"The Pursuit of God" is the classic Tozer book. It shows his heart, style, and godly convictions. At present, there are over forty A.W. Tozer books in print. Of these only nine were produced while Tozer was alive. His biography titled, "In Pursuit of God: The life of A.W. Tozer" by James Snyder is a fantastic read also.
Consider this portion of his "Ordination Prayer":
"Lord Jesus, I come to Thee for spiritual preparation. Lay Thy hand upon me. Anoint me with the oil of the New Testament prophet. Forbid that I should become a religious scribe and thus lose my prophetic calling. Save me from the curse that lies dark across the face of the modern clergy, the curse of compromise, of imitation, of professionalism. Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offerings. Help me to remember that I am a prophet, not a promoter, not a religious manager, but a prophet. Let me never become a slave to crowds. Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch for poblicity. . ."
Tozer is a man of God worthy of knowing. He is in Heaven now however, we can spend time with him through his books. Lets get to know him and his God a little better.
Pastor's Reading Club Assignment:
1. Read the "Foreword, Tozer's Lagacy, and Preface" before starting the first chapter, "Following Hard After God."
2. Consider your pursuit of God (devotional life) as you read this book.
3. Do you have a regular prayer time? What is it like?
4. How do you get to know someone? What, according to Tozer, is the essence of genuine religion?
5. Read the quotes from pages 13 and 14. Are you personally, consciouly aware of God? Would you like to be?
As to numbers 2 & 3...Until I started reading this book, my devotional and prayer life were lacking quite a bit. I prayed and read my bible every morning, if I remembered, but it wasn't a priority. Somehow, the feeling of wanting to follow God was still there, just never developed I guess. I now understand that, as stated in this book, that it is something God places in your heart. So all along the desire was there, I just wouldn't do my part to change it.
ReplyDeleteAs to number 4...You get to know someone by spending time with them, and as Tozer states, it is the same with God. You can only somewhat know him by reading His Word, but it wouldn't be anymore then what your friend could tell someone about you. They would know about you, but they wouldn't really know you. As with the Lord, I have known about him all my life and have barely known him since getting saved. As I study this book and beg the Lord to show himself to me, I am beginning to know him in ways I never could have imagined.
I find myself re-reading each chapter over and over. I have only made it through the first two because of this. Just when I think I am ready to move on, something else in the chapter will catch me and I will have to search it out and see what the Lord is trying to show me. This book has been a tremendous help and blessing to me, and the Lord is definitely using it to grab hold my heart.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteThat is great. Keep developing you desire to know God and there will always be more of Him to know. Remember, that "Following Hard After God" does not describe the difficulty of following but rather the intensity of our desire!
Since I was saved I have had a desire to have a regular, consistant time of prayer. But, over the past couple of years it has been quite the opposite, off and on, never really consistant. Though the desire was there...my prayer and devotional time rarely had first place in the list of events for my day.
ReplyDelete4- You get to know someone by talking to them...listening and spending time with them. I must admit that I had a hard time grasping or understaning the essence of genuine religion. But after reading over it several times I think I finally understand...
According to Tozer the essence of genuine religion is our responce to God. As I read further I found that getting to know God is very much like getting to know anyone. Because God is personal. I have not been personaly consciouly aware of God. Though, as I read this book I find myself wanting to know God more personaly. As Tozer says
"In Him we shall find that which we have all our lives been secretly longing."
Since reading this book, I have found this so very true!
I am looking so forward to all that God will be revealing me as I read on in this book!
Nay,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to read your post. I rejoice that God is doing a similar work in your heart through this study as he has done in mine. Hunger and thirst after the Lord and you will find Him completely satisfying.
get ready for chapter two!