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Post  Admin Sun 04 Nov 2012, 11:30 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sun, November 04, 2012
Recognizing Satans Strategic Initiative

Many times in history the Christians in various towns, cities and even whole countries have given up their defense for reasons wholly evil. Worldliness, sinful pleasures and personal ungodliness have often been the cause of the churchs disgraceful surrender to the enemy. Today, however, Satans strategy is different. Though he still uses the old methods where he can do so with success, his more effective method is to paralyze our resistance by appealing to our virtues, especially the virtue of charity. He first creates a maudlin and wholly inaccurate concept of Christ as soft, smiling and tolerant. He reminds us that Christ was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth, and suggests that we go and do likewise. Then if we notice his foot in the door and rise to oppose him he appeals to our desire to be Christlike. You must not practice negative thinking, he tells us. Jesus said, He that is not against Me is for Me. Also He said Judge not, and how can you be a good Christian and pass adverse judgment on any religious talk or activity? Controversy divides the Body of Christ. Love is of God, little children, so love everybody and all will be well. Thus speaks the devil, using Holy Scripture falsely for his evil purpose; and it is nothing short of tragic how many of Gods people are taken in by his sweet talk. The shepherd becomes afraid to use his club and the wolf gets the sheep. The watchman is charmed into believing that there is no danger, and the city falls to the enemy without a shot. So Satan destroys us by appealing to our virtues.

Verse
Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Matthew 16:23

Thought
Jesus recognized the clever tactic of Satan who was using the good intentions of Peter. Remember how Satan had quoted scripture in the wilderness temptation of Jesus. We must be alert to Satans ploys.

Prayer
Lord, I struggle between the extremes of seeing Satan in everything and, on the other hand, in nothing. By Your Spirit, make me wise.
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Post  Admin Sat 03 Nov 2012, 4:47 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sat, November 03, 2012
The Great Deceiver

The Devil is a master strategist. He varies his attacks as skillfully as an experienced general and always has one more trick to use against the one who imagines he is well experienced in the holy war. By two radically opposite things the devil seeks to destroy us-by our sins and by our virtues. First, he tempts us to sin. This might be called his conventional device. It worked against Adam and Eve and still works after the passing of the centuries. By means of it millions each year are, as Paul said, drowned in destruction and perdition. One would think the human race would learn to resist the blandishments of its sworn enemy, and it probably would except that there is an enemy within the gate-the fallen heart is secretly on the side of the devil. It is, however, Satans wiliest stratagem to use our virtues against us, and this he often does with astonishing success. By means of temptation to sin he strikes at our personal lives; by working through our virtues he gets at the whole community of believers and unfits it for its own defense. A parallel to Satans technique may be seen in the activities of certain subversive political groups who use the Constitution of the United States as a shield while they work to destroy that Constitution. By unctuous pleading for the right of free speech they seek to destroy all freedom of speech. By talking piously about government by law they push our country toward the place where there will be government by dictatorship and all laws will mean what a ruling clique of base, cynical men want them to mean. So diabolical is this method that one can only conclude that those who use it learned it from their father the devil, whose they are and whom they serve.

Verse
And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Second Corinthians 11:14

Thought
Master deceiver that he is, Satan attacks what we consider our strengths as well as our weaknesses. He does that to us as the community of believers and as individuals. Satan is the Great Deceiver!

Prayer
O Lord, give me discernment to recognize the disguises of Satan and to resist him in Your name.
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Post  Admin Fri 02 Nov 2012, 11:21 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, November 02, 2012
Seekers After God

5. Seekers after God. Thanks be to God on high that these too are among us. They are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Their number is not large when counted against the millions who have forgotten their Maker, but taken together they are a goodly company and dear to the heart of God. Ah, those God-hungry souls! By nature they are no better than the rest of men, and by practice they have sometimes been worse. The one sign of their divine election is their insatiable thirst after the Source of their being. Deep calls unto deep and they hear and respond. These are almost always a disappointment to themselves, and sometimes they have for a while been a stumbling block to the world, as were Jacob and David and Peter. But many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it, and their questing hearts find what they seek at last. The grace of God meets them as they return and changes them from what they are sorry they have been, into what they have so fervently longed to become. Towe know what the wise Greek could not know, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses. Seekers after God there surely were even in those old Grecian times and their destiny lies in the hand of the One who gave His only-begotten Son to die for the life of the world. One word needs to be added. It will go better in the of reckoning for the seeker of pre-Christian days who stretched out pagan hands toward God in hope that he might find Him, than for the careless sinner of who is sated with hearing and who refuses to repent and believe.

Verse
I love those who seek me, and those who seek me find me. Proverbs 8:17

Thought
The God-seekers among us model to us what life is all about. How amazing that when we seek God He will be found!

Prayer
I want to be a seeker after You, Lord, not part-time or just on Sunday, but daily.
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Post  Admin Thu 01 Nov 2012, 8:09 pm

Tozer Devotional
Thu, November 01, 2012
The Foolish Spending of Life

The Greek philosopher Pythagoras is said to have divided men into three classes: 1. Seekers after knowledge. 2. Seekers after honor. 3. Seekers after gain. Thus far Pythagoras. But I wonder why he failed to notice two other classes: those who are not seekers after anything and those who are seekers after God. These no doubt existed in Pythagoras as they do in ours and it is odd that he did not recognize them. Let us add them to the list. 4. Seekers after nothing. These are the human vegetables who live by their glands and their instincts. I refer not to those unfortunate persons who by birth or by accident have been deprived of their normal faculties. There but by the grace of God go I. I do refer to the millions of normal persons who have allowed their magnificent intellectual equipment to wither away from lack of exercise. These seekers after nothing have certain large ear-marks. They may be known by the company they keep. Their reading matter is the sports page and the comic section; their art is limited to magazine covers and the illustrated trivialities of the weekly picture magazines; their music is whatever is popular and handy and loud. After work they sit and watch television or just drive around waiting for-what? It is an omen and a portent that this describes the bulk of our population in the United States, and that they constitute what we proudly call the electorate; that is, they decide the direction our country shall go, morally, politically and religiously. O tempora! O mores!

Verse
I thought in my heart, Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good. But that also proved to be meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:1

Thought
Life is lent to be spent. How tragic to waste life, moment by moment, when how I spend can radically affect tomorrow.

Prayer
I know, Lord, that my days are numbered and only You know that number. From the eternal perspective, may I spend well the todays.
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Post  Admin Wed 31 Oct 2012, 12:58 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wed, October 31, 2012
Pythagorus Three Classes of Humanity

The Greek philosopher Pythagoras is said to have divided men into three classes: 1. Seekers after knowledge. 2. Seekers after honor. 3. Seekers after gain. It would be interesting if not too edifying to look for Pythagoras three classes in modern society. 1. Seekers after knowledge. These are no longer called philosophers, lovers of wisdom, but scholars, professors, scientists, who love knowledge for itself. These are intellectual magpies with a compulsive tic that drives them to collect all the shiny bits of knowledge possible; fortunately for them there are enough others with the same tic to provide them with a means of making some kind of a living here below. 2. Seekers after honor. These are the politicians. They have an incurable itch to be known in the gates, and as a means toward this end they manage to work up a convincing if phony patriotic fever every four or six years that brings them votes and enables them to ride in the front car in the Memorial parade. Their reward is in being applauded by the masses they secretly despise, and verily they have their reward. 3. Seekers after gain. These are at the top honest businessmen who become wealthy within the law, and at the bottom racketeers who gain their wealth outside the law. Morally these latter differ not at all from the ordinary bandit, but they differ socially because they are smarter, have read a book and know a better lawyer.

Verse
For what hope has the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? Job 27:8

Thought
Knowledge, recognition and wealth-common people goals. Yet, even if achieved, the eternal tomorrow has been neglected and life wasted.

Prayer
May my seeking be concentrated upon You, O God, to know You.
Tozer Devotional
Tue, October 30, 2012
The Way to God is a Person
When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, read the terrible words, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things . . . who changed the truth of God into a lie. On and on the devastating words flow, mounting in intensity till no one with any conscience left or any fear of moral consequences can stand to look the Judge in the face, but must cast down his guilty eyes and cry, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Apart from the Scriptures we have no sure philosophy; apart from Jesus Christ we have no true knowledge of God; apart from the inliving Spirit we have no ability to live lives morally pleasing to God. How wonderful that Christ could say, I am the way, the truth, and the life. For this we can never be thankful enough.

Verse
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24-25

Thought
The first step to finding the way is to realize the utter sinfulness and hopelessness of our predicament. We have been enemies of God, running from Him, weighed down with sin. Christ is the only Way. He is the Truth and the Life.

Prayer
Lead me, Lord, lead me in the way everlasting through Christ, my Savior and Guide.
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Post  Admin Mon 29 Oct 2012, 11:42 pm

Tozer Devotional
Mon, October 29, 2012
Hopelessly Lost

Philosophically man has lost his way. Could he think himself out of his age-old predicament he would long ago have done it, for the world has had more than enough serious-minded men of superior intellectual endowments to examine every rabbit path in all the meadows of human thought and to explore every forest and wilderness in search of the way. Since the first fallen man got still long enough to think, fallen men have been asking these questions, Whence came I? What am I? Why am I here? and Where am I going? The noblest minds of the race have struggled with these questions to no avail. Did the answer lie somewhere hidden like a jewel it would surely have been uncovered, for the most penetrating minds of the race have searched for it. Not a foot of ground but has been spaded up, neither is there crevice or cave anywhere in the region of human experience but has been spied into thoroughly and often as the centuries passed. Yet the answers remain as securely hidden as if they did not exist. Why is man lost philosophically? Because he is lost morally and spiritually. He cannot answer the questions life presents to his intellect because the light of God has gone out in his soul. The fearful indictment the Holy Ghost brings against mankind is summed up count by count in the opening chapters of Romans and the conduct of every man from earliest recorded history to the present moment is evidence enough to sustain the indictment.

Verse
. . . God gave them over . . .God gave them over . . . he gave them over . . . Romans 1:24, 26, 28

Thought
To the great questions of life there are no answers except those that terrify and condemn. Life is lent us and none of us know how much is left. We have turned from God to our own way. God has given us over but He has also loved us so much He has given H

Prayer
Apart from You, Lord, there are only thick, black clouds. My only hope is to keep on going, trusting You. Hallelujah!
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Post  Admin Sun 28 Oct 2012, 11:49 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sun, October 28, 2012
Do You Know Where You are Going?

It is a simple axiom of the traveler that if he would arrive at the desired destination he must take the right road. How far a man may have traveled is not important; what matters is whether or not he is going the right way, whether the path he is following will bring him out at the right place at last. Sometimes there will be an end to the road, and maybe sooner than he knows; but when he has gone the last step of the way will he find himself in a tomorrow of light and peace, or will the toward which he journeys be a of trouble and distress, a of wasteness and desolation, a of darkness and gloominess, a of clouds and thick darkness? The inspired prophet Jeremiah says (and for that matter all the holy prophets who have spoken since the world began say) and our Lord and His apostles say that man does not know the way; indeed he hardly knows where he should go, to say nothing of the way he should take to get there. The worried Thomas spoke for every man when he asked, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? That is the truth and we had better face it squarely: the way of man is not in himself. However severe the blow to our pride, we would do well to bow our heads and admit our ignorance. For those who know not and know they know not, there may in the mercy of God be hope; for those who think they know there can be only increasing darkness.

Verse
Thomas said to him, Lord, we dont know where you are going, so how can we know the way? John 14:5

Thought
We think we know the road we are traveling and then in a moment everything comes crashing down around us-sorrow, sickness, disappointment, failure. Our hearts cry out: We dont know the way! Then we sense the quiet voice of Jesus: I am the Way, follow me.

Prayer
All the way You lead me, Lord. You are the Way. I have only to follow whether in the bright sunshine or the clouds of darkness.
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Post  Admin Sat 27 Oct 2012, 2:26 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sat, October 27, 2012

The Director of Our Way

Among the many wonders of the Holy Scriptures is their ability frequently to compress into a sentence truth so vast, so complex, as to require a whole shelf of books to expound. Even a single phrase may glow with a light like that of the ancient pillar of fire and its shining may illuminate the intellectual landscape for miles around. An example is found in Jeremiah 10:23. After the Lord had spoken of the vanity of idols and had set in contrast to the gods of the heathen the glory of the living God, the King of Eternity, the prophet responded in an inspired exclamation that very well states the whole problem of humankind: O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. The prophet here turns to a figure of speech, one which appears in the Scriptures so frequently that it is not easy to remember that it is but a figure. Man is seen as a traveler making his difficult way from a past he can but imperfectly recollect into a future about which he knows nothing. And he cannot stay, but must each morning strike his moving tent and journey on toward-and there is the heavy problem-toward what?

Verse
I know, O LORD, that a mans life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10:23

Thought
It is not for us to direct our steps but how often we try. Only God knows the way ahead. The Good Shepherd leads if we will but follow.

Prayer
It is for You to direct my steps. Today, Good Shepherd, lead me and I will follow.
Tozer Devotional
Fri, October 26, 2012
Universal Brotherhood: The Impossible Dream

The dream of a universal brotherhood based upon the ethics of Jesus is just that-a dream. It is compounded of a few words of Christ mixed with vast numbers of uninspired words spoken by men whose yearnings are to be commended but whose wisdom is suspect. To arrive at the doctrine of brotherhood it is necessary that we reject the major portion of the New Testament and misunderstand the rest. There were once two brothers. They lived in a society that had not had time to develop the many social evils we know today. Yet one killed the other because sin was there. If two brothers in the morning of the world could not get on together, how can we hope that the gentle teachings of Jesus can ever bring brotherhood to a race filled with complex iniquities, where men inherit hates and where the souls of all are lacerated by jealousy, envy, egotism, greed and lust? The hope of the individual is the new birth and the acceptance of the teachings of Christ as a way of life. The hope of the race is that Christ shall come again to earth. Even so, Lord, come quickly.

Verse
Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all you soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39

Thought
Can men and women obey the Great Commandments without submitting themselves to the Great Commander? Lets not be shocked when unbelievers fail to live by the Great Commandments. But what is our excuse for not doing so?

Prayer
Forgive me, Lord, for expecting of others Christlike living when they have never been born of You. By Your Spirit show me those areas of life in which it is me living and not You.
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Post  Admin Thu 25 Oct 2012, 8:59 pm

Tozer Devotional
Thu, October 25, 2012

Living Christs Ethics Requires His Power

The ethics of Jesus must be imposed upon society, we are told, then all inequalities will vanish; the division of humanity into rich and poor, great and small, privileged and underprivileged will be no more. Under the benign influence of Christs ethics of love, greed and war will disappear from the earth and the dream of universal brotherhood be realized at last. The teachings of Jesus belong to the Church, not to society. In society is sin and sin is hostility to God. Christ did not teach that He would impose His teachings upon the fallen world. He called His disciples to Him and taught them, and everywhere throughout His teachings there is the overt or implied idea that His followers will constitute an unpopular minority group in an actively hostile world. The divine procedure is to go into the world of fallen men, preach to them the necessity to repent and become disciples of Christ and, after making disciples, to teach them the ethics of Jesus, which Christ called all things whatsoever I have commanded you. The ethics of Jesus cannot be obeyed or even understood until the life of God has come to the heart of a man in the miracle of the new birth. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them who walk in the Spirit. Christ lives again in His redeemed follower the life He lived in Judea; for righteousness can never be divorced from its source, which is Jesus Christ Himself.

Verse
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them . . . and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. . . . Matthew 28:19-20

Thought
We all discover that we cant practice the ethics of Jesus without His enablement. He makes that enablement available to us by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Prayer
O Christ, I am breathing out my own life, that I may be filled with Thine; letting go my strength and weakness, breathing in Thy life divine.
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Post  Admin Wed 24 Oct 2012, 10:12 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wed, October 24, 2012

Selective Acceptance of the Teaching of Christ and the Apostles

It may seem a bit odd that the religious teachers who exalted the teachings of Jesus to the seventh empyrean should in the same breath demote the person of Jesus to the level of a common man; yet they did just that. They lamented with many a crocodile tear the error of the Church in worshiping Jesus and failing to spread His ethics throughout the earth. The implication was that the man Jesus was important only because of the sterling quality of His ethics; though it was hard for some then and it is hard for others now to understand how a mans teaching can be greater than the man. The same persons who exalted His doctrine of love completely ignored His claim to deity and brushed aside His teachings on sin, judgment and hell, as well as His whole system of eschatology. This arrogant picking and choosing among the words of Christ gave some persons the impression that these teachers were far less sincere than they claimed to be, for a man need not be a genius to reach the conclusion that if Jesus was wrong about almost all of His teachings there could be no certainty that He was right about the rest. Well, it is not my intention to fight again the battle of Bunker Hill. If all this belonged only to the past we might be content to let the dead bury their dead and pass on to something else; but the ghosts of the old Modernists appear to have been reincarnated and many of the arguments raised by the liberals a generation ago are now being repeated by the orthodox.

Verse
They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42

Thought
It seems that in each generation certain biblical teaching is debated as to the authors intent, meaning, cultural context and whether locally or universally applicable. Current issues include homosexual practice and the nature of family. Do disciples hav

Prayer
Lord, keep me from error in understanding Your Word and the response You desire from me to it. In Jesus name.
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Post  Admin Tue 23 Oct 2012, 9:54 pm

Tozer Devotional
Tue, October 23, 2012

The Cause of Continued Darkness

The truth in the Person of the Logos, the Word, is seeking to illuminate the minds of men. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. For this reason, when we conceive ourselves to be honest seekers who cannot find the light we are in a state of dangerous self-deception. It is a grave situation. Unless help comes quickly the darkness may close down upon us permanently. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Behind all our failure to find light is an unconfessed and possibly an unconscious love of darkness. This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God (John 3:19-21). We should always remember that we are accountable not only for the light we have but also for the light we might have if we were willing to obey it. Truth is sovereign and will not allow itself to be trifled with. And it is easy to find for it is trying to find us. Obedience is the big problem: and unwillingness to obey is the cause of continued darkness.

Verse
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. John 3:19

Thought
Are we going through life with our eyes closed to the light because we love darkness? Rise up to obey the Light and more light will flood into our lives. We have been reborn to walk in light.

Prayer
Shine, Jesus, shine in this heart of mine. Expose those pockets of darkness. I want to live in the sunlight of Your love.
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Post  Admin Mon 22 Oct 2012, 6:40 pm

Tozer Devotional
Mon, October 22, 2012
Truth that Seeks Lost People

Our Lord said, I am the Truth, and again He said, The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Truth therefore is not hard to find for the very reason that it is seeking us. Truth is not a thing for which we must search, but a Person to whom we must hearken. This is taught or taken for granted in the record of Gods dealings with men throughout the Sacred Scriptures. After the sin in Eden it was not Adam who cried O God, where art Thou? but God who cried Where art thou? as He sought for Adam among the trees of the Garden. Abraham heard God speak and responded, but it was God who was the aggressor. God appeared unto Jacob before Jacob came to appear before God. And in the burning bush God revealed Himself to Moses. Again and again did God take the initiative. He sought for Gideon and found him on the threshing floor of Ophrah. He showed Himself to Isaiah when there is no evidence that Isaiah was seeking Him. Before Jeremiah was born God laid His hand upon him, and He opened heaven to let the discouraged priest Ezekiel see a vision and hear a voice. Amos said he was not a prophet neither a prophets son, but the Lord took him as he followed the flock. Again God was the aggressor. In the New Testament things are not otherwise. True, multitudes came to Christ for physical help, but only rarely did one seek Him out to learn the truth; and even that rare one usually turned away when the truth was told him. The whole picture in the Gospels is one of a seeking Savior, not one of seeking men. The truth was hunting for those who would receive it, and relatively few did. Many are called, but few are chosen.

Verse
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. Luke 19:10

Thought
Christ is the Truth. He is also the seeker of lost people. Long before we ever sought truth, Truth was seeking us.

Prayer
Before I ever reached out to You, You were reaching out to me. All praise to You, Im found!
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Post  Admin Sun 21 Oct 2012, 6:44 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sun, October 21, 2012
To Be Discovered, Truth Must Be Obeyed

It is born in every man to want to dramatize his life and to cast himself as the star of the performance . Once let a man become persuaded that he is a hero in quest of the holy grail of truth and he becomes a victim of a pretty and pleasant delusion that inflates his ego and blinds him to the very truth he claims to seek. And if he is later forced to admit that he has not found it he absolves himself from all guilt, for has he not searched? Has he not hunted through the years for the precious treasure? Where is the stone he has left unturned? Where has he not drilled or digged among the philosophies and religions of the world? Why then has he not found? To him there can be only one answer: The Spirit and Wisdom of the universe has let him down. The great Oversoul has withheld the secret from him. So he tells himself and in wounded dignity walks stiffly into the sunset convinced that he has been deeply wronged in his effort to discover lifes summum bonum. His is a tragedy worthy of Aeschylus and he himself grand in failure and noble in defeat. Disillusioning people is a thankless task and quite plainly does not come under the category of making friends and thinking positively. Nevertheless it must be done if we are to rescue lost men from the consequences of their delusions. So let me say boldly that it is not the difficulty of discovering truth but the unwillingness to obey it that makes it so rare among men.

Verse
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31-32

Thought
Often it is the simple, marginally educated people who find ultimate truth while the intelligentsia search in vain. The reason is that truth to be discovered must be obeyed.

Prayer
Thank You, Father, for the example of common but godly people whose lives have demonstrated to me that the simplest may find the truth if they are but willing to obey it.
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Post  Admin Sat 20 Oct 2012, 11:02 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sat, October 20, 2012

Where Truth Leads Us

The world is full of seekers, true enough, and they gravitate quite naturally toward the church. Seekers after peace of mind are plentiful enough to keep the printing presses busy; seekers after physical health are always with us in sufficient numbers to make our leading faith healers comfortably rich; seekers after success and safety are legion, as our popular religious leaders know too well. But real seekers after truth are almost as rare as albino deer. And here is why: Truth is a glorious but hard master. It makes moral demands upon us. It claims the sovereign right to control us, to strip us, even to slay us as it chooses. Truth will never stoop to be a servant but requires that all men serve it. It never flatters men and never compromises with them. It demands all or nothing and refuses to be used or patronized. It will be all in all or it will withdraw into silence. It was Christ who capitalized truth and revealed that it was not an it at all but a Being with all the attributes of personality. I am the Truth, He said, and followed truth straight to the cross. The truth seeker must follow Him there; and that is the reason few men seek truth.

Verse
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; Romans 8:5-6

Thought
Seeing truth means following Christ who is the Truth. Inevitably Christ leads us to the cross, our cross-saying no to the sinful nature so as to live in accordance with the indwelling Spirit.

Prayer
Lord, saying no to desires of the sinful nature seems to close the door on so many self-pleasing pleasures. Yet it opens to me the Spirit-controlled life, living the truth.
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Post  Admin Fri 19 Oct 2012, 8:30 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, October 19, 2012

The Good Life that Turns Out to be Not So Good

Almost everywhere it is assumed that people are seeking truth, that society is literally swarming with dedicated truth seekers. The fact is that men have never in any numbers sought after truth. If we may judge peoples interests by their deeds, then of the young men and women who stream forth from our halls of learning each year the vast majority have no more than a passing and academic interest in truth. They go to college not to satisfy a yearning to discover truth, but to improve their social standing and increase their earning power. These motives are not necessarily to be despised; but they should be known for what they are, and not hidden beneath a pink cloud of specious idealism. What are people actually seeking? Of course they seek satisfaction for the basic urges such as hunger, sex and social companionship; but beyond these what? Certainly for nothing as high and noble as truth. Ask the average American what he wants from life and if he is candid he will tell you he wants success in his chosen field; and he wants success both for the prestige it brings him and for the financial security it affords. And why does he want financial security? To guarantee him against the loss of comforts, luxuries and pleasures, which he believes are rightfully his as a part of his American heritage. The ominous thing about all this is that everything he wants can be bought with money. It would be hard to think of an indictment more terrible than that.

Verse
And Ill say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourse Luke 12:19-20

Thought
For the rich man wealth insured his future. But what a very limited future it proved to be. Financial security is of no worth beyond death. After death what counts is having found truth and obeyed it.

Prayer
Father, I know that money cannot buy eternal truth. Deliver me from living as if it could.
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Post  Admin Thu 18 Oct 2012, 11:01 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wed, October 17, 2012

Are We Missing the Churchs Purpose?

It would be too easy to dismiss this dislike for church as only another symptom of original sin and love of moral darkness, but I believe that explanation is too pat to be wholly true. It doesnt explain enough. Some persons, for instance, find church intolerable because there is no objective toward which pastor and people are moving, aside possibly from the limited one of trying to enlist eight more women and 10 more men to chaperon the annual youth cookout or reaching the building fund quota for the month. And believe me, that can get mighty wearisome after a while, so wearisome indeed that alert, forward-looking persons often forsake the churches in droves and leave the spiritless, the dull and those afflicted with permanent insouciance to carry on, if a phrase so active dare be used to describe what they do. To Paul there was nothing dull or tiresome in the religion of Christ. God had a plan which was being carried forward to completion, and Paul and all the faithful in Christ Jesus were part of that plan. It included predestination, redemption, adoption and the obtaining of an eternal inheritance in the heavenly places. Gods purpose has now been openly revealed (Ephesians 3:10,11). It was the knowledge that they were part of an eternal plan that imparted unquenchable enthusiasm to the early Christians. They burned with holy zeal for Christ and felt that they were part of an army which the Lord was leading to ultimate conquest over all the powers of darkness. That was enough to fill them with perpetual enthusiasm.

Verse
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 3:10-11

Thought
Gods eternal purpose is that His manifold wisdom be made known through the Church. Is that the purpose statement of your church? Lets find out what God means and adopt His purpose for us.

Prayer
Lord, give me greater understanding of what You are about in this world that our local church may be CHURCH as You intend.
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Post  Admin Wed 17 Oct 2012, 5:55 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wed, October 17, 2012
Are We Missing the Churchs Purpose?

It would be too easy to dismiss this dislike for church as only another symptom of original sin and love of moral darkness, but I believe that explanation is too pat to be wholly true. It doesnt explain enough. Some persons, for instance, find church intolerable because there is no objective toward which pastor and people are moving, aside possibly from the limited one of trying to enlist eight more women and 10 more men to chaperon the annual youth cookout or reaching the building fund quota for the month. And believe me, that can get mighty wearisome after a while, so wearisome indeed that alert, forward-looking persons often forsake the churches in droves and leave the spiritless, the dull and those afflicted with permanent insouciance to carry on, if a phrase so active dare be used to describe what they do. To Paul there was nothing dull or tiresome in the religion of Christ. God had a plan which was being carried forward to completion, and Paul and all the faithful in Christ Jesus were part of that plan. It included predestination, redemption, adoption and the obtaining of an eternal inheritance in the heavenly places. Gods purpose has now been openly revealed (Ephesians 3:10,11). It was the knowledge that they were part of an eternal plan that imparted unquenchable enthusiasm to the early Christians. They burned with holy zeal for Christ and felt that they were part of an army which the Lord was leading to ultimate conquest over all the powers of darkness. That was enough to fill them with perpetual enthusiasm.

Verse
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 3:10-11

Thought
Gods eternal purpose is that His manifold wisdom be made known through the Church. Is that the purpose statement of your church? Lets find out what God means and adopt His purpose for us.

Prayer
Lord, give me greater understanding of what You are about in this world that our local church may be CHURCH as You intend.
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Post  Admin Tue 16 Oct 2012, 5:04 pm

Tozer Devotional
Tue, October 16, 2012
Christ: Our Only Grounds for Boasting

The faith of the Christian rests upon Christ Himself. On Him we repose and in Him we live. Christ gains nothing from any human philosophy, however pure and noble it may be. He owes nothing to Plato or to Aristotle. If these men had never lived the Christ in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily would have been all He ever was and is world without end. His redemptive work was completed centuries before the dawn of modern science, and of course seeks no aid from science. Christ is unique in the only sense that word will bear. He is the mystery of Godliness, a miracle, an emergence of the Deity into time and space for a reason and a purpose. He is complete in Himself. Because we Christians live on two life-levels simultaneously, the spiritual and the natural, we do, as sons of Adam, owe to philosophy and science a lasting debt of gratitude. Music, literature, art, state-craft, economics, learning contribute to our welfare and make the world a more comfortable place in which to live while we wait for the manifestation of the sons of God and the redemption of our bodies. So it is good that we gain all the knowledge we can in the short time that is ours. Whatever we learn that is true will remain our treasured possession in the world to come. For these reasons I believe in education, as full as possible for as many as possible as quickly as possible. That is one thing. It is quite another to try to equate the faith of Christ with Philosophy or science or any other or all of the products of superior human minds. And to make that faith dependent upon these things is in the light of Christs deity not only preposterous but near to sacrilegious. Christ is enough. To have Him and nothing else is to be rich beyond conceiving. To have all else and have not Christ is to be a cosmic pauper, cut off forever from all that will matter at last.

Verse
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. First Corinthians 1:30-31

Thought
Wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption-Christ is all! Its time that we enjoyed our spiritual wealth in Him and left spiritual poverty behind.

Prayer
O Christ, everything is in You and You are everything!
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Post  Admin Mon 15 Oct 2012, 9:30 pm

Tozer Devotional
Mon, October 15, 2012

Walking in the Light of His Presence
Our frantic and futile effort to harmonize the truth of Christ with psychology, philosophy and science is proof enough of a deep incertitude among us concerning the sufficiency of Christ. It is a tragicomic sight to see our modern apostles licking the palm of any man of learning who will condescend to say something complimentary about Jesus Christ. How eagerly we rush into print with any quotation from the lips of the Great Man of the world that can be tortured into an admission that he believes that Jesus is the Son of God. The New Testament points to Christ and says God now commands all men everywhere to repent: because He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has ordained; whereof He has given assurance unto all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead. God validated forever the claims of Christ. He is who He said He was and what He said He was. Christ stands before no man to be judged, but every man stands before Him. Any uncertainty about Him was swept away forever when He arose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sent down the Holy Spirit as His final witness among men. Now it may be said that Christ as the Second person of the Godhead is self-validating. He needs no supplementary witness from the world of nature or from the race of men. He is His own witness.

Verse
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. Psalm 89:15

Thought
Transformation of life and continued communion with God is sufficient validation that He is all that scripture reveals Him to be. What matters is not what others affirm or deny concerning Christ but who we have personally found and are finding Him to be.

Prayer
Knowing You, Lord, and experiencing Your presence is the greatest affirmation for me that You are God.
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Post  Admin Sun 14 Oct 2012, 6:50 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sun, October 14, 2012

Christ is All!

One thing the young Christian should be taught as quickly as possible after his conversion is that Jesus Christ is all he needs. When he believes effectively on Christ as his Lord and Savior he can humbly declare his independence of everyone and everything outside of Christ. This the New Testament teaches with great emphasis and clarity and with fullness of detail. We need not quote any proof text in support of this statement, but suggest simply that the inquirer read the Scriptures to see for himself, especially John, Ephesians, Colossians and Hebrews. One marked characteristic of modern evangelicalism is its lack of assurance, resulting in a pathetic search for external evidence to corroborate its faith. It sets out bravely to declare its trust in Christ, but is shortly overawed by the counter declarations of science and philosophy and before long it is looking hesitantly about for some collateral evidence to restore its confidence.

Verse
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

Thought
Blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ what more do we need? To lay claim to those blessings by faith. Having died with Christ by faith, we now live with Him.

Prayer
Thank You, Lord, You are all I need!
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Post  Admin Sat 13 Oct 2012, 8:08 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sat, October 13, 2012
Condemnation or No Condemnation

A sinful man should be afraid; he has plenty to be afraid of. The consequences of his sins, death, judgment and hell are all awaiting him and he cannot escape them by looking the other way. While he lives on earth there are dangers of every kind facing him and everyone he loves. Any religious teacher that exhorts him to ignore these dangers is unrealistic, false to the facts and a deadly enemy to his soul. The prophet of tranquility is indeed another source of danger to him and should be considered one more object of fear. Where there are mortal perils and no place to hide, fear is the only sane reaction. To dismiss fear while the danger still exists is little short of insanity. Until the danger has been removed, fear should remain. Only that man has a right to be unafraid who has fled for refuge to the mighty Savior. Such a man knows the danger is there, but he also knows that his Almighty Lord will bring him safely through and present him at last faultless before the presence of God. There are in the Scriptures innumerable exhortations to put away fear; but they are all addressed to Gods own children, never to the children of this world. Someone must care, and if a man has not cast his fears on Christ, he must bear them himself. The safety of the Rock is for those who have put their trust in the Rock. All others must face their enemies alone.

Verse
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2

Thought
There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. But what about those who are not in Him? Terrible condemnation and judgment await. Christ is the Savior to whom all may flee!

Prayer
Praise to You, Lord, You have fully paid my sin-debt. In You is life abundant!
Tozer Devotional
Fri, October 12, 2012

The One to be Feared

Over the years I have read or thumbed through a great many books on how to conquer fear. The cult of relaxation has, in fact, quite taken over certain areas of the religious thinking of the day. Of course the fear-not cultists are able to assemble a lot of Scripture to support their teaching, but the catch is that practically all of it is misunderstood or misapplied. It just doesnt mean what they say it does, and what is still worse, it isnt addressed to the people they try to apply it to. The fear-not philosophers all begin with the same error; namely, that there is nothing to fear, and all we need to do to get deliverance is to believe it. To teach people living in a world like ours that there is nothing to be afraid of is to be guilty of gross irresponsibility, and any teacher who does so disqualifies himself instantly and proves himself unworthy of the confidence of serious-minded men. Both the Bible and human experience teach that the world is full of enemies to mankind, not the least of those dangers being man himself. Our Lord said, I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Verse
It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31

Thought
How terrible to be lulled into false peace by those who peddle untruth. This life provides the only opportunity to bow before the living God and place our faith in Him. If we waste that opportunity we will one fall into the hands of the living God who wi
Prayer
Lord, I have placed by faith in You. Thank You for the peace-Your peace-that You give.
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Post  Admin Fri 12 Oct 2012, 9:52 am

Tozer Devotional
Thu, October 11, 2012

The Brooding Spirit of God

Because the inner lostness is the same in all human beings the work of God to reclaim them must be the same in all. And the Spirit broods over all, illuminating, revealing, convicting, enabling them to hear and see and understand. It is one of the wonders and delights of preaching that the same message will often affect people differently, producing in one repentance, in another hope, in still others courage, humility or faith, according as the particular soul has need. Without this mighty, skillful working of the Spirit, preaching would be futile; with it the ministry of the Word can be easy and delightful as well as marvelously effective.

Verse
One of the those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Pauls message. Acts 16:14

Thought
It is the Holy Spirit who opens hearts to respond to the Good News. It is the Spirit who illuminates the Word. It is the Spirit who reveals Christ and convicts of sin. We minister in vain without the Spirits ministry!

Prayer
Thank You, Lord, that You do not hold me responsible to open the hearts of people. Forgive me for sometimes trying to. It is Your Spirit who so works!
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Post  Admin Wed 10 Oct 2012, 5:00 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wed, October 10, 2012
All People are . . . People!

The man of God may labor on in complete trust and in full expectation of success, provided he is aware of a few basic truths. One is that however different people may be in externals, they are all alike fundamentally. That in us to which the Christian message is directed is the same in every human being. Before the cross of Jesus we are not old or young, educated or ignorant, cultured or uncouth, dull or brilliant; we are just people-human beings lost and ruined deep inside where incidental differences do not matter, where indeed they are not even known. As gold is gold whether it is mixed with the sand of the stream or wrought into an exquisite work of art by the hand of a Cellini, so the essential stuff of human nature is the same under whatever conditions it may be found. That about us which yields itself to social differentiation, is not that for which Christ died. He did not, for example, die for doctors, farmers, authors, laborers, artists, engineers, professors, vagrants, presidents, musicians, lumbermen; He died for lost humanity, and any one can receive the benefits of His atonement, but only as lost beings. Color, race, social standings, occupation, cultural levels do not count, for they do not alter the basic human thing for which His blood was shed.

Verse
God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die (Contemporary English Version). John 3:16

Thought
Whoever we are in the world our most basic need is to know Christ as our Savior and Lord. In dependence upon the Holy Spirit that Good News must be communicated in a linguistically and culturally perceptible form to each one of the worlds billions.

Prayer
O Lord, people need You-those people around me and around the world. Use me to reach some of them. In Jesus name.
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Post  Admin Tue 09 Oct 2012, 9:33 pm

Tozer Devotional
Tue, October 09, 2012
Preaching the Word

Again, the Christian minister must have a word from God for the teen-aged, the middle-aged and the very aged. He must speak to the scholar as well as to the ignorant; he must bring the living Word to the cultured man and woman and to the vulgarian who reads nothing but the sports page and the comic strip. He must speak to the sad and to the happy, to the tender-minded and to the tough-minded, to those eager to live and to some who secretly wish they could die. And he must do this all in one sermon and in a period of time not exceeding 45 minutes. Surely this requires a Daniel, and Daniels are as scarce in the United States as in Babylon in 600 B.C. To add to the pastors burden is the knowledge that in each service there will likely be a few lost sons who should come home, some who never loved God at all and some who lost the love they had. So he must call sinners to repentance, warn the unruly, comfort the feebleminded, instruct, reprove, rebuke, encourage, console and exhort all at the same time, or at least on the same day. This is the situation stated baldly, but it is not actually as difficult as it looks. I said that the preacher appears to be at cross purposes with himself; but it is in appearance only, for what seems to be confusion is but the seamy side of the tapestry. The artistic pattern is on the other side.

Verse
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction. Second Timothy 4:2

Thought
Were you fed last Sunday? You may have been entertained, amused even encouraged. Were you fed? Was the Word preached?

Prayer
Father, may our pastors preach the Word-exegeting, interpreting and applying accurately that truth they have prayerfully received from You.
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Post  Admin Mon 08 Oct 2012, 10:59 pm

Tozer Devotional
Mon, October 08, 2012

The Rigors of Shepherding

Because we are the kind of persons we are and because we live in a world such as we do, the shepherd of souls is often forced to work at what would appear to be cross purposes with himself. For instance, he must encourage the timid and warn the self-confident; and these may at any given time be present in his congregation in almost equal numbers. His effort to encourage those who need encouragement may actually confirm presumptuous souls in their carelessness. Conversely, his much needed warnings and reproofs may drive timorous and doubting Christians to the borders of despair. Another problem he faces is the presence in the normal Christian assembly of believers in every stage of development, from the newly converted who knows almost nothing about the Christian life to the wise and experienced Christian who seems to know almost everything.

Verse
Again Jesus said, Simon son of John, do you truly love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. John 21:16

Thought
Taking care of a flock of sheep is a demanding task particularly if that flock includes sheep like you and me! Are you praying for your pastor/shepherd?

Prayer
You are the Great Shepherd, the Good Shepherd. Thank You for Your undershepherds who have faithfully shepherded me over the years.
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