lamb, the habitation of God through the Spirit, the pillar and the ground of the Truth.
Without doubt the most important body on earth is the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood!
Heavenly Father, equip and empower Your Church to fight the plague of evil rampant in our generation. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
____________________________
A Believing Remnant
"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Romans 11:5).
What is God trying to do with His believing people? - the Bible calls us a remnant according to grace, believers taken out of the great, teeming swarm of so-called religious people in today's world.
I am inclined to join others in wondering if the Lord is postponing His coming because He is trying to get His Bride ready.
For years it has been the popular idea in evangelical Christianity that the whole body of believers in Christ would rise like a flock of frightened birds when the Lord comes. But A. B. Simpson and William MacArthur and others in the past generation said, "Oh no! The Lord will take with Him those who are prepared and ready for His coming!"
I do not presume to give an answer satisfying to everyone in our churches. But I know that many Christians are too smug about this, saying in effect: "I am converted to Christ through grace, so I can live as I please!"
Of some things we cannot be dogmatic; but we know this for sure - God has no halfway house between heaven and hell where He takes us to fumigate us!
Dear Lord, today I pray for my pastor and my local church. Help us as a congregation not to be surprised on the day of Your return! Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
___________________________
Christ Will Rule
"I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
I am not surprised that I still meet people who do not believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to earth. In fact, some of them, armed with their own Bibles and interpretations, are insistent on setting me straight.
One gentleman has written saying that I have it all wrong, and that Paul did not mean what I had said he meant, as I applied Paul's statement to everyday life.
It took time to write a reply: "When it comes to saying what he meant, Paul's batting average has been pretty good up to now. So, will string along with what Paul plainly, clearly said."
I did not figure I needed someone to straighten me out - particularly someone who had decided the Bible does not mean what it says.
No one is going to argue me out of my faith in what God has revealed and what God has said. As far as I am concerned, it is a fact that Jesus is coming again! The question I do raise is this: Are we prepared spiritually for His coming? Are we tolerating conditions in our midst that will cause us embarrassment when He does come?
Dear Lord, grant me courage to live today - indeed, every day of my life - as though You were coming back this afternoon. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Bringing Us To Glory (and others)
Bringing Us To Glory (and others)
"For it became him ... bringing many sons unto glory" (Hebrews 2:10).
As Christian believers (I am assuming you are a believer), you and I know how we have been changed and regenerated and assured of eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning death. On the other hand, where this good news of salvation by faith is not known, religion becomes an actual bondage. If Christianity is known only as a religious institution, it may well become merely a legalistic system of religion, and the hope of eternal life becomes a delusion.
I have said this much about reality and assurance to counter the shock you may feel when I add that God wants to fully prepare you in your daily Christian life so that you will be ready indeed for heaven! Many of us here have been in God's household for a long time. Remember that God has been trying to do something special within our beings day after day, year after year.
Why? Because His purpose is to bring many sons - and daughters too - unto glory!
Dear Jesus, thank You for Your faithfulness in my life - even when I ignore You. Today I want to be especially attuned to Your holy presence in each of my activities. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
_______________________
Spiritual Readiness
"The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer" (1 Peter 4:7).
When the Bible says that God is calling a special people out of the nations to bear the name of His eternal Son, I believe it - and His name is Jesus!
Our pious forefathers believed in spiritual preparation, and they said so. They saw themselves as a bride being prepared to meet the Bridegroom. They regarded this earth as the dressing room to outfit themselves for heaven.
The evangelical church has come through a period when nearly everyone has believed that there is just one prerequisite to readiness: being born again. We have made being born again almost like receiving a pass to a special event - when Jesus returns, we whip out the pass to prove our readiness.
Frankly, I do not think it will be like that. I do not believe that all professed believers are automatically ready to meet the Lord. Our Saviour Himself was joined by Peter and John and Paul in warning and pleading that we should live and watch and pray, so to be ready for Jesus' coming.
Dear Lord, help me to "act out" my faith today with seriousness and passion. Enable me to give spiritual guidance or encouragement to someone who is hurting. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
____________________________
Journey of the Heart
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).
I object to the charge that "Tozer preaches experience." I preach Christ, the Saviour - that is my calling! But I am positive about the validity, the reality and the value of genuine Christian experience. We can talk to Jesus just as we talk to our other friends.
As a boy, I was not a Christian. I did not have the privilege of growing up in a home where Christ was known and loved. God spoke to me through a street preacher who quoted the words of Jesus, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
That invitation let me know that Jesus is still calling "Come now!" I went home and up into the attic. There in earnest prayer I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ. My feet had taken me home and into the attic. But it was my heart that went to Jesus! Within my heart I consented to go to Jesus. I have been a Christian ever since that moment.
Dear Jesus, I want to thank you for saving me through Your difficult journey to the Cross. Give me grace and strength to honor Your sacrifice through my life this week. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
____________________________
We Get Around It
"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14).
The lordship of Jesus is not quite forgotten among Christians, but it has been relegated to our hymnbook, where all responsibility toward it may be comfortably discharged in a glow of pleasant religious emotion.
The idea that the Man Christ Jesus has absolute and final authority over all its members in every detail of their lives is simply not accepted as true by the rank and file of evangelical Christians.
To avoid the necessity of either obeying or rejecting the plain instructions of our Lord in the New Testament, we take refuge in a liberal interpretation of them. We find ways to avoid the sharp point of obedience, comfort carnality and make the words of Christ of none effect. And the essence of it all is that "Christ simply could not have meant what He said." Dare we admit that His teachings are accepted even theoretically only after they have been weakened by "interpretation"? Dare we confess that even in our public worship, the influence of the Lord is very small? We sing of Him and preach about Him, but He must not interfere!
Dear Lord, I have to admit that there have been times when I have conveniently ignored the clear instructions of Your Word. Help me to give someone a cup of cold water - in Your Name - today. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
"For it became him ... bringing many sons unto glory" (Hebrews 2:10).
As Christian believers (I am assuming you are a believer), you and I know how we have been changed and regenerated and assured of eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning death. On the other hand, where this good news of salvation by faith is not known, religion becomes an actual bondage. If Christianity is known only as a religious institution, it may well become merely a legalistic system of religion, and the hope of eternal life becomes a delusion.
I have said this much about reality and assurance to counter the shock you may feel when I add that God wants to fully prepare you in your daily Christian life so that you will be ready indeed for heaven! Many of us here have been in God's household for a long time. Remember that God has been trying to do something special within our beings day after day, year after year.
Why? Because His purpose is to bring many sons - and daughters too - unto glory!
Dear Jesus, thank You for Your faithfulness in my life - even when I ignore You. Today I want to be especially attuned to Your holy presence in each of my activities. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
_______________________
Spiritual Readiness
"The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer" (1 Peter 4:7).
When the Bible says that God is calling a special people out of the nations to bear the name of His eternal Son, I believe it - and His name is Jesus!
Our pious forefathers believed in spiritual preparation, and they said so. They saw themselves as a bride being prepared to meet the Bridegroom. They regarded this earth as the dressing room to outfit themselves for heaven.
The evangelical church has come through a period when nearly everyone has believed that there is just one prerequisite to readiness: being born again. We have made being born again almost like receiving a pass to a special event - when Jesus returns, we whip out the pass to prove our readiness.
Frankly, I do not think it will be like that. I do not believe that all professed believers are automatically ready to meet the Lord. Our Saviour Himself was joined by Peter and John and Paul in warning and pleading that we should live and watch and pray, so to be ready for Jesus' coming.
Dear Lord, help me to "act out" my faith today with seriousness and passion. Enable me to give spiritual guidance or encouragement to someone who is hurting. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
____________________________
Journey of the Heart
"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).
I object to the charge that "Tozer preaches experience." I preach Christ, the Saviour - that is my calling! But I am positive about the validity, the reality and the value of genuine Christian experience. We can talk to Jesus just as we talk to our other friends.
As a boy, I was not a Christian. I did not have the privilege of growing up in a home where Christ was known and loved. God spoke to me through a street preacher who quoted the words of Jesus, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
That invitation let me know that Jesus is still calling "Come now!" I went home and up into the attic. There in earnest prayer I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ. My feet had taken me home and into the attic. But it was my heart that went to Jesus! Within my heart I consented to go to Jesus. I have been a Christian ever since that moment.
Dear Jesus, I want to thank you for saving me through Your difficult journey to the Cross. Give me grace and strength to honor Your sacrifice through my life this week. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
____________________________
We Get Around It
"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14).
The lordship of Jesus is not quite forgotten among Christians, but it has been relegated to our hymnbook, where all responsibility toward it may be comfortably discharged in a glow of pleasant religious emotion.
The idea that the Man Christ Jesus has absolute and final authority over all its members in every detail of their lives is simply not accepted as true by the rank and file of evangelical Christians.
To avoid the necessity of either obeying or rejecting the plain instructions of our Lord in the New Testament, we take refuge in a liberal interpretation of them. We find ways to avoid the sharp point of obedience, comfort carnality and make the words of Christ of none effect. And the essence of it all is that "Christ simply could not have meant what He said." Dare we admit that His teachings are accepted even theoretically only after they have been weakened by "interpretation"? Dare we confess that even in our public worship, the influence of the Lord is very small? We sing of Him and preach about Him, but He must not interfere!
Dear Lord, I have to admit that there have been times when I have conveniently ignored the clear instructions of Your Word. Help me to give someone a cup of cold water - in Your Name - today. Amen
~A. W. Tozer~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)