Tozer and My Daily [grain-free] Bread, #2

More Tozer. Like I said, I marked almost every page in the book, so if you don't want to hear about Tozer, wait a week or two till I'm done sharing. But if you're willing to stick around...man, this guy is amazing. I don't know why I never read his stuff before. He's starting to get near C.S. Lewis on my list (and I love C.S. Lewis, let me tell you).

In this part of the book, Tozer talks about a man who was a deacon in a church for 26 years and then is born again -- after being a deacon for all those years. Obviously the amount of churches and "Christians" we have in this world (*cough*inAmerica*cough*) are not a testament to our faith in God. Rather it is a testament to our great religious tendencies.

Kind of depressing, isn't it? Living with Christians who don't know Christ.

Anyway, here's how Tozer describes why the man was suddenly "saved" and talks about how the man had memorized the Word.

"Thank God, he did memorize the texts, and all the truth he knew now suddenly bloomed in the light. That is why I believe we ought to memorize Scripture. That is why we ought to get to know the Word, why we ought to fill our minds with the great hymns and songs of the church. They will mean little to us until the Holy Spirit comes. But when He comes He will have fuel to use. Fire without fuel will not burn, but fuel without fire is dead. And the Holy Spirit will not come on a church where there is no biblical body of truth."

He goes on to say that this is our "preparation" for the Holy Spirit. God has promised His Helper for us, but that does not mean we all receive it at the same time. We are to be prepared for the Holy Spirit to come and make His home within us!

"But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him...Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" 1 Corinthians 6:17, 19

Now I want you to think about something for a minute. Think about the promises of God. Not just the ones that promise blessings, a good future, hope, and wonderful peace...but the ones that tell us who we are.

• We are children of God. You are a son or a daughter of God! Talk about position.
• If we are children, then we are also heirs to the kingdom 
• And heirs to eternal life
• He has given us His Spirit (the Holy Spirit is God Himself) to live within us and empower us to have the fullness of Christ 
• We get to have communion with the Father always, through the mediator-ship of His Son. The very One who paid the price for our sins is the One who brings us as new creatures to the Father. 

Are you in awe yet? I am! All of these truths keep breaking over me like 100-foot waves. How could I ever escape these beautiful and terrifying implications of God? God, who has chosen to be in my life, has chosen to pay attention to my lowly existence. 

But there are more. Push past everything you've ever heard and open your Bible and pretend that you're reading it for the first time. Shout out each word. Chew each phrase like it's a piece of steak. Remind yourself that this stuff is real. And it's true. 

Because God loves you and has chosen you and at that point what is there to be afraid of? What do you have to lose, or gain?