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The Pursuit of God – Part 4

January 27, 2012 in Book Reviews, Church with 0 Comments

This is the final in a series of notes from reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.

Chapter 7 – The Gaze of the Soul

Faith is the gaze of the soul upon a saving God.

Faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God.

Believing, then, is directing the heart’s attention to Jesus.  It is lifting the mind to “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives.

Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all.  While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves – blessed riddance.

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The Pursuit of God – Part 3

January 26, 2012 in Book Reviews, Church with 0 Comments

Here is part three in a series from my notes after reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.

Chapter 4 – Apprehending God

Where faith is defective the result will be inward insensibility and numbness toward spiritual things.

The worshipping heart does not create its Object.  It finds Him here when it wakes from its mortal slumber in the morning of its regeneration.

Imagination projects unreal images out of the mind and seeks to attach reality to them.  Faith creates nothing; it simply reckons upon that which is already there.

Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubiquity of visible things, tends to draw a contrast between the spiritual and the real – but actually no such contrast exists.  The antithesis life elsewhere – between the real and the imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal and the eternal; but between the spiritual and the real, never.  The spiritual is real.

The soul has eyes with which to see and ears with which to hear.  Feeble they may be from long disuse, but by the life-giving touch of Christ they are now alive and capable of sharpest sight and most sensitive hearing.

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The Pursuit of God – Part 2

January 25, 2012 in Book Reviews, Church with 2 Comments

Here is part two of my notes from The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.  This is by far my favorite chapter from the book.  Click Here for Part One.

Chapter 3 – Removing the Veil

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step.”  – Lao-tze

Ransomed men need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies.  God wills that we should push on into His presence and live our whole life there.  This is to be known to us in conscious experience.  It is more than a doctrine to be held; it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day.

He has discovered Himself to some extent in nature, but more perfectly in the Incarnation.  Now He waits to show Himself in ravishing fullness to the humble of soul and the pure in heart.

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The Pursuit of God – Part 1

January 24, 2012 in Book Reviews, Church with 2 Comments

A.W. Tozer, author of The Pursuit of God

Over the next few days, I will post my notes from my recent time of studying The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.  I hope you will enjoy these quotes.

Preface

Current evangelicalism has (to change the figure) laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel.

It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the kingdom, to see God’s children starving while actually seated at the Father’s table.

For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience that are not the better for having heard the truth.  The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.

If my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.

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What I’ve learned

January 23, 2012 in Church, Life with 1 Comment

As some of you know, I have been doing the Daniel Fast for the last 21 days. Why, you may ask? Here’s what I have learned…

  1. We don’t have to fast for forgiveness. Every wrong we have done and will do was forgiven at the Cross.
  2. Fasting enables us to tune out the world’s distraction and tune in to God.
  3. When we pray and fast, we don’t do so to change God or His will; by praying and fasting, we are the ones changed.
  4. The level of our agreement with God will determine the degree of closeness in our walk with Him.
  5. It is from a state of grace, not legalism, that we will find real and lasting transformation.
  6. When we’re facing struggles, we must rely on God’s power alive within us through the Holy Spirit.
  7. Many times, we can lose our passion in prayer or stop praying for certain things altogether because we lose heart or give up. But God invites us to keep them before Him and trust Him for an answer in His time.
  8. You cannot earn God’s pleasure, but you can experience it to a greater degree as you follow Jesus Christ.
  9. Fasting is the deep cleaning that helps us take our mind off the things of this world and instead have a refreshed focus on the things of the Spirit.
  10. The most earnest prayers come from us when we recognize our need for God.
  11. Prayer is not just about the answer; it’s also about glorifying God in the process of waiting for the answer.
  12. Fasting is a means of disconnecting from the distractions of daily life and consciously choosing to bring God into greater focus.
  13. The purest motivation for our prayers is that God will be glorified and that His will would reign supreme in our lives, just as it does in heaven.
  14. While prayer is our declaration of our dependence on God, our spoken words can be the manifestation of what’s happening in our hearts.
  15. When it comes to the transforming power of God working in someone’s life, God often uses people to bring about divine life change.
  16. Approaching God with a heart of humility will always position you to find relief in Jesus.
  17. Our timeless God owns the future. He knows exactly what is going to happen, and He promises to be with us every step of the journey.
  18. Jesus was so powerful in public because He was so prayerful in private.
  19. God’s new wine always changes us by expanding our faith, enlarging our purpose, and bringing renewed vision.
  20. Fasting and prayer are essential to receiving a clear vision of God’s specific path for our lives.
  21. Fasting is like a tune-up, so I can keep my passion for God and enjoyment of Him at a high level.

If you have been fasting, what have you learned?

Part of the Good Sam Club

January 18, 2012 in Church, Life with 3 Comments

Nearly everyone has heard the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:30-37.  After studying this passage this morning, I came across these points to ponder:

31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.  32 A Levite walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

  • The Priest and the Levite showed that to really help and restore people, it takes more than just observing them in their situation.  It’s more than just looking from the safety of our churches or our televisions into the lives of other people and assessing their situation from the point of our luxury.

God in the mundane

January 17, 2012 in Church, Life with 0 Comments

When drought and famine came to Bethlehem, Elimelech moved to Moab with his wife, Naomi, and their two sons, who married Moabite women.  Elimelech died in Moab, then the young men, Kilion and Mahlon, also died, leaving Naomi destitute.  Hearing that the famine in Bethlehem had ended, Naomi decided to return home.  Ruth, one of Naomi’s Moabite daughters-in-law, declared her loyalty to Naomi, so the two of them set out together and arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the spring barley harvest.  To obtain food for the coming year, Ruth went out to work, beginning in Boaz’s field.  When he learned who she was, Boaz instructed his workers to be generous to Ruth.

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In the Garden

January 12, 2012 in Church, Life with 2 Comments

 

Open, transparent confession time…

One thing that I was convicted of this week was that every morning I would wake up and turn on my iPad and check out the weather, news, and Facebook.  I felt that God was saying, “You care more about what your friends are doing today, than what I want to do in and through you today.”  Ouch!  That hurts.  Now, I’m not saying Facebook or the news is a sin, but for me I had to prioritize my commitment to God.

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Staying in tune

January 9, 2012 in Book Reviews, Church, Life with 0 Comments

This is an excerpt from A.W. Tozer’s book, The Pursuit of God:

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same tuning fork are automatically tuned to each other?  They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which one must individually bow.  So one-hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.  Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.  The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier.  The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life.

 

Laws of Spiritual Growth

January 5, 2012 in Church, Creative with 0 Comments

Today I wanted to give you some points of Spiritual Growth.  It is said that, “you can grow older without growing up,” but I hope we can change that trend in the church.

  1. Spiritual Growth is intentional.
  2. Spiritual Growth is incremental.
  3. Spiritual Growth is personal.
  4. Spiritual Growth is habitual.
  5. Spiritual Growth is relational.
  6. Spiritual Growth is multidimensional
  7. Spiritual Growth is seasonal.
  8. Spiritual Growth is incarnational.

Spiritual Growth happens in community.  If you aren’t in a LifeGroup or a Small Group, talk to your pastor about getting involved.

We must learn to love the Word, learn the Word, and live the Word.

We do that by becoming committed to the authority of Scripture.

Don’t want what the world says.  Want what the Word says.

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