Tommy Tenney - The God Catchers: Experiencing the Manifest Presence of God

THE GOD CATCHERS

OTHER BOOKS BY TOMMY TENNEY

The God Chasers

Gods Favorite House

Gods Dream Team

Gods Secret to Greatness
(with David Cape)

Secret Sources of Power
(with T. F. Tenney)

THE GOD CATCHERS

EXPERIENCING THE MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD

TOMMY TENNEY

Copyright 2000 by Tommy Tenney

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Scripture quotations noted KJV are from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible.

Cover Design: Uttley/DouPonce DesignWorks

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tenney, Tommy, 1956
The God catchers : experiencing the manifest presence of God / Tommy Tenney.
p. cm.

ISBN 0-7852-6710-7 (hdw)
ISBN 0-7852-6653-4 (ie)
ISBN 0-7852-6413-2 (pb)

1. Spiritual lifeChristianity. I. Title.
BV4501.3 .T46 2001
248dc21

00-067563
CIP

Printed in the United States of America

3 4 5 6 7 8 BVG 07 06 05 04 03 02

This book is dedicated to the GodChasers.network staff. This tireless team has chased God and kept pace with me through good times and bad. They caught the vision and carried the burden for many an extra mile. God brought them all here, and no one could ask for a better collection of giftings, wisdom, and passion.

Weve come a long way, but I will never forget where we began. My original staff was my familymy loving wife and three beautiful daughters, to whom I also dedicate this book. There is no way to overstate the importance of their love and support. They hold up my arms when I am weary, and they give me refuge from the battle.

CONTENTS

THE GOD CATCHERS

1
DOES GOD PLAY HIDE-AND-SEEK?

H AVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY IT SOMETIMES FEELS as if God is hiding from you? I know Ive felt that way sometimes. Perhaps that is why He launched me on a journey of His own choosing when He interrupted my self-defined successful career as a full-time evangelist with a simple but shocking revelation: You know, Tommy, your favorite services and My favorite services are not the same. You leave your services full and satisfied, but when you leave, Im still hungry.

God whispered this to me during a life-changing early Sunday morning service. It was a divine encounter that forever imprinted itself with indelible ink on the pages of my memory. In a way, I could almost identify with how Isaiah felt the day he suddenly saw God high and lifted up in the temple long ago.

There were tears in my eyes when I whispered to my wife, I dont think Ive ever been this close to Him before. Hundreds of other people who were in the building that day will testify to the same sensation. It was as if we caught Him.

I wish I knew then what I have discerned sincethat God will leave our meetings full and satisfied only when we begin to leave them feeling hungrier for Him than when we first came.

The Lord began to teach me about the importance of being a God Chaser during a nine-month period of what I call divine discontent. It culminated in an encounter with Himan encounter from which I have never recovered.

Now I am no longer content just to chase Him. I want to catch Him, to collect a string of close encounters with Him. Sometimes I grow weary with the daily chase, but I must chase if I want to catch.

During that period of growing discontent, God planted in my heart the seeds for a book titled The God Chasers. I had no idea that book would ignite such a firestorm of hunger for God. I knew only how hungry I was.

My desire to sustain the collected moments with God made me feel the frustration of Jacob: If I ever get my hands on Him, Ill not let go. And there is where I discovered another piece to the puzzle of His presence and the message for this bookonly this time it came while I was hiding behind a closet door.

God used my youngest daughter to teach me about Himself once again. Class began with the sound of her little bare feet padding across the linoleum floor and the sight of her irresistible smile as she said, Lets play hidey-face, Daddy!

Every minute seemed like an hour for me because I was waiting for the joy of our encounter.

Im sure you played similar games with your children. I played hidey-face with all my girls. My most recent play partner was my youngest daughter, so my memories of her joyful discoveries during the hidey-face game are the freshest.

My memories began when she still wore those oversized plastic-coated disposable diapers that made a telltale whoosh-whoosh sound every time she walked. I tracked her every step as she looked for me in all the strange places that seem so logical from a toddlers point of view. I listened from my hiding place behind the closet door as she looked for me in the oven, in the trash bin, and in the ridiculously crowded space under the kitchen sink.

With growing anticipation I listened to my little pursuers every move because I had a plan in mind. Every minute seemed like an hour for me because I was waiting for the joy of our encounter. I could barely wait to see her face light up the moment she discovered her long-lost daddy.

If it was clear that my petite pursuer was having trouble finding me, then I would be careful to leave something showing to help her along. If I was behind the closet door, then Id make sure part of my foot was showing. If I took refuge behind the couch, then Id make sure that just enough of my backside showed to help her find me.

Why be so careful? It is simple: the point of our elaborate game of hidey-face wasnt the hiding; it was the finding! I wasnt hiding from my little girl so that she couldnt find me; I was careful to hide so that she could find me.

Then I remembered that God did the same thing with Moses. If you recall, He was careful to leave part of His divine backside showing so Moses could see Him. Evidently Moses was a lot like my daughter because he wasnt satisfied with that. He wanted more. He wanted to see Gods face; he longed to see His glory.

WE COME TO CHURCH FOR DIFFERENT REASONS THAN GOD DOES

Ive continued to learn more about the pursuit of His presence since I first started chasing Him. I wish I had known these things the day I almost caught Him.

Ive learned more about the fuel of desperation and the feel of destiny while in pursuit of His presence. The Lord also taught me more about embracing the place of what I previously called a frustrating funk, a divine depression of destiny. Weariness with man can birth desperation for God.

Even then I had hints in my heart that, in some supernatural way, the pursuer becomes the pursued when God catches wind of our worship and praise. I was beginning to understand the power of collective hunger where corporate visitations of God were concerned.