  A new class of article added to Truth Informed, Truth In Quotes aims to impart truths through pithy but substantial sayings or quotes from various authors. We will endeavor to find and select the best quotes, from across the theological spectrum, that will surely deepen your spiritual walk with the Lord. In this post, we introduce you to quotes by the late A. W. Tozer.
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A. W. Tozer
   A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), an American Christian pastor and author, served in the ministry for 44 years, and was self-taught because of his economic situation; in 1950 he was given an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Wheaton College. Tozer's most famous books are The Pursuit of God and Knowledge of The Holy, but the following quotes are taken from his equally influential book Whatever Happened To Worship? We would truly recommend this book to anyone. To read more about his life, click here.
"It is certainly true that hardly anything is missing from our churches these days—except the most important thing. We are missing the genuine and sacred offering of ourselves and our worship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
"God has never actually needed any of us—not one. But we pretend that He does, and we make it a big thing when someone agrees 'to work for the Lord'...we should not be concerned about working for God until we have learned the delight of worshipping Him."
"I would warn those who are cultured, quiet, self-possessed, poised and sophisticated, that if they are embarrassed in church when some happy Christian says 'Amen!,' they may actually be in need of some spiritual enlightenment. The worshipping saints of God in the body of Christ have often been a little bit noisy."
"The man or woman that says 'I guess I don't really know very much about God,' should then be honest enough to make a necessarily parallel confession: 'I guess I don't really know very much about worship.'"
"It can be said about us, as humans, that we try to be like our God. If He is conceived to be stern and exacting and harsh, so will we be!"
"A true fear of God is a beautiful thing, for it is worship, it is love, it is veneration. It is a high moral happiness because God is."
"God still desires worship, but we must learn that we cannot have our own way and worship God just as we please...There are certain kinds of worship that God will not accept, though they may be directed toward Him and meant to be given to Him."
"It is impossible for any of us to worship God without the impartation of the Holy Spirit. It is the operation of the Spirit of God within us that enables us to worship God acceptably through that person we call Jesus Christ, who is Himself God."
"Worship must be by the Holy Spirit and truth. We cannot worship in the spirit alone, for the spirit without truth is helpless. We cannot worship in truth alone, for that would be theology without fire. Worship must be in spirit and in truth!"
"Worship of the loving God is man's whole reason for existence. That is why we are born, and that is why we are born again from above. That is why we were created, and that is why we have been recreated. That is why there was a genesis at the beginning, and that is why there is a re-genesis, called regeneration."
"The wisest person in the world is the person who knows the most about God. The only real sage worthy of the name is the one who realizes that the answer to creation and life and eternity is a theological answer—not a scientific answer."
"Much of our problem in continuing fellowship with a holy God is that many Christians repent only for what they do, rather than for what they are."
"There are those who pretend to know everything about God—who pretend they can explain everything about God, about His creation, about His thoughts and about His judgements. They have joined the ranks of the evangelical rationalists. They end up taking the mystery out of life and the mystery out of worship. When they have done that, they have taken God out as well."
"Even in our Christian circles we are prone to depend upon techniques and methods in the work that Christ has given us to do. Without a complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit, we can only fail. If we have been misled to believe that we can do Christ's work ourselves, it will never be done."
"I have had people tell me very dogmatically that they will never allow 'feeling' to have any part in their spiritual life and experience. I reply, 'Too bad for you!'...worship is to feel in the heart!"
Quoting Bernard of Clairvaux: "Only the heart is hard that does not know it is hard. Only he is hardened who does not know he is hardened. When we are concerned for our coldness, it is because of the yearning God has put there. God has not rejected us."
"No person who has found the blessings of purity and joy in the Holy Spirit can ever be defeated. No church that has discovered the delight and satisfaction of adoring worship that springs automatically from love and obedience to God can ever perish."
"On Monday, as we go about our different duties and tasks, are we aware of the Presence of God? The Lord desires still to be in His holy temple, wherever we are. He wants the continuing love and delight and worship of His children, wherever we work...If you do not know the presence of God in your office, your factory, your home, then God is not in the church when you attend."
"I can offer no worship wholly pleasing to God if I know that I am harboring elements in my life that are displeasing to Him. I cannot truly and joyfully worship God on Sunday and not worship Him on Monday. I cannot worship God with a glad song on Sunday and then knowingly displease Him in my business dealings on Monday and Tuesday."
"The heart that knows God can find God anywhere...a person filled with the Spirit of God, a person who has met God in a living encounter, can know the joy of worshipping Him, whether in the silences of life or in the storms of life."
