"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (James 1:22)
Look at the fruits of obedience as described in the New Testament: "The house of the obedient man is builded upon a rock" (Matthew 7:24).
"He shall be loved by the Father and shall have the manifestation of the Father and the Son, who will come unto him and make their abode with him" (John 14:21, 23).
"He shall abide in the love of Christ (15:10). He is set free from sin and made a servant of righteousness (Romans 6:17-18). The Holy Spirit is given to him" (Acts 5:32).
"He is delivered from self-deception and blessed in his deeds (James 1:22-25). His faith is perfected" (2:22)
"He is confirmed in his assurance toward God and given confidence in prayer, so that what he asks is given to him" (1 John 3:18-22).
What does all this add up to? Just that the power of God is at our disposal, waiting for us to call it into action by meeting the conditions which are plainly laid down.
We have a power within us to do what we are commanded to do. What is it we lack? The power? No; the will.
~A. W. Tozer~
_______________________
You Can Have What You Want
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10)
There are two kinds of lives ...; the fallow and the plowed...
The man of fallow life is contented with himself and the fruit h once bore. He does not want to be disturbed. He smiles in tolerant superiority at revivals, fastings, self-searchings. He is steady, "faithful," always in his accustomed place. But he is fruitless. The curse of such a life is that it is fixed. "To be" has taken the place of "to become."
The plowed life is the life that has, in the act of repentance, thrown down the protecting fences and sent the plow of confession into the soul. The urge of the Spirit, the pressure of circumstances and the distress of fruitless living have combined thoroughly to humble the heart.
Such a life has put away defense, and has forsaken the safety of death for the peril of life.
God gives us what we want. If you want a little of His grace, you may get it. If you want to be halfhearted, you may. But if you want to be wholly His and have all His fullness, His great heart is just longing to find room and vent for His love.
~A. W. Tozer~
Monday, September 7, 2015
Seasons of Hunger
He suffered thee to hunger. Deuteronomy 8:3
There was a Divine intention, then, in the hunger and thirst and weariness of the desert march. God suffered these hardships to come to the chosen people, in order to teach them dependence on Himself. The daily gift of manna was a perpetual evidence of His loving thought and care for the pilgrim host; they came to learn that sin and backsliding could not alienate His compassions; they found that the Word of God was life. But none of these lessons could have been acquired if the supplies of food had been as regular and plentiful as in Egypt. They were suffered to hunger that God might make them know.
You are suffered to hunger for human love, that you may know what the love of Jesus can be to His own. Open your heart to it, until it flood you as the sunshine does the south windows of a house.
You are suffered to hunger for recognition and gratitude, that you may know what the "Well done!" of Jesus is, and to lead you to look for that only. What do the words of men amount to unless He smile?
You are suffered to hunger for easier circumstances, for money, that you may know the tender provision which Jesus can make for those who are wholly dependent on Him. In the absence of all human help, you will learn the sweet taste of His manna.
Glory to God, to God, he saith, Knowledge by suffering entereth, And life is perfected in death.
These seasons of hunger are necessary for the discipline of life. But, thank God, He is able to satisfy us; and out of His riches in glory in Christ Jesus He can and will fulfill every need of ours (Phil4:19)
~F. B. Meyer~
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Fire In the Bush
"But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare ... to Israel his sin" (Micah 3:8)
The greatest proof of our weakness these days is that there is no longer anything terrible or mysterious about us. We now have little that cannot be accounted for by psychology and statistics.
In that early Church thy met together on Solomon's porch,and so great was the sense of God's presence that "durst no man join himself to them" (Acts 5:13). The world saw fire in that bush and stood back in fear; but no one is afraid of ashes!
Today they even slap the professed bride of Christ on the back and get coarsely familiar. If we ever again impress unsaved men with a wholesome fear of the supernatural we must have once more the dignity of the Holy Spirit; we must know again that awe-inspiring mystery which comes upon men an churches when they are full of the power of God.
The Holy Spirit is pure, for He is the Holy Spirit. He is wise, for He is the Spirit of wisdom. He is true, for He is the Spirit of truth. He is like Jesus, for He is the Spirit of Christ. He is like the Father, for He is the Spirit of the Father. He wants to be Lord of your life.
~A. W. Tozer~
___________________________
Getting Rid of Handles
"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:10)
In the things-which-God-cannot-do category is this: God cannot do our repenting for us. In our efforts to magnify grace we have so preached the truth as to convey the impression that repentance is a work of God. This is a grave mistake. God has commanded all men to repent. It is a work which only they can do. It is morally impossible for one person to repent for another. Even Christ could not do this. He could die for us, but He cannot do our repenting for us.
God in His mercy may "incline" us to repent and by His inworking Spirit assist us to repent; but before we can be saved we must of our own free will repent toward God and believe in Jesus Christ.
Repentance involves moral reformation. The wrong practices are on man's part, and only man can correct them. Lying, for instance, is an act of man, and one for which he must accept full responsibility. When he repents he will quit lying. God will not quit for him; he will quit for himself.
Any place where a person sins, he pus handles on his soul for satan to grasp. Repentance get rid of the handles!
~A. W. Tozer~
The greatest proof of our weakness these days is that there is no longer anything terrible or mysterious about us. We now have little that cannot be accounted for by psychology and statistics.
In that early Church thy met together on Solomon's porch,and so great was the sense of God's presence that "durst no man join himself to them" (Acts 5:13). The world saw fire in that bush and stood back in fear; but no one is afraid of ashes!
Today they even slap the professed bride of Christ on the back and get coarsely familiar. If we ever again impress unsaved men with a wholesome fear of the supernatural we must have once more the dignity of the Holy Spirit; we must know again that awe-inspiring mystery which comes upon men an churches when they are full of the power of God.
The Holy Spirit is pure, for He is the Holy Spirit. He is wise, for He is the Spirit of wisdom. He is true, for He is the Spirit of truth. He is like Jesus, for He is the Spirit of Christ. He is like the Father, for He is the Spirit of the Father. He wants to be Lord of your life.
~A. W. Tozer~
___________________________
Getting Rid of Handles
"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:10)
In the things-which-God-cannot-do category is this: God cannot do our repenting for us. In our efforts to magnify grace we have so preached the truth as to convey the impression that repentance is a work of God. This is a grave mistake. God has commanded all men to repent. It is a work which only they can do. It is morally impossible for one person to repent for another. Even Christ could not do this. He could die for us, but He cannot do our repenting for us.
God in His mercy may "incline" us to repent and by His inworking Spirit assist us to repent; but before we can be saved we must of our own free will repent toward God and believe in Jesus Christ.
Repentance involves moral reformation. The wrong practices are on man's part, and only man can correct them. Lying, for instance, is an act of man, and one for which he must accept full responsibility. When he repents he will quit lying. God will not quit for him; he will quit for himself.
Any place where a person sins, he pus handles on his soul for satan to grasp. Repentance get rid of the handles!
~A. W. Tozer~
Overcoming Faith
"There we saw the Giants" (Num. 13:33).
Yes, they saw the giants, but Caleb and Joshua saw God! Those who doubt say, "We be not able to go up." Those who believe say, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able."
Giants stand for great difficulties; and giants are stalking everywhere. They are in our families, in our churches, in our social life, in our own hearts; and we must overcome them or they will eat us up, as these men of old said of the giants of Canaan. The men of faith said, "They are bread for us; we will eat them up." In other words, "We will be stronger by overcoming them than if there had been no giants to overcome."
Now the fact is, unless we have the overcoming faith we shall be eaten up, consumed by the giants in our path. Let us have the spirit of faith that these men of faith had, and see God, and He will take care of the difficulties.
It is when we are in the way of duty that we find giants. It was when Israel was going forward that the, giants appeared. When they turned back into the wilderness they found none.
There is a prevalent idea that the power of God in a human life should lift us above all trials and conflicts. The fact is, the power of God always brings a conflict and a struggle. One would have thought that on his great missionary journey to Rome, Paul would have been carried by some mighty providence above the power of storms and tempests and enemies. But, on the contrary, it was one long, hard fight with persecuting Jews, with wild tempests, with venomous vipers and all the powers of earth and hell, and at last he was saved, as it seemed, by the narrowest margin, and had to swim ashore at Malta on a piece of wreckage and barely escape a watery grave.
Was that like a God of infinite power? Yes, just like Him. And so Paul tells us that when he took the Lord Jesus Christ as the life of his body, a severe conflict immediately came; indeed, a conflict that never ended, a pressure that was persistent, but out of which he always emerged victorious through the strength of Jesus Christ.
The language in which he describes this is most graphic. "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our body."
What a ceaseless, strenuous struggle! It is impossible to express in English the forcible language of the original. There are five pictures in succession. In the first, the idea is crowding enemies pressing in from every side, and yet not crushing him because the police of heaven cleared the way just wide enough for him to get through. The literal translation would be, "We are crowded on every side, but not crushed."
The second picture is that of one whose way seems utterly closed and yet he has pressed through; there is light enough to show him the next step. The Revised Version translates it, "Perplexed but not unto despair." Rotherham still more literally renders it, "Without a way, but not without a by-way."
The third figure is that of an enemy in hot pursuit while the divine Defender still stands by, and he is not left alone. Again we adopt the fine rendering of Rotherham, "Pursued but not abandoned."
The fourth figure is still more vivid and dramatic. The enemy has overtaken him, has struck him, has knocked him down. But it is not a fatal blow; he is able to rise again. It might be translated, "Overthrown but not overcome."
Once more the figure advances, and now it seems to be even death itself, "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." But he does not die, for "the life also of Jesus" now comes to his aid and he lives in the life of another until his life work is done.
The reason so many fail in this experience of divine healing is because they expect to have it all without a struggle, and when the conflict comes and the battle wages long, they become discouraged and surrender. God has nothing worth having that is easy. There are no cheap goods in the heavenly market. Our redemption cost all that God had to give, and everything worth having is expensive. Hard places are the very school of faith and character, and if we are to rise over mere human strength and prove the power of life divine in these mortal bodies, it must be through a process of conflict that may well be called the birth travail of a new life. It is the old figure of the bush that burned, but was not consumed, or of the Vision in the house of the Interpreter of the flame that would not expire, notwithstanding the fact that the demon ceaselessly poured water on it, because in the background stood an angel ever pouring oil and keeping the flame aglow.
No, dear suffering child of God, you cannot fail if only you dare to believe, to stand fast and refuse to be overcome.
~L. B. Cowman~
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Power In Action
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6)
The greatest event in history was the coming of Jesus Christ into the world to live and to die for mankind. The next greatest event was the going forth of the Church to embody the life of Christ and to spread the knowledge of His salvation throughout the earth.
It was not an easy task which the Church faced. To carry on the work of a man who was known to have died ... to persuade others that this man had risen again from the dead and that He was the Son of God and Saviour: this mission was, in the nature of it, doomed to failure from the start. Who would credit such a fantastic story?
That the Church did not perish was due entirely to the miraculous element within her. That element was supplied by the Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost to empower her for her task.
The same God who led Israel with pillar of cloud and fire, who spoke at Pentecost through the tongues of flame, who opened Peter's prison doors, it waiting to work the greater wonders of His grace for us.
~A. W. Tozer~
______________________
God Is The Deeper Life
"Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord" (Jeremiah 9:24)
The deeper life has been called the "victorious life," but I do not like that term. It appears to me that it focuses attention exclusively upon one feature of the Christian life, that of personal victory over sin, when actually this is just one aspect of the deeper life - an important on, to be sure, but only one.
That life in the Spirit that is denoted by the term "deeper life" is far wider and richer than mere victory over sin, however vital that victory may be. It also includes the thought of the indwelling of Christ, acute God-consciousness, rapturous worship, separation from the world, the joyous surrender of everything to God, internal union with the Trinity, the practice of the presence of God, the communion of saints and prayer without ceasing.
No one seems to want to know and love God for Himself! God is the deeper life! Jesus Christ Himself is the deeper life! This means that there is less of me and more of God - thus my spiritual life deepens, and I am strengthened in the knowledge of His will.
~A. W. Tozer~
The greatest event in history was the coming of Jesus Christ into the world to live and to die for mankind. The next greatest event was the going forth of the Church to embody the life of Christ and to spread the knowledge of His salvation throughout the earth.
It was not an easy task which the Church faced. To carry on the work of a man who was known to have died ... to persuade others that this man had risen again from the dead and that He was the Son of God and Saviour: this mission was, in the nature of it, doomed to failure from the start. Who would credit such a fantastic story?
That the Church did not perish was due entirely to the miraculous element within her. That element was supplied by the Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost to empower her for her task.
The same God who led Israel with pillar of cloud and fire, who spoke at Pentecost through the tongues of flame, who opened Peter's prison doors, it waiting to work the greater wonders of His grace for us.
~A. W. Tozer~
______________________
God Is The Deeper Life
"Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord" (Jeremiah 9:24)
The deeper life has been called the "victorious life," but I do not like that term. It appears to me that it focuses attention exclusively upon one feature of the Christian life, that of personal victory over sin, when actually this is just one aspect of the deeper life - an important on, to be sure, but only one.
That life in the Spirit that is denoted by the term "deeper life" is far wider and richer than mere victory over sin, however vital that victory may be. It also includes the thought of the indwelling of Christ, acute God-consciousness, rapturous worship, separation from the world, the joyous surrender of everything to God, internal union with the Trinity, the practice of the presence of God, the communion of saints and prayer without ceasing.
No one seems to want to know and love God for Himself! God is the deeper life! Jesus Christ Himself is the deeper life! This means that there is less of me and more of God - thus my spiritual life deepens, and I am strengthened in the knowledge of His will.
~A. W. Tozer~
The Pit or the Rock
The Pit or the Rock
I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. - Psalm 40:1-2
The house in which I grew up was built in the late 1800’s and still had some of the relics from that period, such as an old cistern located in the backyard. I think at one time it had been a source of water. Since it was no longer used or needed, the opening was loosely capped with a rusty round lid. As a kid, I remember being in fear of accidentally falling into it. My imagination conjured up this image of a deep dark pit with a sinking bottom in which I would be forever trapped. I look back and think that maybe my fears were a little silly, but then I realize that sometimes as an adult I feel as if I wake up in that pit, dark and damp with no way out. Maybe a lot of us feel this way at times.
Reading the words of King David in this Psalm should give us all hope and encouragement. If David had such moments of despair, then we must know that our feelings of being trapped in a pit of miry clay are not unknown to our Lord. Jesus knew how David felt and He knows how we feel. The Lord hears our cries, the Lord inclines His ear to listen to us, and He will not only lift us up, but will lead us out. The key is to trust Him to do so. We must believe that the Lord is going to rescue us because we cannot do it in our own strength. Trying to climb our way out of the darkness is exhausting and depressing. And sometimes it is in that darkest moment, when we sense a hand reaching down, picking us up and setting our feet back on the rock. We did not need to try; we just needed to surrender our fears to the Lord.
Where are you today? Are you in the “horrible pit” or “upon a rock”? Regardless of the place you find yourself, just know that the Lord is right there with you. He is the only way out of the pit and He is the only one Who can establish our steps in the right direction. Pray today that you can trust Jesus for all your needs and that in trusting Him, you can wait patiently for His perfect timing.
~Daily Disciples Devotional~
Friday, September 4, 2015
To Want No More
"Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21)
To know God, this is eternal life; this is the purpose for which we are and were created. The destruction of our God-awareness was the master blow struck by satan in the dark day of our transgression.
To give God back to us was the chief work of Christ in redemption. To impart Himself to us in personal experience is the first purpose of God in salvation. To bring acute God-awareness is the best help the Spirit brings in sanctification. All other steps in grace lead up to this.
Were we allowed but one request, we might gain at a stroke all things else by praying one all-embracing prayer:
"Thyself, Lord! Give me Thyself and I can want no more."
To be able to look into God's face, and know with the knowledge of faith that there is nothing between the soul and Him, is to experience the fullest peace the soul can know. Whatever else pardon may be, it is above all things admission into full fellowship with God.
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
Problems! Problems!
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God" (1 John 4:7)
What is the conclusion of the matter? That problems are the price of progress, that friction is the concomitant of motion, that a live and expanding church will have a certain quota of difficulties as a result of its life and activity. A Spirit-filled church will invite the anger of the enemy.
How than shall we deal with our problems? First, expect them so you will not be taken off guard. Second, realize that every live body of Christians has its troubles, from Christ and His apostles to the present day, so yours are not unique. Third, pour in copious amounts of love, the best lubricant in the world. Love will reduce friction to a minimum and keep the whole body working smoothly and without injury to its parts.
Where does this love come from? The love of God bursts forth from the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
The same bond which unites believers to Christ, binds them to each other. Those who love Christ, love those who are like Him and those who are beloved by Him. There is unity of design, a common interest in the objects of their pursuits.
~A. W. Tozer~
To know God, this is eternal life; this is the purpose for which we are and were created. The destruction of our God-awareness was the master blow struck by satan in the dark day of our transgression.
To give God back to us was the chief work of Christ in redemption. To impart Himself to us in personal experience is the first purpose of God in salvation. To bring acute God-awareness is the best help the Spirit brings in sanctification. All other steps in grace lead up to this.
Were we allowed but one request, we might gain at a stroke all things else by praying one all-embracing prayer:
"Thyself, Lord! Give me Thyself and I can want no more."
To be able to look into God's face, and know with the knowledge of faith that there is nothing between the soul and Him, is to experience the fullest peace the soul can know. Whatever else pardon may be, it is above all things admission into full fellowship with God.
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
Problems! Problems!
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God" (1 John 4:7)
What is the conclusion of the matter? That problems are the price of progress, that friction is the concomitant of motion, that a live and expanding church will have a certain quota of difficulties as a result of its life and activity. A Spirit-filled church will invite the anger of the enemy.
How than shall we deal with our problems? First, expect them so you will not be taken off guard. Second, realize that every live body of Christians has its troubles, from Christ and His apostles to the present day, so yours are not unique. Third, pour in copious amounts of love, the best lubricant in the world. Love will reduce friction to a minimum and keep the whole body working smoothly and without injury to its parts.
Where does this love come from? The love of God bursts forth from the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
The same bond which unites believers to Christ, binds them to each other. Those who love Christ, love those who are like Him and those who are beloved by Him. There is unity of design, a common interest in the objects of their pursuits.
~A. W. Tozer~
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