Alone ... Together

"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple ... did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:46)

There are other experiences deep and wholly inward that cannot be shared with any other: Jacob at Bethel and Peniel, Moses at the burning bush, Christ in the garden, John in the Isle of Patmos are Bible examples, and Christian biography will reveal many more.

A community of believers must be composed of persons who have each one met God in individual experience. No matter how large the family, each child must be born individually. So it is in the local church. Each member must be born of the Spirit individually.

It will not escape the discerning readers that while each child is born separate from the rest it is born into a family, and after that must live in the fellowship of the rest of the household.

The church is called the household of God, and it is the ideal place to rear young Christians.

Next to God Himself we need each other most. We are His sheep and it is our nature to live with the flock.

~A. W. Tozer~

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Worshipper First

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name" (Psalm 100:4)

Our Lord commands us to pray the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers into His harvest field. What we are overlooking is that no one can be a worker who is not first a worshiper. Labor that does not spring out of worship is futile.

It may be set down as an axiom that if we do not worship we cannot work acceptably. The Holy Spirit can work through a worshiping heart and through no other kind. We may go through the motions and delude ourselves by our religious activity, but we are setting ourselves up for a shocking disillusionment some day.

Without doubt the emphasis in Christian teaching today should be on worship. There is little danger that we shall become merely worshipers and neglect the practical implications of the gospel. Fellowship with God leads straight to obedience and good works. That is the divine order, and it can never be reversed.

Christian work must ever be subordinate to Christian worship, and our service must be under the control and inspiration of our deeper life and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

~A. W. Tozer~