3 more quotes.

 

Some words of wisdom from A. W. Tozer

"We must meet the present emergency with a spirit of optimism. This is no time for repining, no time for looking backward, no time for self-pity or defeated complaining. We are on the winning side and we cannot lose. “Lo I am with you” makes ultimate defeat impossible.

Surely the days are evil and the times are waxing late, but the true Christian is not caught unawares. He has been forewarned of just such times as these and has been expecting them. Present events only confirm the long-range wisdom of Jesus Christ and prove the authenticity of the prophetic Word. So the believer actually turns defeat into victory and draws strength from the knowledge that the Lord in whom he trusts has foretold events and is in full command of the situation.

Let us beware allowing our spiritual comforts to rise and fall with world news or the changing political and economic situation. We who leaned Upon Jesus and Trust in the watchful love of a Heavenly Father are not dependent upon those things for our peace.

We have no desire to deny that the signs are ominous and the end is drawing near. But we refuse to get panicky, regardless... We must face today as children of tomorrow. We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come. To the pure in heart nothing really bad can happen. He may die, but what is death to a Christian? Not death but sin should be our great fear. Without doubt the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Sooner or later that will come. But what of it? Do not we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness?

Surely this is not the time for pale faces and trembling knees among the sons of the new creation. The darker the night the brighter faith shines and the sooner comes the morning. Look up and lift up your heads; our redemption draws near.

A.W. Tozer 

Of God and Men - Maranatha! Glad Day!

Excerpt from today's Tozer

"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Peter 1:8
The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the wide world!
People should be coming to us constantly and asking the source of our joy and delight -- redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, our yesterdays behind us, our sin under the blood forever and a day, to be remembered against us no more forever. God is our Father, Christ is our Brother, the Holy Spirit our Advocate and Comforter. Our Brother has gone to the Father's house to prepare a place for us, leaving us with the promise that He will come again!"

Quite a challenge.
Hopefully you find it encouraging too.

Today's Tozer

Nothing Can Change His Tender Mercies

If we could remember that the divine mercy is not a temporary mood but an attribute of God's eternal being, we would no longer fear that it will someday cease to be. Mercy never began to be, but from eternity was; so it will never cease to be. It will never be more since it is in itself infinite; and it will never be less because the infinite cannot suffer diminution. Nothing that has occurred or will occur in heaven or earth or hell can change the tender mercies of our God. Forever His mercy stands, a boundless, overwhelming immensity of divine pity and compassion.

As judgment is God's justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the goodness of God confronting human suffering and guilt. Were there no guilt in the world, no pain and no tears, God would yet be infinitely merciful; but His mercy might well remain hidden in His heart, unknown to the created universe. No voice would be raised to celebrate the mercy of which none felt the need. It is human misery and sin that call forth the divine mercy.

"Kyrie eleison! Christe eleison!" the Church has pleaded through the centuries; but if I mistake not I hear in the voice of its pleading a note of sadness and despair. Its plaintive cry, so often repeated in that tone of resigned dejection, compels one to infer that it is praying for a boon it never actually expects to receive. It may go on dutifully to sing of the greatness of God and to recite the creed times beyond number, but its plea for mercy sounds like a forlorn hope and no more, as if mercy were a heavenly gift to be longed for but never really enjoyed.

Verse

For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, / and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."Romans 9:15

Thought

As judgment is God's justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the goodness of God confronting human suffering and guilt.

Prayer

How great You are, Father, and how great are Your mercies!

Thank You Heavenly Father for Your Grace and Mercy!

Aren't you glad that the Lord is so merciful?

Another Tozer quote

"He is Jesus, easier to approach than the humblest friend you ever had! He is the sun that shines upon us, He is the star of our night. He is the giver of our life and the rock of our hope. He is our safety and our future. He is our righteousness, our sanctification, our inheritance.
You will find that He is all of this in that instant that you move your heart towards Him in faith! This is the journey to Jesus that must be made in the depths of the heart and being." A. W. Tozer

A quote from Spurgeon, a quote from Tozer and Psalm 86:5

"Renewed Day by Day" entry for January 27th.

“Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with thee” (Psalm 5:1, 4)

Among Christians of all ages and of varying shades of doctrinal emphasis there has been fairly full agreement on one thing: they all believed that it was important that the Christian with serious spiritual aspirations should learn to meditate long and often on God!

Let a Christian insist upon rising above the poor average of current religious experience and he will soon come up against the need to know God Himself as the ultimate goal of all Christian doctrine.

Let him seek to explore the sacred wonders of the Triune Godhead and he will discover that sustained and intelligently directed meditation of the Person of God is imperative. To know God well he must think on Him unceasingly. Nothing that man has discovered about himself or God has revealed any shortcut to pure spirituality. It is still free, but tremendously costly!

Of course, this presupposes at least a fair amount of sound theological knowledge. To seek God apart from His own self-disclosure in the inspired Scriptures is not only futile but dangerous. There must be also a  knowledge of and complete trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Redeemer.

Christ is not one of many ways to approach God, not is He the best of several ways; He is the only way, “the way, the truth and the life.”

To believe otherwise is to be something less than a Christian!

~A. W. Tozer~


There's a challenge! "Think on God unceasingly." It may be costly, but it leads to eternal life.
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."(John 17:3)
Knowing God must surely lead to the highest degree of blessedness.
" that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection..."  Philippians 3:10

How well do you know God?

Renewed Day by Day. Today's Tozer devotional.

"We should always seek to know Christ better.

"Seek ye the Lord, and his strength: seek His face evermore. Psalm 105:4"
"Are you aware that we have been snared in the coils of a modern spurious logic which insists that if we have found Christ we need no more seek Him. 
 This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the worshipping, seeking, singing Church on that subject is crisply set aside. 
The experiential heart-theology of of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford or a Brainerd.

In the midst of this great chill there are some, I rejoice to acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic. They will admit the force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some lonely place and pray, "O God, show me thy glory." They want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.

I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted! Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain!"

The Ocean of God's Grace

(picture found on facebook: Revival Library)

"Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be,
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wand'ring heart to Thee."

Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Romans 5:20

Tozer quote and Amy Carmichael devotionals

"Following Christ is both easy and hard. It is hard because the ways of God and the ways of man are not equal. Man has his philosophies, techniques and methodologies and is directly opposed to the ways of God. It is easy because Jesus Christ has prevailed and is worthy to rule from the throne. (AMEN!!) If we serve God in man's way, we will make a mess of it..."  Tozer.

Job 22:29 "When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, "There is a lifting up."
Eliphaz the Temanite said many unkind and untrue things. But he sometimes spoke truly, and this is a beautiful word of his: "When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is a lifting up". The people of God never should be cast down, never need be, and yet our Father knows that sometimes we are badly tempted in this way, "for He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." I have noticed that in every age He has appointed some to say, There is a lifting up. Their lives say it. They are not bound and hindered by the things of time, they are not brought under the power of any of these things. They live in the world, buffeted by the winds of the world, and yet not cast down by them. Their very presence, the light in their eyes, the tone of their voice says, There is a lifting up. God make us all like that.

Psalm 28:9 Save... bless...feed...lift up...
What an inclusive prayer! nothing is left out. The word that speaks to me specially is "feed". I do not think there is anything from the beginning of our Christian life to the end that is so keenly attacked as our quiet with God, for it is in quietness that we are fed. Sometimes it is not possible to get long uninterrupted quiet, but even if it be only ten minutes, "hem it with quietness". Enclose it in quietness; do not spend the time in thinking how little time you have. Be quiet. If you are interrupted, as soon as the interruption ceases, sink back into quietness again without fuss or worry of spirit. Those who know this secret and practise it, are lifted up. They go out from that time with their Lord, be it long or short, so refreshed, so peaceful, that wherever they go they unconsciously say to others, who are perhaps cast down and weary, There is a lifting up.

More Tozer. Prayer and praise and promises

Today I finished one of Tozer's books: "God's Power for your life: How the Holy Spirit transforms you through God's Word." It contains some great challenges and encouragements, including,

"I love Thee, for I can trust Thee to always keep Thy Word. All around me are those who fail to keep their promises for one reason or another. Everyone at some time has disappointed me, but Thou, O Christ, hast never disappointed me. Thou hast been as good as Thy Word, and Thy Word hath been good to me. May I commit myself this day and surrender my heart, mind and life to the promises that have flowed into my heart. In Jesus' name. Amen."

"The man of God says that we "have fled for refuge", and I can just see myself, with the devil one hot jump behind me, racing for the cross of Jesus, racing for Calvary's holy mountain. Just as I come panting in, the doors let down behind me, and the devil runs head-on into the gate and bounces off. He does not get me, because I have found the refuge and I am safe."

"So, says the Spirit, go on; keep on believing. You are not mistaken in fleeing to Christ. Our hope is sure, our consolation is strong, and our forerunner has already entered. The anchor grips the rock. Everything is all right in our Father's house. So, arouse you. Pursue holiness. "Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:12). Show diligence and full assurance of hope unto the end."

"Christians ought to be the most delighted, happy people in the world. It is strange that we are not - but I know why we are not. The devil is out after us. The flesh is out after us. The world is out after us. In fighting these three enemies, sometimes we do not have time to be happy. We do not have time to remember that we are as safe in the arms of Jesus as if we had been in heaven a thousand years - if we will only believe, go on, and not disgrace ourselves in the kingdom of God by turning back to the beggarly elements of the world...
We have a promise we can count on, because we have a Promiser who has never and can never fail."

3 inspiring passages I read today. Spurgeon and Tozer

December 23 Precious Things

And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath. (Deuteronomy 33:13)

We may be rich in such things as Joseph obtained, and we may have them in a higher sense. Oh, for "the precious things of heaven"!

Power with God and the manifestation of power from God are most precious. We would enjoy the peace of God, the joy of the Lord, the glory of our God. The benediction of the three divine Persons in love, and grace, and fellowship we prize beyond the most fine gold. The things of earth are as nothing in preciousness compared with the things in heaven.

"The dew." How precious is this! How we pray and praise when we have the dew! What refreshing, what growth, what perfume, what life there is in us when the dew is about. Above all things else, as plants of the Lord's own right hand planting, we need the dew of His Holy Spirit.

"The deep that coucheth beneath." Surely this refers to that unseen ocean underground which supplies all the fresh springs which make glad the earth. Oh, to tap the eternal fountains! This is an unspeakable boon; let no believer rest till he possesses it. The all-sufficiency of Jehovah is ours forever. Let us resort to it now.

and from Tozer's "God's Power for your life",

"God's Word is both our terror and our hope; it both kills and makes alive. If we engage it in faith, humility and obedience, it gives life, cleanses, feeds and defends. If we close it in unbelief or ignore it or resist it, it will accuse us before the God who gave it. It is the living Word of God, coming like a fierce man of war with great power, and you and I dare not resist it, and we dare not argue it down. 

I know people who believe part of it but do not believe other parts of it. They say that if it inspires them, it is inspired; and if it does not inspire them, it is simply history and tradition. For my part, I believe this is God's unique thing- the uttered Word of the living God - and that when we get into the meaning of it and know what God is uttering forth, it has the power to kill those who resist and the power to make alive those who believe.

There is power in God's Word, and when I believe it and engage it, and it engages me, something happens; The eternal God does an eternal act in the heart of a finite man."

"God has made our future, our destiny, our faith, our hope and our grief; He has done so for the entire world and all the countless centuries yet ahead. God has made it all and tied it up with this Book. This Word of God, at the discretion of the Holy Spirit, is the power in the life of a believer, and it is not to be challenged.

God is speaking authoritatively, and nobody has any right to come in and say, "I don't believe that." All right, go your way, but the Word of the living God still sounds through the world, destroying what it does not redeem. In that awful day when God shakes all that can be shaken, that living, vibrant, awesome, all-powerful, eternal Word will destroy all that is not redeemed. I, for my part, want to be on the side of the redeemed."

Tozer devotional

I came across this last night, and thought it was well worth sharing.

"GOD'S HIGHEST WILL

Let us consider three simple things reinforced in the Word of God for those who would discern God's highest will. First, be willing to put away known sin! Second, separate yourself from all of the attractions of the world, the flesh and the devil! Finally, offer yourself to your God and Saviour in believing faith! God has never yet turned away an honest, sincere person who has come to know the eternal value of the atonement and the peace that is promised through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The only person who will never be cleansed and made whole is the one who insists he or she needs no remedy. The person who comes in faith to God and confesses, "I am unclean; I am sin-sick; I am blind," will find mercy and righteousness and life. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour, the Cleanser. He is the Purifier, the Healer. He is the Sight-giver and the Life-giver. He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life!"

Found at https://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer?id=173

"Let us go on to know Him and to love Him more dearly; not for His gifts and benefits but for the pure joy of His presence. Thus we will fulfil the purpose for which He created us and redeemed us!"
Found at https://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer?id=175

God's Pursuit of Man by Tozer

Really enjoying reading God's Pursuit of Man at the moment. Hope you enjoy these excerpts as much as I am doing. :)

(About the Holy Spirit,) "Let us begin to think of Him as One to be worshipped and obeyed. Let us throw open every door and invite Him in. Let us surrender to Him every room in the temple of our hearts and insist that He enter and occupy as Lord and Master within His own dwelling. And let us remember that He is drawn to the sweet name of Jesus as bees are drawn to the fragrance of clover. Where Christ is honoured the Spirit is sure to feel welcome; where Christ is glorified He will move about freely, pleased and at home." Page 72.

"True spiritual knowledge is the result of a visitation of heavenly wisdom, a kind of baptism of the Spirit of Truth which comes to God-fearing men. This wisdom is always associated with righteousness and humility and is never found apart from godliness and the holiness of life." Page 84.


"There is a knowing of Truth as it is in Jesus, as it is in a Christlike nature, as it is in that sweet, mild, humble and loving Spirit of Jesus, which spreads itself like a morning sun upon the souls of good men, full of life and light. It profits little to know Christ Himself after the flesh; but He gives His Spirit to good men that search the deep things of God. There is an inward beauty, life and loveliness in divine Truth, which can be known only when it is digested into life and practice.
There is an inward sweetness and deliciousness in divine Truth, which no sensual mind can taste or relish: this is that "natural" man that savours not the things of God... Divinity is not so much perceived by a subtle wit as by a purified sense."
(excerpt from The True Way of Attaining Divine Knowledge by John Smith quoted by Tozer.)

Quote and a hymn

"There is an awful lot you do not need to know to find God. The light shines, the voice calls, and the Presence is here." A.W. Tozer.


"Church of God, beloved and chosen,
Church of Christ, for whom He died,
Claim thy gifts and praise thy Giver,
Ye are washed and sanctified.
Sanctified by God the Father,
And by Jesus Christ His Son,
And by God the Holy Spirit,
Holy, Holy Three in One.

By His will He sanctifieth,
By the Spirit's pow'r within;
By the loving hand that chast'neth,
Fruits of righteousness to win;
By His truth and by His promise,
By the Word, His gift unpriced,
By His blood and by our union
With the risen life of Christ.

Holiness by faith in Jesus,
Not by effort of thine own;
Sin's dominion crushed and broken
By the pow'r of grace alone;
God's own holiness within thee,
His own beauty on thy brow—
This shall be thy pilgrim brightness,
This thy blessed portion now.

He will sanctify thee wholly;
Body, spirit, soul shall be
Blameless till thy Saviour's coming
In His glorious majesty!
He hath perfected forever
Those whom He hath sanctified;
Spotless, glorious and holy
Is the Church, His chosen bride." by Frances Ridley Havergal

Tozer again

I read these two quotes yesterday and found them very interesting, taken from God's Pursuit of man.

"Not to us has it been given to have life in ourselves. For life we are wholly and continually dependent upon God, the Source and Fountain of Life. Only by full dependence upon Him are the hidden potentialities of our natures realized." (page 47)

"The cross where Jesus died became also the cross where His apostle died. The loss, the rejection, the shame, belong both to Christ and to all who in very truth are His. The cross that saves them also slays them, and anything short of this is a pseudo-faith and not true faith at all." (page 52)

Another chapter

The Spiritual Person

by A.W. Tozer

---

ALMOST EVERY CHRISTIAN wants to be spiritual, but few know what the experience means. A lot of unfounded comfort could be swept away and much true consolation received if we could get straightened out.
It is difficult for us to shake off the notion that a person is as spiritual as he or she feels. Our basic spirituality seldom accords our feelings. There are many carnal persons whose religious emotions are sensitive to every impression and who manage to keep themselves on a fairly high plane of inward enjoyment but who have no marks of godliness upon them. They have a low boiling point and can get heated up over almost anything religious at a moment's notice. Their tears are close to the surface and their voices carry a world of emotional content. Such have a reputation for being spiritual, and they themselves may easily believe they are. But they are not necessarily so.
Spiritual people are indifferent to their feelings--they live by faith in God with little care about their own emotions. They think God's thoughts and see things as God sees them. They rejoice in Christ and have no confidence in themselves. They are more concerned with obedience than with happiness. This is less romantic, perhaps, but it will stand the test of fire.

( Article taken from This World: Playground or Battleground?, Chapter 8 )

 (found here: http://www.neve-family.com/books/tozer/world/08.html)

I hope someone else finds this as challenging and encouraging as I do. :)
Tozer certainly knew what he was talking about!!

This World: Playground or Battleground? Tozer strikes again. Good challenging stuff.

"The idea that this world is a playground instead of a battleground has now been accepted in practice by the vast majority of fundamentalist Christians. They might hedge around the question if they were asked bluntly to declare their position, but their conduct gives them away. They are facing both ways, enjoying Christ "and the world, gleefully telling everyone that accepting Jesus does not require them to give up their fun – Christianity is just the jolliest thing imaginable. The "worship" growing out of such a view of life is as far off centre as the view itself – a sort of sanctified nightclub without the champagne and the dressed-up drunks. "
(found in chapter 1)
http://www.calvarypo.org/HANDS/0692.pdf

A Scared World Needs a Fearless Church

by A.W. Tozer

---

NO ONE CAN BLAME PEOPLE for being afraid. The world is in for a baptism of fire, and whether or not this present conflict is the beginning of the ordeal, such a baptism will surely come sooner or later. God declares this by the voice of all the holy prophets since time began – there is no escaping it.
But are not we Christians a people of another order? Do we not claim a place in the purpose of God altogether above the uncertainties of time and chance in which the sons of this world are caught? Have we not been given a prophetic preview off all those things that are to come upon the earth? Can anything take us unaware?
Surely Bible-reading Christians should be the last persons on earth to give way to hysteria. They are redeemed from their past offenses, kept in their present circumstances by the power of an all-powerful God, and their future is safe in His hands. God has promised to support them in the flood, protect them in the fire, feed them in famine, shield them against their enemies, hide them in His safe chambers until the indignation is past and receive them at last into eternal tabernacles.
If we are called upon to suffer, we may be perfectly sure that we shall be rewarded for every pain and blessed for every tear. Underneath will be the Everlasting Arms and within will be the deep assurance that all is well with our souls. Nothing can separate us from the love of God – not death, nor life, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
This is a big old world, and it is full of the habitations of darkness, but nowhere in its vast expanse is there one thing of which a real Christian need be afraid. Surely a fear-ridden Christian has never examined his or her defenses.
A fear-stricken church cannot help a scared world. We who are in the secret place of safety must begin to talk and act like it. We, above all who dwell upon the earth, should be calm, hopeful, buoyant and cheerful. We'll never convince the scared world that there is peace at the Cross if we continue to exhibit the same fears as those who make no profession of Christianity.

( Article taken from This World: Playground or Battleground?, Chapter 2 )

found at http://www.neve-family.com/books/tozer/world/02.html

 Are you challenged by this or is it just me?

Food for Thought

More quotes:

“The nature and attributes of Jesus Christ are altogether lovely.” (Pastor Jack Hibbs)

“To become effective men of God, then, we must know and acknowledge that every grace and every virtue proceeds from God alone and that not even a good thought can come from us except it be from Him.” A.W. Tozer

“Apart from the Scriptures we have no sure philosophy, apart from Jesus Christ, we have no knowledge of God; apart from the in-living Spirit we have no ability to live lives morally pleasing to God.” A.W. Tozer

“God exists for Himself and man for the glory of God.” A.W. Tozer

“Everything we do should centre around the Person of our holy, holy Lord and extol continually the greatness of His dignity and power. There is a glorified Man on the right hand of the Majesty in heaven faithfully representing us there. We are left for a season among men; let us faithfully represent Him here.” A.W. Tozer

“Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor; Jesus can understand you.” J.C. Ryle

“Christ is never fully valued, until sin is clearly seen. We must know the depth and malignity of our disease, in order to appreciate the great Physician.” J.C. Ryle

I reckon these ought to give us all lots to ponder on and apply. Don't you? 

I found them rather challenging, humbling and encouraging.