This post is based on the book “The Pursuit of God” by A. W. Tozer.

In the chapter “Apprehending God” I believe we are confronted with a concept that most Christians have not given a lot of thought: in order to experience God’s presence you have to have an unshakable belief that the spiritual world is just as real as the physical one.

Now, I know at first glance this seems like a ridiculous thing to say.  We’re Christians, of course we believe that the spiritual world is real.  Hold on a minute.  We SAY we believe it but do we really live every day like God is really here with us?  That we can talk to Him right now?  That He can talk to us and we can hear Him right now?  Tozer says that to the average man “God is an inference, not a reality.  He is a deduction from evidence but He remains personally unknown to the individual.”  The majority of people on this earth look at nature, look at our world and how everything works together in perfect harmony and they say, “It’s obvious, there has to be a God.”  And that is where they leave it.  It’s a deduction from evidence.  The possibility that they could personally know God has not entered their minds.  Now we Christians go further than this at least in theory.  A study of the Bible requires us to believe in the personality of God.  When Jesus taught us to pray He started with, “Our Father, which art in heaven.” That gives us the idea that we can know God like we know our own fathers.  But Tozer says to most Christians “God is no more real than He is to the non-Christian.  We go through life trying to love an ideal and be loyal to a mere principal.”

If you are one of the few Christians that Tozer’s statement doesn’t apply to don’t stop reading.  This next part is for you. If you believe that God is real and the spiritual world is just as real as the physical one then you have to also believe that Satan is real and his demons are real.  You also have to believe that we are soldiers in a spiritual war because the Bible tells us that, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith…”  Now, I don’t give a lot of thought to the fact that Satan is real and that we are in a spiritual war with him.  But if I believe that God is real and the Bible is true then I also need to accept the fact that Satan is real and is trying to attack any situation in which I might be able to share the Gospel.  When was the last time you thought about the fact that you are in a war and your enemy is trying to destroy you?

The good news about this war is that we are on the winning side.  Satan has been allowed to operate in this world for a period of time but God claims the ultimate victory (see Revelation).  But if we are going to battle Satan need to have a thorough knowledge of Scripture.  That’s why the Bible uses army language when talking about the spiritual world.  We’re told to put on the “full armor of God.”  We’re told to use the “Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.”  We are in a daily battle and if we don’t even acknowledge that there is a war going on we’re going to lose before we begin.  I know that in the end we win the war but I want to be a good soldier.  I don’t want get to the kingdom of God and hear Jesus say, “Alright, it looks like you had 2 wins and 500 losses to the enemy.  Why didn’t you use the armor that I gave you?”

There is a quote from this chapter that gives me hope and I want to share it with you: “The soul has eyes with which to see and ears with which to hear.  Feeble they may be from long disuse, but by the life-giving touch of Christ alive now and capable of sharpest sight and most sensitive hearing.”  Once we are awakened to the spiritual world the life-giving touch of Christ is capable of giving us sharp sight and sensitive hearing.  Let’s wake up and go to war.

Categories: Paul Austin The Pursuit of God

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