The Pursuit of God

This book has impacted my life more than any other book I have ever read. The first time I read this book was in 1980. I was in my Senior year in college, and learning how to be both a disciple of Jesus and a disciple maker of others. I was yearning to know God more intimately, I had a strong love for His Word, and had a great desire to teach others how to study the Bible for themselves, how to grow to love and enjoy it, and how to allow God to develop a yearning for Him in their hearts.

And then along comes this little book. And the impact was astounding. One image will never leave my consciousness. And that is that there is a veil over my heart separating me from the Father just as sure as there was a veil separating mankind from the show more Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and the Temple. Jesus' death caused the veil to rip in two, giving me access to the Father. But I sew it up again and again with my sin and fears and inability to be open and honest with God because of my wounds or being sinned against or whatever the reason. And tearing the veil again hurts. But the more I yearn to be close to God, the more I'm willing to allow Him to tear down the veil again, knowing He will be with me and will grant me the strength and grace to endure it.

That's only one among many lessons I have gleaned from this book - and I have read it many, many times, written notes in it, confessed my sins on its pages, and written down Prayers in it. For me, it has stood the test of time. show less

A.W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God is a spiritual classic that deserves to be read repeatedly. Tozer’s writing reflects the fire and vitality found in his recorded sermons, a fire and vitality that come from a life that is God-ward in its orientation.

In ten shorts chapters Tozer distills the biblical truths surrounding our lifelong pursuit of God as believers. In these chapters Tozer speaks to realities that were and are distant realities in American evangelicalism. As Tozer states, “We are overrun today with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where are they? The hard voice of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the church waits for the tender voice of the saint who has penetrated the veil and has gazed with inward eye upon show more the wonder that is God (p. 49).” Tozer’s observations about evangelicalism are still true today, reading it one would think Tozer was writing about the current state of Christianity in America rather than the late 1940s.

Tozer was one of the spiritual giants of his day and had an insight into the spiritual conditions of the church. Of his published works this might be one of the most important in my opinion. I have listened to Tozer’s recorded sermons since my college days and have always found him to have a balance and insight that makes him worth listening to and reading. Tozer’s hope for the Church in writing this book is that it would awaken it from the slumber which is so evident. Read Tozer and you will see the heart of one who has penetrated the veil in his pursuit of God.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book from the publisher for the purpose of reviewing it. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. show less

It’s no wonder to me that Tozer’s book is a “classic.” It just has that classic, timeless feel, like it’s something you can come back to over and over again when you feel empty. What he wrote in 1957 applies just as much today as it did then, and will probably be applicable until Jesus returns. His main thesis is that Christians aren’t seeking God. They go to church, tithe, act “nice,” and think they are living the Christian life. Instead, we should be thirsting after God in a bigger way, aching for that divine relationship. He lays down ten different ideas that Christians can use to build a stronger relationship with God as more than just the guy in the sky making rules.

Tozer’s writing is beautiful and evocative. Here show more are two of my favorite passages:

Page 48 — Over against all this cloudy vagueness stands the clear scriptural doctrine that God can be known in personal experience. A loving Personality dominates the Bible, walking among the trees of the garden and breathing fragrance over every scene. Always a living Person is present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting Himself whenever and wherever His people have the receptivity necessary to receive the manifestation.

Page 84 — Believing, then is directing the heart’s attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous person, quietly and without strain. Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him, the attention will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window.

Read my full review here: http://letseatgrandpa.com/2010/11/16/73-the-pursuit-of-god-by-a-w-tozer/ show less

“O taste and see that the Lord is good.”

This book was given to me by a friend, and I was immediately drawn to the title. I feel like much of my life is a pursuit of God. But the theme wasn’t quite what I expected.

The author assumes that, in our pursuit of God, we have already found him, and discovered him to be a person–a person who thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires and suffers like all of us. But having found God, we are in danger of falling into the trap of thinking we need no longer seek him.

Tozer points out that for millions of Christians, God is no more real than he is to the non-Christian. They do not know him personally, but go through life trying to love an ideal. The book reads like a sermon trying to bring show more us back to Jesus.

So while there were many parts that I could no longer connect with, having outgrown a conservative belief system, it nevertheless appealed to me. It appealed because it put me effortlessly back in a comfort zone. I felt like I was back in church. Tozer’s “sermon” is mesmerizing, hypnotizing, intoxicating, just as good religion should be. Or, if you’re not so fond of church, it will lull you to sleep.

Create Space, © 2013, 76 pages

ISBN: 978-1484076439 show less

This was a May re-read. Tozer is an incredibly rich writer which defies easy categorization. Your everyday evangelical, fundamentalist mystic radio-preacher from a few decades back. So much here that is worth digesting slowly. With as much as I read, it is sometimes daunting dipping back to old favorites. Will they hold up? Will they be good as I remember them? In this case, just rewards--Tozer is the real deal.

Book Review (#9 of 2011)
The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer (free PDF). This book is shorter than a Kindle Single, but I will call it a "book" anyway. I was using it as part of a discipleship time with a younger guy who is going overseas this summer. I treated each chapter/essay as sort of a daily devotional and found it very convicting, uplifting, and humbling. (I used GoodReader on the iPad for this as it gives you plenty of options for note-taking, highlighting, etc.).

Tozer is a pastor writing in the 1940s. He applauds the church's return to Scripture but bemoans the unintended side-effects:

"Thanks to our splendid Bible societies and to other effective agencies for the dissemination of the Word, there are today many millions of people show more who hold 'right opinions,' probably more than ever before in the history of the Church. Yet I wonder if there was ever a time when true spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the Church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the “program.” This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us."


Worship and Spirit-filled living are more than preaching and learning, it's about seeking God in all we do:

"How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of “accepting” Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic whcih insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him."

Tozer's words on humility, meekness, holding possessions loosely, and emphasizing the emotional aspects of worship (as opposed to purely mental) were very timely for me. He closes each chapter with a very tough prayer. For example:

"Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream."



His closing chapter is based on 1 Corinthians 10:31 and is aimed at the false dichotomy of secular and sacred. This is a very key point for those involved in a "business as missions" mindset. Whatever we do, wherever we work, whatever task we're assigned, we can worship as we do it. Work is worship. Some jobs are not as important as others, and we're not all equals in the tasks, but all jobs (and meals, and commutes, and diaper changes, and breaths, etc.) can be worship. I love how Tozer puts it:

"Paul's sewing of tents was not equal to his writing an Epistle to the Romans, but both were accepted of God and both were true acts of worship. Certainly it is more important to lead a soul to Christ than to plant a garden, but the planting of the garden can be as holy an act as the winning of a soul."

The “layman” need never think of his humbler task as being inferior to that of his minister. Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry.


His closing prayer:

"I want to live so fully in the Spirit that all my thought may be as sweet incense ascending to Thee and every act of my life may be an act of worship."


5 stars out of 5. show less

A good book that I enjoyed and would recommend to all.

Dr. Tozer does a good job of exploring the idea of pursuing God. He weaves together a good understanding of the Scriptures with the need for practical application. My heart was stirred in reading.

I would recommend it to everyone. For use in enrichment reading, or devotional reading it is great.