My Faith Posse

This post was spurred by a comment by David over at A Boomer in the Pew yesterday. Thanks for the inspiration (and he is a great read by the way).

I have just posted a couple of times based on letters by Jonathan Edwards. I have not read him much, but will have to in the future. He has become a member of my faith posse, people I read or listen to as I walk my journey. David's comment made me think about who do I turn to in order to garner deeper reflection on God, deeper meditation of His word, deeper edification. My faith posse as it were, the people who ride hard alongside me as I pursue and hunt down that criminal in the wild and bring him to justice before the divine judge (I am talking about my sinful self).

So who is riding with me currently:

• The Lord (He is the author of the Bible)

• Oswald Chambers
• Jonathan Edwards
• Charles Haddon Spurgeon
• John Calvin
• A W Tozer
• Alistair Begg
• Greg Laurie
• Chuck Swindoll

Quite a collection of guns to shoot at the sin in my life. I am sure I am leaving someone off, who I have not read recently.

A few points:

• It is good to have someone walking or riding alongside of you
• Without the first name on the list, it does not matter how many others you put down
• With the first name on the list, you probably do not need any of the others. Having them is due to your weakness, not His insufficiency
• I did not put a link to the Lord because He is everywhere. You do not need me or the internet to find Him. Just yourself.
  

I am glad I have these with me, because I need help in getting rid of me so I can find Him. WIsh I did not need the help but I do.

Time to saddle up and ride.

Fear Not the Speaking Voice

The Voice of God is a friendly Voice. No one need fear to listen to it unless he has already made up his mind to resist it.
A.W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God

Some further musings today of the words of Tozer.

This sentence speaks volumes to me. What are we afraid of? Our pride? Our arrogance? Having our plans go astray for His? The truth?

God speaks to us lovingly, patiently, graciously. What we hear is our problem, not His. There is no lie in His words. There is great comfort in hearing Him, but it can be painful if we choose to struggle against what He has to say to us:

And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
Acts 26:14 (NASB)

We really do try to kick against the goads most of the time. Like a child struggling against taking the medicine his parents tell him is for his own good. The child trusts the parent's word, yet kicks against the goads anyway. How like that child we kick against the goads; in either fear or definace of our Father's voice.

And it is such a friendly voice that we fear when we do so.

How sad is that?

The Bible Comes Alive

The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is written it is confined and limited by the necessities of ink and paper and leather. The voice of God, however, is alive and free as the sovereign God is free...It is the present Voice which makes the written Word all-powerful.
A. W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God

I have had the chance to spend some time in Tozer recently preparing for a small group meeting. It makes me sorry that I do not spend more time when I read something like this. As a friend said, there is no fluff in Tozer.

I am always in awe of how the words of the Bible can leap of the page and into your heart. It is for me the living proof of the inspiration of God, the words spoken into the minds of men from the hand of God.

When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
Exodus 30:18 (NASB)

This is the vivid picture that this passage and Tozer's words create for me. The Bible lives because it is the speaking voice of God written down, the very words etched in our hearts by the finger of God.

If you ever read the Bible, studied the Bible with an open heart, you have felt this. You may fight it, but you have felt it. If you have read the Bible, you have been privileged to read read the very words spoken by God, written by His command.

Let them live in you as if placed there by the very finger of God.