The Pursuit of God

"So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood.... Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench." 1 Kings 18.32-33, 38

In the preface of The Pursuit of God author A. W. Tozer says, "Current evangelicalism has laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel." The first time I read the book this statement didn't stand out to me, because it isn't underlined, but yesterday, as I sat with a group of men discussing the introduction and preface of the book, this statement hit me.

It is easy to get caught up in the popular trends. I've been thinking about the various books that people have flocked to. Fifteen years ago it was A Purpose Driven Life, then there was the Rob Bell craze, and then Francis Chan. I haven't read Warren's book, and I know that Bell is surrounded with controversy, but I have found Chan to be very God centered and biblically focused. The Church does the same thing, jumping from teaching styles, worship styles, or programs, trying to stay fresh and relevant. The altar has been built, and the sacrifice prepared, but we are so busy constantly rearranging the pieces of the sacrifice that we never take notice that fire has not fallen from heaven.

The question on my mind is this, do we really want God to show up?

Do we really want the power of God to move in our lives? Do we really want Him to be at work? Do we really want to live for Him? I've been convicted about this a lot recently. God's job is not to make my life comfortable, or to solve all of my problems. He does not exist to serve me, I exist to know Him and obey Him. Romans 12.1-2 says, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Our lives are to be laid on the altar before God, presented to Him and not taken back or rearranged.

God must be given control, we must surrender. We can have our opinions about how to follow Him. We can read the books, change the programs, but I wonder how much of it actually serves to distract us from God. How much have we complicated this whole thing with our own ideas and opinions? Tozer quotes Wesley, "Orthodoxy, or right opinion, is at best, a very slender part of religion. Though right tempers cannot subsist without right opinions, yet right opinions may subsist without right tempers. There may be a right opinion of God without either love or one right temper toward Him. Satan is proof of this."

Do we really know God, or have we created Him as we would have Him be? Maybe the reason the fire has not fallen from Heaven is because we aren't calling out to the right God. In 1 Kings 18, 450 prophets cry out to Baal from dawn to dusk, and nothing happens. For hours these men cry out to the god they have created, or adopted from another cultures creation. The altar is built, the sacrifice is arranged, but nothing happens because they do not know who God is. Elijah, who knows the true God, repairs the altar, offers a simple prayer, and immediately the fire falls from heaven. Maybe the question is not, do we want God to show up, but do we really know God?

2 Timothy 2.25-26 states that there are those who believe they follow God, but have really been ensnared by the enemy to do his work. I read a post this week that said "The devil's goal isn't to get you to do bad things but to keep you from Jesus." If Satan can distract us, ensnare us, keep us focused on the altar, we never notice that the fire hasn't consumed it. We make the mistake of thinking the altar, or the sacrifice is the point, when in reality, the fire consumes both of them.

God is the point, God as He is, not as we would make Him. I want my focus to be on the fire, not the offering, because without the fire, the offering is just rotting meat. I want my life to be a pursuit of God. I don't want this to be just another book I read, and then move on to the next thing, I want it to be the focus of my life. I want to be a pursuer of God, as Paul said in Philippians 3.14, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

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God, allow me to know You as You are, not as I would have You to be. The point of this is to know You, to experience Your fire falling from Heaven. Let this be the case in my life. Let me not be distracted by rocks of the altar or the sacrifice laid on top of it, but to be fully focused on who You are. May my life be spent in pursuit of You.

Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor

Keep from Evil

"When you go out as an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing." -Deuteronomy 23.9

God had promised Israel a great inheritance, but they would acquire it slowly so that the land would not be overrun with animals. They would have to take it by going to battle, and when they went out to war, they were to keep themselves from every evil thing.

God was giving them the land and they were to destroy the pagan worship that had taken place there. When they went out they were to carry the Ark of the Covenant before them, God leading them into battle and bringing victory, not an idol. They were not to engage in immoral acts, or false worship, but they were to remain holy and set apart as God's people as they took possession of what He had promised to give them.

We live in a world at war, and daily we are to be going out against our enemy, the devil, to take ground for the Kingdom. There are so many things out there, so much evil, that works to distract us from the mission. Time after time we are given opportunities to compromise, to water down the truth, to make exceptions, but that isn't how war is waged, and that isn't how battles are won in this fight. We cannot achieve victory through treaties and negotiations, this is a fight to the death, and we can only stay alive if we keep ourselves from evil.

Men, everyday we are surrounded by evil, and everyday there is the opportunity to participate in it. I love what Paul says to Timothy, it's a verse I will challenge my sons with, if I am blessed with some, but now I challenge each of you with them.

"You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." -2 Timothy 2.1-4

Let us be strong in the grace of Christ. Let us teach others the truth about God, and of His Gospel. Let us endure hardships, and keep ourselves from evil so that we may be pleasing to God.

I have talked a lot about the ancient Spartans, and when each warrior was presented with his shield, (an act performed by the mother, symbolically releasing her son into the world of men) it was given with the words "Return with your shield, or on it." The phalanx was the key to the Spartan armies strength, and the key to phalanx was each warriors shield. It was big and heavy, and if you were going to run, it would be the first thing you would abandon. That wasn't how Spartan's worked, they never compromised. They returned alive and victorious, or died on the battlefield.

Let us stand firm in truth and holiness. Let us cling to our shields and return carrying them, die on the field, being carried home on them. May we never compromise, never water down the truth, never make exceptions. Let us keep ourselves from evil, and live and die as holy men of God.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor