The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer

https://bible.org/series/pursuit-god

1. Following Hard after God

• Do you want to pursue God and only God?
• God has put the desire in us to pursue Him.
• I, the seeker, is already in God's hands.
• Seeker sought (Zacchaeus)
• conscious, personal awareness
• too much focus on "accepting" Christ (not seen in the Scripture; the Pentecostal faith, baptism, religious externals)
• religious simplicity (personal experience, read a book, talk a walk in the woods) vs. religious complexity (programs, organizations, movements)
• pursue only God (instead of God-and)

2. Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

• What is the first barrier that keeps you away from God?
• Abraham was rich and owned servants, cattle but possessed nothing
• "tyranny of things"
• poor in spirit (soul poverty, beatitude)
• intangible assets (talents, gifts)

3. Breaking the Veil

• What is the second barrier that keeps you away from God?
• Two kinds of prison: remember Brooks in Shawshank Redemption; the physical prison and the mental prison
• Let go of ego.
• Self is the veil.
• Mother Teresa, Father Damien, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi

"Self is the opaque veil that hides the face of God from us. It can be removed only in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction. We may as well try to instruct leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God in destruction before we are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us."

4. Apprehending ("Understanding") God

• God and the spiritual world are real.
• It is possible for us to experience God with all the five senses (sight, hear, smell, taste, touch). I believe this nature of God manifests itself in Jesus, the second person in the Trinity.
• intimate relationship ("bhakti tradition")
• A Christian's beliefs are practical (healing, miracles of prophets, Jesus).
• The object of a Christian's faith is unseen reality. Remember Hebrews 11: 1 ("Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and being certain of what we do not see."). It is not mere ideas or abstract, but tangible and concrete.

5. The Universal Presence

• God is here.

6. The Speaking God

• God is still speaking.
• The Word of God -> The Voice of God ("the donkey that talks, the book that speaks")
• The heavens *declare* the glory of God; the skies *proclaim* the works of His hands.
• The Word of God is quick and powerful. In the beginning, He spoke to nothing and it became something.
• The Voice of God is a friendly Voice.
• Voice vs. Noise
• The Deaf Maestro

7. The Gaze of the Soul

• What is faith? Do I have faith?
• Believing is Seeing (vs. Seeing is Believing).
• Directing our attention to God is the physical manifestation of our faith.
• remember The Serpent on the Pole
• the act of seeing (simple act, can be done anywhere and anytime, no religious paraphernalia)
• The Twin Sisters (and their Twin Husbands)

"അവങ്കലേക്ക് നോക്കിയവർ പ്രകാശിതരായി, അവരുടെ മുഖം ലജ്ജിച്ചു പോയതുമില്ല." (സങ്കി 34:5)

8. Restoring the Creator-Creature Relationship

• Be Thou exalted!
• over my possessions, friendships, comforts, reputation
• consequences: Eli and two sons, Samson
• OTOH, God does not mind our weaknesses: fishermen as disciples, Moses
• The choices that we make reflect our faith (God vs. money, God vs. human love, God vs. personal ambition, God vs. self, God vs. men, ...)
• Christian life ought to be simplistic, easy yoke, light burden, not complicated

9. Meekness and Rest

• burden of pride
• burden of pretence
• become as little children (no pride or pretence)
• no pride --> meek --> rest
• meekness != punching bag; meekness ≡ boldness
• not people-pleaser, but God-pleaser --> rest

"Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest"

10. The Sacrament of Living

• sacred (praying, Bible reading, singing hymns, attending church) vs. secular (eating, working, playing) dichotomy
• in everything, honour, glorify God