The Pursuit of God

This article caught my attention and am going to try and read this book " The Pursuit of God" by AW Tozer , I love the quotes by this great man of God and am equally going to try and read up more on him but for now you might want read this post by Mark Earley . . .  it is really a great read.

Possessing Nothing to Possess All

The Pursuit of God'

By Mark Earley Christian Post Guest Columnist  Fri, July. 11 2008 06:54 PM EDT

1948 was the year the “Big Bang” theory was introduced, the game “Scrabble” was first played, and state of Israel was established. It was also the year that A. W. Tozer wrote The Pursuit of God—a small book, but one that has profoundly influenced Christians for the past 60 years. It has challenged me, and I hope this summer you give it a chance to challenge you.

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Ken Boa, who features The Pursuit of God this month in his tremendous “Great Books Audio CD” series, says that Tozer was “a modern mystic who had given priority to the lost art of meditation.” Tozer, a self-taught pastor in the Chicago area, was not known among those in his congregation as the most gregarious man. In fact, it was rumored that Tozer rarely visited his congregants unless they were deathly ill. But his aloofness was simply the product of a man relentlessly chasing after God.

Boa explains that when Tozer prayed, he would often put on a ragged pair of pants—what became known as his “prayer pants”—and spend hours in solitude with God. In fact, it was during one solitary train ride from Chicago to Texas that Tozer penned The Pursuit of God—all of it!

Tozer’s behavior might seem a bit strange to us today, but his words offer timeless significance. In The Pursuit of God, Tozer tramples on mediocrity in the Christian life. He wrote: “The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing.”

Here, Tozer confronts what he called the “tyranny of things”—in other words, the subtle way that materialism can take us captive. He asks readers to consider whether they are willing to walk through sadness, suffering, and solitude in order to know God deeply. This he calls “the blessedness of possessing nothing.”

He explains that man can discover this blessedness only by wholeheartedly running after God. “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One,” he wrote. “Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness.”

Much of what Tozer had to say slaps modern man in the face. He calls into question the materialism and idolatry that continue to infect our churches and our lives. He asks us to question why we have difficulty spending time in solitude. And, he gives us the opportunity to return to a place of “meekness and rest,” where Christ becomes all that we need.

I highly recommend you pick up this book this summer and read it. It is quite short, but I guarantee you will be surprised by its depth and profundity. But also prepare to be challenged by what it truly means to pursue God.

I would also urge you to let Ken Boa guide you through the depths of Tozer’s thought. All you need to do is subscribe to the “Great Books Audio CD” series. Once a month, Ken will walk you through one of the great Christian works of all time—works like this month’s Tozer’s Pursuit of God. Visit BreakPoint.org for more information and how to subscribe.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:01

    That's a really great article. Thanks for sharing it, sis. This book by A. W. Tozer has been on my must-get list for the longest time now, ha ha!

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  2. Anonymous11:41

    thank God for your site,i was really blessed by your posts.keep the good work firing on my Bro

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  3. I quite agree with Tozer that materialism has taken us captive. If we truly examine ourselves we will find out that a lot of us has been taken captive by the nothingness of this world.
    We can afford to spend hours on TV, on the internet, dressing up for an occasion, even playing with our children while it is difficult to spare 20mins with God. I am one of such people, i suddenly find out that even while going through the scriptures, I do it hurriedly in other to go and attend to something else i deem more urgent or important at that time. May God help me to change; it is only by his mercy that it can happen.

    This is a post i must commend channel of healing for, thanks for going all out on this, i was truly touched and i will watch out for the book.

    GoD bless you.

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  4. Anonymous01:02

    I believe my son has this book, and will pick it up as my next reading.
    Great advice, thanks!
    Yvette

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  5. Anonymous06:37

    i quite agree with Mark Earley the guest columnist on Aw Tozer's book as a slap on modern christian (man or woman) face. Materialism has been so ingeniously devised in the church of today that almost all have become power steering in the hand of the devil; a little push and we turbo. Would Jesus need only a whip to rid the temple of traders this time???......my Father and my GOD. I'm tired of trading in your temple in Jesus name.

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  6. You should have it brother Isaiah, I have it but have gotten around to start it yet.
    Pity such preachers are scarce today

    Godbless

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  7. Godbless you Princeify, I did visit yoiur site keep the flag of Nigeria flying high in Jesus Mighty NAme AMen

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  8. Bola my beloved sis we give Our God all the glory for all the posts in thuis blog for by the Spirit of God I post therefore we return all adoration to the Holy One.

    I can feel your point such is life but we have to make sure we don't walk from His Word.
    He also wants you to take care of your home too
    Our God is faithful and kind all the time

    Godbless

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  9. That would be Great Yvette, am glad your son has it imagine the kind of leader he would be tommorow with such teachings
    Godbless you and your family

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  10. Luckenzo you are so right brother , we don't have many preachers like that anymore even if we had they are not famous for others to see them.

    Godbless

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