Pursuit of God

Rating:
Summary: Clarity in this time of confusion
Review: Many books concentrate on "pursuing" God but focus so much on the "pursuing" they forget WHO they are pursuing in the first place. This book exalts God, giving Him all the glory, which is really what the "pursuit" of God is all about. God bless you, whoever is going to read Tozer's book! =)

Rating:
Summary: A 20th century prophet
Review: Next to the Bible, the best book I've ever read. Tozer never had any formal education, yet with the Holy Spirit and his Bible was able to find God like few ever have. This work will stir any christian to have a passion for God. Tozer cuts through all the religion and gets right down to the core of what it means to be a christian. This writing is a wonderful map in your pursuit of God

Rating:
Summary: Easy style to read, but very deep content. Challenging.
Review: One of the absolute best books I've ever read...of any genre! There are many "devotional" style books out there, but very few come close to this in either writing style, but more importantly in content. Probably the author's best work. Writes clearly, simply, and very powerfully. Best read in small chunks because even though the writing is clear, the thoughts are deep and require reflection before moving on.

Rating:
Summary: A Christian Classic - Vintage Tozer
Review: Over the years I have read several Christian-related books and just recently completed this gem. After reading this title, I chastised myself for not reading the book earlier.

The book is vintage Tozer - insightful, penetrating, and uncompromising - just like his other titles.

Among the important points Tozer covers include:

1. We pursue God because He first pursued us.
2. We must put away all efforts to try to impress God and others and instead come to God in a child-like fashion.
3. God formed us for His pleasure.
4. Most people are too stubborn or busy to listen to God.
5. A meek person is one who has decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.
6. Our daily labors can be acts of worship if our motive is pure.
7. Our break with the world is the result of the desire to exalt God above all others.
8. We must yield to God and trust Him to crucify our self-life.

Read and enjoy this classic as an excellent encouragement to exalt God.

Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Great for spiritual guidance, but can't analyze too deep
Review: Pursuit of God is a compelling book that draws upon Tozer's intimate experiences with God to impart godly wisdom to those who have a zealous hunger for more. The book is full with spiritual food for thought, and is great to pick up and read a chapter or two even after you've finished it as an accompaniment for daily readings of the bible.

In a sense of nourishing and aiding the Christian to be in the right perspective with God, it is an invaluable tool. However, the overarching blanket statements found throughout the book will leave a sensitive reader asking a lot of theological questions that will hinder him/her from getting the most out of the book.

Referring to a previous review since it's a good example, Tozer asserts that "the pronouns 'my' and 'mine' look innocent enough in print but... ...They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease." His point is true and sound, that the relentless pursuit to gratify the self manifests the fallen nature of man through sin. However, saying that the word "my" is a verbal symptom of our falleness goes too far, for it would mean that Jesus' poignant cry in Matt 27:46 (originally from David in Psalm 22), "Eli Eli lama sabachthani" or "My God My God why have you forsaken Me?" are symptoms of His deep disease of sin (Eli is El for "God" with the pronomial suffix i) in saying the words "my" and "me" (or using the pronomial suffixes since He spoke Aramaic).

While the author obviously didn't mean this, people who read and analyze every word and point will find many similar statements that will leave them cautious of what Tozer states.

The overall point is excellent, with each chapter saturated with sobering and blessful admonitions. Most will not even notice the occassional overarching statements. Most will probably be greatly encouraged in their spiritual walk. However, when one does deep investigations into the semantics and the implications of what Tozer says, it will provide a mixed and muddled picture of how to walk the Christian life.

Bottom Line: Excellent read, but theologically sensitive and nit-picky readers may wrestle with it.

Rating:
Summary: For those who would know
Review: The power of this book is its promise that all one could hope for in Christ is true and within reach. Those whose hearts have heard the call to "seek My face" are encouraged with the hope that they will find what they seek, and will know by personal experience the depth of the riches of the glory of God of which the apostles spoke. Prayer is the door to these spiritual riches. Nothing but prayer can bring God and man into this happy communion, E. M. Bounds said, and to this end Mr. Tozer closes each of the ten chapters with a prayer. It is one thing to read the book, something else to pray the prayers, and another still to keep on praying them until they are answered. For those who would press on to know the Lord the book is written. The preface ends with an invitation to kindred souls: "if my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame." By book's end Mr. Tozer has shown his fire is real, and the persevering reader may join with him in this closing plea: "And all this I confidently believe Thou wilt grant me through the merits of Jesus Christ Thy Son." Amen.

Rating:
Summary: One of my all-time favorites
Review: There are not many books that are so timeless and challenging as The Pursuit of God. If you are tired of modern evangelicalism's false ideas that we can come to Christ without forsaking the world, that being a Christian means nothing more than to sidestep hell one day, this book is for you. Prepare to glow with the presence of God while you read this - we were created to know God intimately, and this book beautifully makes that known. Read it and be changed forever.

Rating:
Summary: Simple, with an elegance that will enkindle your affections
Review: There is no doubt that the Evangelical and Fundamentalist movements have and will gain much by way of Tozer, who brings much of the simple and intense devotion of some of the great mystics with their poetic vision of God and Man to these very young groups, which can grow stronger and wiser in being nourished by them.

Tozer clearly caught fire with the flame that is essential and so often put out, and defends and articulates that vision jealously against anything he sees as compromising it. He is also an excellent wordsmith. His language paints pictures, take on flesh and run ahead of you, drawing you towards a deeper attention and devotion to the Triune God. This book reinforced to me a point championed by Mark Allen McIntosh, that theology should never be separated from spirituality.

So why only 3 stars?
Just to name one reason, Tozer lets the individualism of our modern, secular culture influence his thoughts about discipleship too much, so that he believes that men create holy communities by being holy in private and then coming together. Christianity values community more than that, we grow into holiness (which comes from the same root as the word "wholeness") as a part of a community. It is only in a community where we can learn true discipleship, since Christ dwells among _us_, and in each of us by virtue of our being part of His Body, His Community, in which He dwells.

Recommended reading, though. Tozer has done quite a bit of homework, and he's sharing his notes with the class. I would pick up William Law's "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" along with this (ISBN: 0809121441), it will challenge you like few other books will. C.S. Lewis, by the way, was familiar with Law's "Serious Call", and had a well-worn copy of his own.

Rating:
Summary: The simplicity of the pursuit
Review: This book is a good little devotional about the pursuit of God, showing what often hinders our pursuit and what can be done to change that. This book is full of many great little spiritual maxims that would be profitable for meditating upon.

Rating:
Summary: The simplicity of the pursuit
Review: This book is a good little devotional about the pursuit of God, showing what often hinders our pursuit and what can be done to change that. This book is full of many great little spiritual maxims that would be profitable for meditating upon.