No matter how insignificant he may have been before, a man becomes significant the moment he has had an encounter with the Son of God.
When the Lord lays His hand upon a man, that man ceases at once to be ordinary.
He immediately becomes extraordinary, and his life takes on cosmic significance.
The angels in heaven take notice of him and go forth to become his ministers (Hebrews 1:14).
Though the man had before been only one of the faceless multitude, a mere cipher in the universe, an invisible dust grain blown across endless wastes now he gets a face and a name and a place in the scheme of meaningful things. Christ knows His own sheep by name.?
A young preacher introduced himself to the pastor of a great metropolitan church with the words, I am just the pastor of a small church upcountry.
Son, replied the wise minister, there are no small churches.
And there are no unknown Christians, no insignificant sons of God.
Each one signifies, each is a sign drawing the attention of the Triune God day and night upon him.
The faceless man has a face, the nameless man a name, when Jesus picks him out of the multitude and calls him to Himself.
verse
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
— Colossians 2:9-10
thought
As de Molinos put it: "he that hath God, hath everything; and he what hath Him not, hath nothing." In Christ we have God. We have everything worthwhile!
prayer
O Lord, I am Yours and You are mine. What infinite worth!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
One of the heaviest thoughts that can visit the human heart is the insignificance of the average man.
Seen against the long procession of the ages and the countless multitudes of people who have inhabited the earth, we are each one no more than a grain of sand on the wide seashore.
It takes some reflection to make this appear to our minds as it really is.
The human ego may be counted upon to accent our individual worth and to give a false permanence to what is anything but permanent.
A man in his pride may feel himself to be so important that it is hard for him to visualize the world as continuing to endure after he is removed from the scene; but all we need to do is to wait. Time will grind him to dust and toss him to the winds; his friends will disappear one by one from their old familiar haunts, and there will be no one left to remember him.
The passing generations will sift over him layer upon layer of forgetfulness, and he will no longer have any earthly meaning. He will cease to be a name and will become merely a statistic.
This consideration, if no other, should dispose us to embrace the message of Christ. That message is so full and so comprehensive that it is never possible to state in one paragraph or one page or one volume all that it is.
It is doubtful, in fact, whether all the world could contain the books if the whole wonder of the gospel were to be written.
But not the least among the benefits of the Cross is its dignification of the individual.
verse
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.' So you are no longer a slave, but a son; aand since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
— Galatians 4:6-7
thought
In ourselves we are a nothing. In Christ we have worth ? eternal worth. Through faith in Him we become children of God.
prayer
In myself I am a nothing. But in You I have eternal worth. Thank You, in Jesus' name.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Leadership requires vision, and whence will vision come except from hours spent in the presence of God in humble and fervent prayer?
All things else being equal, a praying woman will know the will of God for the church far better than a prayerless man.
We do not here advocate the turning of the churches over to the women, but we do advocate a recognition of proper spiritual qualifications for leadership among the men if they are to continue to decide the direction the churches shall take.
The accident of being a man is not enough.
Spiritual manhood alone qualifies. Choose seven men from among you, commanded the apostles, who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.
We will turn this responsibility over to them (Acts 6:3).
The men chosen as a consequence of this directive became the first deacons of the church.
Thus the direction of certain church affairs was put into the hands of men spiritually qualified.
Should we not maintain the same standards today?
verse
Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and widom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.
— Acts 6:3-4
thought
Interesting, isn't it, and strikingly significant that both the ministry of the word and the ministry of table-waiting in the church required men full of the Spirit and wisdom. Stephen began as a table-server.
prayer
Any service for You, Lord, requires the fullness of Your Spirit in the servers. May I remember that its value does not depend upon human recognition and status.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Prayer is not a work that can be allocated to one or another group in the church. it is everybodys responsibility; it is everybodys privilege.
Prayer is the respiratory function of the church; without it we suffocate and die at last, like a living body deprived of the breath of life.
Prayer knows no sex, for the soul has no sex, and it is the soul that must pray. Women can pray, and their prayers will be answered; but so can man, and so should men if they are to fill the place God has given them in the church.
Let us watch that we do not slide imperceptibly to a state where the women do the praying and the men run the churches.
Men who do not pray have no right to direct church affairs.
We believe in the leadership of men within the spiritual community of the saints, but that leadership should be won by spiritual worth.
verse
Epaphras . . . is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully asssured.
— Colossians 4:12-13
thought
Prayer is never the least we can do, it is always the most! Epaphras, a man, was always wrestling in prayer for the Colossians that they might progress to full spiritual maturity. Would that every church had an Epaphras!
prayer
Make me an Epaphras, Lord.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
It might be a humbling experience for some of us men to be allowed to see just how much of lasting spiritual value is being done by the women of the churches.
As in the days of His flesh, Christ still has devout women who follow Him gladly and minister unto Him. The masculine tendency to discount these Select ladies does not speak too well for the male members of the spiritual community.
A little humility might better become us, and a bit of plain gratitude as well. If prayer is (as we believe it is) an integral part of the total divine scheme of things and must be done if the will of God is to be done, then the prayers of the thousands of women who meet each week in our churches is of inestimable value to the kingdom of God.
More power to them, and may their number increase tenfold. Let us beware, as men, however, that we do not fall into the weak habit of depending upon the women of the church to do our praying for us.
If our work prevents us, as it normally does, from having prayer meetings during the day, let us make up for it in some way and see to it that we pray as much as we should.
verse
There was also a prophetess, Anna, . . . She was very old; . . . a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
— Luke 2:36-37
thought
Praying Anna! Was it the praying of a godly mother that God used to impact you? Why mothers and not fathers, women and not men? Men, too, may be faithful pray-ers.
prayer
Thank You, Lord, for those praying women who have faithfully prayed for me over the years.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
From Adam we inherit the instinct to meet our enemies head on, to try to win by direct assault, and it is only after many shocking failures that we learn that victories are not so won in the realm of the spiritual.
The carnal approach usually does little more than to alienate the enemy still further from us and, worse than all, it puts us in a position where God cannot help us.
The enemy never quite knows how to deal with a humble man; he is so used to dealing with proud, stubborn people that a meek man upsets his timetable. And furthermore, the man of true humility has God fighting on his side who can win against God? S
trange 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. He defeated Esau by defeating Jacob the night before on the bank of the Jabbok.
The conquest of Esau took place in his brother Jacob.
It is often so. 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.
verse
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
— Matthew 23:12
thought
Until we are convinced of our weakness, humility eludes us. Yet in utter humility we are candidates for the display of God's power and are not tempted to steal His glory.
prayer
Deliver me from pride, Lord, even if the means is crushing defeat.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
In the kingdom of heaven, weak things become mighty and mighty things often prove to be useless.
God seeth not as man seeth, and the things that are held in high esteem among men may be scorned by the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth.
That carnal courage so prized in the kingdom of Adam may be the direct cause of constant and humiliating defeat among Christians.
God will not be under the necessity of using fleshly means to accomplish His spiritual ends. The bold strength of character which helps men to forge to the front, to get the best jobs, to overawe their opponents, may stand squarely in the way of all efforts to progress in the life of the Spirit. God still gives courage to the faint, and He knoweth the proud afar off.
verse
But he gives more grace. That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'
— James 4:6
thought
Humility is a quality extremely counter to contemporary culture. Indeed, it is generally viewed as weakness.
But genuine humility is strength and the result of God's grace.
prayer
Thank You, Lord, for those brothers and sisters who have modeled genuine humility to me. May I grow to know their strength.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
To the man out of Christ, the fall of the year, in spite of its many charms, must surely bring with it a deep and hidden terror.
For it speaks of the approaching end, the time when it may be said,
The summer is ended, and we are not saved.
It would be good indeed if the autumn winds could preach to the lost soul of the brevity of life and the long winter ahead.
The true Christian will not be saddened by the winds that herald the approach of winter.
Like the wise and he has made his preparation, and while the gusty tempest howls over him, he will sleep sweet in Christ while the circle of the heavens moves on toward the consummation of all things of which Moses and the prophets have spoken.
Happy man who knows that everything is well with him and that he will be among the blessed in that day when the breath of Jesus, like a breeze of spring, shall stir the sleeping dead to life again after the long night.
verse
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
— First Thessalonians 4:17-18
thought
Each day we draw closer to the fall and winter of life. All of which point to the golden tomorrow. May we live today in the expectation of that tomorrow.
prayer
Lord, may I live today in the glow of the eternal tomorrow.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Autumn winds are blowing again.
The fall of the year brings with it a world of emotions as rich and varied as the notes of an organ.
The spring is more stimulating and fuller of expectation, but there is about the fall a quiet strength which the spring lacks.
It is not a wonder that so many serious-minded people love the fall, . . . We are not much given to moralizing on natural objects, but who can fail to notice the parallel between Gods great lovely world and the little tribes of flesh and blood who inhabit it
Is it not plain that every human being runs through the same stages as the seasons
Spring, the time of childhood and youth when all the world is big with promise, a promise which the later years invariably fail to keep.
Summer, the period of full power when life multiplies and it is hard to believe that it can ever end.
Autumn, with its repose after toil, a gracious tapering off of our fuller powers, a kindly preparation for our longer rest.
Winter, when the leaves have dropped away and the last sign of life has disappeared.
Then only faith remains to assure us that there will be for us a bright tomorrow.
verse
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die . . .
— Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a
thought
As certain as the seasons of life and of nature we experience, so certain is the brightest, most glorious season of all. By faith we know it shall surely dawn in our eternal tomorrow.
prayer
Great is Your faithfulness, O God. I trust You for all the tomorrows.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/