we are all touched by God's hands

"He is no respecter of persons but makes His sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust. The cause of His goodness is in Himself; the recipients of His goodness are all His beneficiaries without merit and without recompense." -A.W. Tozer

a devotional from A.W. Tozer

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.

Prayer Lord, I determine by Your enablement to think about the good.

Scripture 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.

pursuit of God

We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One.

The author of the quaint old English classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, teaches us how to do this. "Lift up thine heart unto God with a meek stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And there to, look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself. So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God Himself. This is the work of the soul that most pleaseth God."

Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything, even of our theology. "For it sufficeth enough, a naked intent direct unto God without any other cause than Himself." Yet underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament truth, for he explains that by "Himself" he means "God that made thee, and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree." And he is all for simplicity: If we would have religion "lapped and folden in one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the Spirit. And such a word is this word GOD or this word LOVE."

When the Lord divided Canaan among the tribes of Israel Levi received no share of the land. God said to him simply, "I am thy part and thine inheritance," and by those words made him richer than all his brethren, richer than all the kings and rajas who have ever lived in the world. And there is a spiritual principle here, a principle still valid for every priest of the Most High God.

The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

by A.W. Tozer

life

"People spend their entire lives in the pursuit of those things that can only perish and fade away." -A.W. Tozer

man

"we are wholly and continually dependent upon God, the Source and Fountain of life. Only by full dependence upon Him are the hidden potentialities of our natures realized. Apart from this we are but half-men, malformed and unbeautiful members of a noble race once made to wear the image of its Creator." -A.W. Tozer

"moral"

"A strange amentia has resulted, marked by acute self-importance and delusions of moral grandeur." -A.W. Tozer

benefits

"He is no respecter of persons but makes His sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust. The cause of His goodness is in Himself; the recipients of His goodness are all His beneficiaries without merit and without recompense." -A.W. Tozer

changes

"In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part." -A.W. Tozer

awe

"the believing man does not claim to understand. He falls to his knees and whispers, 'God.'" -A.W. Tozer

a mystery

"Secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation of zombies. We cover our deep ignorance with words, but we are ashamed to wonder, we are afraid to whisper 'mystery.'" A.W. Tozer

"As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things" Ecclesiastes 11:5

open

"As long as we know that our view of truth is partial we can preserve that humbleness of mind appropriate to the circumstances; but let us once get the notion that our view is total and we become intellectually intolerant. Let us become convinced that ours is the only sensible view and our ability to learn dies instantly." -Tozer

understanding

A determination to know what cannot be known always works harm to the Christian heart. Ignorance in matters on our human level is never to be excused if there has been opportunity to correct it. But there are matters which are obviously "too high for us." These we should meet in trusting faith and say as Jesus said, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." There are things that we can never understand until we have the benefit of advanced experience and the addition of a light beyond anything we possess at present. Under those circumstances it is not good to attempt to understand. Confessed ignorance becomes us better. Human curiosity and pride often combine to drive us to try to understand acts of God which are plainly outside the field of human understanding. We dislike to admit that we do not know what is going on, so we torture our minds trying to fathom the mysterious ways of the Omniscient One. It's hard to conceive of a more fruitless task. For instance, a child which had been long desired and prayed for is suddenly taken away. The parents are prostrated with grief, and to add to their suffering comes the torturing thought that they should know why it all happened, but do not. Then begins the long, painful attempt to learn the secret of life and death. Why did this happen? What does God have in mind? These poor friends bruise their minds cruelly trying to fathom the unfathomable. We may as well learn (and the earlier the better) that God has no private secretaries who are on the inside of the secrets of eternity. All God wanted to say, He has said in the Scriptures. Beyond that we show the greatest wisdom simply to remain still before Him and whisper, "Even so, Father." To the adoring heart, the best and most satisfying explanation for anything always will be, "It seemed good in thy sight."

-Tozer

dependency

"Traditionally Christianity has been the religion of the common people. Whenever the upper classes have adopted it in numbers, it has died. Respectability has almost always proved fatal to it. The reasons back of this are two, one human and the other divine. Schleiermacher has pointed out that at the bottom of all religion there lies a feeling of dependence, a sense of creature helplessness. The simple man who lives close to the earth lives also close to death and knows that he must look for help beyond himself; he knows that there is but a step between him and catastrophe. As he rises in the social and economic scale, he surrounds himself with more and more protective devices and pushes danger (so he thinks) farther and farther from him. Self-confidence displaces the feeling of dependence he once knew and God becomes less necessary to him. Should he stop to think this through he would know better than to place his confidence in things and people; but so badly are we injured by our moral fall that we are capable of deceiving ourselves completely and, if conditions favor it, to keep up the deception for a lifetime. Along with the feeling of security that wealth and position bring comes an arrogant pride that shuts tightly the door of the heart to the waiting Savior. Our Very Important Man may indeed honor a church by joining it, but there is no life in his act. His religion is external and his faith nominal. Conscious respectability has destroyed him. Prayer O God, what do I control? You are in full control and I may depend fully upon You."

-Tozer

take hold

"Salvation—including forgiveness, new birth, the Spirit's enabling—is all ours through Christ. It remains for us to by faith grasp it. Some of us continue to admire it from afar and deeply desire it, but we have not yet reached out in faith and taken hold of it." -A.W. Tozer

I am ready

"I am of the opinion that much in our Christian ritual and liturgy does not come to grips with its basic meaning. I have listened to the great musical renditions of Bach, Beethoven, Handel and others. The music written for use in services such as the mass is sublime and the language beautiful. But I cannot escape the feeling that something is missing. The prayers and the appeals are there— 'Lord, have mercy!' 'Christ, have mercy!' They are voiced again and again.

Could it be that this prayer, this appeal to God for mercy, is but the shadow of the truth? Do these prayers never approach to the reality of saving faith and confident assurance in God's promise and provision? There must come a time when petition becomes reality and we shout, 'It is done! The great transaction is done! I am my Lord's, and He is mine!'

There has to be a time and a place when we rejoice in faith that we are forgiven, that we have been born again, that God has accomplished His plan. Right there we drive a stake and say, 'Thank you, Lord! I am forgiven. I am cleansed. I am pardoned. I am a new person, born from above. Now put me to work. I am ready to witness.'"

-A.W.Tozer