A.W. Tozer once said in one of his sermons that people who pray for God to glorify Himself through their specific organization or mission had it backwards. They were seeking their own acclaim, and not the glory of God. As Josh and I look toward our future in Washington, we fight this same idea. It’s so natural to ask God to provide for the perfect position or ministry for us to participate in so that our calling can be fulfilled. Our intentions are correct, but the attitude is skewed.
Our friend keeps telling us that we’re moving to Washington to glorify God. Not to fulfill our calling. Not to justify our education. Not to save people {although that would be cool}. For God to be glorified is the greatest goal, because it is outside of ourselves.
Tozer goes on to tell of an evangelist who was planning on visiting a church, and was told that a revival had already occurred and his services were no longer needed. The evangelist told them to “hold the revival for me.”
Lord, in all of my dealings, in all that I do, let it be for Your glory. May the words of John the Baptist be mine, that I would decrease and You increase.
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What an interesting post! I love what people are doing with the ‘Backwards’ theme.
Cxx
Thanks, it’s always so interesting to see how others run with it. 🙂
Wonderful. Praying that your adventure will be full of God’s obvious grace and wisdom as you go! 😉
Thanks for the prayers, Kris! 🙂
great post friend. thanks for sharing. blessings as you move and trust.
🙂 Thanks, Melissa!
So many times we become comfortable seeing and thinking about things backwards. This is a good reminder to flip it around.
Sometimes I think we forget that we are seeing it backwards! 🙂 I know I can be guilty of that. Thanks for stopping by, Shawn!
interesting! definitely has me thinking. tozer has a way of doing that =) thanks for sharing!
Tozer, C.S. Lewis, Chambers…there’s so much depth and richness there. Just like in old hymns. I never want to throw out the old just because it’s old, but to learn what these men (and women) already knew.
Thank you! I love where you went with this prompt! I pray blessings as you move and travel!
Thanks, Hilary! Life changing moves are always difficult and exhilarating! 🙂
Yep, I’ve been guilty of getting the ministry formula backwards. Great reminder. Thank you.
There is such a tendency today to focus on our giftings, our natural abilities, our passions and USE them for God. Instead, the model I see in scripture is God calling people to His purposes and equipping them in their weakness so that He gets all the glory. It’s hard to shift out of that modern take on ministry to recover the God-focused one.
Great post and you’ve really moved me today with your words my dear. Blessings to your path, and to your feet as you walk it. Blessings to your heart and those you love.
Thanks, Shanyn. I really enjoyed your post today too! It’s great to see how differently people can take one little word! 🙂
Just read your entry about Washing move as well. Don’t forget the coffee!! Anyway, thanks for the Tozer thought. A good reminder to check motives and sincerity of the personal sacrifice. “to obey is better than sacrifice…” God bless you on your journey!
I think they’ll have plenty of coffee waiting for us in Seattle! Haha! 🙂 My One Word for 2011 is sacrifice (and abide), and God has definitely been speaking to me about only sacrificing in obedience those things He asks of me. That’s when the heart and motive are pure.
um…may or may not be doing a happy dance thinking about how excited i am about tonight :)!!!!!
I’m really looking forward to it, Lauren! 🙂 It’s just unfortunate that you’re here in June Gloom…of course, I’m loving it! Haha!
Here’s a little something I wrote for 5 Min Friday;
I feel like I’m moving backwards in my relationship with God. A few years ago I was really close to God, and now I don’t really know where I am. I’ve taken a few backward steps in getting closer to God. Now, I just have to figure out how to move forward.
Thank you for sharing your heart here, Tay! Here’s a verse that was already on my heart today, and I think it applies to you: “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
All it takes is turning your face towards Him and being still. He wants to be found by us, and He will draw you to Himself. Nothing you do on your own will matter, because it’s all through His grace and lovingkindness!
Your writing has made such a leap forward over the last few weeks. It’s to an entirely different level. Wow.
You know what’s funny about that? The posts that have resonated the most with people in the past couple of weeks are the ones I felt the most hesitant about. I was about to scrap this one today, and Josh said it was fine. Haha! Just further confirmation that I have no idea what I’m doing. 🙂
Great thoughts here. Praying for all of us to seek for Him to be glorified. John the Baptist’s words that you referenced always strike my heart strongly.
You have an amazing way of getting me think outside of the box, Melissa. Love this post. Such a good reminder: that I would decrease and You would increase. Amen!!
I found you through your guest post on Mary DeMuth’s blog, congratulations on that feature! Great Five Minute Friday thoughts, I love Tozer! I’ve recently started enjoy participating in Five Minute Friday’s myself.