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Post  Admin Sun 07 Oct 2012, 8:21 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sun, October 07, 2012

Misunderstood Salt

For choosing God as our one all absorbing interest we Christians are sometimes scorned or written off as hopelessly narrow-minded. But must we apologize? Must we apologize that we have chosen Christ as our career? That we deliberately will to walk with those who walk with God? That we have chosen eternity over time and heaven over earth? Must we apologize that we have chosen to seek good and not evil all the days of our lives? That we have chosen so to live that we dare to die? In so choosing whom have we injured? Whose son or daughter is the worse for knowing us? Whose house have we robbed or whose money have we stolen? Whom have we led into crime? Who is a worse husband or father or citizen for following our Savior? If we have wronged anyone it is in spite of our Christian faith, not because of it. No man, no home, no nation is the worse for the presence of a real Christian. Gerhard Tersteegen, the saintly silk weaver, said it for us in a delightful little bit of verse: Child of the Eternal Father, Bride of the Eternal Son, Dwelling place of God the Spirit, Thus with Christ made ever one; Dowered with joy beyond the angels, Nearest to His throne, They the ministers attending His beloved one: Granted all my hearts desire, All things made my own; Feared by all the powers of evil, Fearing God alone; Walking with the Lord in glory Through the courts divine, Queen within the royal palace, Christ forever mine: Say, poor worldling, can it be That my heart should envy thee?

Verse
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. Matthew 5:13

Thought
We are to be salt and salt is not always appreciated. We are to be light and those around may resent the light because they love darkness.

Prayer
Lord, may I be salt and light in this world. Shine through me though I be only a flickering candle.
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Post  Admin Sat 06 Oct 2012, 10:17 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sat, October 06, 2012
Knowing God

Our Lord, in defining eternal life, summed up the supreme goal of human existence: That they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. And Paul revealed the one overpowering interest of his life when he wrote That I may know him. The business of the Church is God. She is purest when most engaged with God and she is astray just so far as she follows other interests, no matter how religious or humanitarian they may be. There are a thousand useful, even noble, pursuits in which the Church may engage and which may bring her the plaudits of the world but which are nevertheless unworthy of her utter devotion. Such are social activities for their own sake, philosophical pursuits divorced from Him in whom all wisdom and knowledge is hidden away, art, music, education, travel, to name a mere few. As these things come to the Christian in his pursuit of God they may have a proper and useful place in his life; but when they are chosen as ends to be followed they are and can only be cheap substitutes for the glory that excelleth.

Verse
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

Thought
Eternal life is experientially knowing God. It is why we were created. Eternal life is not just an unending quantity of life. It is supernatural quality of life.

Prayer
That I may know You, O God, that I may know You. That is eternal life!
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Post  Admin Fri 05 Oct 2012, 11:02 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, October 05, 2012
Being Church

If we could bring together in one huge directory a list of all the organizations, great and small, that exist throughout the earth for the promotion of special interests we would be astounded at the number of them. Almost everything that human beings do or can do has its organization, association, society or guild to focus attention upon it and promote its ends. Some of these are good, some are bad, most of them are just neutral; but each one, however boring or comical it may appear to those who are not interested, has its starry-eyed devotees who live for it alone and who derive their keenest pleasure from their preoccupation with it. In the midst of all this there is one group of persons whose absorbing interest is, or should be, God. That group is the Church. The Church is born out of the gospel and that gospel has to do with God and mans relation to God. Christianity engages to bring God into human life, to make men right with God, to give them a heart knowledge of God, to teach them to love and obey God and ultimately to restore in them the lost image of God in full and everlasting perfection.

Verse
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ-their Lord and ours. First Corinthians 1:2

Thought
The Church is the people of God, the family of God. Wherever the people of God are the Church is. We are members of Christs body in the world. We are not confined to a church building. We are the Church wherever we are.

Prayer
O Lord, may Your Church be the Church-bold and unashamed. We are Your people through whom You seek to reach those around us.
Tozer Devotional
Thu, October 04, 2012
He Leadeth Me

Except for those things that are specifically commanded or forbidden, it is God's will that we be free to exercise our own intelligent choice. The shepherd will lead the sheep but he does not wish to decide which tuft of grass the sheep shall nibble each moment of the day. In almost everything touching our common life on earth God is pleased when we are pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our Maker's praise without anxiety. God's choice for us may not be one but any one of a score of possible choices. The man or woman who is wholly and joyously surrendered to Christ cannot make a wrong choice. Any choice will be the right one. But what about those rare times when a great deal is at stake, we can discover no clear scriptural instruction and yet are forced to choose between two possible courses? In such a situation we have God's faithful promise to guide us aright. Here, for instance, are two passages from the Word of the Lord: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering (James 1:5,6). Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go (Isaiah 48:17). Take your problem to the Lord. Remind Him of these promises. Then get up and do what looks best to you. Either choice will be right. God will not permit you to make a mistake.

Verse
. . . I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. Isaiah 48:17

Thought
Sometimes God leads us through scripture. At other times it is direction by His Spirit internally. There are occasions, too, when He leads through other people whom we respect and admire. Or it may be just circumstances. What matters is assurance of hear

Prayer
O Lord, may I be increasingly sensitive to You to discern Your will in whatsoever way You show it to me. In Jesus name.
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Post  Admin Thu 04 Oct 2012, 1:02 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wed, October 03, 2012

Steering by Gods Compass

Put this down as an unfailing rule: Never seek the leading of the Lord concerning an act that is forbidden in the Word of God. To do so is to convict ourselves of insincerity. Again, prophet, psalmist, apostle and our blessed Lord Himself join to point out the way of positive obedience. His yoke is easy, His burden is light and He giveth more grace, so let this be the second rule: Never seek the leading of the Lord concerning an act that has been commanded in the Scriptures. Now, a happy truth too often overlooked in our anxious search for the will of God is that in the majority of decisions touching our earthly lives God expresses no choice, but leaves everything to our own preference. Some Christians walk under a cloud of uncertainty, worrying about which profession they should enter, which car they should drive, which school they should attend, where they should live and a dozen or score of other such matters, when their Lord has set them free to follow their own personal bent, guided only by their love for Him and for their fellow men. On the surface it appears more spiritual to seek Gods leading than just to go ahead and do the obvious thing. But it is not. If God gave you a watch would you honor Him more by asking Him for the time of or by consulting the watch? If God gave a sailor a compass would the sailor please God more by kneeling in a frenzy of prayer to persuade God to show him which way to go or by steering according to the compass?

Verse
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:13

Thought
Sometimes God shouts to us through our circumstances. His will seems too obvious. But a study of Pauls life shows that God leads us in different ways at different times in our pilgrimage.

Prayer
Father, at times I have in effect demanded revelation of Your will to me in life hurricanes and earthquakes. May I discern it as well in the unspectacular circumstances of life-the quiet compass You have given me.
Tozer Devotional
Tue, October 02, 2012
The Choice Quandary

One of the problems most frequently encountered by serious-minded Christians is how to discover the will of God in a given situation. Now, granted that we are wholly committed to God with every full intent to obey Him, we may expect actually to be led by Him. The Scriptures that teach this are so many that one scarcely knows where to begin quoting. It only remains for us to believe they mean what they say. The many choices that we Christians must make from to involve only four kinds of things: Those concerning which God has said an emphatic no; those about which He has said an equally emphatic yes; those concerning which He wants us to consult our own sanctified preferences; and those few and rare matters about which we cannot acquire enough information to permit us to make intelligent decisions and which for that reason require some special guidance from the Lord to prevent us from making serious mistakes. Regardless of what our positive thinkers have said, the Scriptures have much to say about things Christians are not to do. Every call to repentance is a call to negative as well as to positive moral action. Cease to do evil; learn to do well is a fair epitome of the moral teaching of the Bible.

Verse
. . . Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! . . . Isaiah 1:16-17

Thought
Determining the Lords will can be difficult at times. The problem may be that we are not sufficiently familiar with His Word so as to know what He specifically forbids or positively commands. Such knowledge can often reduce the choice quandary.

Prayer
Lord, forgive me for sometimes refusing to see what You have clearly revealed in Your Word. Your way is the only way.
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Post  Admin Tue 02 Oct 2012, 2:45 pm

Tozer Devotional
Mon, October 01, 2012
On Knowing the Will of God

One of the problems most frequently encountered by serious-minded Christians is how to discover the will of God in a given situation. This is not a small matter. To countless thousands of Christians it is vitally important. Their peace of heart depends upon knowing that God is actually guiding them, and their failure to be sure that He is destroys their inward tranquility and fills them with uncertainty and fear. They must get help if they are to regain their confidence. Here is a modest effort to provide some help. First, it is absolutely essential that we be completely dedicated to Gods high honor and surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God will not lead us except for His own glory and He cannot lead us if we resist His will. The shepherd cannot lead a stubborn sheep. The evil practice of using God must be abandoned. Instead of trying to employ God to achieve our ends we must submit ourselves joyously to God and let Him work through us to achieve His own ends.

Verse
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. Matthew 26:39

Thought
Have you ever tried to use God? Have you attempted to persuade Him to do your will rather than you doing His? To know His will we must be fully committed to do it!

Prayer
Lord, You were fully committed to do the will of the Father, costly as it was. By Your Spirit strengthen within me the resolve to do Your will no matter the cost.
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Post  Admin Sun 30 Sep 2012, 8:00 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sun, September 30, 2012

It Matters What You Think
It is something of a happy paradox that while the thoughts deeply affect the will and go far to determine its choices, the will on the other hand has the power to control the thoughts. A will firmly engaged with God can swing the intellectual powers around to think on holy things. Were it not so, Pauls words to the Philippians would be psychologically untenable: Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8). Since we are here commanded to think on certain things it follows that we can command our thoughts; and if we can pick the objects upon which to meditate we can in the end sway our whole inner life in the direction of righteousness. It is much more important that we think godly thoughts and will to do Gods will than that we feel spiritual. Religious feelings may and do vary so greatly from person to person, or even in the same person they may vary so widely from one time to the next, that it is never safe to trust them. Let us by a determined act of faith set our affections on things above and God will see to the rest. The safest, and after a while the happiest, man is the one who can say, My heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

Verse
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Thought
Thoughts invade our thinking because of the world around us and things stored in our subconscious. We cant altogether prevent thought invasion. But when wrong thoughts, evil thoughts arise we can deliberately focus our mind on things good.

Prayer
Lord, I determine by Your enablement to think about the good.
Tozer Devotional
Sat, September 29, 2012
The Taming of Anger

It is significant that when our Lord describes the stream of iniquity as it flows out of the heart He begins with the thoughts. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. .. Matthew 15:19. It is doubtful whether any sin is ever committed until it first incubates in the thoughts long enough to stir the feelings and predispose the will toward it favorably. Even the sudden flash of anger, which of all sins would appear on the surface to have the lowest mental content, is anything but a sudden eruption of the emotions. The quick-tempered man is one who habitually broods over wrongs and insults and thus conditions himself for the sudden fit of temper that seems to have no mental origin. The heart that has had the benefit of broad, sane thinking on moral questions, especially long meditation upon mans sin, Gods mercy and the goodness of Christ in dying for His enemies, is not conditioned to blow up when occasion arises. The worst reaction to an affront or an injustice will be annoyance or mild irritation, never a burst of sinful anger.

Verse
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:31-32

Thought
The short-tempered person is given to fits of rage. Long-temperedness (patience) is part of the fruit of the Spirit as is gentleness and self-control. That fruit is produced in us as we walk by under the Spirits control.

Prayer
Lord, help me to relate to people as You do to me-with great patience, grace and gentleness.
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Post  Admin Sat 29 Sep 2012, 9:49 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, September 28, 2012
Heart-Matters

It will probably be found at last that there is no sin except sin of the mind. It is the carnal mind that is enmity against God, that is not subject to the law of God, neither can be. It should, however, be remembered that when the Bible speaks of the mind it does not refer to the intellect alone. The whole personality is included in the concept; the bent of the will, the moral responses, the sympathies and antipathies are there also, as well as the intellect. When God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, He saw what could not be seen from the outside, that, as it is rendered in one place, the whole imagination, with the purposes and desires of the heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). From this passage alone we may properly gather that sin has its seat deep within the mind where it pollutes the emotions (desires), the intellect (imaginations) and the will (purposes). These taken together constitute what the Bible and popular theology call the heart.

Verse
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15:18-19

Thought
What we are in heart at times explodes and at other times quietly leaks out through our mouths as well as our gestures, expressions and actions. That is why it is imperative that our hearts be clean and that there Christ be enthroned.

Prayer
Examine my heart, Lord, expose it. I want my heart to be Your throne
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Post  Admin Fri 28 Sep 2012, 8:21 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, September 28, 2012
Heart-Matters

It will probably be found at last that there is no sin except sin of the mind. It is the carnal mind that is enmity against God, that is not subject to the law of God, neither can be. It should, however, be remembered that when the Bible speaks of the mind it does not refer to the intellect alone. The whole personality is included in the concept; the bent of the will, the moral responses, the sympathies and antipathies are there also, as well as the intellect. When God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, He saw what could not be seen from the outside, that, as it is rendered in one place, the whole imagination, with the purposes and desires of the heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). From this passage alone we may properly gather that sin has its seat deep within the mind where it pollutes the emotions (desires), the intellect (imaginations) and the will (purposes). These taken together constitute what the Bible and popular theology call the heart.

Verse
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15:18-19

Thought
What we are in heart at times explodes and at other times quietly leaks out through our mouths as well as our gestures, expressions and actions. That is why it is imperative that our hearts be clean and that there Christ be enthroned.

Prayer
Examine my heart, Lord, expose it. I want my heart to be Your throne.
Tozer Devotional
Thu, September 27, 2012

Walking in Truth

Any man who would escape the heavy tax which humankind lays upon the righteous must make a satisfactory compromise with error. This is so because sin has perverted the nature of things. He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey is as true now as when it was first uttered. Little as we like to admit it, two thousand years of Christianity have not made much difference. The human race is still cursed with what Bacon called a natural though corrupt love of the lie itself. Nevertheless the hazards of truth should not count in our final tally. Truth is such a royal patron that we should embrace it without regard to cost. The cautious calculator, who tinkers with truth for fear of consequences, is no worthy servant of such a noble master. We Christians above all people should value truth, for we profess to belong to the One who is the Truth. The Stoics who had no access to the Scriptures nevertheless had a noble concept of truth and of mans responsibility to it. When on trial for his life before a hostile and prejudiced court one of them told his accusers: A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong-acting the part of a good man or a bad. The true follower of Christ will not ask, If I embrace this truth, what will it cost me? Rather he will say, This is truth, God help me to walk in it, let come what may!

Verse
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it. Isaiah 30:21

Thought
Some of us want to know the way, the truth just to be knowledgeable among our brothers and sisters. But God shows us truth and says This is the way; walk in it.

Prayer
You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. As You show me truth may I walk in the way of it, even though it is sometimes painful.
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Post  Admin Thu 27 Sep 2012, 1:36 pm

Tozer Devotional
Wed, September 26, 2012
Following the Truth

To know the truth is the greatest privilege any man can enjoy in this life, as truth itself is without doubt the richest treasure anyone can possess. This follows from the nature of truth, and from the world-outlasting dowry it brings to those who open their hearts to it. Apart from truth our human lives would lose all their value, and we ourselves become no better than the beasts that perish. Our response to truth should be eager and instant. We dare not dally with it; we dare not treat it as something we can obey or not obey, at our pleasure. It is a glorious friend, but it is nevertheless a hard master, exacting unquestioning obedience. While a life lived in conformity with the truth will come at last to a good and peaceful end, candor requires us to admit that the lover of truth will have to endure many a heartache, many a sorrow as he journeys through the wilderness. This is the price the world makes him pay for the priceless privilege of obeying the truth. The world being what it is, truth must carry its own forfeit. The servant of truth will be penalized for his devotion. So goes the world always.

Verse
Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Thought
Christ is the truth. We want to embrace some truth and screen out other truth. We cant. To follow Christ means walking in the truth-all of it!

Prayer
It hurts sometimes, Lord, to embrace the truth, all of it. Yet to reject truth is to embrace darkness. You are the truth. Fill all of me!
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Post  Admin Tue 25 Sep 2012, 5:40 pm

Tozer Devotional
Tue, September 25, 2012

Worshipful Thinking

Man is a worshiper and only in the spirit of worship does he find release for all the powers of his amazing intellect. A religious writer has warned us that it may be fatal to trust to the squirrel-work of the industrious brain rather than to the piercing vision of the desirous heart. The Greek church father, Nicephorus, taught that we should learn to think with our heart. Force your mind to descend into the heart, he says, and to remain there. . . . When you thus enter into the place of the heart give thanks to God and, praising His mercy, keep always to this doing, and it will teach you things which in no other way will you ever learn. A religious mentality characterized by timidity and lack of moral courage has given us to a flabby Christianity, intellectually impoverished, dull, repetitious and to a great many persons just plain boring. This is peddled as the very faith of our fathers in direct lineal descent from Christ and the apostles. We spoon-feed this insipid pabulum to our inquiring youth and, to make it palatable, spice it up with carnal amusements filched from the unbelieving world. It is easier to entertain than to instruct, it is easier to follow degenerate public taste than to think for oneself, so too many of our evangelical leaders let their minds atrophy while they keep their fingers nimble operating religious gimmicks to bring in the curious crowds. Christianity must embrace the total personality and command every atom of the redeemed being. We cannot withhold our intellects from the blazing altar and still hope to preserve the true faith of Christ.

Verse
All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of the God and ponder what he has done. Psalm 64:9

Thought
The indwelling Spirit can inflame our intellect, empowering it to climb new mountains of thought that brings us closer and closer to God.

Prayer
Lord, remind me to think from the heart, not just the mind. May I persevere and find answers of heart, if not of mind. Make me a sanctified thinker.
Tozer Devotional
Mon, September 24, 2012

Chasing Truth

To think well and usefully a man must be endowed with certain indispensable qualifications. He must, for one thing, be completely honest and transparently sincere. Another qualification is courage. The timid man dare not think lest he discover himself, an experience to him as shocking as the discovery that he has cancer. The sincere thinker comes to his task with the abandonment of a Saul of Tarsus, crying, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Thinking carries a moral imperative. The searcher for truth must be ready to obey truth without reservation or it will elude him. Let him refuse to follow the light and he dooms himself to darkness. The coward may be shrewd or clever but he can never be a wise thinker, for wisdom is at bottom a moral thing and will have no truck with evil. Again, the effective religious thinker must possess some degree of knowledge. A Chinese saying has it, Learning without thought is a snare; thought without learning is a danger. I have met Christians with sharp minds but limited outlook who saw one truth and, being unable to relate it to other truths, became narrow extremists, devoutly cultivating their tiny plot, naively believing that their little fence enclosed the whole earth. An acquaintance with or at least a perception of the significance of what Kant called the starry heavens above and the moral law within is necessary to right thinking. Add to this a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, a good historic sense and some intimate contact with the Christian religion as it is practiced currently and you have the raw material for creative thought. Still this is not enough to make a thinker.

Verse
Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Psalm 111:2

Thought
Courageous thinking pursued in depth and fixed on God, His Word and our human situation takes us into new territory. It leads to new questions, expanded knowledge and truth new to us. It brings us to our knees in delight before our great God.

Prayer
Lord, it is You who have given me the ability to think. May I exercise that ability with courage even though I encounter new problems and questions. May I grow in You
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Post  Admin Mon 24 Sep 2012, 1:24 am

Tozer Devotional
Sun, September 23, 2012

Thinking Well

The creative religious thinker is not a daydreamer, not an ivory tower intellectual carrying on his lofty cogitations remote from the rough world; he is more likely to be a troubled, burdened man weighed down by the woes of existence, occupied not with matters academic or theoretical but the practical and personal. The great religious thinkers of the past were rarely men of leisure; mostly they were men of affairs, close to and very much a part of the troubled world. Neither will the sanctified thinker of our times be a poet gazing at a sunset from some quiet secluded spot, but one who feels himself a traveler lost in a wilderness who must find his way to safety. That others will later follow the path he makes will not be primary in his thinking. Later he will understand this, but for the time being he will be all engaged hunting the way out for himself. To think well and usefully a man must be endowed with certain indispensable qualifications. He must, for one thing, be completely honest and transparently sincere. The trifler is automatically eliminated. He is weighed in the balance and found too light to be entrusted with the thoughts of God. Let but a breath of levity enter the mind and the power to do creative thinking instantly goes out. And by levity I do not mean wit or even humor; I do mean insincerity, sham, the absence of moral seriousness. Great thoughts require a grave attitude toward life and mankind and God.

Verse
Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 Peter 3:1

Thought
Wholesome thinking is not done in a closet or in an isolated ivory tower. Wholesome thinking is serious thinking of depth and breadth done in the midst of busy living in a busy world. It is honest and sincere thinking.

Prayer
Father, Im not inclined to wholesome thought. But the intent of Your Word is to stimulate me to wholesome thinking. May I give myself to it!
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Post  Admin Sat 22 Sep 2012, 7:58 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sat, September 22, 2012

The Making of a Man

But the thinking, worshiping man is still short of perfection until he becomes also the working man. In a world like ours there is and always will be plenty of important work for the thoughtful, reverent man to do. Morally the world is like a bombed city. The streets are blocked, the buildings lie in ruins and the wounded and homeless wait for the healing services of men and women who can help them in their distress. No man can be said to be truly educated who cannot relate his intellectual gifts to creative work. And no work, however sacrificial, will be permanent unless it is geared to eternity. Only what is done in a spirit of worship will last forever. When the man becomes a thinking man a great deal has been accomplished. When the thinking man goes on to become a worshiping man a longer step has been taken toward full and perfect manhood. When the thinking, worshiping man has found his hands and has put his whole personality to work for the high honor of God and the blessing of mankind, some modest approach at least has been made toward Christlikeness and the restoration of the heavenly image ruined in the Fall.

Verse
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, . . . Colossians 3:23

Thought
Doing the work the Lord gives, whether high or low profile, and doing that work with all our heart is a form of worship since we do it for Him and not for those around us. That gives a different value to work, doesnt it.

Prayer
O Lord, may I do all for You. Deliver me from the sacred/secular divide. If I do it for You and to You, it is sacred!
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Post  Admin Fri 21 Sep 2012, 9:13 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, September 21, 2012

We Were Made to Worship

Mans nature indicates that he was created for three things: To think, to worship and to work. But thinking is not enough. Men are made to worship also, to bow down and adore in the presence of the Mystery inexpressible. Mans mind is not the top peak of his nature. Higher than his mind is his spirit, that something within him which can engage the supernatural, which under the breath of the Spirit can come alive and enter into conscious communion with heaven, can receive the divine nature and hear and feel and see the ineffable wonder that is God. When, therefore, an institution dedicated to the growth and development of the thinking person seeks at the same time to turn this thinker into a worshiper, our debt to that institution becomes all the greater. So many schools on every level are content to train the intellect, forgetting that they are dealing with but part of the man-an important part certainly, but a part only. The wise of the world who have not learned to worship are but demi-men, unformed and rudimentary. Their further development awaits the life-giving touch of Christ to wake them to spiritual birth and life eternal.

Verse
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Psalm 95:6-7

Thought
We are made to be worshipers-worshipe rs of God from the heart. Thinking worshipers. Working worshipers.

Prayer
Teach me to worship, Lord. Not the emotionally ecstatic or feel good-but heart worship of You, my spirit with Your Spirit.
Tozer Devotional
Thu, September 20, 2012

That Magnificent Gift of Thought

Though human nature as we know it now is fallen and morally degenerate, it yet stands at the top in the order of Gods creation. Of no other being was it said, In the image of God created he him. Mans nature indicates that he was created for three things: To think, to worship and to work. Under think may be included everything that the intellect can do, from the simplest act to the creation of an oratorio or the founding of an empire. In his ability to observe, to inquire, to collect data and to reason from it to causes, laws and principles, man stands easily supreme above all other creatures. The domestication of the wild forces of nature, the conquest of disease, the amelioration of the pains and woes of our physical organism-all has been done by the thinking man riding on the wings of his imagination out into the unknown and daring to entertain notions no one had entertained before. To make out of the raw material that is a man a thinking man, an imaginative, dreaming man, is one of the most urgent tasks of society. This task begins in the nursery and goes on through to the university. Whatever institution, large or small, famous or obscure, dedicates itself to the necessary and heavy job of teaching men to think deserves the gratitude of the whole human race.

Verse
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your minds on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2

Thought
What an amazing ability is that of thinking. What we set our minds on, to a large degree, charts our course and determines whether our fallen nature or the Holy Spirit dictates our living.

Prayer
Thank You, Father, for the gift of thinking. By Your Sprit remind me to set my mind on things above. Too often I concentrate on the earthly.
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Post  Admin Fri 21 Sep 2012, 9:12 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, September 21, 2012

We Were Made to Worship

Mans nature indicates that he was created for three things: To think, to worship and to work. But thinking is not enough. Men are made to worship also, to bow down and adore in the presence of the Mystery inexpressible. Mans mind is not the top peak of his nature. Higher than his mind is his spirit, that something within him which can engage the supernatural, which under the breath of the Spirit can come alive and enter into conscious communion with heaven, can receive the divine nature and hear and feel and see the ineffable wonder that is God. When, therefore, an institution dedicated to the growth and development of the thinking person seeks at the same time to turn this thinker into a worshiper, our debt to that institution becomes all the greater. So many schools on every level are content to train the intellect, forgetting that they are dealing with but part of the man-an important part certainly, but a part only. The wise of the world who have not learned to worship are but demi-men, unformed and rudimentary. Their further development awaits the life-giving touch of Christ to wake them to spiritual birth and life eternal.

Verse
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Psalm 95:6-7

Thought
We are made to be worshipers-worshipe rs of God from the heart. Thinking worshipers. Working worshipers.

Prayer
Teach me to worship, Lord. Not the emotionally ecstatic or feel good-but heart worship of You, my spirit with Your Spirit.
Tozer Devotional
Thu, September 20, 2012

That Magnificent Gift of Thought

Though human nature as we know it now is fallen and morally degenerate, it yet stands at the top in the order of Gods creation. Of no other being was it said, In the image of God created he him. Mans nature indicates that he was created for three things: To think, to worship and to work. Under think may be included everything that the intellect can do, from the simplest act to the creation of an oratorio or the founding of an empire. In his ability to observe, to inquire, to collect data and to reason from it to causes, laws and principles, man stands easily supreme above all other creatures. The domestication of the wild forces of nature, the conquest of disease, the amelioration of the pains and woes of our physical organism-all has been done by the thinking man riding on the wings of his imagination out into the unknown and daring to entertain notions no one had entertained before. To make out of the raw material that is a man a thinking man, an imaginative, dreaming man, is one of the most urgent tasks of society. This task begins in the nursery and goes on through to the university. Whatever institution, large or small, famous or obscure, dedicates itself to the necessary and heavy job of teaching men to think deserves the gratitude of the whole human race.

Verse
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your minds on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2

Thought
What an amazing ability is that of thinking. What we set our minds on, to a large degree, charts our course and determines whether our fallen nature or the Holy Spirit dictates our living.

Prayer
Thank You, Father, for the gift of thinking. By Your Sprit remind me to set my mind on things above. Too often I concentrate on the earthly.
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Post  Admin Thu 20 Sep 2012, 5:28 pm

Tozer Devotional
Devotions » Tozer Devotional
Wed, September 19, 2012

Completely Dedicated to Christ: Are We?

The truth is, dedication of the life to any thing or anyone short of God Himself, is a prostitution of noble powers and must bring a harvest of grief and disappointment at last. Only God is worthy of the soul He has made in His own image. To devote our lives to any cause, however worthy, is to sell ourselves short. Not money, position, fame, can justly claim our devotion. Art, literature, music also fall short. And, if God is forgotten, even the loftiest and most unselfish task is unworthy of the souls full surrender. Complete dedication unto death in the cause of freedom, for instance, is a touching thing and has given to history many of her greatest heroes, but only the God of freedom should have our last full measure of devotion. These are strenuous times and men are being recruited everywhere to devote themselves to one or another master. Let us be careful. No one has any true right to claim my life except the One who gave His own life for my redemption. If He gets my full dedication then I may engage in any good and worthy cause under His Spirit's guidance. But anything short of complete devotion to Christ is inadequate and must end in futility and loss.

Verse
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

Thought
Complete dedication to Christ. We feel it in those highly emotional crises of life. But full dedication lived out by is often elusive. Yet to know Him fully we must give ourselves fully to Him.

Prayer
O God, forgive me for dedication that is thin and limited. I want to surrender myself wholly to You. Show me those areas still unsurrendered
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Post  Admin Wed 19 Sep 2012, 10:58 am

Tozer Devotional
Tue, September 18, 2012
Whatever Happened to Dedication?

It is one of the ironies of modern life that after a word has been dropped from the Christian vocabulary because it no longer expresses any vital content in current church religion, it is often taken up by the world and made to mean not the same thing but something close to what it once meant in its original Christian usage. Such a word is dedicate. This word in its various forms was once used to express a sacred idea deriving straight from the Scriptures. . . . Now I have no quarrel with mere words. Whatever current usage and an up-to-date dictionary declare a word to mean, that is what it means, whatever it may have meant before. But I am concerned when men mistake earth for heaven, confuse this world with the world to come and borrow sacred words to describe secular things-without knowing what they have done. That is precisely what has happened to the word dedication. Through a radical change of meaning it has been lost to the language of worship. And it is highly significant that up to this moment Christians have not felt sufficient inward pressure to create a new word that would mean what the old word once meant. Apparently not only the word is gone from us but the idea as well. One reason for this is the current imperfect understanding of the Christian message. Scarcely anyone catches the imperious note in Christs words. The Christian message has ceased to be a pronouncement and has become a proposition. Its invitational element has been pressed far out of proportion in the total scriptural scheme. Christ with His lantern, His apologetic stance and His weak pleading face has taken the place of the true Son of Man whom John saw clothed with a garment down to the foot, girt with a golden girdle, whose head and hair are white like wool, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, whose feet are like burnished brass and whose voice is as the sound of many waters. The Christ of the tentative smile and air of puzzlement is not the Christ of God. The artists have been guilty of inadvertent idolatry in presenting to the world a false image of Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal our Lord as He really is, and He does not paint in oils. He manifests Christ to the human spirit, not to our physical eyes.

Verse
He [the Holy Spirit] will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. John 16:14

Thought
Only the Holy Spirit can reveal Christ to us as He really is because only the Spirit can take what is Christs and make it known to us. When we know Christ as He is in His person and glory, then we will give ourselves wholly to Him.

Prayer
O Christ, we humans have cheapened You. We have sought to reduce You to our level. Forgive us! Forgive me! May Your Spirit reveal You to me.
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Post  Admin Mon 17 Sep 2012, 9:55 pm

Tozer Devotional
Mon, September 17, 2012
Praise Reporters

The irrepressible urge to share spiritual blessings can explain a great many religious phenomena. It even goes so far as to create a kind of vicarious transfer of interest from one person to another, so that the blessed soul would if necessary give up its own blessing that another might receive. Only thus can that prayer of Moses be understood, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written (Exodus 32:31, 32). His great care for Israel had made him incautious, almost rash, before the Lord in their behalf. Moses felt that for Israel to be forgiven was reward enough for him. This impulsive uprush of vicarious love can hardly be defended before the bar of pure reason. But God understood and complied with Moses request. The intense urge to have others enjoy the same spiritual privileges as himself once led Paul to make a statement so extreme, so reckless, that reason cannot approve it; only love can understand: I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh (Romans 9:1-3). In the light of this it is quite easy to understand why all great Christian teachers have insisted that true spiritual experience must be shared. The careless person who remarks that he does not need to go to church to serve God is far from understanding the most elementary spiritual truths. By cutting himself off from the religious community he proves that he has never felt the deep urge to share-and for the very reason that he has nothing to share. He has never felt the constraining love of Christ, so he can go his way in silence. His withdrawal from the believing fellowship tells us more about him than he knows about himself. Being let go, they went to their own company. So it was in the Early Church and so it has always been when men meet God in saving encounter. They want to share the blessed benefits.

Verse
On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. . . . Acts 4:23-24a

Thought
Sharing with other believers serious needs is fuel for prayer to God. Sharing what God has done in answer to prayer lights the fire of joy and praise. These are family celebrations!

Prayer
Lord, when I hear of what You have done and are doing in the lives of brothers and sisters I am encouraged to trust You for my heart needs. May I, too, be sharer with Your family
Tozer Devotional
Sun, September 16, 2012
Sharing the Good News

The impulse to share, to impart, normally accompanies any true encounter with God and spiritual things. The woman at the well, after her soul-inspiring meeting with Jesus, left her water pots, hurried into the city and tried to persuade her friends to come out and meet Him. Come, see a man, she said, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Her spiritual excitement could not be contained within her own heart. She had to tell someone. Is it not possible that our Lord had this in mind when He spoke about the impossibility of secret discipleship? Have we misunderstood the true relationship between faith and testimony? Christ made it clear that there could be no such thing as secret discipleship and Paul said, With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This is usually understood to mean that God has laid upon us an arbitrary requirement to open our mouth in confession before salvation can become effective within us. Maybe that is the correct meaning of these verses. Or could it be that the confession is an evidence of the salvation which has come by faith to the heart, and where there is no impulse to impart, no outrushing of words in joyous testimony, there has been no true inward experience of saving grace?

Verse
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. Give glory to God, they said. We know this man is a sinner. He replied, Whether he is a sinner or not, I dont know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see. John 9:24-25

Thought
If once we were blind but now we see, the evidence ought to be in our daily life. And if we once were blind but now we can see, ought we not share with other blind people the Good News about the One who opens blinded eyes?

Prayer
Lord, I cant open the eyes of the blind but You can! Shine Your light through me to those in darkness. In Jesus name.
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Post  Admin Sun 16 Sep 2012, 11:13 am

Tozer Devotional
Sat, September 15, 2012
Imitating the Imitators of God

Spiritual experiences must be shared. It is not possible for very long to enjoy them alone. The very attempt to do so will destroy them. The reason for this is obvious. The nearer our souls draw to God the larger our love will grow, and the greater our love the more unselfish we shall become and the greater our care for the souls of others. Hence increased spiritual experience, so far as it is genuine, brings with it a strong desire that others may know the same grace that we ourselves enjoy. This leads quite naturally to an increased effort to lead others to a closer and more satisfying fellowship with God. The human race is one. God made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and He made the individual members of society for each other. Not the hermit but the man in the midst of society is in the place best to fulfill the purpose for which he was created. There may be circumstances when for a time it will be necessary for the seeker after God to wrestle alone like Jacob on the bank of the river, but the result of his lonely experience is sure to flow out to family and friend, and on out to society at last. In the nature of things it must be so.

Verse
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2

Thought
What encouragement and challenge exudes from that believer who lives in the fullness of Christ even in the face of this worlds chilling winds; who demonstrates peace and joy of heart even in severe pain and suffering. Such believers show us the way.

Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for those of Your people who live a life of love in the most adverse circumstances. In doing so, they provide a model to the rest of us of what You can do when we give ourselves wholly to You.
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Post  Admin Fri 14 Sep 2012, 9:39 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, September 14, 2012
When the Heart Lights Go On

God is concerned with the whole man and has designed that Christian experience should embrace the entire personality. The Christian faith deals not with the spiritual only but with the moral and the rational as well. The rational and moral elements in religion are the proper objects of thought and willingly yield their rich treasures to prayerful meditation. The Christian faith deals with God and man and what can be known about them and their relation one to the other. It contemplates creation, redemption, righteousness, sacred history, the destiny of mankind and the future of the world. Such truths, once they have been revealed by divine inspiration, lie where they can be got at by the redeemed intellect and wait to be exploited by the sons of the kingdom. Under the illumination and guidance of the Holy Spirit the prayerful, studious believer can become a Christian philosopher, a sage, a doctor of divine things. More than that, he can become a man of God and a light to his generation. I repeat, we cannot know God by thinking alone, but we can never know Him very well without a lot of hard thinking.

Verse
Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:45

Thought
As the Spirit illumines our minds we can understand truth and know God. Heart lights go on! We can see! He is the difference between closed minds and open ones.

Prayer
Open my mind, Spirit of God, to understand the Scriptures and the One who speaks through them.
Tozer Devotional
Thu, September 13, 2012
The Divine Illuminator

To know God in the scriptural meaning of the term is to enter into experience of Him. It never means to know about. It is not a knowledge mediated by the intellect, but an unmediated awareness experienced by the soul on a plane too high for the mind to reach. Where then is the place of the intellect in Christian experience? And why waste time thinking when we know beforehand that thought cannot bring us to the knowledge that is most of all to be desired, the knowledge of God? The answer is that the whole biblical revelation is addressed to the intellect and through the intellect reaches the will, the seat of the moral life; if the will responds in repentance and obedience, the Holy Spirit illuminates the penitent heart and reveals Christ, the image of God, to it. What began as an appeal to reason (Isaiah 1:18) ends in a spiritual experience wholly above reason.

Verse
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mind and making it known John 16:13-14

Thought
The Holy Spirit makes known to us what is Christ's. He is the Divine Illuminator enlightening the mind and heart of the believer. May that light shine brightly in each of us!

Prayer
How I need heart illumination, Lord, to know You and Your Word. Thank You for sending the Spirit, the Divine Illuminator!
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Post  Admin Fri 14 Sep 2012, 1:18 am

Tozer Devotional
Wed, September 12, 2012

The "Exegete" of the Father

Elsewhere I have said that we cannot know God by thinking, but that we must do a lot of thinking if we would know Him well. This sounds self-contradictory, but I am sure that the two statements are in full accord with each other. The inability of the human mind to know God in a true and final sense is taken for granted throughout the Bible and even taught in plain words in such passages as these: No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The world by wisdom knew not God. The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. God's nature is of another kind from anything with which the mind is acquainted; hence when the mind attempts to find out God it is confronted by obscurity. It is surrounded with mystery and blinded by the light no man can approach unto. A consideration of this truth led some thinkers of the past to conclude that since it is impossible for man to discover God by means of any faculties he possesses, God must therefore remain not only unknown but unknowable. What these men overlooked was that when God desires He can and does reveal Himself to men. The Spirit of God is able to make the spirit of man know and experience the awful mystery of God's essential being. It should be noted that the Spirit reveals God to the spirit of man, not to his intellect merely. The intellect can know God's attributes because these constitute that body of truth that can be known about God. The knowledge of God is for the spirit alone. Such knowledge comes not by intellection but by intuition .

Verse
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. John 1:18

Thought
The Greek term translated "made him known" is related to the word from which we get "exegesis." Christ has "exegeted," clearly made known to us the Father. Christ reflects the Father.

Prayer
The more I gaze upon You, Lord, the more I know the Father. You are the Revealer of the Father.
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Post  Admin Wed 12 Sep 2012, 7:53 am

Tozer Devotional
Tue, September 11, 2012
To Know God is to Love Him

God is love, and is for that reason the source of all the love there is. He has set as the first of all commandments that we love Him with all our hearts, but He knows that the desired love can never originate with us. We love him, because he first loved us, is the scriptural and psychological pattern. We can love Him as we ought only as He inflames our minds with holy desire. Yet there is also a love of willing as well as of feeling. Though we may not be conscious of any great degree of inward sensation, we may set our wills to love God and the feeling will come of itself. Let us bring ourselves under obedience to His revealed Word and our love for Him will grow. Obedience will strengthen faith and faith will increase knowledge. And it is a well-known law of the spiritual life that our love for God will spring up and flourish just as our knowledge of Him increases. To know Him is to love Him, and to know Him better is to love Him more.

Verse
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Thought
God is love. The more we know Him the more we will love Him. To know Him is to love Him.

Prayer
O Father, may I know You better and love You more. In Jesus' name.
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Post  Admin Tue 11 Sep 2012, 8:05 am

Tozer Devotional
Mon, September 10, 2012

On Becoming More Lovable

God desires that all men should become Christlike, for in so doing they present larger and more perfect objects for the reception of His outpoured love. Conformity to the nature of Christ on the part of a redeemed man restores the image of God in the soul and thus makes it possible for God to lavish on the soul without restraint all the boundless love of which He is the original fountain. It is hard for a sinful man to believe that God loves Him. His own accusing conscience tells him it could not be so. He knows that he is an enemy of God and alienated in his mind through wicked works, and he sees in himself a thousand moral discrepancies that unfit him for the just enjoyment of so pure a love. Yet the whole Bible proclaims the love of God for sinful men. We must believe in His love because He declares it and avail ourselves of the sanctifying grace of Christ in order to receive and enjoy that love to the full.

Verse
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And this is what we are! . . . 1 John 3:1

Thought
God loves us! We stare in the mirror and cry out in amazement, "how can it be that He loves me?" Let's not question it but rather fully open ourselves to that love that we might be changed by the Lover.

Prayer
I want to soak in Your love, Father, as much as it is possible. In no way am I worthy. Yet You love me, You love ME! Hallelujah!
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Post  Admin Sun 09 Sep 2012, 7:32 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sun, September 09, 2012
God Love

God being who and what He is must love Himself with pure and perfect love. The Persons of the Godhead love each other with a love so fiery, so tender, that it is all a burning flame of intense desire ineffable. God is Himself the only being whom He can love directly; all else that He loves is for His own sake and because He finds some reflection of Himself there . God loves His mute creation because He sees in it an imperfect representation of His own wisdom and power. He loves the angels and seraphim because He sees in them some likeness of His holiness. He loves men because He beholds in them a fallen relic of His own image. Potentially God loves all men alike, but His active love lights upon some men more than upon others, the degree depending upon how much of Himself He is able to impart to them. The truly Christlike soul enjoys more of God's love because God sees in it a truer image of Himself than in a soul less purified. God loves His Son with infinite perfection because He is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.

Verse
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10

Thought
God's love is so far beyond any love we have known that it staggers the mind even to contemplate it. Yet we are objects of that love. May we also be conveyors of it.

Prayer
Lord, I am an object of Your perfect, holy love. Insofar as is possible for an imperfect human, may I be a conveyor of Your love.
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Post  Admin Sat 08 Sep 2012, 8:37 pm

Tozer Devotional
Sat, September 08, 2012
Daily Following

A strange thing under the sun is crossless Christianity. The cross of Christendom is a no-cross, an ecclesiastical symbol. The cross of Christ is a place of death. Let each one be careful which cross he carries. And follow me. Now the glory begins to break in upon the soul that has just returned from Calvary. Follow me is an invitation, and a challenge, and a promise. The cross has been the end of a life and the beginning of a life. The life that ended there was a life of sin and slavery; the life that began there is a life of holiness and spiritual freedom. And follow me, He says, and faith runs on tiptoe to keep pace with the advancing light. Until we know the program of our risen Lord for all the years to come we can never know everything He meant when He invited us to follow Him. Each heart can have its own dream of fair worlds and new revelations, of the odyssey of the ransomed soul in the ages to come, but whoever follows Jesus will find at last that He has made the reality to outrun the dream.

Verse
And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27

Thought
We're to follow Christ while carrying our cross. Our way of saying "no" to the old nature and "yes" to Him. In staying close to Him, we enter an increasingly new life--His.

Prayer
Lord, I find myself trying to disguise that death-instrument cross in gold and redefining disciple to be less than a follower. Forgive me. I want to live a life of "no" to me and "yes" to You.
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Post  Admin Fri 07 Sep 2012, 8:06 pm

Tozer Devotional
Fri, September 07, 2012
Deliverance from "Me"

What are the terms of discipleship? Only one with a perfect knowledge of mankind could have dared to make them. Only the Lord of men could have risked the effect of such rigorous demands: Let him deny himself. We hear these words and shake our heads in astonishment. Can we have heard aright? Can the Lord lay down such severe rules at the door of the Kingdom? He can and He does. If He is to save the man, He must save him from himself. It is the himself which has enslaved and corrupted the man. Deliverance comes only by denial of that self. No man in his own strength can shed the chains with which self has bound him, but in the next breath the Lord reveals the source of the power which is to set the soul free: Let him take up his cross. The cross has gathered in the course of the years much of beauty and symbolism, but the cross of which Jesus spoke had nothing of beauty in it. It was an instrument of death. Slaying men was its only function. Men did not wear that cross; but that cross wore men. It stood naked until a man was pinned on it, a living man fastened like some grotesque stickpin on its breast to writhe and groan till death stilled and silenced him. That is the cross. Nothing less. And when it is robbed of its tears and blood and pain it is the cross no longer. Let him take . . . his cross, said Jesus, and in death he will know deliverance from himself.

Verse
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God. Galatians 2:20

Thought
The cross we are to carry is not a church steeple or a decorative emblem to be worn around the neck. The cross is an instrument of "me" death so that Christ may live in us.

Prayer
Lord, we have made the cross so beautiful and decorative but it remains an instrument of death--"me" death so that I may live in You and You may live in me. I need that cross today.
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