“The modern scientists has lost God amid the wonders of the world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word. 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. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.” –A.W. Tozer
It is a sad but pregnant reality that many have lost God amid the wonders of His Word. This has happened in Bible study and theology. This has happened in church after church and life after life. As some scientists have forgotten God in their pursuit of knowledge and information about the world, so many within the confines of Christendom have lost and forgotten God in the midst of their religious pursuits. Bible study has become a pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment rather than how man is to know God. One way this happens is when we forget that the one God subsists as three Persons. We are to have fellowship with God (I John 1:3-4) and we are to know God (John 17:3). We are to abide in His love and His love is to abide in us (I John 4:12-13). To abide in love and to love is without argument something that persons and Persons do.
It is in the exchange of knowledge and love that communion with God happens. It is only when the love of God is abiding in man and man is abiding in the love of God that men know God and pursue His glory from the heart. We seem to think in the modern day (modern to us, but not necessarily the future) that we can develop a program for everything. We want a program for Bible study and a program for prayer and a program for visitation and one for everything. We think that when we have such a program that we can simply plug it in and it will work. But when we think that way we have forgotten God. So what we have within Christendom is books being written on programs for this and for that. We have mega-churches growing because of these programs, but still we have forgotten God. It matters not how much knowledge an individual gains or how much a particular church grows in numbers if God is not there. It is still nothing but religious activity.
But wait, one might add, our church is having prayer meetings and teaching the spiritual disciplines. Fine, but is God there? Where is God in all of that spiritual activity? The Pharisees prayed long prayers too. The Pharisees practiced the spiritual disciplines. But the act of saying words in a spiritual setting and doing what is called “spiritual disciplines” does not mean that those things are necessarily spiritual. Only those things that come from the Spirit of God are spiritual. If our prayer and spiritual disciplines are not done by the Spirit then there is nothing spiritual about them. In other words, it is God who determines if what we do is spiritual or not. Whatever we do can be spiritual if the Holy Spirit is there and is working the love of God in our hearts. But whatever religious things we do can also be as unspiritual as something can be if we are just trying to be religious or spiritual in and of our own works and wisdom.
All prayer, spiritual disciplines, and all true Christian work must come from communion with God if they are to be truly spiritual. “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. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.” Man must know God and not just a meeting that happens once. To know God one must obtain knowledge about God and His workings in the world and Church. One must have that long and loving mental and spiritual intercourse with God. It is necessary to know what the love and holiness of God is like so that believers may walk in that love and be holy as He is holy. True Christianity knows nothing of an external religion that does not know God. Instead, as Christ said and prayed, He wanted His joy and love to be in His people. Not just for them to have joy and love, but for His joy and love to be in them. It is the Holy Spirit that pours out the love of God in the hearts of His people (Romans 5:5). It is the fruit of the Spirit to have the very attributes of God worked into our heart (Gal 5:22) and to share in the Divine nature (II Peter 1:4). When it is God’s love and joy that is in us and we live because of the life of Christ in us, then we are sharing in the Divine life. That is eternal life and that is what it means to know God. That is also what it means to be spiritual. That is when the Holy Spirit has worked the life of Christ in His people that their lives are partaking of the Spirit of God.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment