(Sorry, haven't been taking photos, so we are going through a South Africa retrospective...)
Goodness, the week went quickly! This week, please read Chapter Two, The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing. Feel free to post your thoughts and reflections anytime between now and next Thursday.
As you read, you may want to ponder over the following:
1. What do you think Tozer means by 'poor in spirit'?
2. What are some of the things you are clinging to?
3. What is God saying to you through this chapter?
* Catch up on the conversation so far here.
* Haven't got a copy of the book? Free etext here.
5 comments:
What really struck me was “I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart so that I might reign unchallenged there”. I think to be ‘poor in spirit’ is to not possess anything to which we attach a value greater than God and what is eternal. Being ‘poor’ could also mean not reaching a point that triggers God’s jealously. By committing everything to Him, we acknowledge that He is greater. Since God carries a greater worth than all our possessions, without Him, we are all very, very poor.
For me, I really cling tight to comfort, security and familiarity. My worst nightmare would be if my past would turn on me and forget or make an enemy of me. I don’t know if I would be able to give up a really precious relationship/ friendship, let alone sacrifice that person! But I do know that if a relationship is unhealthy, I would (probably) be able to give it up. I am reminded to commit everything to God and not lose sight on what is eternal. After all, “everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed” and real treasures are stored up in heaven. All to Jesus I surrender…
but of course, to be able to surrender all and even begin to do so, we need the grace of God. and also by the grace of God, we are revealed the areas in our life which needs to be re-evaluated and have our priorities rearranged. someone else who really has his priorities right is Job.
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." Job 1: 21
Everything we have in which we are trying to prioritize/ order are from Him anyway.
I love the prayers at the end of each chapter - they really seem to express exactly where I'm at. The idea of wanting to know God but being terrified of giving up my toys, my safety blankets...
The word possessions is kind of telling; it isn't clear whether things possess us or vice versa. Things, sustaining & delightful which were created for our use, to be external and subservient to us, have crept into my heart, forcing God out. When I think of it in those terms, I'm horrified and want to, as Tozer phrases it,'trample under foot every slippery trick of [my] deceitful heart & insist upon frank and open relations with the Lord'.
This chapter awakened me anew to my fear of giving up my so-called treasures becos at the root of it I don't trust God. Which is ridiculous, I know, because He is good. I've seen proof of it time and time again. After all, He 'came not to destroy but to save'.
When I firt read it, before Sheela put up the questions my mind tend to make a list of things... what are my priorities?? food, tv, internet, work, and my precious self with craving arms like an octupus!!!it's is easy to identify some of these shrines that tend to clutter my heart. But as we go on reading the most decitful of "things" that want to occupy the whole lot of our heart is "self" with many disguises sometimes we are not even spiritual aware!!
I need to be more obedient when God is softly calling me to the Land of Moriah, (the land where Abraham had one unforgetable surrender battle). With all the many things that try to catch my attention,little shirnes wanting full occupancy,"The journey to Moriah it is not a one time experience"
To be poor in Spirit: reach to a point of surrender that possesions lose the battle to have our heart's attention. The "richness" that things can give are not essencial any more, are are counted as nothing. Only God is in the trhone of our hearts. A heart that understands that the best poverty is to have a heart void of things, and surrenders its wholeness to be possessed by God only.
Leasson for me: when I go to the Land of Moriah in obedience and surrender all, his privision is greater than the surrendered thing I been holding onto so dearly. Gladys
That's a very appropriate way of describing my 'self', Gladys - like an octopus, all those arms ever reaching and grasping, but never satisfied.
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