| Devotional | Incarnating Truth
A farmer sows wheat and, granted that the soil is fertile, his harvest will be only what the seed was, allowing for the slight natural retrogression that usually follows each careless planting. Is it not plain that the quality of the seed is what matters most? Would it not be folly for the farmer to grow more and more and poorer and poorer wheat? L ...read |
| Devotional | Indicators of God's Choosing
. . . No man is ever the same after God has laid His hand upon him. He will have certain marks, and though they are not easy to detect perhaps we may cautiously name a few. One mark is a deep reverence for divine things. A sense of the sacred must be present or there can be no receptivity to God and truth. This mysterious feeling of awe precedes ...read |
| Devotional | Inescapable Choices
When the rich young ruler learned the cost of discipleship he went away sorrowing. He could not give up the sunny side of the brae. But thanks be to God, there are some in every age who refuse to go back. The Acts of the Apostles is the story of men and women who turned their faces into the stiff wind of persecution and loss and followed the Lamb w ...read |
| Devotional | INSTRUCT-THEN EXHORT
The godly men of old through whom the Scriptures came to us were faithful in their exhortations to personal faith and godliness, characteristic of the early church. The apostolic method of teaching, instructing and encouraging was based on solid and fundamental Christian doctrine. This was Paul's method in his New Testament letters. First he gives ...read |
| Devotional | IS THE CHURCH WEARY?
As Christian believers, we stand together in the evangelical faith-the historical faith of our fathers. Yet, we must confess that many congregations seem bogged down with moral boredom and life-weariness. The church is tired, discouraged and unastonished-Christ seems to belong to yesterday. The prophetic teachers have projected everything into the ...read |
| Devotional | It Matters What You Think
It is something of a happy paradox that while the thoughts deeply affect the will and go far to determine its choices, the will on the other hand has the power to control the thoughts. A will firmly engaged with God can swing the intellectual powers around to think on holy things. Were it not so, Pauls words to the Philippians would be psychologica ...read |
| Devotional | Itching Ears
In the church many are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. If you do not like what I am saying, I want to ask you something. Think about the company you run with. What do they talk about most? God and the love of God, or other things? You decide that. Many Christians today will not endure sound doctrine. Paul described these people as havin ...read |
| Devotional | Itching Ears
Religious people are psychologically conditioned to the trite phrase and the hackneyed expression. True, the stereotyped pattern varies slightly between different groups, but there would seem to be no reason why a clever speaker could not preach tonight to Calvinists, tomorrow to Arminians, the next day to Pentecostals, the next to Holiness people, ...read |
| Devotional | JESUS SAID HE WAS GOD
The more we study the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when He lived on earth among us, the more certain we are about who He is. Some critics have scoffed: "Jesus did not claim to be God. He only said He was the Son of Man." It is true that Jesus used the term, "Son of Man" frequently. But He testified boldly, even among those who were His sworn ...read |
| Devotional | JOURNEY OF THE HEART
I object to the charge that "Tozer preaches experience." I preach Christ, the Savior-that is my calling! But I am positive about the validity, the reality and the value of genuine Christian experience. We can talk to Jesus just as we talk to our other friends. As a boy, I was not a Christian. I did not have the privilege of growing up in a home w ...read |
| Devotional | JOY AND WONDER
It is tragic that men and women everywhere are losing the sense of wonder, confessing now only one interest in life-and that is utility! Even Christmas Day has been degraded. We ignore the beautiful and the majestic, asking only "How can I use it? How much profit will it bring?" The believing children of God once upon a time saw God in everythin ...read |
| Devotional | Just Do It
The Lord said to become children. If we all became children, how beautiful that would be. You could walk up to a man and shake his hand without wondering, "Do I know enough judo to handle him?" He would not hurt you. Christians here are not going to hurt anybody, so just be perfectly candid. This is one passage you can practice no matter who you ...read |
| Devotional | Keep Growing!
One thing taught throughout the Bible, and particularly in the New Testament, is that the Christian life is a progression, a journey of the redeemed soul toward God.
Another is that Satan stands to resist every step and to hinder the journey in every way possible. To advance against his shrewd and powerful opposition requires faith and steadfast ...read |
| Devotional | Keep the Torch Burning
The clever proponents of evil political ideologies are spending millions to make us Americans ashamed to love our country. By the use of all available media of communication they are persuading our people that there is little left worth defending and certainly nothing worth dying for. They are building up in the public mind a picture of an American ...read |
| Devotional | Keeping Fresh
To stay free from religious ennui we should be careful not to get into a rut, not even a good rut. Our Lord warned against vain repetition. There is repetition that is not vain, but oft-repeated prayers become vain when they have lost their urgency. We should examine our prayers every now and again to discover how much sincerity and spontaneity the ...read |
| Devotional | Keeping the Message of the Bible Central
The Bible is the most important book in the world, and for Christians it is just about the only book--certainly the only book that should claim the place of honor in the public worship of God. We are, we trust, duly grateful for every good spiritual book written since the close of the New Testament canon. We do not undervalue the devotional book or ...read |
| Devotional | Knowing God
Our Lord, in defining eternal life, summed up the supreme goal of human existence: That they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. And Paul revealed the one overpowering interest of his life when he wrote That I may know him. The business of the Church is God. She is purest when most engaged with God and she is a ...read |
| Devotional | Knowing God
The witness of the Spirit is a sacred inner thing which cannot be explained. It is altogether personal and cannot be passed from one to another. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of God's waterspouts, and the outward ear cannot hear what it says. Much less can the worldly onlooker know what is taking place. The Spirit whispers its mysterious Pre ...read |
| Devotional | Knowing God
One of the heaviest problems the inquiring Christian faces today is why so many good and apparently sincere religious leaders are going so far astray from the plain teachings and practices of the New Testament. Destructive elements are being innocently introduced into present-day worship and service by Bible-loving evangelicals, elements so oppose ...read |
| Devotional | KNOWING HIS PRESENCE
Do not try to short-circuit God's plans for your discipleship. and spiritual maturity here. If you and I were already prepared for heaven in the moment of our conversion, God would have taken us home instantly! We must remember that God exists in Himself. His holy nature is such that we cannot comprehend Him with our minds. He is of a substance n ...read |
A.W. Tozer