Celebrated Christian writer and preacher AW Tozer died on May 12, 1963. He was an icon of 20th-century Christian thought whose reflections, particularly in his landmark work “The Persecution of God,” continue to challenge and inspire today.
Tozer was a humble man, with no formal theological training, and despite the fame he gained, he avoided the pitfalls of wealth and success. Living a simple life, he and his wife didn’t even own a car.
Tozer’s thinking was largely centered on the idea of the “presence of God,” something profoundly transformative, but also something ignored in most of the churches he saw. Many were prioritizing primary knowledge about God – getting their doctrine correct – over a real living relationship with God.
Tozer’s writings still offer a pastoral but provocative word to the Church today.
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- What enters our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us.
- To be right with God has often meant being in trouble with men.
- The devil is a better theologian than any of us and he is still a demon.
- You can see God from anywhere if your mind is prepared to love and obey him.
- The reason many are still worried, still searching, still making little progress forward is because they have not yet reached the end of themselves. We are still trying to give orders, and interfere with God’s work within us.
- I want the presence of God himself, or I don’t want anything to do with religion… I want everything that God has or I don’t want anything.
- When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.
- Christians don’t tell lies, they just go to church and sing.
- Let us practice the art of making each work a priestly ministry. We believe that God is in all our simple actions and we learn to find him there.
- His poor heart, in which God placed appreciation for eternity, will not take electronic devices in place of eternal life. Something inside of you is too big for that, too terrible, too wonderful. God has put eternity in your heart. All the things of this world are here for just a moment and then they are gone.