Any sound religious experience must begin with a proper conception of the nature of God.
The terrible power of idolatry for evil lies in its unworthy conception of the character of the Supreme Being.
Indeed it may be said without qualification that all religious experience that incorporates in itself low or ignoble ideas of God is in essence superstitious. The god of superstition is an irresponsible god, arbitrary and without character.
The superstititious person must constantly try to outwit him or placate him or catch him with words and force a favor out of him. But such a person is never at peace because he is never sure of anything. His hope is fugitive and skittish. There is no trustworthy being back of his faith; there are only words.
True faith does not rest upon texts alone but upon God who wrote the text.
The word is an expression of the character of God and is exactly as good as that character, no more and no less. The free man in Christ has been delivered from the "tyranny of words." He has gone beyond the word to God Himself and has found there his true fatherland and everlasting home.
He can no longer be intimidated by the little slave-men who threaten him with punishment if he fails to repeat this religious phrase or mutter that sacred word. He has discovered the true ground of religious hope the character of God.
To such a man the Scriptures are the very words of God, meaningless apart from Him but altogether glorious when understood as the verbal expression of His holy being.
verse
How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.
— 2 Samuel 7:22
thought
It is not the phonetic sound of "God words" or words written on paper in which we believe. It is God. Because of who He is we can trust Him, His word and His promises.
prayer
Sovereign LORD, how great You are! There is none like You. You are God and in You I trust.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Faith differs from superstition in its ground of hope.
Faith rests upon character, specifically the character of God.
A word is only as good as the character of the one who uttered it.
Superstition counts upon a word, a text, and never thinks back of the text to the one who gave it. For the superstitious man there is a magic power in a word quite apart from the one who spoke it. The very word is magical and has only to be spoken under the right circumstances to be effective; morality or character have no place in this scheme of things. Words only count there. This in its various manifestations is a sure mark of superstition.
Even in some Christian circles this ill-grounded trust in sounds and symbols is encountered all too frequently.
Some believers, for instance, fear to speak the name of Jesus apart from the titles which accompany it.
They dare not say Jesus, but must always say the Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of the circumstances.
Obviously they believe that God is concerned with the protocol of word arrangement and will be displeased if the order is broken.
Such words as amen, hallelujah, glory and others of like sacred association are repeated endlessly and meaninglessly in the apparent belief that they have in them some strange power for good.
This can be no more than high-grade magic.
It will pay us to search our own hearts thoroughly to discover just why we use these words.
verse
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out."
— Acts 19:13
thought
The seven sons of Sceva sought to use the name of Jesus in attempting to exorcise spirits from those demon-possessed. They failed miserably because they neither knew Jesus or trusted in Him. What we believe and in whom we believe is what counts.
prayer
Lord, forgive me for using words, even Your name, as if there were some magical meaning to them. It is Your Person, who You are?Almighty God?in whom I trust and rest through Christ.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The great weight of exhortation these days is in the direction of zeal and activity. "Let's get going" is the favorite watchword for gospel workers, with the result that everyone feels ashamed to sit down and think.
But it will pay to do it, nevertheless.
It would be a shock to most of us to learn just what God thinks of our breathless activity, and a greater shock to many to find out the true quality of our service as God sees it.
For not all religious activity is accepted of God, not even when it appears to produce results and get things done. The Lord seeth not as man seeth. Christian service, to be accepted of God, must be fresh and sincere.
Whatever is done out of habit is not approved; anything done in a perfunctory manner is below the level of quality expected of us. The careless song, the sermon preached for no higher reason than because it is Sunday again, the tithe tossed into the plate, the testimony given because it seems the thing to do not one of these will stand up under the searching eyes of God.
In Christian service motive is everything, for it is motive that gives to every moral act its final quality.
verse
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
— Colossians 3:17
thought
For the believer there is no secular/sacred dichotomy. All is sacred whether carrying out work in the office, the school, the shop, the home. We may do all to the glory of God!
prayer
Lord, please remind me that service to You is not restricted to a church building or a church office position. I can do the menial tasks of life to Your glory though unnoticed by others.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
David's religion had social implications, but he was no mere do-gooder, no patcher-upper of the world's hurts.
All his service was rendered according to the will of God. It was the divine quality in his ministry that made it immortal.
Many good deeds may be done whose final effects will not be lasting. A sick man laboring to cure the ills of another sick man may be a moving sight, but it can hardly be a reassuring one, for both will die at last. But the service that can bring the healing touch of God into human life is infinitely to be preferred to any other.
It is the will of God that brings eternity into human toil. We should remember that if we are to serve our generation we must get at it right away, for our generation will not be around long.
Isaac Watts wrote: "Time, like an ever rolling stream Bears all its sons away; They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day."
We are all born in debt to the world, and that debt increases as we grow older.
If we are wise in the Spirit, we shall see to it that we turn the tables and put the world in debt to us.
This we can do only by serving our generation by the will of God before it is too late.
verse
I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. — Romans 1:14
thought
As was Paul so are we under obligation to share the Good News of Christ with people all around us. We are under obligation to share Christ by our life, our daily living and our words. People need the Lord!
prayer
Holy Spirit, use even me. I'm so weak, so small, so unimpressive. But reach out through me. For Christ's sake.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The life Ideal was described by the apostle in the Book of Acts: "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep."
We submit that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to improve upon this. It embraces the whole sphere of religion, appearing as it does in its three directions: God, the individual, society. Within that simple triangle all possible human activities are carried on.
To each of us there can be but these three dimensions: God, myself, others. Beyond this we cannot go, nor should we even attempt to go.
If we serve God according to His own will, and in doing so serve our generation, we shall have accomplished all that is possible for any human being. David was smart enough to serve God and his generation before he fell asleep.
To fall asleep before we have served our generation is nothing short of tragic. It is good to sleep at last, as all our honored fathers have done, but it is a moral calamity to sleep without having first labored to bless the world.
No man has any right to die until he has put mankind in debt to him. No man has any moral right to lie down on the earth till he has wrought to take something of the earth out of the hearts of men, till he has helped to free men from the tyranny of that same earth and pointed them to that kingdom that will abide after the heavens and the earth are no more.
verse
For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.
— Acts 13:36
thought
David served God's purpose in his generation. What purpose does God have for you and me in our generation? Are we serving it?
prayer
Father, I am not a David in spiritual strength, gifts or leadership. But I am Your servant where You have placed me. Reach out to people through me for Jesus' sake.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Two questions are embraced within the one problem: What shall I do with my sin? and what shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ?
In spite of every effort of the pseudo-learned world to dispose of the sin question, it remains still, a perennial heartache to the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. It is one of those persistent pains that lies deep in the soul and never quite stops hurting. It just won't go away.
The devil and the busy sons of men have sought throughout the centuries for something to make this problem go away. They have invented how many thousands of amusements, they have created innumerable pleasures to take the mind off its central woe; but nothing works.
Sin is still the world's first problem.
The second question, What shall I do with Jesus? is the answer to the first one, because Jesus came to save men from their sins.
Let us answer the second one rightly and the first one will be solved automatically. If we but come to Jesus with our sin upon us and without any hope except His mercy, we shall surely be delivered from the ancient curse. But remember, sin demands an answer. It won't just go away. It must be carried away by redeeming blood, and redeeming blood was never shed by any other lamb except the Lamb of God.
verse
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
— 1 Peter 2:24
thought
Christ has died for your sin and mine. Not just the sin of the past which we have confessed and for which we have asked forgiveness but sin in the future which we shall confess. What unfailing love! What amazing grace!
prayer
O Christ, You bore my sins in Your body on the cross. By Your wounds I am healed. You did it so that I might die to sins and live for righteousness. Lord, I want so to live!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
It is an illuminating experience to read the history of the great spiritual movements that have blessed the world over the last 2,000 years.
Scarcely any of these began quietly; almost always they struck the earth with the suddenness of a cyclone. . . . History shows another fact also.
When the first heat of the originators of great movements had spent itself after their death, immediately another spirit entered and took over?it was the spirit of conventionalism. It retained the outward form of the orginal movement but lost all the inward heat. The movement ceased to move; its adherents gained popularity and lost power; the apocalyptic quality of its message disappeared; its new teachers set about to make its teaching acceptable to Christendom?and their success became at last their greatest tragedy.
It is a lamentable fact that the crusading spirit is almost wholly lost to the deeper life branches of the church. Modern crusaders are for the most part no more than high octane proselyters operating down on a level far below New Testament plateaus.
They make all the noise and get all the notice, while hungry-hearted saints shake their heads in discouragement and wait for-what?
verse
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
— Psalm 85:6
thought
Often God uses little people in bringing revival to His Church. People filled with the Spirit who are fully convinced of their weakness and unworthiness but firmly trusting in God's power. Many of us God could not use in reviving His Church. We would tak
prayer
Father, will You not revive us again? By Your Spirit cause our "movement" to move! Not by our might nor our power but by Your Spirit, O God.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Such a fast hold does inertia have upon almost everything religious that it takes a powerful and sudden attack by determined forces to move anything.
It takes something like a crusade to get anything done these days. The principle of laissez faire is so firmly implanted in all of us that something in the nature of an earthquake is needed to jar us loose and start us on the right way.
It is an illuminating experience to read the history of the great spiritual movements that have blessed the world over the last 2,000 years.
Scarely any of these began quietly; almost always they struck the earth with the suddenness of a cyclone.
We have only to mention a few to prove our point: the ministry of John the Baptist, the appearance of Jesus Christ with His miracles, Pentecost, the Reformation, the Wesleyan revivals, the Great Awakening, revivals in Wales, in Korea, the strange and wonderful work under the Prophet Harris in Africathe list is long.
These movements struck with the unexpectedness of lightning and found people without a defense against them. Methodism, for instance, moved with the speed of a forest fire and took on the character of a crusade.
The spiritual certainty within the hearts of a select few became so white-hot that it set others on fire around it and started an unplanned movement toward a return to New Testament standards and the deeper things of the Spirit.
verse
Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.
— Habakkuk 3:2
thought
True revival is not something we can manufacture. It must come from God. It is not about personalities and methods and strategies. It is God moving in sovereign power.
prayer
O Lord, do it again! Stir Your Church with renewing power as You have done in times past. Send refreshing. In Jesus' name.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
There will always be danger from one or the other of these two extremes, slavish dependence or arrogant independence.
Some Christians (by far the majority) will accept a place of timid conformity and surrender themselves to the bondage of authority and custom.
In all things religious they will become meek followers of popular trends within their own circle. Such as these have no vision of their own, no true convictions, no inward freedom. They are slaves of the religious machine; they know nothing of the liberty with which Christ has made us free. The other extreme is found here and there among us, and while it never has as many followers as the cult of bondage, it is nevertheless quite well represented in orthodox circles.
Its followers glorify freedom to a point where they deny their proper debt to fellow Christians and scorn the interdependence of the body. They are often contemptuous of spiritual authority, and they deny the right of Spirit-gifted men to exercise their gifts within the church.
This breeds a kind of religious anarchy that is altogether unscriptural and, as might be expected, extremely injurious to the cause of true spirituality.
Both extremes must be avoided. We must live in the paradox of happy dependent freedom.
verse
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
— Galatians 5:13
thought
Christ is the source of true freedom. He teaches us and leads us through other believers. But we are primarily servants to Him not to them. With our brothers and sisters in Christ we are fellow pilgrims, fellow servants. We serve Him in serving others. W
prayer
Thank You, Father, for freedom in Christ. Help me to guard against self-indulgence. May I freely serve others in love by Your enablement.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/