Pursuit of God Chapter 1: Following hard after God

We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One

The author of the quaint old English classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, teaches us how to do this. "Lift up thine heart unto Gel with a meek stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto, look thee loath to think on aught but God Himself. So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God Himself. This is the work of the soul that most pleaseth God."

Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything, even of our theology. "For it sufficeth enough, a naked intent direct unto God without any other cause than Himself." Yet underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament truth, for he explains that by "Himself" he means "God that made thee, and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree." And he is all for simplicity: If we would have religion "lapped and folden in one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the Spirit. And such a word is this word GOD or this word LOVE."

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Tozer in the first chapter of his book I have tried to keep the context with it....

He is encouraging us to make God our All, he then quotes from a book calling it a "quaint old English classic" The Cloud of Unknowing....

Tozer is misleading you at this point as The Cloud of the Unknowing in no "quaint old English classic".

Quote taken from Wikipedia; The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer and the esoteric techniques and meanings of late medieval monasticism.

Know you might say so what, but you must take note of these words he uses "The author of the quaint old English classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, teaches us how to do this"

So Tozer is saying Give all to God AND THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT.....

Please note this other quote from Tozer; "Again, he recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything, even of our theology."

So what type of prayer are we to practice "take thee but a little word of one syllable" then he recommends the word to use "And such a word is this word GOD or this word LOVE"

My dear people you are being encouraged by Tozer to "give God your All"..."by stripping down of everything, even of our theology"...praying one simple word like "God" or "Love"

Do you you know what they call this prayer practice today, they call it soaking prayer, centering prayer or contemplavtive prayer.

This is Gibraltar that ties Tozer to Mystical practices which he encourages you to do and it's in plain sight written in his book.

A. W. Towzer is a Mystic and encouraged others to follow in those Demonical practices....

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Colin Murray

hi,in my time with len ravenhill,he often spoke with great love of bro.tozer and how every afternoon he would lay down on a mat and and worship God for who He is... he told about how he would be quiet before the Lord and received most of what he wrote from the Holy Spirit during these times alone with God.what is so wrong with this.jimp are we not to meditate on Him and His love toward us.

I've learned much from the Mystics. As I have many others.

Is my salvation now in question as well?

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Christiaan

Hi eveyrone.


Something from Wayneman follows:

"It displays the sort of intellectual laziness that is characteristic of professional heresy-hunters. The author impugns Dr. Tozer on account of his affinity for medieval mystics, but he doesn't explain what exactly is wrong with medieval mysticism. He just throws the word "Catholic" around like an expletive."



This was much of my initial impression after quickly scanning over the article. It continues to be as I have taken some time to look more closely.


This assesment following is particularly striking:


"It displays the sort of intellectual laziness that is characteristic of professional heresy-hunters"



For instance, the author qoutes Dr. Tozer making a reference to one of the catholic writers, saying this:


"Now according to Tozer's first quote, in the introduction, the Word of God is an essential, yet now the whole issue is in doubt as we read the last paragraph 5: We must, so teaches our guide (the nameless mystic writer of "Cloud of Unknowing"), strip away from ourselves ... "even of our theology"!"



He says that he has been carefull to qoute the entire paragraph so that none can accuse him of 'cherry-picking qoutes', but is he as carefull in his characterisation in what followed? Did Dr. Tozer and the catholic writer he refered to, espouse stripping away from ourselves our theology?

That isn't the impression I got from reading the entire qoute that he provided.

On the contrary, he qualifies the writers intent by explaining that:


'...underneath all his thinking lay the broad foundation of New Testament truth, for he explains that by "Himself" he means "God that made thee, and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to thy degree."'


God as Creator(made thee), Redeemer(bought thee), and Sanctifier(called thee), is not empty or absent theology at all. It is fundemental theology of the New Covenant put in simple terms. Which is what, appearantly, the catholic writer was suggesting we approach God with in our thoughts unto prayer.


This, and coments like

"..hocus-pocus theology of Tozer's."

Give me the impression that the author is not being carefull or sincere in his evaluations of Dr. Tozers writings. That is putting it(I think) in kind terms becuase it could imply something far worse.



Brothertom, I agree with you that Dr. Tozer's refrences to catholic writers is troubling(at least to me), especially and more so because of being in a public writing meant for a large, and unknown audience. If it were in the context of a private discussion among associates with whom you could discourse face to face and to qualify and to correct statements on hand it (I think) would be something different.


On the other hand, and I think others have shown this, it doesn't appear to be as simple as demonstrating a connection between him and them to show what is wrong or not.

So far, for me, the article has highlighted what King Solomon had said, that in the multitude of words, there is no want of sin.

That must certainly be true for those that teach others.

And, for those who would publicly examine what others teach, or have taught.

John 7:16-18, 8:26



edited to correct errors in spelling ect...

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Christopher Joel Dandrow

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Colin Murray

Here is a couple of quotes from Spurgeon.

But, walking is a position, which also signifies actively. You would suppose, from the way in which some Christians deport themselves, that their whole life was spent in meditation. It is a blessed thing to sit "With Mary at the Master's feet;" but we walk as well as sit. We do not merely learn, but we practice what we know. We are not simply scholars, but, having been taught as scholars, we go on to show our scholarship by working in the vineyard, and wherever else the Master may be pleased to place us. The quietists and mystics are a class of people who have a peculiar attraction for my mind; and I suppose the mention of such a name as that of Madame Guyon, who, among females, stands at the very head of the school, will awaken in many of you many sweet remembrances of times enjoyed in reading her blessed hymns, and her sweet and admirable life. But, after all, it is not the highest style of Christian living to be a mystic or a quietist. "We walk." Some Christians seem as if they always sat; but "we walk." You would gather, indeed, from what others say, that the whole life of a Christian is to be spent in prayer. Prayer, it is true, is the vitality of the secret parts of Christian life, but we are not always on our knees, we are not constantly engaged in seeking blessings from heaven. We do "continue in prayer," but we are also engaged in showing forth to others the blessings which we have received, and in exhibiting in our daily actions the fruits which we have gathered on the mountain-top of communion with God. "We walk," and this implies activity. Oh! I would that some Christians would pay a little attention to their legs, instead of paying it all to their heads. Spurgeon's Collected Sermons (Met. Tabern. Pul.) - – Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit.

-quote-
Psalm 119:103. How sweet are thy words unto my taste!
Have you a spiritual taste, dear hearer? It is one thing to hear the Word it is another thing to taste it. Hearing the Word is often blessed, but tasting it is a more inward and spiritual thing; it is the enjoyment of the truth in the innermost parts of our being. Oh, that we were all as fond of the Word as were the old mystics who chewed the cud of meditation till they were fattened upon the Word of the Lord, and their souls grew strong in the divine love! I am sure of this,—the more you know of God's Word, the more you will love it. It is ignorance that misses the sweetness of it.
Spurgeon's Collected Sermons (Met. Tabern. Pul.) - – Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit.

Here is a quote from Tozer.

Do you love Jesus—really? It is possible to be a Christian, that is, to have faith in His power, in His work, in His atonement. It is even possible to have a vital relation to Him in the new birth and yet not have cultivated His fellowship to a point where we love Him very much. We're not finished until the love attachment to Christ has become so strong that it burns and glows and consumes.

When I read the writings of the old mystics and the devotional writers and hymn writers of the Middle Ages and later, I get sick in my heart and I tell God, "God, I'm sorry; I apologize and I'm ashamed. I don't love You the way these loved You." Read the letters of Samuel Rutherford. If you haven't, you should. Read those letters and then see how sick it'll make you. You'll fold that book shut and get down on your knees very likely and say, "Lord Jesus, do I love You at all considering that this was love? Then what have I, what have I got?"

There should be an emotional relationship to Jesus Christ, a relationship of love. "Thou hast left thy first love" (Revelation 2:4b) said the Lord Jesus, and maybe that is what it means. You have allowed things to cool you off like the young husband who really loves his bride but he's so busy making a living for her that he neglects her. I wonder if Jesus might not have had something like that in mind—"You are busy for Me, you are dashing here and there in My service, but you've left your first love."
What is this Christian then who has gone on until he sustains toward our Lord a right, a scriptural, a Spirit-inspired volitional and intellectual and emotional attitude toward the Savior? He is one who has been freed from earthly loves and fears.

Freedom from Earthly Loves
What do I mean by earthly love? I mean any love out of the will of God, any love that we would not allow God to take away. If you have anything in this world or anybody in this world that you would not let God take away from you, then you don't love Him as you should and you don't know anything about the deeper life in experience. For the Spirit-filled Christian life means that I am delivered from earthly loves to a point where there is no love that I would not allow Jesus Christ to take away—be it money, reputation, my home, my friends, my family or whatever it may be. The love of Jesus Christ has come in and swallowed up all other loves and sanctified them, purified them, made them holy and put them in their right relationship to that all-consuming love of God so that they're secondary and never primary.

I want to ask you this question: Is there anything or anyone on Earth that you love so much that you'd fight God if He wanted to take him? Then you are not where you should be and you might as well face up to it and not pretend to be something you're not. Complete freedom means that I want the will of God only. And if it is the will of God for me to have these things, then I love them for His sake, but I love them with a tentative and relative love and not an all-poured-out love that makes me a slave. It means that I love nothing outside the will of God and that I love only what and who He wills that I should love. Then you can love everybody.

I think Paul loved Timothy and Silas and Titus and the rest of them with a love that glowed like a furnace. But he didn't love them to a point where he could not separate from them or where he would fight God for them. He only loved them in the margin of his heart; he loved God at the center. He loved them for God's dear sake. This is Christianity.
Success and the Christian.-Tozer


Blessings to all!

Chris

That isn't the impression I got from reading the entire qoute that he provided.

Okay lets take away some bits so we can see what is promoted.

Tozer Pursuit of God Chapter 1 with some bits taken out:

In prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything, even of our theology, take thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the Spirit. And such a word is this word God or this word love.

Praying with one word is what is being promoted by the Monk and because Tozer has written in his book he is promoting the same........

Yes there is "New Testament truth" but there is no denying that there is promotion of prayer the Mystic's used. This type of Mystical prayer is on the rise today, again all mixed with "New Testament truth".....

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Colin Murray

Blah, blah, blah. same old argument.
I'm glad that some professed to know God and acted like it. They breathed prayer and had power with God. Sure, our theology should not stand in our way. Sometimes God may have to change our theology because we think we know all the answers. In reality we become dead. We stand before God as naked, Heb. 4:12-13.
The old timers used to talk about "praying through". Praying till we touched heaven.

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James

"The concept of allowing God to speak through His Word is perfectly legitimate. I experience that when I read or meditate on the Bible. However, the purpose is not to contemplate the meaning of a Bible verse by thinking about it but is rather meant to gain an experience from it."

Colin, please consider the meaning of the word meditate which is found in the Webster's 1828 dictionary. In this dictionary, bible verses were often used. Also, please read a few of the scriptures in which the word meditate is used.

We are never to read the bible like we are reading a novel or a newspaper. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the Word of God to us. We should prayerfully read the Word asking God to reveal His truth to us.




meditate
MED'ITATE, v.i. [L. meditor.]


1. To dwell on any thing in thought; to contemplate; to study; to turn or revolve any subject in the mind; appropriately but not exclusively used of pious contemplation, or a consideration of the great truths of religion.

His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Ps.1.

2. To intend; to have in contemplation.

I meditate to pass the remainder of life in a state of undisturbed repose.
MED'ITATE, v.t. To plan by revolving in the mind; to contrive; to intend.


Some affirmed that I meditated a war.

1. To think on; to revolve in the mind.

Blessed is the man that doth meditate good things.



Genesis 24:63 KJV
And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw , and, behold, the camels were coming .

Joshua 1:8 KJV
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous , and then thou shalt have good success .

Psalms 1:2 KJV
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Psalms 63:6 KJV
When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

Psalms 77:12 KJV
I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Psalms 119:15 KJV
I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

Psalms 119:23 KJV
Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

Psalms 119:48 KJV
My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved ; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

Psalms 119:78 KJV
Let the proud be ashamed ; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.


Psalms 119:148 KJV
Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

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Mike