The Pursuit of God Paperback – October 16, 2018

This book has become a classic of the Christian faith. Knowing God, knowing more and more about God, His attributes, and His heart is essential for a full and satisfied life. This book can help jump-start your own pursuit of God.Following are a few quotes to whet your appetite to read on:The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose, he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately, and forever.The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and giving up of all things.The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the spirit of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.the presence of God is the central fact of Christianity. At the heart of the Christian message is God Himself waiting for His redeemed children to push in to conscious awareness of His presence.The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and the church is famishing for want of His presence. The instant cure of most of our religious ills would be to enter His presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and that God is in us.God is here. Wherever we are, God is here. There is no place, there can be no place, where He is not. Ten million intelligences standing at as many points in space and separated by incomprehensible distances can each one say with equal truth, God is here. No point is nearer to God than any other point. It is exactly as near to God from any place as it is from any other place. No one is in mere distance any farther from or any nearer to God than any other person is.Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days. Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds there.The facts are that God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second person of the Holy Trinity is called the Word. The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God’s continuous speech. It is the infallible declaration of His mind for us, put into our familiar human words. I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not only a book which was once spoken, but it is also a book which is now speaking.Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity- conscious” and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.So let us begin with God. Behind all, above all, before all is God. He is first in sequential order, above in rank and station, exalted in dignity and honor. As the self-existent One, He gave being to all things, and all things exist out of Him and for Him.

I started this book 6 months ago and "got busy" and recently came back by luck to finish the last 25% in around 4 days and I'm so happy I did.... the 6 month gap was God's timing and the last 25% was perfect timing for this time in my journey. As soon as I'm done with this review I'm starting it again . Don't hesitate to read this book, A.W. Tozer is a blessing to us all and no matter where you are on your journey, this book will take you deeper and closer to Our Heavenly Father and Lord & Saviour.God Bless !!

My advice: Read slowly. Process slowly. The Impact is deep! I’ll definitely be reading this a second and third time.

Love it

In all of my years growing up as a "conservative evangelical"... I heard of A.W. Tozer quite often, but I have just now stopped to read my first Tozer book. After reading Tozer's "The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine", I can't help but wonder if all those preachers and teachers were speaking of another A.W. Tozer. I keep thinking, "How did they miss this?"Tozer writes of spiritual things, not of the religious outward works of the flesh. His concern is that we all might tune in our spiritual receptors and begin letting the Lord take us deeper into him. I resonated with this book in many things the Lord is presently teaching me.Tozer writes, "We have almost forgotten that God is a person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter."He goes on to say,"God is a person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may... He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions."Yet, we must know that it is through the inner man (i.e. our spirit) that Christ's life governs the soul life and the body. Watchman Nee has written an excellent work regarding this matter. I encourage you to read "The Spiritual Man" and "The Release of the Spirit."Tozer has done a great thing to point out the flaws of the "smug and content" churches in America. Christ's 'forgiveness of sins' seems to be the resting place of most Christians... never moving on in purusit of Christ in all things. These people settle for programs, passions, ministries, and movements... they never grow up into Christ.Tozer writes, "Why do some persons "find" God in a way that others do not?" He answers, "The difference lies not with God but with us."If I could sum up this book in one phrase... it would be: SPIRITUAL RECEPTIVITY. Tozer beckons us to press on to Christ in God as person, not as a floating spirit hovering on the ceiling during worship and prayer time. Those who follow the urge to press on further into Christ and do something about that urge instead of ignoring it... will know the depths and the riches of the Living God.We must move on past our doctrinal knowledge of God and enter into Christ, the Person. Tozer writes, "the highest love of God is not intellectual, it is spiritual. God is Spirit and only the spirit of a man can know Him really."There are many who will label this kind of book as "Christian mysticism" or "the deeper Christian life". I am uncomfortable with using both of these phrases regularly... and lean toward not using them at all. The confusion comes by a failure to distinguish between what is "normal" and what is "common".What I mean is... it may not be common for man to speak of experience with Christ in the way of a Tozer, Sparks, Nee, Merton, or Madame Guyon. Nevertheless, it is not abnormal and should not be considered "deeper" or "mystical". These are not words used of the first disciples and I see them being completely unnecessary, and even distracting, when speaking of the normal Christian life Christ has lived, died, and been resurrected to freely give to all.The apostle Paul spoke of the life of Christ in the same way as the so-called "mystical" Christian writers. We should not think that Paul was speaking of life that only a few can experience. Coming into the life that is described by Paul and many of the Christian "mystics"... is nothing deserving of any name or title other than the normal worship of Christ, the Person of God.We should understand this "deeper" part of our journey with Christ as being a normal progression of the working out of salvation and us being made complete in Christ (Phil. 2:12; Col. 2:2-3). These unnecessary words and phrases do not put the emphasis on the person of Christ, but on the person who worships him. I see no need for the distractive adjectives and the luring language of super Christians.I also recommend reading:The Spiritual Man (3 volume set)The Centrality of Jesus Christ (Works of T. Austin-Sparks) Volume OneThe Release of the SpiritChrist the Center (Harper's Ministers Paperback Library)Christ the Sum of All Spiritual ThingsThe Normal Christian Life (Hendrickson Christian Classics)Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ (Library of Spiritual Classics, Volume 2)

I got so immersed that it was hard for me to put down. It is very well written as well as easy to comprehend. Food for the spirit.

This book is so good! A must if you want to grow in your faith the Lord!! So many great quotes!

Every Christian should read this. This is a fantastic book