One of the most devastating but liberating discoveries, according John Piper, is that we can't make ourselves love God.
Love, by definition, is something that can't be forced. We have to want to love.
What do we do if we don't love God from the inside out, wholly and totally, with our all of our hearts and minds?
A. W. Tozer, in his book The Pursuit of God, writes that "if we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face."
I wonder: Where does the "loving obedience" come from?
Tozer asks: "Why do some persons 'find' God in a way that others do not?"
Tozer defines "finding God" as "becoming more closely united in mind and heart" with God. And those who exercise and not neglect the longing within to know God in the deepest ways possible this side of Heaven will develop "spiritual receptivity."
This "spiritual receptivity" is a gift from God and requires a "determined heart" and "courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times."
"Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days," writes Tozer.
I pray Tozer's words:
O God and Father, I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible things. The world has been too much with me. Thou hast been here and I knew it not. I have been blind to Thy presence. Open my eyes that I may behold Thee in and around me. For Christ's sake, Amen.
Hillsong's From the Inside Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-afZJ9_TIM
Re-posted from l0-6-09
