Quotes & Excerpts from

The Christian in the world

"The idea that this world is a playgroundinstead of a battleground has now beenaccepted in practice by the vast majority ofChristians. They are facing Christ and theworld.... "The ‘worship’ growing out of such a view oflife is as far off center as the view itself - a sortof sanctified nightclub without the

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champagne and the dressed-up drunks." This World: Playground or Battleground? by

A.W. Tozer, pp. 5-6.

The Root of the Righteous

"In our constant struggle to believe we arelikely to overlook the simple fact that a bit ofhealthy disbelief is sometimes as needful asfaith to the welfare of our souls. I would gofurther and say that we would do well tocultivate a reverent skepticism. It will keep usout of a thousand bogs and quagmires whereothers who lack it sometimes find themselves.It is no sin to doubt some things, but it may befatal to believe everything.

"Faith is at the root of all true worship, and

without faith it is impossible to please God.Through unbelief Israel failed to inherit thepromises. “By grace are ye saved through

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faith.” “The just shall live by faith.” Such versesas these come trooping to our memories, andwe wince just a little at the suggestion thatunbelief may also be a good and usefulthing....

"Faith never means gullibility. The man who

believes everything is as far from God as theman who refuses to believe anything. Faith

engages the person and promises of God andrests upon them with perfect assurance.Whatever has behind it the character andword of the living God is accepted by faith asthe last and final truth from which there mustnever be any appeal. Faith never asksquestions when it has been established thatGod has spoken. 'Yea, let God be true, butevery man a liar' (Rom. 3:4). Thus faith honorsGod by counting Him righteous and acceptsHis testimony against the very evidence of itsown senses. That is faith, and of such we cannever have too much.

"Credulity, on the other hand, never honors

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God, for it shows as great a readiness tobelieve anybody as to believe God Himself.The credulous person will accept anything aslong as it is unusual, and the more unusual it isthe more ardently he will believe. Anytestimony will be swallowed with a straightface if it only has about it some element ofthe eerie, the preternatural, the unearthly...."

The Root of the Righteous, Chapter 34

"Whatever a man wants badly andpersistently enough will determine the man'scharacter."

The Root of the Righteous, p. 116.

The Pursuit of God,

"To great sections of the Church the art ofworship has been lost entirely, and in its placehas come that strange and foreign thing

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called the `program.' This word has beenborrowed from the stage and applied withsad wisdom to the type of public servicewhich now passes for worship among us.

"Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must

in the Church of the living God. Without it nochurch can be a New Testament church inany strict meaning of that term. But expositionmay be carried on in such way as to leavethe hearers devoid of any true spiritualnourishment whatever. For it is not mere wordsthat nourish the soul, but God Himself...."

Preface, 1948.

"The way to deeper knowledge of God isthrough the lonely valleys of soul poverty andabnegation of all things. The blessed oneswho possess the Kingdom are they who haverepudiated every external thing and haverooted from their hearts all sense ofpossessing. These are the 'poor in spirit.'" Page23

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"To have found God and still to pursue Him isthe soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed bythe too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justifiedin happy experience by the children of theburning heart." Page 14

Alone with God

"And when He had sent the multitudesaway, He went up on the mountain byHimself to pray. Now when evening

came, He was alone there." Matthew

14:23

"Modern civilization is so complex as to makethe devotional life all but impossible. It wearsus out by multiplying distractions and beats usdown by destroying our solitude, whereotherwise we might drink and renew ourstrength before going out to face the worldagain.

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"The thoughtful soul to solitude retires," saidthe poet of other and quieter times; butwhere is the solitude to which we can retiretoday? Science, which has provided menwith certain material comforts, has robbedthem of their souls by surrounding them with a

world hostile to their existence.

"Commune with your own heart upon yourbed and be still" is a wise and healing counsel,but how can it be followed in this day of thenewspaper, the telephone, the radio and thetelevision? These modern playthings, like pettiger cubs, have grown so large anddangerous that they threaten to devour us all.What was intended to be a blessing hasbecome a positive curse. No spot is now safefrom the world's intrusion."

Of God and Men, 125

Falling down before God

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"Then Abram fell on his face, and Godtalked with him, saying: 'As for Me,behold, My covenant is with you...'"Genesis 17:3-4

"The Scriptures declare, 'Abram fell on hisface' as the Lord talked with him (Genesis17:3). Abraham was reverent and submissive.Probably there is no better picture anywherein the Bible of the right place for mankind andthe right place for God. God was on Histhrone speaking, and Abraham was on hisface listening!

"Where God and man are in relationship, thismust be the ideal. God must be thecommunicator, and man must be in thelistening, obeying attitude. If men and womenare not willing to assume this listening attitude,there will be no meeting with God in living,personal experience....

"Yes, Abraham was lying face down in humilityand reverence, overcome with awe in this

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encounter with God. He knew that he wassurrounded by the world's greatest mystery.The presence of this One who fills all thingswas pressing in upon him, rising above him,defeating him, taking away his naturalself-confidence. God was overwhelming himand yet inviting and calling him, pleading withhim and promising him a great future as afriend of God!"

Men Who Met God, 21-22.

Why We Must Think Rightly About

God

"What comes into our minds when we thinkabout God is the most important thing aboutus. ... Worship is pure or base as the worshiperentertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before

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the Church is always God Himself, and themost portentous fact about any man is notwhat he at a given time may say or do, butwhat he in his deep heart conceives God tobe like. We tend by a secret law of the soul tomove toward our mental image of God. This istrue not only of the individual Christian, but ofthe company of Christians that composes theChurch. Always the most revealing thing about

the Church is her idea of God, just as her mostsignificant message is what she says aboutHim or leaves unsaid, for her silence is oftenmore eloquent than her speech. ... Were we able to extract from any man acomplete answer to the question, ”Whatcomes into your mind when you think aboutGod?” we might predict with certainty thespiritual future of that man. Were we able toknow exactly what our most influentialreligious leaders think of God today, we mightbe able with some precision to foretell wherethe Church will stand tomorrow. ...

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A right conception of God is basic not only tosystematic theology but to practical Christianliving as well. It is to worship what thefoundation is to the temple; where it isinadequate or out of plumb the wholestructure must sooner or later collapse. Ibelieve there is scarcely an error in doctrineor a failure in applying Christian ethics thatcannot be traced finally to imperfect andignoble thoughts about God....

It is my opinion that the Christian conceptionof God current in these middle years of thetwentieth century is so decadent as to beutterly beneath the dignity of the Most HighGod and actually to constitute for professedbelievers something amounting to a moralcalamity.

All the problems of heaven and earth, thoughthey were to confront us together and atonce, would be nothing compared with theoverwhelming problem of God: That He is;what He is like; and what we as moral beings

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must do about Him....

The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other

than He is - in itself a monstrous sin - and

substitutes for the true God one made after itsown likeness. Always this God will conform tothe image of the one who created it and willbe base or pure, cruel or kind, according tothe moral state of the mind from which itemerges....

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of

thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.It begins in the mind and may be presentwhere no overt act of worship has takenplace. 'When they knew God,'wrote Paul,'they glorified him not as God, neither werethankful; but became vain in theirimaginations, and their foolish heart wasdarkened.'

Then followed the worship of idols fashionedafter the likeness of men and birds and beastsand creeping things. But this series of

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degrading acts began in the mind. Wrong

ideas about God are not only the fountainfrom which the polluted waters of idolatry flow;they are themselves idolatrous. The idolatersimply imagines things about God and acts asif they were true. Perverted notions about God soon rot thereligion in which they appear. The long careerof Israel demonstrates this clearly enough,and the history of the Church confirms it. Sonecessary to the Church is a lofty concept ofGod that when that concept in any measuredeclines, the Church with her worship and hermoral standards declines along with it. The firststep down for any church is taken when itsurrenders its high opinion of God.

Before the Christian Church goes into eclipseanywhere there must first be a corrupting ofher simple basic theology. She simply gets awrong answer to the question, 'What is Godlike?' and goes on from there. Though shemay continue to cling to a sound nominal

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creed, her practical working creed hasbecome false. The masses of her adherentscome to believe that God is different fromwhat He actually is; and that is heresy of themost insidious and deadly kind.

The heaviest obligation lying upon theChristian Church today is to purify andelevate her concept of God until it is oncemore worthy of Him - and of her. In all herprayers and labors this should have first place.We do the greatest service to the nextgeneration of Christians by passing on tothem undimmed and undiminished that nobleconcept of God which we received from ourHebrew and Christian fathers of generationspast. This will prove of greater value to themthan anything that art or science can devise.

The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer,

Chapter 1

Our wonderful Lord and King

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"Christianity today is man-centered, notGod-centered. God is made to wait patiently,even respectfully, on the whims of men. Theimage of God currently popular is that of adistracted Father, struggling in heartbrokendesperation to get people to accept a Saviorof whom they feel no need and in whom theyhave very little interest. To persuade theseself-sufficient souls to respond to His generousoffers God will do almost anything, even usingsalesmanship methods and talking down tothem in the chummiest way imaginable. Thisview of things is, of course, a kind of religiousromanticism which, while it often usesflattering and sometimes embarrassing termsin praise of God, manages nevertheless to

make man the star of the show." Man: The

Dwelling Place of God, 27.

“We need to improve the quality of ourChristianity and we never will until we raise ourconcept of God back to that held by apostle,sage, prophet, saint and reformer. When weput God back where he really belongs, we will

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instinctively and automatically move upagain; the whole spiral of our religious

direction will be upward." The Attributes of

God, 195.

"Nobody ever got anything from God on thegrounds that he deserved it. Haven fallen,man deserves only punishment and death. Soif God answers prayer it's because God isgood. From His goodness, His lovingkindness,His good-natured benevolence, God does it!

That's the source of everything." The Attributes

of God, 47.

The Church

"I Thank God that the kingdom of God is notdivided into areas for big, important peopleand areas for little, unimportant people. Everyone is just as needful in God's sight as anyother!" "Who Put Jesus On the Cross", 161

Ashamed of the Gospel?

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"Many of us Christians have becomeextremely skillful in arranging our lives so as toadmit the truth of Christianity without beingembarrassed by its implications. We arrangethings so that we can get on well enoughwithout divine aid, while at the same timeostensibly seeking it. We boast in the Lord butwatch carefully that we never get caught

depending on Him." The Root of the

Righteous, page 39.

Spiritual Gifts

"I say that a Christian congregation cansurvive and often appear to prosper in thecommunity by the exercise of human talentand without any touch from the Holy Spirit! Allthat religious activity and the dear people willnot know anything better until the great andterrible day when our self-employed talentsare burned with fire and only that which waswrought by the Holy Ghost will stand forever!"

Tragedy in the Church: The Missing Gifts, 30.

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Faith:

"Faith as Paul saw it, was a living flaming thingleading to surrender and obedience to thecommandments of Christ. Faith in our dayoften means no more than a meek assent to

a doctrine." Paths to Power, 56-57.

Complacency:"Complacency is the deadly enemy ofspiritual progress. The contented soul is the

stagnant soul." The Size of the Soul, 22.

God's will & my obedience:

The only fear I have is to fear to get out of thewill of God. Outside of the will of God, there'snothing I want, and in the will of God there'snothing I fear, for God has sworn to keep mein His will. If I'm out of his will that's anothermatter. But if I'm in His will, He's sworn to keep

me." Success and the Christian, 80.

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"Whatever a man wants badly andpersistently enough will determine the man's

character." The Root of the Righteous, 116.

"It is impossible to keep our moral practicessound and our inward attitudes right while ouridea of God is erroneous or inadequate."The Knowledge of the Holy, viii

"The New Christian is like a man who haslearned to drive a car in a country where thetraffic moves on the left side of the highwayand suddenly finds himself in another countryand forced to drive on the right. He mustunlearn his old habit and learn a new one andmore serious than all, he must learn in heavytraffic."Of God and Men, 63.

"The notion that the careless sinner is thesmart fellow and the serious-minded Christian,though well-intentioned, is a stupid dolt

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altogether out of touch with life will not standup under scrutiny. Sin is basically an act ofmoral folly, and the greater the folly thegreater the fool."Man The Dwelling Place of God, 48.

"What does this word holiness really mean? Is ita negative kind of piety from which so manypeople have shied away? No, of course not!Holiness in the Bible means moral wholeness--a positive quality which actually includeskindness, mercy, purity, moral blamelessnessand godliness. It is always to be thought of ina positive, white intensity of degree."I Call it Heresy, 63

History will show that the church hasprospered most when blessed with strongleaders and suffered the greatest declinewhen her leaders were weak and timeserving. The sheep rarely go much farther

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than the shepherd.The Warfare of the Spirit, 191-192

What Christian when faced with a moralproblem goes straight to the Sermon on theMount or other New Testament Scripture forthe authoritative answer? Who lets the wordsof Christ be final. The causes back of thedecline in our Lord’s authority are many. Iname only two.One is the power of custom, precedent andtradition within the older religious groups.These like gravitation affect every particle ofreligious practice within the group, exerting asteady and constant pressure in onedirection. Of course that direction is towardconformity to the status quo. Not Christ butcustom is lord in this situation….The second cause is the revival ofintellectualism among the evangelicals. This, ifI sense the situation correctly, is not so much athirst for learning as a desire for a reputation

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of being learned…….

One sign of His diminishing authority is thatmany churches have for years baptizedprofessing Christians in the name of theFather, and of the Son and of the Holy Spiritwithout even asking them to committhemselves to learn to obey all that Christcommanded (Matthew 28:18-20).Consequently Christ’s supreme authority isignored at the entrance into the membershipand fellowship of His church. A disciple is aperson who is committed to learn to obey allthat Christ commanded, but the majority ofChristians spend a lifetime in church andnever even know that they should become adisciple.

A.W. Tozer said, "I am a Bible Christian and ifan archangel with a wingspread as broad asa constellation shining like the sun were tocome and offer me some new truth, I'd askhim for a reference. If he could not show me

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where it is found in the Bible, I would bow himout and say, I'm awfully sorry, you don't bringany references with you"

"We must face today as children of tomorrow.We must meet the uncertainties of this worldwith the certainty of the world to come."-- Of God and Men, 132-133 –

"Modern civilization is so complex as to makethe devotional life all but impossible. It wearsus out by multiplying distractions and beats usdown by destroying our solitude, whereotherwise we might drink and renew ourstrength before going out to face the worldagain."Of God and Men, 103.

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"Wisdom, among other things, is the ability todevise perfect ends and to achieve thoseends by the most perfect means....All God'sacts are done in perfect wisdom, first for Hisown glory, and then for the highest good ofthe greatest number for the longest time. Andall His acts are as pure as they are wise, andas good as they are wise and pure. Not onlycould His acts not be better done: a betterway to do them could not be imagined."The Knowledge of the Holy, 60-61

"Without doubt the emphasis in Christianteaching today should be on worship. There islittle danger that we shall become merelyworshipers and neglect the practicalimplications of the gospel. No one can longworship God in spirit and in truth before theobligation to holy service becomes too strongto resist. Fellowship with God leads straight toobedience and good works. That is the divineorder and it can never be reversed."

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Born After Midnight, 126.

"We modern Christians are long on talk andshort on conduct."Born After Midnight, 32.

"The idea that God will pardon a rebel whohas not given up his rebellion is contrary bothto the Scriptures and to common sense."The Root of the Righteous, 43.

"The man that believes will obey; failure toobey is convincing proof that there is no truefaith present. To attempt the impossible Godmust give faith or there will be none, and Hegives faith to the obedient heart only."Man the Dwelling Place of God, 33.

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"The average Christian is so cold and socontented with His wretched condition thatthere is no vacuum of desire into which theblessed Spirit can rush in satisfying fullness."Born After Midnight, 7.

"In the Book of Acts faith was for eachbeliever a beginning, not an end; it was ajourney, not a bed in which to lie while waitingfor the day of our Lord's triumph. Believingwas not a once-done act; it was more thanan act, it was an attitude of heart and mindwhich inspired and enabled the believer totake up his cross and follow the Lambwhithersoever He went."Born After Midnight, 16.

"Too many of our religious convictions are

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negative. We act not from a positiveconviction that something is right, but from afeeling that the opposite is wrong."-- Of God and Men, 94. –

"The greatness of God rouses fear within us,but His goodness encourages us not to beafraid of Him. To fear and not be afraid -- thatis the paradox of faith.The Knowledge of the Holy, 84

"When I am praying the most eloquently, I amgetting the least accomplished in my prayerlife. But when I stop getting eloquent and giveGod less theology and shut up and just gazeupward and wait for God to speak to myheart He speaks with such power that I haveto grab a pencil and a notebook and takenotes on what God is saying to my heart."Success and the Christian, 46-47

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"Worship, I say, rises or falls with our concept ofGod .... and if there is one terrible disease inthe Church of Christ, it is that we do not seeGod as great as He is."Worship: The Missing Jewel of the EvangelicalChurch, 25.

Actually, I do find Christians these days whoseem to have largely wasted their lives. Theywere converted to Christ but they have neversought to go on to an increasing knowledgeof God. There is untold loss and failurebecause they have accepted the wholelevel of things around them as being normaland desirable.The Counselor, 130.

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"The best book is not one that informs merely,but one that stirs the reader up to informhimself."Man the Dwelling Place of God, 149.

We may as well face it: the whole level ofspirituality among us is low. We havemeasured ourselves by ourselves until theincentive to seek higher plateaus in the thingsof the Spirit is all but gone."Of God and Men, 12.

"We must do something about the cross, andone of two things only we can do--flee it ordie upon it."The Root of the Righteous, 63.

"Faith never means gullibility. The man who

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believes everything is as far from God as theman who refuses to believe anything."The Root of the Righteous, 120.

"The notion that hostile persons or unfavorablecircumstances can prevent the will of Godfrom being fulfilled in a human life isaltogether erroneous. Nothing, no one, canhinder God or a good man."The Root of the Righteous, 128

"We Christians must simplify our lives or loseuntold treasures on earth and in eternity."The Pursuit of God, 103

"We cannot grasp the true meaning of thedivine holiness by thinking of someone orsomething very pure and then raising the

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concept to the highest degree we arecapable of. God's holiness is not simply thebest we know infinitely bettered. We knownothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart,unique, unapproachable, incomprehensibleand unattainable. The natural man is blind toit. He may fear God's power and admire Hiswisdom, but His holiness he cannot evenimagine."The Knowledge of the Holy, 111.

"Prayer is never an acceptable substitute forobedience. The sovereign Lord accepts nooffering from His creatures that is notaccompanied by obedience. To pray forrevival while ignoring or actually flouting theplain precept laid down in the Scriptures is towaste a lot of words and get nothing for ourtrouble."Of God and Men, 52.

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'...Faith is not a once-done act, but acontinuous gaze of the heart at the TriuneGod. Believing, then, is directing the hearts'attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to"behold the Lamb of God," and neverceasing that beholding for the rest of ourlives.'The Pursuit of God, 90.

" I find that many men and women aretroubled by the thought that they are toosmall and inconsequential in the scheme ofthings. But that is not our real trouble -- we areactually too big and too complex, for Godmade us in His image and we are too big tobe satisfied with what the world offers us!....Man is bored, because he is too big to behappy with that which sin is giving him. Godhas made him too great, his potential is toomighty."Who Put Jesus on the Cross, 170.

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"When our Lord looked at us, He saw not onlywhat we were -- He was faithful in seeing whatwe could become! He took away the curse ofbeing and gave us the glorious blessing ofbecoming.Who Put Jesus on the Cross, 166"

"Truth is a glorious but hard mistress. She neverconsults, bargains or compromises."Of God and Men, 39

"I think that most Christians would be betterpleased if the Lord did not inquire into theirpersonal affairs too closely. They want Him tosave them, keep them happy and take themto heaven at last, but not to be too inquisitiveabout their conduct or service. But He has

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searched us and known us; He knows ourdownsitting and our uprising and understandsour thoughts afar off. There is no place to hidefrom those eyes that are as a flame of fireand there is no way to escape from theJudgment of those feet that are like finebrass. It is the part of wisdom to live with thesethings in mind."That Incredible Christian, 105-106.

"To be right with God has often meant to bein trouble with men."Man the Dwelling Place of God, 114.

"God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.He has already lived all our tomorrows as Hehas lived all our yesterdays."The Knowledge of the Holy, 45.

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"We have become so engrossed in the workof the Lord that we have forgotten the Lordof the work."The Banner, Dec. 4, 70, p. 2

"If God is the Supreme good then our highestblessedness on earth must lie in knowing Himas perfectly as possible."That Incredible Christian, 65

"God being who He is must always be soughtfor Himself, never as a means towardsomething else.""Whoever seeks God as a means towarddesired ends will not find God. The mightyGod, the maker of heaven and earth, will notbe one of many treasures, not even the chiefof all treasures. He will be all in all or He will benothing. God will not be used."

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Man the Dwelling Place of God, 56-57

For a long time I have believed that truth, tobe understood must be lived; that Bibledoctrine is wholly ineffective until it has beendigested and assimilated by the total life.That Incredible Christian, 92.

The yearning to know What cannot be known,to comprehend the Incomprehensible, totouch and taste the Unapproachable, arisesfrom the image of God in the nature of man.Deep calleth unto deep, and though pollutedand landlocked by the mighty disastertheologians call the Fall, the soul senses itsorigin and longs to return to its Source.The Knowledge of the Holy, 9.

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All things being equal, our prayers are only aspowerful as our lives. In the long pull we prayonly as well as we live. Some prayers are like afire escape, used only in times of criticalemergency -- never very enjoyable, but usedas a way of terrified escape from disaster.They do not represent the regular life of theone who offers them; rather are the unusualand uncommon acts of the spiritual amateur.The Root of the Righteous, 81.

God formed us for His pleasure, and soformed us that we as well as He can in divinecommunion enjoy the sweet and mysteriousmingling of kindred personalities. He meant usto see Him and live with Him and draw our lifefrom His smile.The Pursuit of God, p. 34.

Worship means "to feel in the heart"....Worship

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also means to "express in some appropriatemanner" what you feel....and what will beexpressed? "A humbling but delightful senseof admiring awe and astonished wonder."Worship The Missing Jewel of the EvangelicalChurch 8, 9

In the New Testament there is nocontradiction between faith and obedience.Between faith and law-works, yes; betweenlaw and grace, yes; but between faith andobedience, not at all. The Bible recognizes nofaith that does not lead to obedience, nordoes it recognize any obedience that doesnot spring from faith.Paths to Power, 24

"...no religion has ever been greater than itsidea of God. Worship is pure or base as theworshiper entertains high or low thoughts ofGod."The Knowledge of the Holy, 9.

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"Our pursuit of God is successful just becauseHe is forever seeking to manifest Himself tous."Pursuit of God, 65."It is not what a man does that determineswhether his work is sacred or secular, it is whyhe does it. The motive is everything."The Pursuit of God, 127

"There is scarcely anything so dull andmeaningless as Bible doctrine taught for itsown sake. Truth divorced from life is not truthin its Biblical sense, but something else andsomething less."Of God and Men, 26

"The abuse of a harmless thing is the essence

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of sin."A.W. Tozer

"Men who refuse to worship the true God nowworship themselves with tender devotion."A.W. Tozer The Divine Conquest, 52.

"One of the Most stinging criticisms madeagainst Christians is that their minds arenarrow and their hearts small."The Root of the Righteous, 113.

"We are called to an everlastingpreoccupation with God."That Incredible Christian, 46.

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"Every man is as holy as he really wants to be."Man: the Dwelling Place of God, 40

Much of our difficulty as seeking Christiansstems from our unwillingness to take God asHe is and adjust our lives accordingly. Weinsist upon trying to modify Him and to bringHim nearer to our own image.The Pursuit of God, 101.

"What comes into our minds when we thinkabout God is the most important thing aboutus."The Knowledge of the Holy, 7.

Time"God never hurries. There are no deadlinesagainst which He must work. ""God never hurries. There are no deadlines

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against which He must work."The Knowledge of the Holy, 53.

The following quotes (attributed

to Tozer) have no specific

reference yet.

Hypocrisy or honesty?

"Of all forms of deception self-deception is themost deadly, and of all deceived persons theself-deceived are the least likely to discoverthe fraud."

"Christians don't tell lies they just go to churchand sing them."

"Much that passes for New TestamentChristianity is little more that objective truthsweetened with song and made palatable by

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religious entertainment."

"It is not what a man does that determineswhether his work is sacred or secular, it is whyhe does it. The motive is everything."

"God being who He is must always be soughtfor Himself, never as a means towardsomething else."

"Whoever seeks God as a means towarddesired ends will not find God. The mightyGod, the maker of heaven and earth, will notbe one of many treasures, not even the chiefof all treasures. He will be all in all or He will benothing. God will not be used."

"It is doubtful we can be Christian in anythingunless we are Christian in everything."

Pride:

"It appears that too many Christians want toenjoy the thrill of feeling right but are notwilling to endure the inconvenience of being

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right."

"Creatures that have been saved by thesovereign grace of the Creator, put into theservice of their fellow creatures andcommanded to herald the good news ofDivine pardon and deliverance may all too

quickly forget that they are but clay potsmade out of 'proud dust' (to note ThomasWatson's apt description). We must bereminded that we hold our office by ourMaster's pleasure, to do His bidding, to furtherHis Kingdom, and to build up His children. ... "Humble shepherds remember that eventhe Great Shepherd of the sheep patientlyendured the misunderstanding, scolding andfleshly second-guessing of His slow-to-learnsheep (cf. Matt. 16:22; Mark 4:38; 1 Pet.2:21-23). Prideful shepherds, however, react toevery real or perceived slight to their 'noblepersonage'. How unlike their Master! "Shepherds must learn that they cannot beconformed to the image of Christ aslong-suffering and forgiving unless they are

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first 'long-bothered' and wronged." God's sovereignty:"The notion that hostile persons or unfavorablecircumstances can prevent the will of Godfrom being fulfilled in a human life isaltogether erroneous. Nothing, no one, canhinder God or a good man."

"God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.He has already lived all our tomorrows as Hehas lived all our yesterdays."

Righteousness or depravity:

"One of our greatest tasks is to demonstrateto the young people of this generation thatthere is nothing stupid about righteousness."

"It is doubtful we can be Christian in anythingunless we are Christian in everything."

"One hundred religious persons knit into aunity by careful organization do not constitutea church any more than eleven dead men

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make a football team."

"One mark of the low state of affairs amongus is religious boredom."

Tolerating the unholy

"Not only are we all in process of becoming;we are becoming what we love."

"We may as well face it: the whole level ofspirituality among us is low. We havemeasured ourselves by ourselves until theincentive to seek higher plateaus in the thingsof the Spirit is all but gone."

"Grace will save a man but it will not save himand his idol.

"Any nation which for an extended periodputs pleasure before liberty is likely to lose theliberty it misused."

"It is hard to focus upon a better world tocome when a more comfortable one than

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this can hardly be imagined."

Separation and persecution"

"To be right with God has often meant to bein trouble with men."

Truth

"Truth is a glorious but hard mistress. She neverconsults, bargains or compromises."

"What Christian when faced with a moralproblem goes straight to the Sermon on theMount or other New Testament Scripture forthe authoritative answer? Who lets the wordsof Christ be final on giving, buying, selling andother important matters?"

True or false worship (self-focused orGod-focused)"

"Men who refuse to worship the true God now

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worship themselves with tender devotion."

"The Lordship of Jesus Christ is not quiteforgotten among Christians, but it has beenrelegated to the hymnal where allresponsibility toward it may be comfortablydischarged in a glow of religious emotion. Orif it is taught as a theory in the classroom it israrely applied to practical living. The idea thatthe Man Christ Jesus has absolute finalauthority over the whole church and over itsmembers in every detail of their lives is simplynot now accepted as true by the rank andfile of evangelical Christians."

"In the conduct of our public worship where isthe authority of Christ to be found? The truth isthat today the Lord rarely controls a service,and the influence He exerts is very small. Wesing of Him and preach about Him, but Hemust not interfere; we worship our way, and itmust be right because we have always doneit that way, as have the other churches in ourgroup."

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"The things that are closest to our hearts arethe things we talk about, and if God is closeto your heart, you will talk about Him."

"You can be a hypocrite and love the world.You can be a deceived ruler in the religioussystem and love the world. You can be acheap, snobbish, modern Christian and lovethe world. But you cannot be a genuine BibleChristian and love the world."

"Without doubt the emphasis in Christianteaching today should be on worship. There islittle danger that we shall become merelyworshipers and neglect the practicalimplications of the gospel. No one can longworship God in spirit and in truth before theobligation to holy service becomes too strongto resist. Fellowship with God leads straight toobedience and good works. That is the divineorder and it can never be reversed."

Leadership:

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"A true and safe leader is likely to be one whohas no desire to lead, but is forced into aposition of leadership by the inward pressureof the Holy Spirit and the press of the externalsituation."

"Pseudo faith always arranges a way out toserve in case God fails it."

"What church board consults our Lord's wordsto decide matters under discussion? Letanyone reading this who has had experienceon a church board try to recall the times ortime when any board member read from theScriptures to make a point, or when anychairman suggested that the brethren shouldsee what instructions the Lord had for themon a particular question. Board meetings arehabitually opened with a formal prayer or a"season of prayer"; after that the Head of theChurch is respectfully silent while the real rulerstake over."

Small (Christian) groups or cells:

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"What we do is this: We accept the Christianity

of our group as being identical with that ofChrist and His apostles. The beliefs, thepractices, the ethics, the activities of ourgroup are equated with the Christianity of theNew Testament. Whatever our group thinks orsays or does is scriptural, no questions asked.It is assumed that all our Lord expects of us isthat we busy ourselves with the activities ofthe group. In doing so we are keeping thecommandments of Christ."

See also The Old Cross and The New The

Deeper Life Root of the Righteous

Home Index Persecution Eternity

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