A.W. Tozer - My Daily Pursuit: 365 Devotions with A.W. Tozer

Compiled and Edited by James L. Snyder

D EVOTIONS FOR E VERY D AY

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All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Authorized King James Version.

2013 James L. Snyder

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tozer, A. W. (Aiden Wilson), 1897-1963.

My daily pursuit : devotions for every day / A.W. Tozer ;

compiled and edited by James L. Snyder.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-8307-6904-9 (trade paper)

1. Devotional calendars. I. Title.

BV4811.T6884 2013

242.2dc23

2013031761

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The struggle in our time is often suggested to be of the intellect, in the assertion that both truth and God are unknowable. But if the questions Ive encountered over four decades of speaking in universities as well as churches are any indication, I believe the deeper struggle is more often that of the heart.

I often recall the turning point of my own life: while still in my teens, I found myself lying in a hospital bed after an attempted suicide. The struggle for answers when met by despair led me along that tragic path. But there in my hospital room the Scriptures were brought and read to me. For the first time I engaged the direct answers of God to my seeking heart. The profound realization that God could be known personally drew me, with sincerity and determination, to plumb the depths of that claim.

The words of the Charles Wesley hymn, And Can It Be that I Should Gain? come flooding to my mind ever so often:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and natures night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

With a simple prayer of trust in that moment, the change from a desperate heart to one that found the fullness of meaning became a reality for me.

A few short years later, I encountered, through his writings, the distinctive pastoral voice of A. W. Tozer, who expounded on the grandest of all themes to which the human mind could ascend and the heart could embrace: the study of God Himself. Tozers voice was unique in his era, and I read and reread many of his books. Works such as The Pursuit of God and The Knowledge of the Holy opened up vistas that were life-transforming.

Those truths were timely for me and timeless for anyone hungry to know God. So, his words still speak with power and tenderness today, leaving me with the twin passions of fulfillment and legitimate hunger. One statement of his, from The Root of the Righteous, that rang so true in cautioning the Church was that we are often like children skipping through the corridors of the kingdom, looking at everything, while pausing to learn the true value of nothing. Tozer gives us the right kind of pause to learn the value of deep reflection on noble truths.

What a thrill it is, therefore, to be introduced to more of Tozers writings that have never been released until now. Inside these pages you may recognize a familiar tone on themes like worshipwhich he referred to as the missing jewel of the churchand the holiness and grandeur of God. Here you will find both practical insight and sobering wisdom such as, Worship is to feel in the heart. I do not apologize for using the word feel. If you woke up one morning with no feeling in your arm at all, you would call a doctor, because anything without feeling you can be quite sure is dead. Elsewhere Tozer observes, The God of the evangelical church is so small that we can put Him in our pocket. These are solemn words, and yet we are reminded that a life that has been radically transformed by an encounter with the resurrected Christ will hunger and thirst for God as for no other: What would today be without living in the conscious presence of God Almighty? I do not want to live any day when that is absent from my life.

It is a great privilege for me to introduce a new generation to A. W. Tozer and to welcome longtime readers to this fresh volume of his daily readings. I am so grateful for the publication of these writings and know that you will treasure them as well. Tozer truly was one of the great explorers of truths that are indispensable if we are to rise above our shallow times. In proportion to the discipline of study, the reader will be rewarded with lifelong treasures.

Ravi Zacharias

Bestselling author

Founder and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

The great passion of A. W. Tozer, or maybe I should say obsession, was pursuing God on a daily basis. Nothing, neither family nor friends, was more important than his daily pursuit to be with God. The worship of God was the highest calling of Tozers life.

During his ministry, Tozer was the keynote speaker at many Bible conferences. At one particular conference, the time came for the service to begin and Tozer had not arrived yet. Thinking he was just running a little late, the leader began the service believing Tozer would soon arrive. As the service progressed without any sign of Tozer, the leader became nervous. Finally, the time came for Tozer to begin his sermon but he was nowhere to be found. At the last moment, someone else filled in, much to the disappointment of the audience.

The next morning the leader found Tozer and asked him very simply where he was last night. Why did you miss your appointment last night?

Tozer, with a faraway look in his eyes, simply said, I had a more important appointment last night. Later, that leader discovered Tozer had spent all night on his knees before God. The most important thing in his life was being in the presence of God.

Living in Chicago for most of his ministry, Tozer had a rather busy schedule with many people wanting his advice or prayerpeople like Billy Graham and Senator Mark Hatfield, to name a few. Tozer had a unique way of eluding this disturbance when he needed to be alone with God. When he felt he was becoming a little stale, it was time to leave the world behind and be alone with God.

Early in the morning, he would board a westbound train, get in a Pullman car for privacy and ride for the next four hours. Sequestered in his Pullman car he spent the time on his face before God. No cell phones at the time, thankfully, and Tozer had absolute privacy to spend four hours alone with God without interruption. Once he arrived at his destination, he simply boarded an eastbound train returning to Chicago for another four hours alone with God. With an outspread Bible on his knees, he quieted his heart before God and waited upon God to speak to him and refresh his spirit.