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Daily Devotionals July 2010 1

Daily Devotionals

July 2010 A.W. Tozer "A 20

th century prophet" they called him even in his own lifetime. For 31 years he was pastor of

Southside Alliance Church in Chicago, where his reputation as a man of God was citywide. Concurrently, he became editor of Alliance Life, a responsibility he fulfilled until his death in 1963. His greatest legacy to the Christian world has been more than 40 books, including this one. Charles Hadden Spurgeon (1834-1892) began his career as a minister at the age of 19. His excellent sermons soon drew thousands to his church every Sunday morning. These sermons were transcribed and printed throughout England and in many major U.S. newspapers. His devotional Morning and Evening is a series of two new devotional readings for each day of the year, to be read and meditated on every morning and evening.

July 1 Morning A True Christian? You Will Suffer for Christ! By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One 2 Timothy 2:3 (NLT) Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Then there is the matter of constant consolation and peace—the promise of always feeling relaxed and at rest and enjoying ourselves inwardly. This, I say, has been held up as being quite the proper goal to be sought in the evil hour in which we live. We forget that our Lord was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. Isaiah 53:3 (NIV) He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. We forget the arrows of grief and pain which went through the heart of Jesus' mother, Mary. We forget that all of the apostles except John died a martyr's death. We forget that there were 13 million Christians slain during the first two generations of the Christian era. We forget that they languished in prison, that they were starved, were thrown over cliffs, were fed to the lions, were drowned, that they were sewn in sacks and thrown into the ocean. Hebrews 11:32-40 (NLT) How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Yes, we want to forget that most of God's wonderful people in the early days of the church did not have peace of mind.


They did not seek it. They knew that a soldier does not go to the battlefield to relax—he goes to fight. They accepted their position on earth as soldiers in the army of God, fighting along with the Lord Jesus Christ in the terrible war against iniquity and sin. It was not a war against people but against sin and iniquity and the devil! There was much distress, many heartaches, painful bruises, flowing tears, much loss and many deaths. But there is something better than being comfortable, and the followers of Christ ought to find it out—the poor, soft, overstuffed Christians of our time ought to find it out! There is something better than being comfortable! We Christians have forgotten altogether that there is such a thing as discipline and suffering. Hebrews 12:10-11 (NASB) *But+… He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

July 1 Evening Suffering for the Sake of Christ By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Romans 5:3-5 (NLT) We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. The Bible has a great deal to say about suffering and most of it is encouraging. We cannot afford to neglect it, for whether we understand it or not we are going to experience some suffering. As human beings we cannot escape it. Romans 8:17-18 (NLT) And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory

He will reveal to us later. From the first cold shock that brings a howl of protest from the newborn infant down to the last anguished gasp of the aged man, pain and suffering dog our footsteps as we journey here below. It will pay us to learn what God says about it so that we may know how to act and what to expect when it comes. There is a kind of suffering which profits no one: it is the bitter and defiant suffering of the lost. To such there is not much that we can say. As long as we remain in the body we shall be subject to a certain amount of that common suffering which we must share with all the sons of men—loss, bereavement, nameless heartaches, disappointments, partings, betrayals and griefs of a thousand sorts. We should be watchful lest we lose any blessing which such suffering might bring. But there is another kind of suffering, known only to the Christian: it is voluntary suffering deliberately and knowingly incurred for the sake of Christ. Such is a luxury, a treasure of fabulous value, a source of riches beyond the power of the mind to conceive. And it is rare as well as precious, for there are few in this decadent age who will of their own choice go down into this dark mine looking for jewels.


Such as these have said goodbye to the world's toys; they have chosen to suffer affliction with the people of God; they have accepted toil and suffering as their earthy portion. The marks of the cross are upon them and they are known in heaven and in hell. 2 Corinthians 1:5 (NLT) For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ.

July 2 Morning The Most Important Decision of Your Lifetime By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two John 1:11-13 (NLT) [Jesus Christ, the Son of God] came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.

13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth

resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. This is so desperately a matter of importance for every human being who comes into the world that I first become indignant, and then I become sad, when I try to give spiritual counsel to a person who looks me in the eye and tells me: "Well, I am trying to make up my mind if I should accept Christ or not." Such a person gives absolutely no indication that he realizes he is talking about the most important decision he can make in his lifetime—a decision to get right with God, to believe in the eternal Son, the Savior, to become a disciple, an obedient witness to Jesus Christ as Lord. How can any man or woman, lost and undone, sinful and wretched, alienated from God, stand there and intimate that the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and God's revealed plan of salvation do not take priority over some of life's other decisions? 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 (NLT) As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

July 2 Evening Salvation - Worship for Eternity By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two 1 Thessalonians 1:9 (TEV) All those people speak about … how you turned away from idols to God, to serve the true and living God The evangelical church today is in the awkward position of being wrong while it is right, and a little preposition makes the difference. One place where we are wrong while we are right is in the relative stress we lay upon the prepositions to and from when they follow the word saved. For a long generation we have been holding the letter of truth while at the same time we have been moving away from it in spirit because we have been preoccupied with what we are saved from rather than what we have been saved to. We have not learned where to lay our emphasis. Particularly we have not understood that we are saved to know God, to enter His wonder-filled Presence through the new and living way and remain in that Presence forever.


We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God. The Triune God with all of His mystery and majesty is ours and we are His, and eternity will not be long enough to experience all that He is of goodness, holiness and truth. In heaven they cease not day or night in their ecstatic worship of the Godhead. We profess to be headed for that place; shall we not begin now to worship on earth as we shall do in heaven? Revelation 4:1-8 (HCSB) After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was set there in heaven. One was seated on the throne, and the One seated looked like jasper and carnelian stone. A rainbow that looked like an emerald surrounded the throne. Around that throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones sat 24 elders dressed in white clothes, with gold crowns on their heads. Flashes of lightning and rumblings of thunder came from the throne. Seven fiery torches were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal was also before the throne. Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were in the middle and around the throne. The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like a calf; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is coming.

July 3 Morning Salvation – Let’s Get It Straight! By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Philippians 3:7-8 (TEV) But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake. Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ Let us get it straight! Jesus Christ does not just offer us salvation as though it is a decoration or a bouquet or some addition to our garb. Jesus says plainly: "Throw off your old rags; strip to the skin! Let me dress you in the fine clean robes of My righteousness—all Mine. Then, if it means loss of money, lose it! If it means loss of job, lose it! If it means persecution, take it! If it brings the stiff winds of opposition, bow your head into the wind and take it—for My sake!" Luke 14:26-27 (TEV) "Those who come to Me cannot be My disciples unless they love Me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well. Those who do not carry their own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciples."

July 3 Evening Is Anything Worth More than Your Soul? By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Mark 8:36-37 (NLT) And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? What really matters after all?


My personal relation to God matters. That takes priority over everything else. Thank God, only a few things matter. The rest are incidental and unimportant. A man may be born in a sanitary hospital, receive his education in progressive schools, ride in an air-conditioned car, sleep on a foam rubber mattress, wear synthetic clothing, eat vitamin-enriched food, read by fluorescent lights, speak across 12,000 miles of empty space to a friend on the other side of the world, lose his anxieties by taking tranquilizing pills, die without pain by the aid of some new drug and be laid to rest in a memorial park as lovely as a country garden; yet what will all this profit him if he must later rise to face in judgment a God who knows him not and whom he does not know? 2 Corinthians 5:10 (AMP) For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing]. To come at last before the bar of eternal justice with no one to plead his cause and to be banished forever from the presence of the great Judge—is that man who has had so many comforts of this world any better off than if he had died a naked savage in the hinterlands of Borneo? Where can a man find security? Can philosophy help him? or psychology? or science? or "progress"? or atoms or wonder drugs or vitamins? No! Only Christ can help him! And Christ’s help is as old as man's sin and man's need. The Ph.D. is as near to God (and as far from Him) as the naked savage. Nothing new can save your or my soul; neither can saving grace be made modern. We must each come as ancient Abel came, by atoning blood and faith demonstrated in repentance. No new way to be saved has been or can be discovered! The old way is the true way and there is no new way! The pre-existent Son of God, the Lamb of God was slain "before the foundation of the world" and as a result any man believing in Christ can be saved. 1 Peter 1:19-20 (AMP) But [you were purchased] with the precious blood of Christ (the Messiah), like that of a [sacrificial] lamb without blemish or spot. It is true that He was chosen and foreordained (destined and foreknown for it) before the foundation of the world, but He was brought out to public view (made manifest) in these last days (at the end of the times) for the sake of you.

July 4 Morning First God Calls – Then I Come? By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two John 6:44 (NASB) "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." There is a terrible evil which springs from the basic failure to grasp the radical difference between the natures of the heavenly and the earthly worlds. It is the habit of lethargically "accepting" salvation as if it were a small matter and one wholly in our hands. Men are exhorted to think things over and "decide" for Christ, and in some places one day each year is set aside as "Decision Day," at which time people are expected to condescend to grant Christ the right to save them, a right which they have obviously refused Him up to that time. Christ is thus made to stand again before men's judgment seat; He is made to wait upon the pleasure of the individual, and after long and humble waiting is either turned away or patronizingly admitted. By a complete


misunderstanding of the noble and true doctrine of the freedom of the human will salvation is made to depend perilously upon the will of man instead of upon the will of God. However deep the mystery, however many the paradoxes involved, it is still true that men become saints—believers by saving faith in Christ—not at their own whim but by Sovereign calling. Romans 8:28-30 (NLT) And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.

July 4 Evening A Truly Saving Faith Results in a Truly Transformed Life! By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two 2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP) Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! The faith of Paul and Luther was a revolutionizing thing. It upset the whole life of the individual and made him into another person altogether. It laid hold of his life and brought it under obedience to Christ. It took up its cross and followed along after Jesus with no intention of going back. It said goodbye to its old friends as certainly as Elijah when he stepped into the fiery chariot and went away in the whirlwind. It had finality about it. It snapped shut on a man's heart like a trap; it captured the man and made him from that moment forward a happy love-servant of his Lord. It turned earth into a desert and drew heaven within sight of the believing soul. It realigned all life's actions and brought them into accord with the will of God. It set its possessor on a spiritual pinnacle of truth from which he viewed everything that came into his field of experience. It made him little and God big and Christ unspeakably dear. All this and more happened to a man when he received the faith that justifies. Romans 6:4-8 (AMP) We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life. For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection [by a new life lived for God]. We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin. For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] sin [among men]. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.

July 5 Morning Faith – God Did It Before, He Can Do It Again! By A.W. Tozer – The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Unbelief says: Some other time, but not now; some other place, but not here; some other people, but not us.


Matthew 13:58 (NASB) And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Faith says: Anything He did anywhere else He will do here; anything He did any other time He is willing to do now; anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us! With our feet on the ground, and our head cool, but with our heart ablaze with the love of God, we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey. God wants to work through you! The Counselor has come, and He doesn't care about the limits of locality, geography, time or nationality. The Body of Christ is bigger than all of these. The question is this: Will you open your heart and trust in Him? 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (AMP) And we also [especially] thank God continually for this, that when you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it].

July 5 Evening True Faith – Waits for God's Promises By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. True faith in one of its aspects moves mountains; in another it gives patience to see the promises afar off and to wait quietly for their fulfillment. Insistence upon an immediate answer to every request of the soul is an evidence of religious infantilism. It takes God longer to grow an oak than to grow an ear of corn. True faith is never found alone; it is always accompanied by expectation. The man who believes the promises of God expects to see them fulfilled. Where there is no expectation, there is no faith. Psalm 27:13 (AMP) [What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living!

July 6 Morning Defiance by the Devil By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Show me an individual or a congregation committed to spiritual progress with the Lord, interested in what the Bible teaches about spiritual perfection and victory, and I will show you where there is strong and immediate defiance by the devil! 1 Peter 5:8-9 (AMP) Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.

July 6 Evening No Limit to What God Can Do!


By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Acts 17:6 (AMP) But when they failed to find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren before the city authorities, crying, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. There is no limit to what God could do in our world if we would dare to surrender before Him with a commitment like this: "Oh God, I hereby give myself to You. I give my family. I give my business. I give all I possess. Take all of it, Lord—and take me! I give myself in such measure that if it is necessary that I lose everything for your sake, let me lose it. I will not ask what the price is. I will ask only that I may be all that I ought to be as a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord. Amen." If even the smallest number of God's people became that serious, our world would never hear the last of it! They would influence the news. Their message would go everywhere like birds on the wing. They would set off a great revival of New Testament faith and witness. Acts 2:41-42 (NASB) So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

July 7 Morning Fear? Fear to Be Out of the Will of God By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Psalm 119:165 (TEV) Those who love Your law have perfect security, and there is nothing that can make them fall. The only fear I have is to fear to get out of the will of God. Outside of the will of God, there's nothing I want, and in the will of God there's nothing I fear, for God has sworn to keep me in His will. If I'm out of His will, that is another matter. But if I'm in His will, He's sworn to keep me. And God is able to do it, He's wise enough to know how to do it and He's kind enough to want to do it. So really there's nothing to fear. I get kidded by my family and friends about this, but I don't really think I'm afraid of anything. You can't harm a man who lives in the will of God. Isaiah 26:3 (AMP) You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.

July 7 Evening Set Your Will – To Do the Will of God! By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two


Isaiah 50:7 (NLT) Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do His will. And I know that I will not be put to shame. That religion lies in the will is an axiom of theology. Not how we feel but what we will determines our spiritual direction. An old poem states it for us:

One ship drives east and another drives west

With the selfsame winds that blow;

'Tis the set of the sails And not the gales

Which tells us the way to go.—Ella Wheeler Wilcox Though we do not hear much of it in this age of spineless religion, there is nevertheless much in the Bible about the place of moral determination – the setting of one’s will – in the service of the Lord. "Jacob vowed a vow," and it was the beginning of a very wonderful life with God (Gen. 28:20). Daniel "purposed in his heart," and God honored his purpose (Dan. 1:8). Jesus set his face like a flint and walked straight toward the cross (Matt. 16:21). Paul "determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). These are only a few of the many men and women of the Bible who have left us a record of spiritual greatness born out of a will firmly set to do the will of God. Let us, then, set our sails in the will of God. If we do this we will certainly find ourselves moving in the right direction, no matter which way the wind blows. Isaiah 50:7 (NLT) Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do His will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.

July 8 Morning Discovering the Will of God By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. One of the problems most frequently encountered by serious-minded Christians is how to discover the will of God in a given situation. First, it is absolutely essential that we be completely dedicated to God's high honor and surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God will not lead us except for His own glory and He cannot lead us if we resist His will. The shepherd cannot lead a stubborn sheep. Put this down as an unfailing rule:


Never seek the leading of the Lord concerning an act that is forbidden in the Word of God. To do so is to convict ourselves of insincerity. Now, a happy truth too often overlooked in our anxious search for the will of God is that in the majority of decisions touching our earthly lives God expresses no choice, but leaves everything to our own preference. Except for those things that are specifically commanded or forbidden, it is God's will that we be free to exercise our own intelligent choice. The shepherd will lead the sheep but he does not wish to decide which tuft of grass the sheep shall nibble each moment of the day. In almost everything touching our common life on earth God is pleased when we are pleased. He wills that we be as free as birds to soar and sing our Maker's praise without anxiety. God's choice for us may not be one but any one of a score of possible choices. The man or woman who is wholly and joyously surrendered to Christ cannot make a wrong choice! For that man or woman, any choice will be the right one! Isaiah 1:16-19 (NIV) Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land."

July 8 Evening Trials - Lead to Strong Character and Spiritual Perfection By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Romans 5:3-5 (NASB) And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Ten thousand enemies cannot stop a Christian, cannot even slow him down, if he meets them in an attitude of complete trust in God. They will become to him like the atmosphere that resists the airplane, but which because the plane's designer knew how to take advantage of that resistance, actually lifts the plane aloft and holds it there for a journey of 2,000 miles. What would have been an enemy to the plane becomes a helpful servant to aid it on its way. If this should seem like a bit of theorizing, remember that always the greatest Christians have come out of hard times and tough situations. Tribulations actually worked for their spiritual perfection in that they taught them to trust not in themselves but in the Lord who raised the dead. They learned that the enemy could not block their progress unless they surrendered to the urgings of the flesh and began to complain. And slowly, they learned to stop complaining and start praising. It is that simple—and it works!


James 1:2-4 (NASB) Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

July 9 Morning Spiritual Commitment – The Burning Bush – Helpless in God's Hands By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Exodus 3:1-10 (NASB) Now Moses was pasturing the flock … he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to … the mountain of God.

The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked,

and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. The LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people … and have given heed to their cry … for I am aware of their sufferings. "So I have come down to deliver them … and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, … Now, behold, the cry of the sons … has come to Me … "Therefore, come now, and I will send you … so that you may bring My people … out of Egypt." Why did the Almighty God use a scrubby bush to reveal His presence and glory? It would seem that the bush was just a common acacia plant. It had no intrinsic worth. It was in itself completely helpless. And it could not back out. It was caught there, indwelt by the presence of God and fire. Like the bush, we will never know God until we are helpless in His hands. We will never be of worth to Him until there is no escape. As long as we can run, as long as we know we can depend upon our avenues of escape, we are not really in God's hands. Let me tell you with assurance that the happy Christian is the one who has been caught—captured by the Lord. He or she no longer wants to escape or go back. The happy Christian has met the Lord personally and found Him an all-sufficient Savior and Lord. He or she has burned all the bridges in every direction. Some of God's children are dabbling with surrender and victory. They have never reached that place of spiritual commitment which is final and complete and satisfying. They still retain their escape routes. I thank God for the little bush! It was caught, it was helpless. But it was radiant and useful and enduring in the presence and hands of the living God. Philippians 3:7-8 (TEV) But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake. Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ.

July 9 Evening Committed to Following Christ? – Will You Also Go Away? By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One


John 6:66-67 (AMP) After this, many of His disciples drew back, and returned to their old associations, and no longer accompanied Him. And Jesus said … “Will you also go away? And do you too desire to leave Me?” "Are you sure you want to follow Me?" Jesus asked. And a great many turned away. But Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." The crowd that wouldn't turn away was the crowd that made history! The crowd that wouldn't turn back was the crowd that was there! They were there when the Holy Spirit came and filled all the place where they were sitting. The crowd that turned back never knew what it was all about, because they were never there! John 10:27-28 (NASB) "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

July 10 Morning The Uncertainty of Serving God By A.W. Tozer - Let My People Go: The Life of Robert A. Jaffray Acts 20:24 (NLT) But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. The lives of consecrated people are never their own. To sit back in selfish composure and plan the future is never an option to those who have made the great commitment. They are at the call of Another, and at any time they may receive orders to pick up and move on. This is one of the penalties they must pay for the high privilege of serving God, and if seen from a low point it looks like a hard and unsatisfactory way to live. But the truest appraisal of a way of life is always made at the end of it. Who of those that have placed themselves at the disposal of God and humanity have ever been sorry at the end of life that they did so? Not one, and that is the best argument for the excellence of the devoted life. 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NASB) For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

July 10 Evening Yes Father – This is Your Way By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Matthew 11:26 (TEV) “Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen.”


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, "Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen." 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 admitting 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. 1 Samuel 3:18 (TEV) "He is the LORD; He will do whatever seems best to Him." Under such circumstances the Christian thing to do is to say, "That You might be justified when You speak, and be clear when You judge... Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight." A blind confidence which trusts without seeing is far dearer to God than any fancied knowledge that can explain everything. To the adoring heart, the best and most satisfying explanation for anything always will be, "It seemed good in Your sight." Job 2:10 (NASB) "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?"

July 11 Morning Your Future? – God Will Lead You! By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Hebrews 11:8 (NASB) By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. It is wholly impossible for us to know what lies before us, but it is possible to know something vastly more important. A quaint but godly American preacher of a generation past said it for us. "Abraham went out not knowing where he was going, but he knew Who was going with him." We cannot know for certain the what and the where of our earthly pilgrimage, but we can be sure of the Who. And nothing else really matters Deuteronomy 1:30 (TEV) The LORD your God will lead you, and He will fight for you.

July 11 Evening Our Future? It Lies before Us! By A.W. Tozer – The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Philippians 3:13 (NLT) But I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.


The Christian's future is still before him. I will give you time to smile at that, because it sounds like a self-evident bromide if ever one was uttered. But I assure you that it is not a self-evident banality. It is rather a proof that we ought to ponder soberly; the fact that many Christians already have their future behind them. Their glory is behind them. The only future they have is their past. They are always lingering around the cold ashes of yesterday's burned-out campfire. Their testimonies indicate it, their outlook and their uplook reveal it and their downcast look betrays it! Above all, their backward look indicates it. I always get an uneasy feeling when I find myself with people who have nothing to discuss but the glories of the days that are past. Yes, the Christian's future is before him! The whole direction of the Christian's look should be forward! Prospect is the word for you and me. Look forward! Look ahead! Live with faith and expectation because the Christian's future is more glorious than his past! Hebrews 12:1-2 (NASB) Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.

July 12 Morning Faithful is God Who Calls You By A.W. Tozer - Tozer on the Holy Spirit 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (NASB) Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. We are in the midst of the storm of life. The believing saints of God are on board the ship. Someone looks to the horizon and warns, "We are directly in the path of the typhoon! We are as good as dead. We will surely be dashed to pieces on the rocks!" 2 Timothy 2:13 (NASB) If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. But calmly someone else advises, "Look down, look down! We have an anchor!" We look, but the depth is too great. We cannot see the anchor. But the anchor is there. It grips the immovable rock and holds fast. Thus the ship outrides the storm. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (NASB) The Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you. Psalm 31:23 (NLT) For the LORD protects those who are loyal to Him. The Holy Spirit has assured us that we have an Anchor, steadfast and sure, that keeps the soul. The Spirit is saying to us, "Keep on believing. Pursue holiness. Show diligence and hold full assurance of faith to the very end. Follow those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.


Hebrews 10:23 (NLT) Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we profess, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. Nearly all the great examples of faith and victorious grace which we find in the Scriptures came out of situations of extremity and distress. God loves those hard places of life and great faith is usually born of great danger and extremity. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NASB) Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

July 12 Evening Soldiers for Christ – Part of an Army! By A.W. Tozer - Mornings with Tozer Hebrews 11:35 (NLT) Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Lord, there are many Christians in foreign lands who are persecuted for their faith. Some are ostracized from family and friends; some are beaten and left to die. Be especially near to these dear people today, I pray. Is the fact that millions of Americans refuse to attend our church services only another symptom of original sin and love of moral darkness? No, I believe that explanation is too "pat" to be wholly true. Churches cannot deny they are too comfortable, too rich, too contented! We hold the faith of our fathers, but it does not hold us. God is trying to interest us in a glorious tomorrow, and we are settling for an inglorious today. God has set eternity in our hearts; and we have chosen time instead. We are bogged down in local interests and have lost sight of eternal purposes. It was the knowledge that they were part of God's eternal plan that imparted unquenchable enthusiasm to the early Christians. They burned with holy zeal for Christ and felt they were part of an army which the Lord was leading to ultimate conquest over all the powers of darkness! 2 Timothy 2:3 (NLT) Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

July 13 Morning Servanthood – The Holy Spirit’s Eternal Work in You By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One 1 Corinthians 1:26-28 (TEV) Now remember what you were, my friends, when God called you. From the human point of view few of you were wise or powerful or of high social standing. God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful. He chose what the world looks down on and despises and thinks is nothing, in order to destroy what the world thinks is important. I find three basic requirements God makes of the body of Christ if it is to do His final work—His eternal work.


First, Christian believers and Christian congregations must be thoroughly consecrated to Christ's glory alone. This means absolutely turning their backs on the contemporary insistence on human glory and recognition. I have done everything I can to keep "performers" out of my pulpit. I was not called to recognize "performers." I am confident our Lord never meant for the Christian church to provide a kind of religious stage where performers proudly take their bows, seeking personal recognition. That is not God's way to an eternal work. He has never indicated that proclamation of the gospel is to be dependent on human performances. Second, the body of Christ must appreciate the valuable contribution of the common people. It is important to note how much the Bible has to say about the common people—the plain people. The Word of God speaks with such appreciation of the common people that I am inclined to believe they are especially dear to Him. Jesus was always surrounded by the common people. He had a few "stars," but largely His helpers were from the common people—the good people and, surely, not always the most brilliant. Third, to please God, each individual in a church body must be just an instrument for God to use. Many people preach and teach. Many take part in the music. Certain ones try to administer God's work. But if the power of God's Spirit does not have freedom to energize all they do, these workers might just as well stay home. Natural gifts are not enough in God's work. You can write it down as a fact: no matter what a man does, no matter how successful he seems to be in any field, if the Holy Spirit is not the chief energizer of his activity, it will all fall apart when he dies.

July 13 Evening Pastoral Ministry Demands Dependence on God By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (NLT) It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. The work of a minister is, in reality, altogether too difficult for any man. He is driven to God for wisdom. He must seek the mind of Christ and throw himself on the Holy Spirit for spiritual power and mental acumen equal to the task. Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NASB) Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.

July 14 Morning A Church Family - God's Family By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Ephesians 2:19-21 (NLT) So now you … are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.


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. Even twins or triplets are born one at a time. So it is in the local church. Each member must be born of the Spirit individually. It will not escape the discerning reader 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. And the man who comes to Christ in the loneliness of personal repentance and faith is also born into a family. The church is called the household of God, and it is the ideal place to rear young Christians. Just as a child will not grow up to be a normal adult if forced to live alone, so the Christian who withdraws from the fellowship of other Christians will suffer great soul injury as a result. Such a one can never hope to develop normally. He'll get too much of himself and not enough of other people; and that is not good. Hebrews 10:25 (TEV) Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer. No one is wise enough to live alone, nor good enough nor strong enough. God has made us to a large degree dependent upon each other. From our brethren we can learn how to do things and sometimes also we can learn how not to do them. Next to God Himself we need each other most. We are His sheep and it is our nature to live with the flock. And too, it might be well to remember that should we for a moment lose sight of the Shepherd we only have to go where His flock is to find Him again. The Shepherd always stays with His flock. Matthew 18:20 (NIV) "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Acts 2:42, 44 (NLT) All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.

July 14 Evening God’s Family – Their Spiritual Condition By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Ephesians 4:24-32 (NLT) Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

So stop telling lies. Let us tell our

neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.


Dispositional sins are fully as injurious to the Christian cause as the more overt acts of wickedness. These sins are as many as the various facets of human nature. Just so there may be no misunderstanding let us list a few of them: sensitiveness, irritability, critical spirit, faultfinding, pettiness, temper, resentfulness, cruelty, uncharitable attitudes, gossip, and slander; and of course there are many more. These kill the spirit of the church and slow down any progress which the gospel may be making in the community. Many persons who had been secretly longing to find Christ have been turned away and embittered by manifestations of ugly dispositional flaws in the lives of the very persons who were trying to win them. Unsaintly saints are the tragedy of Christianity. People of the world usually pass through the circle of disciples to reach Christ, and if they find those disciples severe and sharp-tongued they can hardly be blamed if they sigh and turn away from Him. The low state of religion in our day is largely due to the lack of public confidence in religious people. Romans 12:9-18 (NLT) [So} don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.

Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

July 15 Morning The Humble Man – God Teaches and Guides Him By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Psalm 25:9 (AMP) He leads the humble in what is right, and the humble He teaches His way. There is a close relation between humility and the perception of truth. The LORD says, "He leads the humble in what is right, and the humble He teaches His way.” In the Scriptures, I find no shred of encouragement for the proud. Only the tame sheep can be led; only the humble child need expect the guidance of the Father's hand. When all the evidence is in it may well be found that none but the proud ever strayed from the truth and that self-trust was behind every heresy that ever afflicted the church. Proverbs 3:5-8 (NLT) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.

July 15 Evening The Humble Man – Emerges Victorious By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One


Numbers 12:3 (NASB) Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth. The enemy never quite knows how to deal with a humble man. Satan is so used to dealing with proud, stubborn people that a meek man upsets his timetable. Furthermore, the man of true humility has God fighting on his side—who can win against God? Strange as it may seem we often win over our enemies only after we have first been soundly defeated by the Lord Himself. God often conquers our enemies by conquering us. When God foresees that we must meet a deadly opponent, He assures our victory by bringing us down in humbleness at His own feet. After that, everything is easy. We have put ourselves in a position where God can fight for us, and in a situation like that, the outcome is decided from eternity. Philippians 2:3 (AMP) Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves].

July 16 Morning The Humble Man – His Humble Service By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NLT) This is what the LORD says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken! We can never get too weak for the Lord to use us—but we can get too strong, if it is our own strength. We can never be too ignorant for the Lord to use us—but we can be too wise in our own conceit. We can never get too small for the Lord to use us, but we can surely get too big and get in His way. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NLT) Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

July 16 Evening The Humble Man – His Powerful Prayers By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One James 5:16 (NLT) The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Lord, make me childlike.


Matthew 18:4 (AMP) Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Deliver me from the urge to compete with another for place or prestige or position. I desire to be simple and artless as a little child. Deliver me from pose and pretense. Forgive me for thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself and find my true peace in beholding You. That You may answer this prayer, I humble myself before You. Lay upon me Your easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that through it I may find rest. Amen. Matthew 11:28-29 (HCSB) “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.

July 17 Morning The Humble Man – His Success By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Revelation 1:9-11 (NLT) I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” Had it happened in North America in our era, some publisher would have flown in to offer the apostle John a five- or six-figure check for book rights to his story. But I do not think John would have been concerned about turning a personal financial profit from his experience. The present-day financial value of a "born again testimony" was mercifully unknown in A.D. 95. Today, it is said, "Give your heart to the Lord, get born again, and your business will grow and grow and grow!" "If you want to become a top athlete and be well known, just accept the Lord and be born again!" "If you want your cows to give more milk...." "If you want to be sure of getting better grades in college...." “If you want the promotion or raise you deserve…” Possibly no one ever had a clearer, sweeter, stronger testimony of the grace and salvation that is in Jesus Christ than John. Humbly he related it: "I am your brother and companion in suffering. I was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." In our day, the media would be asking, "What are you doing there on Patmos, John? You were the pastor at Ephesus. You should be at home among your people, presiding over your congregation. You were born again, were you not, John?" "Yes," John would have replied meekly, "I was the Lord's disciple and companion, and I have been ministering and witnessing as He said. But, now, I am His servant in exile."


2 Timothy 4:7 (HCSB) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

July 17 Evening The Humble Man – His Self-Understanding By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Romans 7:18 (NLT) And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. True humility is a spiritually healthy thing. The humble man accepts the truth about himself. He believes that in his fallen nature dwells no good thing. He acknowledges that apart from God he is nothing, has nothing, knows nothing and can do nothing. 1 Corinthians 4:7 (AMP) For who separates you from the others [as a faction leader]? [Who makes you superior and sets you apart from another, giving you the preeminence?] What have you that was not given to you? If then you received it [from someone], why do you boast as if you had not received [but had gained it by your own efforts]? But this knowledge does not discourage the humble man, for he knows also that in Christ he is somebody. He knows that he is dearer to God than the apple of His eye and he can do all that lies within the will of God for him to do. Philippians 4:13 (NLT) For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

July 18 Morning Happiness - Man’s Futile Search for It By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Ecclesiastes 8:15 (NLT) So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun. People are coming more and more to excuse every sort of wrongdoing on the grounds that they are "just trying to secure a little happiness." Before she will give her consent to marriage the modern young lady may ask outright whether or not the man "can make me happy." The lovelorn columns of the newspapers are wet with the self-pitying tears of persons who write to inquire how they can "preserve their happiness." The psychologists and psychiatrists of the land are getting fat off the increasing numbers who seek professional aid in their all-absorbing search for happiness. It is not uncommon for crimes to be committed against persons who do nothing worse than "jeopardize" someone's happiness. That we are born to be happy is scarcely questioned by anyone. No one bothers to try to prove that fallen men have any moral right to happiness, or that they are in the long run any better off happy. The only question before the house is how to get the most happiness out of life. The thesis of almost all popular books and plays is that personal happiness is the legitimate end of the dramatic human struggle – nothing could be further from the truth!


Ecclesiastes 7:4 (TEV) Someone who is always thinking about happiness is a fool. A wise person thinks about death.

July 18 Evening Happiness – the Eternal Perspective By A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One We inhabit a world suspended halfway between heaven and hell, alienated from one and not yet abandoned to the other. By nature we are unholy and by practice unrighteous. That we are unhappy, I repeat, is of small consequence. Our first and imperative duty is to escape the corruption which is in the world as Lot escaped the moral ruin of Sodom. Genesis 19:15, 29 (NASB) When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city" … Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. It is of overwhelming importance to us that we should seek the favor of God while it is possible to find it and that we should bring ourselves under the plenary authority of Jesus Christ in complete and voluntary obedience. To do this is to invite trouble from a hostile world and to incur such unhappiness as may naturally follow. Add to this the temptations of the devil and a lifelong struggle with the flesh and it will be obvious that we will need to defer most of our enjoyments to a more appropriate time. John 15:18 (NASB) "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you." As I have said before, we can afford to suffer now; we'll have a long eternity to enjoy ourselves in ecstatic heavenly joy and happiness with God. And our enjoyment will be valid and pure, for it will come in the right way at the right time. Revelation 21:4-5 (NASB) And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He *said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."

July 19 Morning Progress – Are You Making Any? A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Ecclesiastes 1:4-10 (NLT) Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. I challenge the idea that we are advanced.


I know the majority of modern educators, newspaper writers, TV personalities, radio reporters, politicians and all the rest do not agree with me. Nevertheless, I challenge the idea that we are any further advanced than they were in the days of Jesus. If we are so advanced, then I want to ask some questions. Why do we kill thousands of human beings each year with automobiles? Because we ride automobiles instead of donkeys, we are advanced? If we are so advanced in our day, why are the penitentiaries packed full and the mental hospitals crowded? If we are so advanced, why is the whole world a powder keg? If we are so advanced, how is it that we have weapons that can annihilate the world? If we are so advanced, why is it that people cannot walk alone in the parks anymore? Why is it that workers who get out at midnight never walk home alone anymore? Why is it in this advanced age that drugs, violence, abortion and divorce are soaring? There is a mind-set that thinks every motion is progress. Every time you move you are progressing. Then there is the mind-set that thinks whenever you move in a straight line you are going forward, forgetting that you can move in a straight line and be going backward. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT) You should know this … that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!

July 19 Evening Progressing or Perishing? A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Deuteronomy 32:28 (NASB) "For they are a nation lacking in counsel, and there is no understanding in them." I am among those who believe that our Western civilization is on its way to perishing. It has many commendable qualities, most of which it has borrowed from the Christian ethic, but it lacks the element of moral wisdom that would give it permanence. Future historians will record that: We of the twentieth century had intelligence enough to create a great civilization but not the moral wisdom to preserve it. Isaiah 5:20-24 (NLT) What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent. Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

July 20 Morning Like Leader – Like People A.W. Tozer - Renewed Day by Day: Volume 1


1 Peter 2:21 (NLT) For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps. The history of Israel and Judah points up a truth taught clearly enough by all history—that the masses are or soon will be what their leaders are. The kings set the moral pace for the people. Israel sometimes rebelled against her leaders, it is true, but the rebellions were not spontaneous. The people merely switched to a new leader and followed him. The point is this; they always had to have a leader. Whatever sort of man the king turned out to be the people were soon following his leadership. They followed David in the worship of Jehovah, Solomon in the building of the Temple, Jeroboam in the making of a calf and Hezekiah in the restoration of the temple worship. It is not complimentary to the masses that they are so easily led, but we are not interested in praising or blaming; we are concerned for truth, and the truth is that for better or for worse, religious people follow leaders. A good man may change the moral complexion of a whole nation; or a corrupt and worldly clergy may lead a nation into bondage. The transposed proverb, "Like priest, like people" (Hosea 4:9) sums up in four words a truth taught plainly in the Scriptures and demonstrated again and again in religious history. What a man is will influence his followers to be fully committed to what he says. Teaching sets the nails into the mind, but example is the hammer that drives them in deep. The rewards of godly leadership are so great and the responsibilities of the leader so heavy that no one can afford to take the matter lightly. Luke 6:40 (NASB) "A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher."

July 20 Evening Do You Desire to Live a Godly Life? – Expect Persecution! A.W. Tozer - Mornings with Tozer Lord, sometimes it's convenient to hide my faith when I am in the company of non-Christians. Help me take a stand for Christ even if I'm in the midst of a hostile situation. The New Testament is, among others things, a record of the struggle of twice-born men and women to live in a world run by the once born! That should indicate that we are not being as helpful as we ought to be when we fail to instruct the one who is "a babe in Christ" that our Lord told His earliest disciples that they would suffer. John 16:33 (TEV) I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world!" The Apostle Paul knew what he was talking about when he told Christian believers, 2 Timothy 3:12 (NLT) Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.


Take the example of a person recently converted to Christ. His inner witness is clear and up to the light he has; he is beginning to live as he believes a Christian should. But this new world is altogether different from the one he has just left. Standards, values, objectives, methods—all are different. Many solid pillars upon which he had previously leaned without question are now seen to be made of chalk and ready to crumble. Yes, there will be tears, but there will also be joy and peace with the continuing discovery that in Christ, indeed, 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

July 21 Morning The Family of God A.W. Tozer - Mornings with Tozer Psalm 133:1 (NASB) Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! Lord, I pray that the fellowship in our local churches will be strong and pure. Draw us together in unity, that we may truly honor Your name. There is an important message for the believing family of God in the Bible: Next to God Himself we need each other most! God's ideal is a fellowship of faith, a Christian body of believers following Christ in unified harmony. He never intended that salvation should be received and enjoyed by the individual apart from the larger company of believers. God has so created us that we need each other. We may and should go into our closet and pray in secret, but when the prayer is ended we should go back to our family of God. That is where we belong. Hebrews 10:24-25 (TEV) Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer. No one is wise enough to live alone, nor good enough nor strong enough. From our brethren we can learn how to do things and sometimes also we can learn how not to do them! Philippians 2:2 (NLT) Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Our Lord who is the Great Shepherd has said that we are the sheep of His pasture and it is in our nature to live with the flock. Best of all, the Shepherd always stays with His flock! Matthew 18:20 (NLT) “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

July 21 Evening The Apathetic Christian


A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume One Romans 12:9-13 (NLT) Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. We live at a fever pitch! And whether we are erecting buildings, laying highways, promoting athletic events, celebrating special days or welcoming returning heroes, we always do it with an exaggerated flourish. Our building will be taller, our highway broader, our athletic contest more colorful, our celebration more elaborate and more expensive than would be true anywhere else on earth. We walk faster, drive faster, earn more, spend more and run higher a blood pressure than any other people in the world. In only one field of human interest are we slow and apathetic: that is the field of personal religious faith. There for some strange reason our enthusiasm lags. Church people habitually approach the matter of their personal relation to God in a dull, half-hearted way which is altogether out of keeping with their general temperament and wholly inconsistent with the importance of the subject. But it must not be that way, instead, Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV) Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

July 22 Morning Self-Knowledge – Will You Admit Who You Really Are? A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two 1 Corinthians 11:31-32 (NLT) But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

32 Yet when we are judged by the

Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world. Hardly anything else reveals so well the fear and uncertainty among men as the length to which they will go to hide their true selves from each other and even from their own eyes. Self-knowledge is so critically important to us in our pursuit of God and His righteousness that we lie under heavy obligation to do immediately whatever is necessary to remove the disguise and permit our real selves to be known. It is one of the supreme tragedies in religion that so many of us think so highly of ourselves when the evidence is all on the other side; and our self-admiration effectively blocks out any possible effort to discover a remedy for our condition. Only the man who knows he is sick will go to a physician. Psalm 139:23-24 (NASB) Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

And see if there be any hurtful way

in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

July 22 Evening Self-Interest – Will You Admit Your True Motives? A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two


Isaiah 42:8 (NASB) "I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images." We are willing to join heartily in singing, "To God Be the Glory," but we are strangely ingenious in figuring out ways and means by which we keep some of the glory for ourselves. In this matter of perpetually seeking our own interests, we can only say that people who want to live for God often arrange to do very subtly what the worldly souls do crudely and openly. Yes, we have it among professing Christians—this strange ingenuity to seek our own interest under the guise of seeking the interests of God. I am not afraid to say what I fear—that there are thousands of people who are using the deeper life and Bible prophecy, foreign missions and service for no other purpose than to promote their own private interests secretly. They continue to let their apparent interest in these things to serve as a screen so that they don't have to take a look at how ugly they are on the inside. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NLT) This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

July 23 Morning Self-Knowledge A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Proverbs 23:7 (NASB) For as he thinks within himself, so he is. It remains for us to know ourselves as accurately as possible. For this reason I offer some rules for self-discovery; and if the results are not all we could desire they may be at least better than none at all. We may be known by the following:

1. What we want most. We have but to get quiet, recollect our thoughts, wait for the mild excitement within us to subside, and then listen closely for the faint cry of desire. Ask your heart, What would you rather have than anything else in the world? Reject the conventional answer. Insist on the true one, and when you have heard it you will know the kind of person you are.

2. What we think about most. The necessities of life compel us to think about many things, but the true test

is what we think about voluntarily.... 3. How we use our money.... 4. What we do with our leisure time. A large share of our time is already spoken for by the exigencies of

civilized living, but we do have some free time. What we do with it is vital. Most people waste it staring at the television, listening to the radio, reading the cheap output of the press or engaging in idle chatter. What I do with mine reveals the kind of man I am.


5. The company we enjoy.... 6. Whom and what we admire. I have long suspected that the great majority of evangelical Christians, while

kept somewhat in line by the pressure of group opinion, nevertheless have a boundless, if perforce secret, admiration for the world. We can learn the true state of our minds by examining our unexpressed admirations....

7. What we laugh at....

These are a few tests. The wise Christian will find others. Ephesians 5:15-17 (NLT) So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

July 23 Evening Self-Knowledge – Examine Yourself A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two 2 Corinthians 13:5 (NLT) Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. The philosopher Socrates said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." If a common philosopher could think that, how much more we Christians ought to listen to the Holy Spirit when He says, "Examine yourself." An unexamined Christian lies like an unattended garden. Let your garden go unattended for a few months, and you will not have roses and tomatoes but weeds. An unexamined Christian life is like an un-kempt house. Lock your house up as tight as you will and leave it long enough, and when you come back you will not believe the dirt that got in from somewhere. An unexamined Christian is like an untaught child. A child that is not taught will be a little savage. It takes examination, teaching, instruction, discipline, caring, tending, weeding and cultivating to keep the life right. Galatians 6:4 (HCSB) But each person should examine his own work, and then he will have a reason for boasting in himself alone, and not in respect to someone else.

July 24 Morning The Foolish Man – Clings to Earthly Treasure A.W. Tozer - Renewed Day by Day: Volume 1 Luke 12:19-21 (NLT) And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” Many of us are forgetting the caution of the Lord Jesus that we ought not to set our hearts on earthly things.


He warned that there is a very real danger involved: the same heart of man that was made to commune with God and hold fellowship with the Divine Trinity, to soar away to worlds unknown and behold God upon His throne, that same heart may be locked up in a bank vault or in a jewelry box or somewhere else here on earth! Jesus gave us the example of the foolish man who accumulated corn, naively telling his soul to rest because he had many barns, and lots and lots of corn. Jesus reminded him that he had to die, and his store of corn, which had a legitimate and proper value on earth, could do him no further good because he had neglected the higher values. He had no store of eternal treasures laid up above! If we are wise, we will transmute any unit of goods or wealth upwards to another level of value, and the same for our talents and gifts and abilities, mind and strength and nervous energy. Our faithful missionaries do this, for the ultimate values they seek are the heathen, headhunters, pagans turning to Jesus Christ, putting away their idols and their sins and believing in Jesus with bright, shining faces—singing the gospel and going to heaven, one by one. These are the true values—the wealth of human beings, translated and changed and purified by the grace of God!

July 24 Evening The Wise Man – Releases Earthly Treasure A.W. Tozer - Tozer on the Almighty God: A 366-Day Devotional Philippians 3:7-8 (TEV) But all those things that I might count as profit I now reckon as loss for Christ's sake. Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ! Lord, wean me from the lure of earthly pleasures. Take me to that depth of which Paul speaks, that I would willingly give up all to know You more intimately. Amen. What I'm preaching to try to bring about in the Church of Jesus Christ is a rediscovery of the loveliness of the Savior that we might begin to love Him again with the intensity of love such as our fathers knew. I have said before and I repeat it now that the power and greatness of A.B. Simpson was not in his theology, for he positively was not a great theologian compared, for instance, with John Calvin or some of the other theologians. The power and greatness of the man lay in his unquenchable love for the Person of Jesus Christ the Lord. There are certain things God let Paul have. He let him have a book or two, let him have a coat, and let him have his own hired house for two years in one instance, but Paul never allowed those things to touch his heart. Any external treasure that touches your heart is a curse. Paul said, "I give that up so that I might know Christ Jesus. That I might go on to deeply enriched and increasing intimacy and vast expanses of knowledge of the One who is intimate and illimitable in His beauty. And that I might know Him, I give all this up." Paul never allowed anything but his love for Jesus Christ to touch his heart.

July 25 Complacent and Judgmental? – Then Are You Self-Righteous? A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two


Romans 12:3 (NLT) Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Self-righteousness is a terrible thing among God's people. If we feel that we are what we ought to be, then we will remain what we are. We will not look for any change or improvement in our lives. This will quite naturally lead us to judge everyone by what we are. This is the judgment of which we must be careful. To judge others by ourselves is to create havoc in the local assembly. Self-righteousness also leads to complacency. And complacency is a great sin! Some have the attitude, "Lord, I'm satisfied with my spiritual condition. I hope one of these days You will come, I will be taken up to meet You in the air and I will rule over five cities" (Luke 19:19). These people cannot even rule over their own houses and families, but they expect to rule over five cities! They pray spottily and sparsely, rarely attending Bible study, Sunday School class, or a prayer meeting, but they do read their Bibles, sometimes, and therefore, expect to go zooming off into the blue yonder and join the Lord in the triumph of the victorious saints. But is must not be this way! These people should have the attitude of Paul. Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT) I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

July 26 Self-Importance – How Valuable Are You? A.W. Tozer – The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two 1 John 4:10 (NLT) This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. I believe many Christians are tempted to downgrade themselves too much because they don't realize how truly valuable they are. I am not arguing against true humility and my word to you is this: Think as little of yourself as you want to, but always remember that our Lord Jesus Christ thought very highly of you—enough to give Himself up for you in death and sacrifice. If the devil does come to you and whispers that you are no good, don't argue with him. In fact, you may as well admit it, but then remind the devil: "Regardless of what you say about me, I must tell you how the Lord feels about me. He tells me that I am so valuable to Him that He gave Himself for me on the cross!" So, the value is set by the price paid—and, in our case, the price paid was our Lord Himself! Romans 5:8 (NLT) But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.


July 27 Self-Sufficient? A.W. Tozer - The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Isaiah 22:11 (NLT) But you never ask for help from the One who did all this. You never considered the One who planned this long ago. Only God is self-sufficient. When men boast of being self-sufficient, they are indulging a fiction that can be proven fictitious just by taking a quick look around. The human body cannot live on itself. To live it must have constant help from the outside. Though filled with pride and overflowing with self-assurance, men and women must humble themselves to receive aid from the lower creation. Every monarch must trust the common cow for food. Every strutting lord of the manor must beg his dinner from the barnyard hen. The cold prima donna manages to stay alive only by the grace of pigs and fish. The genius must look to bees, shrubs, seeds and berries. From these things come the energy without which all people would die, the great as well as the lowly. The tragic history of the world is, at the bottom line, the record of sinning men trying to live on their own resources and never succeeding, because they are ignoring the most simple law of creation—no living thing is self-sufficient. God made us dependent upon Him. Either we recognize our need of Him, or we adopt the false philosophy of independence and go on our stubborn way to die at last and everlastingly. Isaiah 45:22 (NASB) "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other."

July 28 Self-Sufficient? – Then Are You Lost? A.W. Tozer – The Tozer Topical Reader – Volume Two Habakkuk 2:4 (NLT) “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.“ A Muslim falls down on the ground five times a day in reverence to God in heaven—and a lot of people laugh at him. The Hindu measures himself painfully on the way to the Ganges River to bathe himself—and a lot of people comment, "How foolish can you get?" But I would rather be a Muslim or a Hindu or a primitive tribesman living in a hut in Africa, kneeling before bones and feathers and mumbling some kind of homemade prayer, than to come into judgment as a self-sufficient American who ruled God out of his life and out of his home. Many an unthinking, secular-minded American would reply: "I'm willing to take my chances!" What foolish talk from a mortal person!


People do not have the luxury of taking their chances—either they are saved or they are lost. Surely this is the great curse that lies upon mankind today—people are so wrapped up in their own godless world that they refuse the Light that shines, the Voice that speaks, and the Presence that pervades. The Spirit of God tries to speak to this modern man of the great curse that lies upon his heart and life—he has become so absorbed with money and bank accounts and profit and loss and markets and loans and interest that any thought of God and salvation and eternity has been crowded out. There are dollar signs before his eyes and he would rather close another deal and make a neat profit than to make his way into the kingdom of God. Mark 8:36-37 (NLT) And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

July 29 Make Every Effort Charles Hadden Spurgeon - Morning and Evening 2 Peter 1:5-7 (NLT) In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. If you would enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit's influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells you, "make every effort." Take care that your faith is of the right kind—that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to your courage. Plead with God that He would give you the face of a lion, that you may, with a consciousness of right, go on boldly. Study well the Scriptures, and get knowledge; for a knowledge of doctrine will tend very much to confirm faith. Try to understand God's Word; let it dwell in your heart richly. When you have done this, "Add to your knowledge self-control." Take heed to your body: be self-disciplined without. Take heed to your soul: be self-disciplined within. Get self-discipline of lip, life, heart, and thought. Add to this, by God's Holy Spirit, patience; ask Him to give you that patience which endures affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come forth as gold. Array yourself with patience, that you may not murmur nor be depressed in your afflictions. When that grace is won look to godliness. Godliness is something more than religion. Make God's glory your object in life; live in His sight; dwell close to Him; seek for fellowship with Him; and you will have "godliness." And to that add brotherly love. Have a love to all the saints: and add to that charity, which opens its arms to all men, and loves their souls.


When you are adorned with these jewels, and just in proportion as you practice these heavenly virtues, will you come to know by clearest evidence "your calling and election." "Make every effort," if you desire to receive God's assurance, because luke-warmness and doubting very naturally go hand in hand.

July 30 The Perfect Christian? - The Perfect Church? A.W. Tozer – Tozer on Christian Leadership: A 366-Day Devotional 1 Peter 4:8 (AMP) Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others]. Lord, give me patience and grace today in dealing with others' imperfections. And may I receive the same grace from You that I extend to others! Amen. Luke 6:38 (TEV) Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands—all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you." Our lofty idealism would argue that all Christians should be perfect, but a blunt realism forces us to admit that perfection is impossible even among the saints. A part of wisdom is to accept our Christian brothers and sisters for what they are rather than for what they should be. There is much that is imperfect about us, and it is fitting that we recognize it and call upon God for grace, mercy, and forgiveness to put up with one another. Neither the perfect Christian nor the perfect church is this earth. The most spiritual church is sure to have in it some who are still bothered by the flesh. An old Italian proverb says, "He that will have none but a perfect brother must resign himself to remain brotherless." However earnestly we may desire that our Christian brother go on toward perfection, we must accept him as he is and learn to get along with him. To treat an imperfect brother impatiently is to advertise our own imperfections. Luke 6:41 (NASB) "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

July 31 One Church – One Body in Christ A.W. Tozer - Mornings with Tozer 1 Corinthians 12:14, 27 (NLT) Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part … All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Lord, this morning I pray for my sisters and brothers in Christ around the world. Encourage them and empower them as one body in Christ to do good works in Your name today. Stating it in the most simple terms, the Christian Church, called to be the Body of Christ on earth, is the assembly of redeemed saints. We meet in local congregations and assemblies, yet we know that we are not an end in ourselves.


If we are going to be what we ought to be in the local church, we must come to think of ourselves as a part of something more expansive, something larger that God is doing throughout the world. There is an important sense here in which we find that we "belong"—belonging to something that is worthy and valuable, and something that is going to last forever! These are considerations concerning the whole Church, the Body of Christ, and the fact that in our local congregation we have the joyful sense of belonging to an amazing fellowship throughout the world. Every believing church has a part with us and we a part with them. Brethren, the Church must have the enabling and the power of the Holy Spirit and the glow of the Shekinah glory—God within us. For then, even lacking everything else, you still have a true church! Galatians 3:28 (NASB) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

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