The Holy Spirit: He Can Be Grieved

February: The Holy Spirit

In my sober judgment the relation of the Spirit to the believer is
the most vital question the church faces today.
Keys to the Deeper Life, page 15

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February 8
The Holy Spirit: He Can Be Grieved
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. --Ephesians 4:30
Because He is loving and kind and friendly, the Holy Spirit may be grieved.... He can be grieved because He is loving, and there must be love present before there can be grief.
Suppose you had a 17-year-old son who began to go bad. He rejected your counsel and wanted to take things into his own hands. Suppose that he joined up with a young stranger from another part of the city and they got into trouble.
You were called down to the police station. Your boy--and another boy who you had never seen--sat there in handcuffs.
You know how you would feel about it. You would be sorry for the other boy--but you don't love him because you don't know him. With your own son, your grief would penetrate to your heart like a sword. Only love can grieve. If those two boys were sent off to prison, you might pity the boy you didn't know, but you would grieve over the boy you knew and loved. A mother can grieve because she loves. If you don't love, you can't grieve. The Counselor, 51-52.
"Lord, I think I take Your love for granted and consequently forget how grieved You are when I sin. Overwhelm me today with Your love, so that I might be more careful to not grieve You. Amen."

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Today's "Insight for Leaders" is taken by permission from the book, Tozer on Christian Leadership, published by WingSpread Publishers

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This Insight for Leaders devotional is also available in a print-friendly format here on the LMI web site.

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Read or Get Out of the Ministry

March: Pastoral Ministry

The work of a minister is altogether too difficult for any man. We are driven to God for wisdom.

This World: Playground or Battleground?, 86.

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Read about A. W. Tozer

March 25

Pastoral Ministry: Read or Get Out of the Ministry

A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding
will attain wise counsel.
--Proverbs 1:5

When a very young minister, I asked the famous holiness preacher,
Joseph H. Smith, whether he would recommend that I read widely in the
secular field. He replied, "Young man, a bee can find nectar in the
weed as well as in the flower." I took his advice (or, to be frank,
I sought confirmation of my own instincts rather than advice) and I
am not sorry that I did.

John Wesley told the young ministers of the Wesleyan Societies to
read or get out of the ministry, and he himself read science and
history with a book propped against his saddle pommel as he rode
from one engagement to another. Andy Dolbow, the American Indian
preacher of considerable note, was a man of little education, but I
once heard him exhort his hearers to improve their minds for the
honor of God. "When you are chopping wood," he explained, "and you
have a dull axe you must work all the harder to cut the log. A sharp
axe makes easy work. So sharpen your axe all you can." The Size of
the Soul, 33.

"In the busyness of life, Lord, help me to always guard time to
sharpen my axe. Amen."

Personal Life: Be Thou Exalted

January: Personal Life

Some things may be neglected with but little loss to the spiritual life, but to neglect communion with God is to hurt ourselves where we cannot afford it.

The Root of the Righteous, 9.

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Read about A. W. Tozer

January 22

Personal Life: Be Thou Exalted

The Lord lives! Blessed by my Rock! Let God be exalted, the Rock of my salvation! --2 Samuel 22:47

O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth's treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses, I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me decrease that Thou mayest increase; let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, "Hosanna in the highest." The Pursuit of God, 101-102.

"In my increasing knowledge of You, Lord, and as I spend more time in solitude and silence before You, this prayer becomes so logical. Be Thou exalted in my life. Amen."

"I Gave It All Up!"

Read about A. W. Tozer

August 17

Evangelism: "I Gave It All Up!"

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. --2 Corinthians 5:17

I have been asked more than once what I gave up when I was converted and became a believing child of God. I was a young man, and I well remember that I gave up the hot and smelly rubber factory. I was making tires for an hourly wage, and I gave that up to follow Christ's call into Christian ministry and service.

As a youth I was scared of life and I was scared of death--and I gave that up. I was miserable and glum and unfulfilled--and I gave that up. I had selfish earthly and material ambitions that I could never have achieved--and I gave them up.

That forms the outline of the worthless things that I gave up. And I soon discovered that in Jesus Christ, God had given me everything that is worthwhile.

If God takes away from us the old, wrinkled, beat-up dollar bill we have clutched so desperately, it is only because He wants to exchange it for the whole Federal mint, the entire treasury! He is saying to us, "I have in store for you all the resources of heaven. Help yourself!" Jesus, Author of our Faith, pp. 49-50

"Why am I so hesitant to share the Gospel, Lord--when this is what I'm asking people to give up? Thank You for all we gain through our new life in Christ--in exchange for all the junk we give up! Amen."

The business of the Church is God

The Church

The business of the Church is God. She is purest when most engaged with God and she is astray just so far as she follows other interests, no matter how "religious" or humanitarian they may be.

A.W. Tozer, The Set of the Sail, 80.

Humble Service

Read about A. W. Tozer

Pastoral Ministry: Humble Service

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. --2 Timothy 2:3-4

Save me from the error of judging a church by its size, its popularity or the amount of its yearly offering. Help me to remember that I am a prophet--not a promoter, not a religious manager, but a prophet. Let me never become a slave to crowds. Heal my soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the itch for publicity. Save me from bondage to things. Let me not waste my days puttering around the house. Lay Thy terror upon me, O God, and drive me to the place of prayer where I may wrestle with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. Deliver me from overeating and late sleeping. Teach me self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ....

And now, O Lord of heaven and earth, I consecrate my remaining days to Thee; let them be many or few, as Thou wilt. Let me stand before the great or minister to the poor and lowly; that choice is not mine, and I would not influence it if I could. I am Thy servant to do Thy will, and that will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame and I choose it above all things on earth or in heaven. God Tells the Man Who Cares, 105-106.

"Lord, this prayer of Tozer's seems so contrary to the spirit of today's church growth emphasis, celebrity pastors, and TV personalities. Enable me by your Holy Spirit to make this prayer genuinely mine. Amen."

Tozer Daily Devotional

Tozer Daily Devotional

January: Personal Life

Some things may be neglected with but little loss to the spiritual life, but to neglect communion with God is to hurt ourselves where we cannot afford it.

The Root of the Righteous, 9.

A. W. Tozer
Read about A. W. Tozer
January 31

Personal Life: Personal Holiness

But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." --1 Peter 1:15-16

You cannot study the Bible diligently and earnestly without being struck by an obvious fact--the whole matter of personal holiness is highly important to God!

Neither do you have to give long study to the attitudes of modern Christian believers to discern that by and large we consider the expression of true Christian holiness to be just a matter of personal option: "I have looked it over and considered it, but I don't buy it!"...

Personally, I am of the opinion that we who claim to be apostolic Christians do not have the privilege of ignoring such apostolic injunctions. I do not mean that a pastor can forbid or that a church can compel. I only mean that morally we dare not ignore this commandment, "Be holy."...

But, brethren, we are still under the holy authority of the apostolic command. Men of God have reminded us in the Word that God does ask us and expect us to be holy men and women of God, because we are the children of God, who is holy. The doctrine of holiness may have been badly and often wounded--but the provision of God by His pure and gentle and loving Spirit is still the positive answer for those who hunger and thirst for the life and spirit well-pleasing to God. I Call It Heresy!, 61-62,68.

"Oh, Lord, I fall so short! Strengthen me today, walk with me, keep me cognizant of Your presence, and guard me from any thought or action that would be displeasing to You. Amen."