A. W. Tozer - Mornings with Tozer

A.W. TOZER

A division of Zur Ltd.

Mornings with Tozer

ISBN: 978-1-60066-276-8

Copyright 1991, 2008 by Zur Ltd.

All rights reserved

Scripture taken from The Holy Bible: King James Version

Mornings with Tozer is a revised edition of Renewed Day by Day, Volume 2 , compiled by Gerald B. Smith.

CONTENTS

Mornings with Tozer is a collection of 366 daily readings from the heart and mind of Dr. A.W. Tozer, the beloved former pastor in the mid-20th century. The selections have been gleaned from his taped sermons, with additional excerpts from his published books and from his incisive editorials while he was the editor of The Alliance Witness magazine (now titled Alliance Life ). His helpful personal illustrations, testimonies and spiritual concerns have been scattered throughout these pages, all glorifying the Person of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Dr. Tozer would be the first to say to prospective readers: Dont let the reading of this devotional book replace your own personal study of Gods Word. He would want the reader to explore the full context of the Scripture reference presented at the beginning of each devotional reading.

A prayer has been added at the conclusion of each days devotional message. The editors of this volume suggest that the reader uses these prayers as fire starters. Personalize and expand each prayer. Name specific family members, loved ones, people at the workplace, neighbors, local church leaders, missionaries, unreached people groups, world leaders, etc. Then enter into an extended time of worship.

Dr. Tozer would want the reader to meditate on each devotional thought throughout the course of the day. He would suggest that readers acknowledge specific sins or temptations they are dealing with and confess them to the Lord.

Lastly, as a result of reading these devotional selections, Dr. Tozer would desire that each reader stand firm in his or her faith and do random acts of kindness in the strong name of the Lord.

The Editors

CREATED FOR ETERNITY

Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himselfwhether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:20

Men and women without God are helpless and hopeless human beings. We do well to remember that sin is to the human nature what cancer is to the human body!

Who can argue with the fact that sin has ruined us?

Our feverish activity is only one sign of what is wrong with ussin has plunged us into the depths and so marked us with mortality that we have become brother to the claybut God never meant it to be so.

Men and women may argue and make excuses, but it does not change the fact that in our human society we are completely surrounded by three marks of the ancient curse: Everything is recent, temporal and transient! That is why the Holy Spirit whispers faithfully, reminding us of the Christ of God, eternity walking in flesh, God Almighty come to live among us and to saveactually to give us eternity!

This we know: When we turn our faces toward the Eternal One, asking, God have mercy on me, a sinner, we are finally being what God intended us to be in the first place!

Almighty God and Eternal Father, help me to journey through the coming year with a new set of eyes. Enable me to see life from Your lofty, eternal perspective.

IN THE BEGINNING

In the beginning was the Wordand the Word was God.

John 1:1

None of us can approach a consideration of the eternal nature and Person of Jesus Christ without sensing and confessing our human inadequacy in the face of the divine revelation.

John, in his Gospel, provides a beautiful portrait of the eternal Christ, starting with those stark, incredible words: In the beginning! My brethren, that is where we start with the understanding and the revelation of Christianity!

Many others have made a variety of claims, but only our Christ is the Christ of God. Certainly it was not Buddha and not Mohammed; not Joseph Smith, not Mrs. Eddy and not Father Divine! All of these and countless others like them had beginningsbut they all had their endings too.

What an incredible difference! Our Christian life commences with the eternal Son of God. This is our Lord Jesus Christ: the Word who was with the Father in the beginning; the Word who was God; and the Word who is God! This is the only one who can assure us: No man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

Loving Heavenly Father, help me to live each day this year as a humble, grateful child of the eternal God.

MAN HAS LOST GOD

Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

Psalm 104:29

The average person in the world today, without faith and without God and without hope, is engaged in a desperate personal search and struggle throughout his lifetime. He does not really know what he is doing here. He does not know where he is going.

The sad commentary is that everything he is doing is being done on borrowed time, borrowed money and borrowed strengthand he already knows that in the end he will surely die! It boils down to the bewildered confession of many humans that they have lost God somewhere along the way.

Man, made more like God than any other creature, has become less like God than any other creature. Created to reflect the glory of God, he has retreated sullenly into his cavereflecting only his own sinfulness.

Certainly it is a tragedy above all tragedies in this world that love has gone from mans heart. Beyond that, light has gone from his mind. Having lost God, he blindly stumbled on through this dark world to find only a grave at the end!

Dear Lord, thank You for the hope that I have found in Christ. And thank You for giving meaning and purpose to my life. Help me to glorify You today.

SAVIOR AND LORD

For by grace are ye saved through faithit is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

God chose His only begotten Son as the channel for His grace and truth, for John witnesses that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

The Law was given by Mosesbut that was all that Moses could do. He could only command righteousness. In contrast, only Jesus Christ produces righteousness.

All that Moses could do was to forbid us to sin. In contrast, Jesus Christ came to save us from sin.

Moses could not save anyonebut Jesus Christ is both Savior and Lord.

Grace came through Jesus Christ before Mary wept in the manger stall in Bethlehem. It was the grace of God in Christ that saved the human race from extinction when our first parents sinned in the Garden.

It is plain in history that God forgave Israel time and time again. It was the grace of God in Christ prior to the Incarnation that made God say: I have risen early in the morning and stretched out my hands to you!