To the man out of Christ, the fall of the year, in spite of its many charms, must surely bring with it a deep and hidden terror.
For it speaks of the approaching end, the time when it may be said,
The summer is ended, and we are not saved.
It would be good indeed if the autumn winds could preach to the lost soul of the brevity of life and the long winter ahead.
The true Christian will not be saddened by the winds that herald the approach of winter.
Like the wise and he has made his preparation, and while the gusty tempest howls over him, he will sleep sweet in Christ while the circle of the heavens moves on toward the consummation of all things of which Moses and the prophets have spoken.
Happy man who knows that everything is well with him and that he will be among the blessed in that day when the breath of Jesus, like a breeze of spring, shall stir the sleeping dead to life again after the long night.
verse
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
— First Thessalonians 4:17-18
thought
Each day we draw closer to the fall and winter of life. All of which point to the golden tomorrow. May we live today in the expectation of that tomorrow.
prayer
Lord, may I live today in the glow of the eternal tomorrow.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Autumn winds are blowing again.
The fall of the year brings with it a world of emotions as rich and varied as the notes of an organ.
The spring is more stimulating and fuller of expectation, but there is about the fall a quiet strength which the spring lacks.
It is not a wonder that so many serious-minded people love the fall, . . . We are not much given to moralizing on natural objects, but who can fail to notice the parallel between Gods great lovely world and the little tribes of flesh and blood who inhabit it
Is it not plain that every human being runs through the same stages as the seasons
Spring, the time of childhood and youth when all the world is big with promise, a promise which the later years invariably fail to keep.
Summer, the period of full power when life multiplies and it is hard to believe that it can ever end.
Autumn, with its repose after toil, a gracious tapering off of our fuller powers, a kindly preparation for our longer rest.
Winter, when the leaves have dropped away and the last sign of life has disappeared.
Then only faith remains to assure us that there will be for us a bright tomorrow.
verse
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die . . .
— Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a
thought
As certain as the seasons of life and of nature we experience, so certain is the brightest, most glorious season of all. By faith we know it shall surely dawn in our eternal tomorrow.
prayer
Great is Your faithfulness, O God. I trust You for all the tomorrows.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Volumes could be written in praise of the Holy Bible without using one word too many.
President Woodrow Wilson once said that the Bible is a book of such importance that no one unacquainted with it can be said to be an educated man, and one who is familiar with it can be said to be uneducated.
Sir Walter Scott, when he was dying, called for the book.
A servant inquired which of his thousands of volumes he meant, and the great man replied, The Bible, of course. For a dying man there can be no other book.
Even the skeptic, George Bernard Shaw, during the last years of his life, kept a Bible near him and never traveled without carrying a copy along with him.
We should all have several Bibles: a well-bound reference Bible for study and a large-print, plain-text Bible for devotional reading.
That many at least. And if we can afford it (and we can if we will cut down somewhere else), we should have a good modern translation or two.
There are dozens of them. Their chief value is to stimulate interest by affording a change of style and to throw sidelights upon the test of the familiar King James Version.
Money invested in Bibles is money well spent.
Time spent in reading the Bible is not likely to be time wasted.
The Bible is the supreme gift for friends and loved ones.
Words spoken in favor of the Bible are good words and, if they should fall upon the right ears, might prove to be apples of gold in pictures of silver.
verse
Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.'
— John 6:68
thought
To whom shall we go? to what? From Christ come the words of life. The Bible is to be read not just randomly but systematically. Concentrated study of it, with the Spirit's illumination, opens to us words of eternal life.
prayer
May I not treat Your Word superstitiously, Lord, as if it were a fetish. May I feed upon it to receive life.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The Bible is a life-bringing and a life-giving book.
It is not primarily concerned with any department of human thought for its own sake.
If the Bible speaks about the rainbow, it is that we may be reminded of Gods covenant of mercy with mankind.
If it tells the story of Abraham, it does so that we may learn to know the place of faith in our relation to God.
If it points us to the moon and the stars, it is that we may know now frail we are.
If it talks about the birds, it is to teach us to trust our Heavenly Father without fear or doubting.
It tells us about hell not to satisfy our morbid curiosity, but that we may steer our feet far from its terrors. It tells us about heaven that we may be prepared to enter there.
It writes the history of human disgrace that we may learn the value of divine grace.
It warns in order that it may turn our feet away from the paths that go down to the path of destruction.
It rebukes in order that we may see our own faults and be delivered from them.
verse
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
— Psalm 119:18
thought
As we expose ourselves to it, the Bible illumines the dark corners of heart and mind. It exposes sin but reveals the way of cleansing and forgiveness. It confronts us with eternal reality but comforts and encourages. May that precious treasure be open before us rather than gathering dust on a distant bookshelf.
prayer
Open my eyes, Lord, to see the light You project from Your Word.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The Bible is unique among books, which means simply that no book has been produced just like it.
The Bible is not a book of history, though it contains much history, and all it does contain is authentic.
It is not a book of science, though all its pronouncements upon the facts usually falling into the category of science are accurate and trustworthy. It is not a book of biography, though its biographical sketches are easily the most inspiring in the world. It is not a book of philosophy, though it is the sum of all that is deep and sound philosophy.
It is not a book of astronomy, though its references to the sun and the stars rate among the loftiest sayings ever recorded. It is not a book of psychology, though its knowledge of the workings of the human mind astonishes the reader and lays bare his soul.
It is not strictly a book of theology, though it is the source of all the true theology this fallen world will ever know.
What, then, is the Bible?
It is the Book of Life.?
The words that I speak unto you, said our Lord, they are spirit, and they are life.
verse
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
— John 6:63
thought
Christ comes to us as the bread, the food of life. His words are spirit and life. This is the meaning of the sign of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6). One way He feeds us is through His word.
prayer
O Christ, feed me!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
We need to cultivate a healthy skepticism toward everything that cannot be supported by the plain teaching of the Bible. Belief is faith only when it has Goss revealed truth for its object; beyond that it may be fully as injurious as unbelief itself.
Many of the stories brought forward to justify the ways of God to men actually prove nothing except the unsoundness of the speakers intellectual fiber. Yet if all chimney-corner Scripture and old wives tales were forbidden, many a preacher would have to get out of the ministry.
It is a deep pity that the Christian public must be forced to listen to so much nonsense and be helpless to do anything about it.
The point is, the Word of God needs no support from men. It stands alone, strong and majestic as the Matterhorn.
When we call in the aid of childish stories and shaky illustrations to prove its truth, we do no more than to reveal our hidden unbelief and air our weak credulity.
verse
Test everything. Hold on to the good.
— First Thessalonians 5:21
thought
There is the danger of putting out the Spirit's fire and treating valid prophecies with contempt. That necessitates truth-testing so that we avoid the evil but hold on to the good.
prayer
Thank You, Father, for Your Spirit and Your Word. May I lean heavily upon both.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
Credulity and faith are like toadstools and mushrooms respectively, near enough in appearance to be mistaken for each other, but so wholly unlike that their effects are exactly opposite. The true man of faith is seldom credulous, and the credulous man seldom has real faith. Faith belongs to the simple-hearted, credulity to the simple-minded. They are worlds apart.
The one honors God by believing His promises against all evidence; the other is a child of superstition and honors nobody. Rather, he reveals untidy mental habits and lack of spiritual insight. It is astonishing what some people will believe when they get going.
They properly hold it a sin to doubt the Bible, so they refuse to doubt anything that is served up along with the Bible, however ridiculous and unscriptural it may be. If the story has a flavor of wonder about it, these uncritical friends will accept it without question and repeat it in an awed voice with much solemn shaking of the bowed head.
Multiply such people in any given church, and you have a perfect soil for the growth of every kind of false teaching and fanatical excess.
verse
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
— First John 4:1
thought
Satan delights to deceive by means of what is falsely biblical and apparently miraculous. Is it what it pretends to be? Our responsibility is to test the spirits and the teaching.
prayer
Lord, keep me from the counterfeit and the false. Lead me in the way of faith rooted in You and Your Word.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
The man of true faith may live in the absolute assurance that his steps are ordered by the Lord. For him, misfortune is outside the bounds of possibility.
He cannot be torn from this earth one hour ahead of the time which God has appointed, and he cannot be detained on earth one moment after God is done with him here. He is not a waif of the wide world, a foundling of time and space, but a saint of the Lord and the darling of His particular care. All this is not mere dreaming, not a comforting creed woven as a garment to warm the shivering hearts of lonely, frightened souls in a dark and unfriendly world.
Rather it is of the essence of truth, a fair summation of the teaching of the Bible on the subject and should be received reverently and joyously along with everything else which is taught in the Scriptures of truth.
Here then I doubt no more, But in His pleasure rest, Whose wisdom, love and truth, and power Engage to make me blest.
verse
My times are in your hands; . . . Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.
— Psalm 31:15a-16
thought
We and our times are in God's hands of unfailing love whether we recognize it or not. How restful in the storms of life to sink by faith into His arms.
prayer
Lord, I sink back into Your everlasting arms. Thank You I am Yours!
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
To the child of God, there is no such thing as accident. He travels an appointed way. The path he treads was chosen for him when as yet he was not, when as yet he had existence only in the mind of God.
Accidents may indeed appear to befall him and misfortune stalk his way; but these evils will be so in appearance only and will seem evils only because we cannot read the secret script of God's hidden providence and so cannot discover the ends at which He aims.
When true faith enters, chance and mischance go out for good. They have no jurisdiction over them that are born of the Spirit, for such as these are sons of the new creation and special charges of the Most High God.
While sojourning here below, these children of the eternal covenant may pay token tribute to nature; sickness, old age and death may levy upon them, and to the undiscerning eye, they may seem to be as other men. Here, as in all its other judgments upon Christianity, the world is completely fooled by appearances, for it cannot see that these believing ones are hid with Christ in God.
verse
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.
— Isaiah 42:16
thought
Wrote William Cowper: ''Ye fearful saints fresh courage take; the clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head. . . . Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan His work in vain: God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.'' God does move in mysterious ways!
prayer
Mysterious are Your ways, O Lord, but You are God and in You I may rest.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/