Tag Archive for 'Tozer'

What Is Revival?

Posted
by
Jeff
 on
13Jun08
. 4 Comments

A revival is a time of quickening or impartation of life. As God alone can give life, a revival is a time when when God visits His people and by the power of His Spirit imparts new life to them, and through them imparts life to sinners dead in trespasses and sins. We have religious excitements gotten up by the cunning methods and hypnotic influence of the mere professional evangelist; but these are not revivals and are not needed. They are the devil’s imitations of a revival. New life from God–that is a revival. A general revival is a time when this new life from God is not confined to scattered localities, but is general throughout Christendom and the earth.

…

…revivals also have a decided influence on the unsaved world.

First of all, they bring deep conviction of sin. Jesus said that when the Spirit was come He would convince the world of sin (John 16:7-8). Now we have seen that a revival is a coming of the Holy Spirit, and therefore there must be new conviction of sin, and there always is. If you see something men call a revival, and there is no conviction of sin, you may know at once that it is bogus. It is a sure mark.

–R.A. Torrey, How To Pray

Marks of Revival - J. I. Packer
Revival-and Renewal - A.W. Tozer
Revival Conditions - A.W. Tozer
What Is a Revival? by C. H. Spurgeon

The Spirit of Revival (pt. 1) - R.C. Sproul
The Spirit of Revival (pt. 2)
The Spirit of Revival (pt. 3)
The Spirit of Revival (pt. 4)
The Spirit of Revival (pt. 5)

Test Revival with Doctrine - John Piper

MARJOE GORTNER-HOW FALSE PROPHET WORKS - YouTube

Psalm 19:7a HCSB
The instruction of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;

Assurance of Salvation

Posted
by
Jeff
 on
2Jan08
. 0 Comments

I was always taught that we should memorize Bible verses (a good thing) that pertain to salvation and go to them when we doubt our salvation and they will give us assurance of salvation. Is this Biblical?

But what is that witness? It is nothing physical, vocal nor psychical. The Spirit never commits Himself to the flesh. The only witness He gives is a subjective one, known to the individual alone. The Spirit announces Himself to the deep, inner spirit of the man. The flesh profiteth nothing, but the believing heart knows. Holy, holy, holy.

The Bible says “it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Romans 8:16 NRSV) “by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.” (2 Corinthians 1:22 NRSV) and “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 5:5 NRSV)

The Spirit is our guarantee that we are truly in Him and are saved. The changes the Spirit makes in us are evidence that He is in us.

We are not truly born again unless by the Spirit. “But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.” (Romans 7:6 NRSV) “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:2 NRSV) “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” (Romans 8:14 NRSV)

While the infilling of the Spirit is received by faith and only by faith, let us beware of that imitation faith which is no more than a mental assent to truth. It has been a source of great disappointment to multitudes of seeking souls. True faith invariably brings a witness.

God … Demands All or Nothing

Posted
by
Jeff
 on
28Dec07
. 2 Comments

After a man is convinced that he can be filled with the Spirit he must desire to be. To the interested inquirer I ask these question: Are you sure that you want to be possessed by a Spirit Who, while He is pure and gentle and wise and loving, will yet insist upon being Lord of your life? Are you sure you want your personality to be taken over by One Who will require obedience to the written Word? Who will not tolerate any of the self-sins in your life: self-love, self-indulgence? Who will not permit you to strut or boast or show off? Who will take the direction of your life away from you and will reserve the sovereign right to test you and discipline you? Who will strip away from you many loved objects which secretly harm your soul?

Unless you can answer an eager ‘Yes’ to these questions you do not want to be filled.

How many authors are willing to say this nowadays? (Tozer wrote this in 1957.) Paul preached Christ crucified to the Corinthians which was foolishness to them. Jesus asks us to count the cost. He turned away the rich ruler (Luke 18:18-27). How many of us try to make it easy for others to be saved only for them to fall away because they didn’t count the cost?

Grace has become… cheap. We are busy these days proving to the world that they can have all the benefits of the Gospel without any of the inconvenience to their customary way of life. It’s ‘all this and heaven too.’

Knowledge of the Holy

Posted
by
Jeff
 on
2Nov07
. 4 Comments

In the last chapter of A.W. Tozer’s book Knowledge of the Holy he spells out six conditions. I’d like to summarize them with just a few added Scripture references. (Click on Scripture references.)

“…this knowledge is difficult because there are conditions to be met and the obstinate nature of fallen man does not take kindly to them.

Let me present a brief summary of these conditions as taught by the Bible and repeated through the centuries by the holiest, sweetest saints the world has ever known:”

“First, we must forsake our sins.”
Isaiah 55:7, Acts 3:19

“Second, there must be an utter committal of the whole life to Christ in faith.”
Psalm 63:8, Psalm 84:1-2, Luke 9:23

“Third, there must be a reckoning of ourselves to have died unto sin and to be alive unto God in Christ Jesus, followed by a throwing open of the entire personality to the inflow of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 6:3-4, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 5:25

“Fourth, we must boldly repudiate the cheap values of the fallen world and become completely detached in spirit from everything that unbelieving men set their hearts upon, allowing ourselves only the simplest enjoyments of nature which God has bestowed alike upon the just and the unjust.”
Psalm 1:1, Romans 12:2

“Fifth, we must practice the art of long and loving meditation upon the majesty of God.”
Psalm 1:2, Psalm 63:6, Psalm 145:5

“Sixth, as the knowledge of God becomes more wonderful, greater service to our fellow men will become for us imperative. This blessed knowledge is not given to be enjoyed selfishly.”
Matthew 5:16, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 2:4, Titus 3:8, Titus 3:14, James 2:17-18

Why Search Scripture?

Posted
by
Jeff
 on
26Oct07
. 0 Comments

Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is.

A.W. Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy

This is the process I’m going through now and may be for the rest of my life. There are so many “conventional religious notions” as Tozer puts it that I have taken for granted. I’m now in the process of carefully going through the New Testament (and later on at least part of the Old Testament) with the help of commentaries to see what’s true and what’s false. For what’s true I want to know Scripture to back it up. And I’ve gotten to the point that whenever I hear something dealing with theology, a person’s opinion or even hearing or reading a verse of the Bible in isolation, I need to look into it.

More importantly I want to know God better through reading His letter to us. How fascinating and unending this is. And it’s not just reading and gaining knowledge, it’s having the Creator as a teacher revealing Himself to us.

I’ve updated the About page with this information.