World Wide Christians Partner with Jesus' Place/
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.
Who is online?
In total there are 21 users online :: 0 Registered, 0 Hidden and 21 Guests

None

[ View the whole list ]


Most users ever online was 386 on Sun 25 Apr 2021, 2:56 pm
Latest topics
» WHY DID GOD CREATE EVIL
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyToday at 4:36 pm by Admin

» WORTHY NEWS
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyToday at 2:37 pm by Admin

» JIHAD WATCH
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyYesterday at 11:38 pm by Admin

» Gatestone Institute
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyYesterday at 11:18 pm by Admin

» AISH
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyYesterday at 10:24 pm by Admin

» BIBLE STUDY on VERSE
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyYesterday at 10:13 pm by Admin

» israelAM
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyYesterday at 10:09 pm by Admin

» ISRAEL BREAKING NEWS
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyYesterday at 9:54 pm by Admin

» Israel War UPDATE
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyYesterday at 9:51 pm by Admin

»  Chip Brogden CHURCH WITHOUT WALLS
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyTue 26 Mar 2024, 11:49 pm by Admin

» Pressure from UN Threats
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyTue 26 Mar 2024, 11:45 pm by Admin

» Ship that obliterated Baltimore bridge
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyTue 26 Mar 2024, 11:44 pm by Admin

» PROPHESY NEWS WATCH
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyTue 26 Mar 2024, 11:08 pm by Admin

» Be Fervent in Spirit
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyTue 26 Mar 2024, 10:54 pm by Admin

» Remain in God - iBelieve Truth
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyTue 26 Mar 2024, 1:25 am by Admin

» Amir Tsarfati BEHOLD ISRAEL
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyTue 26 Mar 2024, 12:43 am by Admin

»  HONEST REPORTING Defending Israel from Media Bias plz read REGULAR UPDATES
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyMon 25 Mar 2024, 11:40 pm by Admin

» WORTHY NEWS
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyMon 25 Mar 2024, 11:00 pm by Admin

» Israel 365 News
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptyMon 25 Mar 2024, 8:54 pm by Admin

» Is Gaza Really Starving
Tozer Devotional - Page 20 EmptySun 24 Mar 2024, 11:40 pm by Admin

Navigation
 Portal
 Index
 Memberlist
 Profile
 FAQ
 Search

Tozer Devotional

Page 20 of 41 Previous  1 ... 11 ... 19, 20, 21 ... 30 ... 41  Next

Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Mon 06 Aug 2012, 9:05 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Living Love

Love for Christ is a love of willing as well as a love of feeling, and it is psychologically impossible to love Him adequately unless we will to obey His words. In seeking to learn whether we truly love our Lord we must be careful to apply His own test. False tests can only lead to false conclusions as false signs on the highway lead to wrong destinations. The Lord made it plain enough, but with our genius for getting mixed up we have lost sight of the markers. I think if we would turn for a while from finespun theological speculations about grace and faith and humbly read the New Testament with a mind to obey what we see there, we would easily find ourselves and know for certain the answer to the question that troubled our fathers and should trouble us: Do we love the Lord or no?

Verse
If you love me, you will obey what I command. John 14:15

Thought
Love obeys what Christ commands. Less than love does not. Is our love emotional bubbles or uncompromising obedience? Our living will express our love.

Prayer
How often my life contradicts my words. Forgive me, Lord. Teach me to love with Your love.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Sun 05 Aug 2012, 7:58 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Living Love

Love for Christ is a love of willing as well as a love of feeling, and it is psychologically impossible to love Him adequately unless we will to obey His words. In seeking to learn whether we truly love our Lord we must be careful to apply His own test. False tests can only lead to false conclusions as false signs on the highway lead to wrong destinations. The Lord made it plain enough, but with our genius for getting mixed up we have lost sight of the markers. I think if we would turn for a while from finespun theological speculations about grace and faith and humbly read the New Testament with a mind to obey what we see there, we would easily find ourselves and know for certain the answer to the question that troubled our fathers and should trouble us: Do we love the Lord or no?

Verse
If you love me, you will obey what I command. John 14:15

Thought
Love obeys what Christ commands. Less than love does not. Is our love emotional bubbles or uncompromising obedience? Our living will express our love.

Prayer
How often my life contradicts my words. Forgive me, Lord. Teach me to love with Your love.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Sat 04 Aug 2012, 7:46 pm

Tozer Devotional
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Tests of Love

The Christian cannot be certain of the reality and depth of his love until he comes face-to-face with the commandments of Christ and is forced to decide what to do about them. Then he will know. “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings” (John 14:24), said our Lord. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me" (John 14:21). So the final test of love is obedience. Not sweet emotions, not willingness to sacrifice, not zeal, but obedience to the commandments of Christ. Our Lord drew a line plain and tight for everyone to see. On one side He placed those who keep His commandments and said, “These love Me.” On the other side He put those who keep not His sayings, and said, “These love Me not.”

Verse
This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3

Thought
The commands of the one who so loved us aare not burdensome. If we have experienced His love we can be sure that obedience to His word shows love and also results in our growth as His people.

Prayer
O Christ, You gave Yourself for me. What love! I belong to You. May I show my love in obeying You.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Fri 03 Aug 2012, 8:04 pm

Tozer Devotional
Friday, August 3, 2012
Crises of Love

If we lived in a spiritual Utopia where every wind blew toward heaven and every man was a friend of God, we Christians could take everything for granted, counting on the new life within us to cause us to do the will of God without effort and more or less unconsciously. Unfortunately we have opposing us the lusts of the flesh, the attractions of the world and the temptations of the devil. These complicate our lives and require us often to make determined moral decisions on the side of Christ and His commandments. It is the crisis that forces us to take a stand for or against. The patriot may be loyal to his country for half a lifetime without giving much thought to it, but let an unfriendly power solicit him to turn traitor and he will quickly spurn its overtures. His patriotism will be brought out into the open for everyone to see. So it is in the Christian life. When the "south wind blew softly" (Acts 27:13) the ship that carried Paul sailed smoothly enough and no one on board knew who Paul was or how much strength of character lay hidden behind that rather plain exterior. But when the mighty tempest, Euroclydon, burst upon them Paul's greatness was soon the talk of everyone on the ship. The apostle, though himself a prisoner quite literally took command of the vessel, made decisions and issued orders that meant life or death to the people. And I think the crisis brought to a head something in Paul that had not previously been clear even to him. Beautiful theory was quickly crystallized into hard fact when the tempest struck.

Verse
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:5

Thought
Since God's love is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we can love with God's love in those love crises we experience. There is an enabling power to love far beyond our feeble human resources. Let's use it!

Prayer
Grip me, Lord, with Your love. Squeeze Your love through me to You and those around me. For Jesus' sake.

God's Help Is Just A Prayer Away
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Thu 02 Aug 2012, 7:55 pm

Tozer Devotional
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Love Expressed in ObedienceOur Lord told His disciples that love and obedience were organically united, that the keeping of His sayings would prove that we loved Him and the failure or refusal to keep them would prove that we did not. This is the true test of love, and we will be wise to face up to it. The commandments of Christ occupy in the New Testament a place of importance that they do not have in current evangelical thought. The idea that our relation to Christ is revealed by our attitude to His commandments is now considered legalistic by many influential Bible teachers, and the plain words of our Lord are rejected outright or interpreted in a manner to make them conform to theories ostensibly based upon the epistles of Paul. Thus the Word of God is denied as boldly by evangelicals as by admitted modernists.

Verse
Whover has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. John 14:21

Thought
The disciples awaited the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. What a difference His indwelling would make in their love and their obedience. The book of Acts records some of that difference.

Prayer
O Lord, I want to lovingly obey You. You are my life. May I be sensitive today to Your Spirit's direction.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Wed 01 Aug 2012, 8:17 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
"Do You Love Me?"

A century ago a hymn was often sung in the churches, the first stanza of which ran like this:‘Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought, Do I love the Lord, or no! Am I His, or am I not? Those who thus confessed their spiritual anxiety were serious-minded, honest men and women who could open their hearts to each other in this manner without self-consciousness or loss of face. It is an evidence of the essential frivolity of the modern religious mind that this hymn is never sung today, and if mentioned from the pulpit at all it is quoted humorously as proof that those who once sang it were not up on the doctrine of grace. Why ask, “Do I love the Lord, or no?” when any number of personal workers stand by to quote convenient texts from the New Testament to prove that we do? But we had better not be too cocksure. The gravest question any of us face is whether we do or do not love the Lord. Too much hinges on the answer to pass the matter off lightly. And it is a question that no one can answer for another. Not even the Bible can tell the individual man that he loves the Lord; it can only tell him how he can know whether or not he does. It can and does tell us how to test our hearts for love as a man might test ore for the presence of uranium, but we must do the testing.

Verse
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?' 'Yes, Lord,' he said, 'You know that I love you.’ Jesus said, 'Feed my lambs.' John 21:15

Thought
Vehemently Peter had declared that though all others fall away he would never disown his Lord even if it meant his death (Mark 14:27-31). In the intervening hours the test came and Peter failed. He recognizes the weakness of his love and the Lord begins

Prayer
Easy enough, Lord, to sing hymns and choruses declaring my love for You. But do I love You with agape love? Perfect my love.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Tue 31 Jul 2012, 11:27 pm

Tozer Devotional
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Wanted: Worshipers

It remains only to be said that worship as we have described it here is almost (though, thank God, not quite) a forgotten art in our day. For whatever we can say of modern Bible-believing Christians, it can hardly be denied that we are not remarkable for our spirit of worship. The gospel as preached by good men in our times may save souls, but it does not create worshipers. Our meetings are characterized by cordiality, humor, affability, zeal and high animal spirits; but hardly anywhere do we find gatherings marked by the overshadowing presence of God. We manage to get along on correct doctrine, fast tunes, pleasing personalities and religious amusements. How few, how pitifully few are the enraptured souls who languish for love of Christ. The sweet “madness” that visited such men as Bernard and St. Francis and Richard Rolle and Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Rutherford is scarcely known today. The passionate adorations of Teresa and Madame Guyon are a thing of the past. Christianity has fallen into the hands of leaders who knew not Joseph. The very memory of better days is slowly passing from us and a new type of religious person is emerging. How is the gold tarnished and the silver become lead! If Bible Christianity is to survive the present world upheaval, we shall need to recapture the spirit of worship. We shall need to have a fresh revelation of the greatness of God and the beauty of Jesus. We shall need to put away our phobias and our prejudices against the deeper life and seek again to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He alone can raise our cold hearts to rapture and restore again the art of true worship.

Verse
'Woe to me!' I cried, 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.' Isaiah 6:5

Thought
Have we learned to worship? We have worship leaders, worship teams, worship choruses. We have folksy sermons and pleasant humor. Is there worship? Are we ever struck speechless by the awesome presence of God?

Prayer
Lord, make me a worshiper of You.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Mon 30 Jul 2012, 9:22 pm

Tozer Devotional
Monday, July 30, 2012

Loving Worship

The love of Christ both wounds and heals, it fascinates and frightens, it kills and makes alive, it draws and repulses, it sobers and enraptures. There can be nothing more terrible or more wonderful than to be stricken with love for Christ so deeply that the whole being goes out in a pained adoration of His person, an adoration that disturbs and disconcerts while it purges and satisfies and relaxes the deep inner heart. This love as a kind of moral fragrance is ever detected upon the garments of the saints. In the writings of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, for instance, this fragrance is so strong as to be very nearly intoxicating. There are passages in his Confessions so passionately sweet as to be unbearable, yet so respectful and self-effacing as to excite pity for the man who thus kneels in adoring wonder, caught between holy love and an equally holy fear. The list of fragrant saints is long. It includes men and women of every shade of theological thought within the bounds of the orthodox Christian faith. It embraces persons of every social level, every degree of education, every race and color. This radiant love for Christ is to my mind the true test of catholicity, the one sure proof of membership in the Church universal.

Verse
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!' The four lving creatures Revelation 5:13-14

Thought
Prayed Augustine: "You are the life of lives, the life of souls. You are livingness itself, and You will not change, O Light of my soul" (F. J. Sheed translation) . The prayer of an adorer!

Prayer
O God, I'm but a beginner in the worship of You. Teach me, Lord, in Jesus' name.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Sun 29 Jul 2012, 9:05 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sunday, July 29, 2012

Reverent Worship

Many of our popular songs and choruses in praise of Christ are hollow and unconvincing. Some are even shocking in their amorous endearments, and strike a reverent soul as being a kind of flattery offered to One with whom neither composer nor singer is acquainted. The whole thing is in the mood of the love ditty, the only difference being the substitution of the name of Christ for that of the earthly lover. How different and how utterly wonderful are the emotions aroused by a true and Spirit-incited love for Christ. Such a love may rise to a degree of adoration almost beyond the power of the heart to endure, yet at the same time it will be serious, elevated, chaste and reverent. Christ can never be known without a sense of awe and fear accompanying the knowledge. He is the fairest among ten thousand, but He is also the Lord high and mighty. He is meek and lowly in heart, but He is also Lord and Christ who will surely come to be the judge of all men. No one who knows Him intimately can ever be flippant in His presence.

Verse
Suddenly Jesus met them. 'Greetings,' he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Matthew 28:9

Thought
Our 'worship services' are sometimes more flippant than contemplative, more entertaining than nourishing. Historically the Church has gone through periods when there seemed to be little joy in worship. The problem in evangelical culture today may be the

Prayer
O Risen Christ, in heart I would fall at Your feet and worship You!
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Sun 29 Jul 2012, 8:47 am

Tozer Devotional
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Adoring Worship

Neither the word adoration nor any of its forms is found in our familiar King James Bible, but the idea is there in full bloom. The great Bible saints were, above all, enraptured lovers of God. The psalms celebrate the love which David (and a few others) felt for the person of God. As suggested above, Paul admitted that the love of God was in his breast a kind of madness: “For whether we be beside ourselves, it is of God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:13-14). In Weymouth’s translation the passage reads, “For the love of Christ overmasters us.” The idea appears to be that Paul’s love for Christ carried him beyond himself and made him do extravagant things which to a mind untouched with the delights of such love might seem quite irrational. Perhaps the most serious charge that can be brought against modern Christians is that we are not sufficiently in love with Christ. The Christ of Fundamentalism is strong but hardly beautiful. It is rarely that we find anyone aglow with personal love for Christ. I trust it is not uncharitable to say that in my opinion a great deal of praise in conservative circles is perfunctory and forced, where it is not downright insincere.

Verse
If we are out of our mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 2 Corinthians 5:13-14

Thought
Adoring worship is an expression of compelling love.

Prayer
O Father, may I grow as an adorer of You!
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Fri 27 Jul 2012, 9:41 am

Tozer Devotional
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Admiring God

The dictionary says that to admire is “to regard with wondering esteem accompanied by pleasure and delight; to look at or upon with an elevated feeling of pleasure.” According to this definition, God has few admirers among Christians today. Many are they who are grateful for His goodness in providing salvation. At Thanksgiving time the churches ring with songs of gratitude that “all is safely gathered in.” Testimony meetings are mostly devoted to recitations of incidents where someone got into trouble and got out again in answer to prayer. To decry this would be uncharitable and unscriptural for there is much of the same thing in the Book of Psalms. It is good and right to render unto God thanksgiving for all His mercies to us. But God’s admirers, where are they? The simple truth is that worship is elementary until it begins to take on the quality of admiration. Just as long as the worshiper is engrossed with himself and his good fortune, he is a babe. We begin to grow up when our worship passes from thanksgiving to admiration. As our hearts rise to God in lofty esteem for that which He is (“I AM THAT I AM”), we begin to share a little of the selfless pleasure which is the portion of the blessed in heaven.

Verse
Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. Psalm 145:3

Thought
Great is Yahweh! His greatness is humanly unfathomable. His greatness is in who He is. So little time do we devote to just reflecting upon His greatness. It is that reflection that generates heart worship.

Prayer
O God, You are great, great beyond my ability to grasp but I worship You, O Lord!
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Wed 25 Jul 2012, 9:30 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Worshiping the Giver

In the love which any intelligent creature feels for God there must always be a measure of mystery. It is even possible that it is almost wholly mystery, and that our attempt to find reasons is merely a rationalizing of a love already mysteriously present in the heart as a result of some secret operation of the Spirit within us, "working like a miner, toiling unseen in the depths of the earth” (Fenelon). But so far as reasons can be given, they would seem to be two: gratitude and excellence. To love God because He has been good to us is one of the most reasonable things possible. The love which arises from the consideration of His kindness to us is valid and altogether acceptable to Him. It is nevertheless a lower degree of love, being less selfless than that love which springs from an appreciation of what God is in Himself apart from His gifts. Thus the simple love which arises from gratitude, when expressed in any act or conscious utterance, is undoubtedly worship. But the quality of our worship is stepped up as we move away from the thought of what God has done for us and nearer the thought of the excellence of His holy nature. This leads us to admiration.

Verse
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; Psalm 95:6

Thought
What do we know of worship--worship true and pure? We give God thanks for what He does and what He gives but seldom for who He is.

Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for the gifts I receive from You. But I want to worship You, the Giver. Apart from any gifts You give, You are worthy to be worshiped.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Tue 24 Jul 2012, 9:57 pm

Tozer Devotional
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Worshiping God with All We Are

In worship several elements may be distinguished, among them love, admiration, wonder and adoration. Though they may not be experienced in that order, a little thought will reveal those elements as being present wherever true worship is found. Both the Old and the New Testament teach that the essence of true worship is the love of God. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Our Lord declared this to be the sum of the Law and the Prophets. Now, love is both a principle and an emotion; it is something both felt and willed. It is capable of almost infinite degrees. Love in the human heart may begin so modestly as to be hardly perceptible and go on to become a raging torrent that sweeps its possessor before it in total helplessness. Something like this must have been the experience of the apostle Paul, for he felt it necessary to explain to his critics that his apparent madness was actually the love of God ravishing his willing heart. It is quite impossible to worship God without loving Him. Scripture and reason agree to declare this. And God is never satisfied with anything less than all: "all thy heart . . . all thy soul . . . all thy might." This may not at first be possible, but deeper experience with God will prepare us for it, and the inward operations of the Holy Spirit will enable us after a while to offer Him such a poured-out fullness of love.

Verse
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31

Thought
God has designed us to be loving worshipers-- to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Only by His Spirit within can we grow to love Him and people with all we are.

Prayer
O God, fill me with Your love. My love is so superficial. Teach me to love with all I am.


Last edited by Admin on Tue 24 Jul 2012, 10:02 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : hEARLIGHT VERSE ADDED)
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Mon 23 Jul 2012, 11:03 pm

Tozer Devotional
Monday, July 23, 2012

Created for God's Glory

Philosophers have noted the vast difference between men and beasts and have tried to find that difference in one or another distinguishing characteristic. They have said, for instance, that man is the thinking animal, or that he is the laughing animal, or that he is the only animal with a conscience. The one mark, however, which forever distinguishes man from all other forms of life on earth is that he is a worshiper; he has a bent toward and a capacity for worship. Apart from his position as a worshiper of God, man has no sure key to his own being; he is but a higher animal, being born much as any other animal, going through the cycle of his life here on earth and dying at last without knowing what the whole thing is about. If that is all for him, if he has no more reason than the beast for living, then it is an odd thing indeed that he is the only one of the animals that worries about himself, that wonders, that asks questions of the universe. The very fact that he does these things tells the wise man that somewhere there is One to whom he owes allegiance, One before whom he should kneel and do homage. The Christian revelation tells us that that One is God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, who is to be worshiped in the Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord. That is enough for us. Without trying to reason it out we may proceed from there. All our doubts we meet with faith’s wondering affirmation: “O Lord God, thou knowest,” an utterance which Samuel Taylor Coleridge declared to be the profoundest in human speech.

Verse
. . . Bring back my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth--everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Isaiah 43:6b-7

Thought
Unique among creation, we are made to worship God to His glory. The more we come to experientially know God the more we shall worship Him We shall increasingly know who He is and , in heart, bow before Him.

Prayer
Triune God, I want to glorify You, to worship You. You have created me for Your glory.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Sun 22 Jul 2012, 11:05 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Refiner's Fire

Slowly you will discover God’s love in your suffering. Your heart will begin to approve the whole thing. You will learn from yourself what all the schools in the world could not teach you--the healing action of faith without supporting pleasure. You will feel and understand the ministry of the night; its power to purify, to detach, to humble, to destroy the fear of death and, what is more important to you at the moment, the fear of life. And you will learn that sometimes pain can do what even joy cannot, such as exposing the vanity of earth’s trifles and filling your heart with longing for the peace of heaven. What I write here is in no way original. This has been discovered anew by each generation of Christian seekers and is almost a cliché of the deeper life. Yet it needs to be said to this generation of believers often and with emphasis, for the type of Christianity now in vogue does not include anything as serious and as difficult as this. The quest of the modern Christian is likely to be for peace of mind and spiritual joy, with a good degree of material prosperity thrown in as an external proof of the divine favor. Some will understand this, however, even if the number is relatively small, and they will constitute the hard core of practicing saints so badly needed at this serious hour if New Testament Christianity is to survive to the next generation.

Verse
But if I go to the east, he is not here; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will com Job 23:8-10

Thought
Wrote Marcus Rainsford: "It is not when we are enjoying Christ most that we glorify him best; It is when . . . our hearts are consciously cold and dead, when our feelings are all distressing . . . when we walk in darkness and have no light . . . then to

Prayer
You know the way I take and why. Refine me, O God, refine me
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Sat 21 Jul 2012, 10:23 pm

Tozer Devotional
Saturday, July 21, 2012

Trusting in His Unfailing Love

How long you continue in this night of the soul will depend upon a number of factors, some of which you may be able later to identify, while others will remain with God, completely hidden from you. The words “The day is thine, the night also is thine” will now be interpreted for you by the best of all teachers, the Holy Spirit; and you will know by personal experience what a blessed thing is the ministry of the night. But there is a limit to man’s ability to live without joy. Even Christ could endure the cross only because of the joy set before Him. The strongest steel breaks if kept too long under unrelieved tension. God knows exactly how much pressure each one of us can take. He knows how long we can endure the night, so He gives the soul relief, first by welcome glimpses of the morning star and then by the fuller light that harbingers the morning.

Verse
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? . . . But I trust in your unfailing love; . . . Psalm 13:1,5a

Thought
There are times when we pray by faith with no sense of His presence; witness and there is no response; serve without joy or recognition. In those times our prayer, witness and service are more precious in God's sight because they are done for Him alone.

Prayer
Forgive me, Lord, for trying to flee the night as if You were not as much there as in the blazing sunlight. You are with me and it is you I serve.


Tozer Devotional
Friday, July 20, 2012
Living by Faith in the Night

To do His supreme work of grace within you He will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be. . . . All this God will accomplish at the expense of the common pleasures that have up to that time supported your life and made it zestful. Now under the careful treatment of the Holy Spirit your life may become dry, tasteless and to some degree a burden to you. While in this state you will exist by a kind of blind will to live; you will find none of the inward sweetness you had enjoyed before. The smile of God will be for the time withdrawn, or at least hidden from your eyes. Then you will learn what faith is; you will find out the hard way, but the only way open to you, that true faith lies in the will, that the joy unspeakable of which the apostle speaks is not itself faith but a slow-ripening fruit of faith; and you will learn that present spiritual joys may come and go as they will without altering your spiritual status or in any way affecting your position as a true child of the Heavenly Father. And you will also learn, probably to your astonishment, that it is possible to live in all good conscience before God and men and still feel nothing of the “peace and joy” you hear talked about so much by immature Christians.

Verse
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11

Thought
When the sense of His presense is withdrawn and your life seems to shatter; when you feel cold and dull spiritually, keep praying. Keep feeding on His Word. Keep walking by faith--naked faith. He is there. Trust Him.

Prayer
Lord, I find it difficult to walk by faith in the night. But You are teaching me. I can't see You but Your Spirit assures me You are there. Thank You.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Fri 20 Jul 2012, 5:01 pm

Tozer Devotional
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Dross Removal

If God sets out to make you an unusual Christian He is not likely to be as gentle as He is usually pictured by the popular teachers. A sculptor does not use a manicure set to reduce the rude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful. To do His supreme work of grace within you He will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be. This is not to teach the sanctifying power of poverty. If to be poor made men holy every tramp on park bench would be a saint. But God knows the secret of removing things from our hearts while they still remain to us. What He does is to restrain us from enjoying them. He lets us have them but makes us psychologically unable to let our hearts go out to them. Thus they are useful without being harmful.

Verse
For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29

Thought
The old hymn put it well: "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and they gold to refine."

Prayer
Remove the dross, O Lord, even though I whimper and moan. Purify me. In it all I know Your grace will be sufficient.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Thu 19 Jul 2012, 11:20 am

Tozer Devotional
Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Friends or Just Acquaintances?

There is a great difference between having “company” and having a friend in the house. The friend we can treat as a member of the family, but company must be entertained. God is not satisfied until there exists between Him and His people a relaxed informality that requires no artificial stimulation. The true friend of God may sit in His presence for long periods in silence. Complete trust needs no words of assurance. Such words have long ago been spoken and the adoring heart can safely be still before God. Unquestionably the highest privilege granted to man on earth is to be admitted into the circle of the friends of God. Nothing is important enough to be allowed to stand in the way of our relation to God. Nothing in heaven or earth or hell can separate us from the love of God; we should see to it that nothing on earth shall separate us from God’s friendship

Verse
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:23

Thought
Have we entered the circle of God's friends? Some of us remain acquaintances. We have not yet become friends. His invitation to warm friendship is extended to us.

Prayer
Lord, it staggers the mind that I can enter into friendship with You the eternal God.
Tozer Devotional
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Friendship Trust

It should be pointed out that no revealed truth becomes automatically effective. The effect any truth has upon us depends upon our attitude toward it. First it must be accepted in active faith and received into our minds as completely trustworthy and beyond dispute. It must become a kind of dye to give color to all of our thinking and praying. The more perfect our friendship with God becomes the simpler will our lives be. Those formalities that are so necessary to keep a casual friendship alive may be dispensed with when true friends sit in each other’s presence. True friends trust each other.

Verse
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1

Thought
True friendship is based on mutual trust. If we can trust Christ for salvation why can't we trust God in all areas of life? There is no alternative.

Prayer
Lord, how often my heart is troubled because I don't trust You. I am letting go and trustfully sinking into Your arms.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Tue 17 Jul 2012, 2:47 pm

Tozer Devotional
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Friendship Trust

It should be pointed out that no revealed truth becomes automatically effective. The effect any truth has upon us depends upon our attitude toward it. First it must be accepted in active faith and received into our minds as completely trustworthy and beyond dispute. It must become a kind of dye to give color to all of our thinking and praying. The more perfect our friendship with God becomes the simpler will our lives be. Those formalities that are so necessary to keep a casual friendship alive may be dispensed with when true friends sit in each other’s presence. True friends trust each other.

Verse
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1

Thought
True friendship is based on mutual trust. If we can trust Christ for salvation why can't we trust God in all areas of life? There is no alternative.

Prayer
Lord, how often my heart is troubled because I don't trust You. I am letting go and trustfully sinking into Your arms.


Tozer Devotional
Monday, July 16, 2012
Growing in Experiential Union

God, being perfect, has capacity for perfect friendship. Man, being imperfect, can never quite know perfection in anything, least of all in his relation to the incomprehensible Godhead. Perfection lies on God’s side, but on man’s side there are weakness of purpose, lack of desire, small faith and numerous other impediments. These make for a friendship which, though it is the most wonder-filled experience possible to man, is yet short of that completeness we would enjoy if these impediments were removed or even reduced appreciably. Though the truth compels us to admit these imperfections on our side of the divine-human friendship, yet there is no reason to despair. In spite of our human frailties we can grow in grace and move progressively toward a more perfect experiential union with God. This we can do by firm self-discipline, quick obedience, unceasing prayer, utter detachment from the world and the exercise of robust faith in the truths revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

Verse
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Thought
Seeing Jesus with His disciples reveals something of the experiential union we can know with God. Christ the God-Man in His deity shows us what God is like and in His humanity what we can become. He calls us to deepening friendship.

Prayer
Lord, what You have learned from the Father You are making known to me. You call me 'friend,' too!
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Mon 16 Jul 2012, 9:21 am

Tozer Devotional
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Being a Friend of God

The image of God in man cannot extend to every part of man’s being, for God has attributes which He cannot impart to any of His creatures, however favored. God is uncreated, self-existent, infinite, sovereign, eternal; these attributes are His alone and by their very definition cannot be shared with another. But there are other attributes which He can impart to His creatures and in some measure share with His redeemed children. Intellect, self-consciousness, love, goodness, holiness, pity, faithfulness- -these and certain other attributes are the points where likeness between God and man may be achieved. It is here that the divine-human friendship is experienced.

Verse
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, ' and he was called God's friend. James 2:23

Thought
Abraham, despite weakness and failure, was called God's friend. Abraham believed God. He just believed God. Are we friends of God?
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Sat 14 Jul 2012, 7:35 pm

Saturday, July 14, 2012
Tozer Devotional
Image Restoration

The idea of the divine-human friendship originated with God. Had not God said first “Ye are my friends” (John 15:14) it would be inexcusably brash for any man to say “I am a friend of God.” But since He claims us for His friends it is an act of unbelief to ignore or deny the relationship. . . . Even though radically different from each other, two persons may enjoy the closest friendship for a lifetime; for it is not a requisite of friendship that the participants be alike in all things; it is enough that they be alike at the points where their personalities touch. Harmony is likeness at points of contact, and friendship is likeness where hearts merge. For this reason the whole idea of the divine-human friendship is logical enough and entirely credible. The infinite God and the finite man can merge their personalities in the tenderest, most satisfying friendship. In such relationship there is no idea of equality; only of likeness where the heart of man meets the heart of God. This likeness is possible because God at the first made man in His own image and because He is now remaking men in the image that was lost by sin.

Verse
You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:24

Thought
That we are created in God's image is mind-blowing. Granted sin has marred and distorted that image but it has not been destroyed. What immense possibilities are open to us through image restoration- -not least of which is friendship with God.

Prayer
Lord, show me something of what it can mean to be in friendship with You!


Tozer Devotional
Friday, July 13, 2012
Inescapable Choices

When the rich young ruler learned the cost of discipleship he went away sorrowing. He could not give up the sunny side of the brae. But thanks be to God, there are some in every age who refuse to go back. The Acts of the Apostles is the story of men and women who turned their faces into the stiff wind of persecution and loss and followed the Lamb whithersoever He went. They knew that the world hated Christ without a cause and hated them for His sake; but for the glory that was set before them they continued steadfastly on the way. Perhaps the whole thing can be reduced to a simple matter of faith or unbelief. Faith sees afar the triumph of Christ and is willing to endure any hardship to share in it. Unbelief is not sure of anything except that it hates the wind and loves the sunny side of the brae. Every man will have to decide for himself whether or not he can afford the terrible luxury of unbelief.

Verse
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Matthew 19:22

Thought
The rich young ruler sounds like one of the new millionaires of Silicon Valley. Most of us won't have the option of millions. We just choose the relative wealth of this world, living for the few years of our lifetime. It is that or eternal life which can

Prayer
Forgive me, Lord, for sometimes complaining about the wind in my face. I have chosen You. Thank You for the wind!
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Fri 13 Jul 2012, 8:14 pm

Tozer Devotional
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Worth Suffering For

What has Christ to offer to us that is sound, genuine and desirable? He offers forgiveness of sins, inward cleansing, peace with God, eternal life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, victory over temptation, resurrection from the dead, a glorified body, immortality and a dwelling place in the house of the Lord forever. These are a few benefits that come to us as a result of faith in Christ and total committal to Him. Add to these the expanding wonders and increasing glories that shall be ours through the long, long reaches of eternity, and we get an imperfect idea of what Paul called, ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ.” To accept the call of Christ changes the returning sinner indeed, but it does not change the world. The wind still blows toward hell and the man who is walking in the opposite direction will have the wind in his face. And we had better take this into account when we ponder on spiritual things. If the unsearchable riches of Christ are not worth suffering for, then we should know it now and cease to play at religion.

Verse
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ . . . Philippians 3:8

Thought
If we are not now in some measure experiencing the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ, then indeed we may be tightly clinging to some things fearing their loss.

Prayer
Father, help me to clearly distinguish between what is eternal gain and what is ultimate rubbish.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Wed 11 Jul 2012, 8:10 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Costly Discipleship

In our eagerness to make converts I am afraid we have lately been guilty of using the technique of modern salesmanship, which is of course to present only the desirable qualities in a product and ignore the rest. We go to men and offer them a cozy home on the sunny side of the brae. If they will but accept Christ He will give them peace of mind, solve their problems, prosper their business, protect their families and keep them happy all day long. They believe us and come, and the first cold wind sends them shivering to some counselor to find out what has gone wrong; and that is the last we hear of many of them. The teachings of Christ reveal Him to be a realist in the finest meaning of that word. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find anything visionary or overoptimistic. He told His hearers the whole truth and let them make up their minds. He might grieve over the retreating form of an inquirer who could not face up to the truth, but He never ran after him to try to win him with rosy promises. He would have men follow Him, knowing the cost, or He would let them go their ways. All this is but to say that Christ is honest. We can trust Him. He knows that He will never be popular among the sons of Adam and He knows that His followers need not expect to be. The wind that blows in His face will be felt by all who travel with Him, and we are not intellectually honest when we try to hide that fact from them.

Verse
From this time on many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. John 6:66

Thought
Following Christ is costly in many ways. For some it means physical suffering, even death. For others rejection, ostracism, extreme prejudice. The greatest cost of all is to the old nature, ego, self. Yet consider the cost of not following Christ.

Prayer
Lord, if I turn from following You, to whom do I go? Eternal life is in knowing You.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Tue 10 Jul 2012, 8:14 pm

Tozer Devotional
Tuesday, July 10, 2012

With the Wind in Your Face

Are You Feeling the Wind? “God hath called you to Christ’s side,” wrote the saintly Rutherford, “and the wind is now in Christ’s face in this land; and seeing ye are with Him, ye cannot expect the leeside or the sunny side of the brae.” With that beautiful feeling for words that characterized Samuel Rutherford’s most casual utterance he here crystallizes for us one of the great radical facts of the Christian life. The wind is in Christ’s face, and because we go with Him we too shall have the wind in our face. We should not expect less. The yearning for the sunny side of the brae is natural enough, and for such sensitive creatures as we are it is, I suppose, quite excusable. No one enjoys walking into a cold wind. Yet the Church has had to march with the wind in her face through the long centuries.

Verse
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Thought
Our desire is to be accepted, to blend in. Yet to walk with Christ means to stay at His side and inevitably that will mean facing the cold and bitter wind. Are you feeling the wind?

Prayer
Lord, I want to walk with You even into the wind!
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Admin Mon 09 Jul 2012, 10:11 pm

Tozer Devotional
Monday, July 9, 2012

That Questionable Suffering

We delude ourselves when we try to turn our just punishments into a cross and rejoice over that for which we should rather repent. “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God” (1 Pet. 2:20) . The cross is always in the way of righteousness. We feel the pain of the cross only when we suffer for Christ’s sake by our own willing choice. I think that there is also another kind of suffering, one that does not fall into either of the categories considered above. It comes neither from the rod nor from the cross, not being imposed as a moral corrective nor suffered as a result of our Christian life and testimony. It comes in the course of nature and arises from the many ills flesh is heir to. It visits all alike in a greater or lesser degree and would appear to have no clear spiritual significance. Its source may be fire, flood, bereavement, injuries, accidents, illness, old age, weariness or the upset conditions of the world generally. What are we to do about this? Well, some great souls have managed to turn even these neutral afflictions to good. By prayer and self-abasement they wooed adversity to become their friend and made rough distress a teacher to instruct them in the heavenly arts. May we not emulate them?

Verse
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. Job 23:10

Thought
Pain pushes us into the arms of God. There are times when cannot discern whether it is our cross or chastisement. We can only cling to Him and we find in our hurting His arms tightly around us.

Prayer
You know the way I take, Father, the purpose in my hurting. Show me or, if not, hold me close in Your arms.

Tozer Devotional
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Determining the Cause of Pain

But how can we tell in a given situation whether our pain is from the cross or the rod? Pain is pain from whatever source it comes. Jonah in flight from the will of God suffered no worse storm than did Paul in the center of God’s will; the same wild sea threatened the life of both. And Daniel in the lion’s den was in trouble as deep as was Jonah in the whale’s belly. The nails bit as deep into the hands of Christ dying for the sins of the world as into the hands of the two thieves dying for their own sins. How then may we distinguish the cross from the rod? I think the answer is plain. When tribulation comes we have but to note whether it is imposed or chosen. “Blessed are ye, “ said our Lord, “when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you” (Matt. 5:11). But that is not all. Four other words He added: they are “falsely, for my sake.” These words show that the suffering must come voluntarily, that it must be chosen in the larger choice of Christ and righteousness. If the accusation men cry against us is true, no blessedness follows.

Verse
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11

Thought
C. S. Lewis wrote of God shouting to us in our pains, using pain as a megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Pain is a loud summons to self-examination. Are we suffering for the cause of Christ or because of personal sin?

Prayer
Father, when I am experiencing pain due to my sin, help me to recognize it. When it is for other reasons may I accept it as fromYou.
Admin
Admin
Admin

Posts : 81234
Join date : 2008-10-25
Age : 78
Location : Wales UK

https://worldwidechristians.forumotion.com

Back to top Go down

Tozer Devotional - Page 20 Empty Re: Tozer Devotional

Post  Sponsored content


Sponsored content


Back to top Go down

Page 20 of 41 Previous  1 ... 11 ... 19, 20, 21 ... 30 ... 41  Next

Back to top

- Similar topics

 
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum