A.W. Tozer, a respected evangelical writer and Christian mystic, gave his first memorable and edifying book the title "The Pursuit of God." Tozer's focus in that book is on the essential importance of personal relationship with God, by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul, quoting the Hebrew Scriptures, in his description of the Jews (representing all religious peoples) and of the Greeks (representing philosophically inclined and intellectual peoples), wrote: "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God." (Romans 3:10-11)
The pursuit of God is therefore something not true in the natural experience of both the Jews and the Greeks; of either the religious man or the philosophical (intellectual) man. Man, in his or her fallen condition, may search or pursue a system of belief, an idea, a group, or organization that may offer him a sense of belonging or acceptance. But the pursuit of God is something entirely foreign to him until his Creator, in grace and mercy, begins to draw him spiritually through an inner work that's nothing less than a new life from the dead!
Christ puts it this way: "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, comes unto Me." (John 6:44-45)
It is therefore true that when a heart begins to seek and yearn for God that such a spiritual thirsting is an evidence of the dawn of God's inner work in that soul. "When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek." (Psalm 27:8)
First is God's gracious Word calling on the lost soul to seek Him - when Thou saidst, Seek ye My face. That is, God's inner call is THE CAUSE. It is God Himself Who initiates everything. And it's only when God speaks His sovereign will that a response from the soul can follow as an EFFECT (or result) - my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek."
Acts 16:14 provides another illustration of this truth: "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things, which were spoken of Paul."
Note that between Lydia's hearing of Paul's speech and her attending unto (heeding) the things spoken by Paul, something happened that only God alone is capable of doing. That is, God Himself opened the heart of Lydia!
This gracious, inner, heart work of the Lord is THE CAUSE of Lydia's spiritual conversion. And her response of heeding God's words is THE RESULT.
Saint John shows this fact from another perspective: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins...We love Him, because He first loved us." (1 John 4:10, 19)
We, who have now come to know God by faith in Christ, should realize that our pursuit of God is but the result of God's pursuit of us. It is the Lord, Who is the good Shepherd, that tirelessly, in endless compassion, sought and found His one lost sheep, and brought it safely home with joy!
The good news is that God will never stop looking for the last of His lost sheep, lost silver coin, and lost son (all symbols of lost mankind, Luke chapter 15), until He brings each one back home to His loving embrace!
God may have already begun manifesting His eternal love to you, through His beloved Son (Jesus Christ) Who died for your sins, and you should be ever praiseful and thankful to Him daily for His saving grace.
Or, you may still be in the dark right now. Full of doubt and unbelief. Sunk in the mire of sin. Hopeless. Full of hatred. Hating yourself. Hating your parents. Hating your circumstances. Hating the world around you. Hating God. Full of bitterness. Miserable. Lost...
But I have a good news for you. God is not yet over with you. God loves you. God gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem you from sin and death. Your time will soon come. God will reveal Himself to you, as He did to the chief of sinners - Saul of Tarsus - who became the Apostle Paul.
Yes, each of us has his (or her) appointed time, according to God's own plan and timetable. God has saved many others in the past. God is still saving more now. And yes, God will ultimately save all in the future. Nothing is impossible with God. God will save you!
"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Timothy 2:3-6)
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Welcome, fellow-sojourners and pilgrims!
These pages are created for the glory alone of God through His dear Son - the Lord Jesus Christ!
Our goal is to make known to all wayfarers and seekers the only way to the true knowledge of God and His truth. This is not through membership to a new sect, church, religious denomination, society, or institution. Neither through undergoing some external, religious rituals or ceremonies; nor through intellectual adoption of a philosophical idea or a system of beliefs.
We also don't promote, offer, or sell any products or services in exchange for your money.
What we present to you, dear reader, is not something outside of you. It is not in some far away places or sacrosanct mountain or temples made by human hands. There is no need for you to travel, far or near, for you to have it. There is no need for you to have great amount of money or gold to purchase it.
There is also no need to adopt an ascetic vow of poverty, or to live in a cave as a hermit. There is even no need to pass a prior test, or achieve a preparatory moral condition, or be able first to comply faithfully to any set of religious rules or moral norms.
Yes, there are laws and principles. But they are no way merely physical, moralistic, or doctrinal. They are actually spiritual as to their reality and essence.
What we desire and pray is for you to meet and know our Master. There is no need for us to claim anything with regards to our Master, for you yourself can directly and personally know Him in an intimate way that the religions and church systems of the world never thought possible!
THE MASTER says: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Don't be fooled into thinking that just anybody of the mortals of the earth could say those words. Many so-called "masters" and "rabbis" and "teachers" try in their self-delusion to claim those words as theirs. They try to mimic the Master. But they all die in the end, and when they die, they remain dead in the grave or given to the fire to be reduced to ashes in cremation or left to the maggots for consumption! Thus proving that they are all bogus "masters"!
No, only the one true Master speaks those words of life, for He Himself is the Resurrection and the Life. He Himself is the Word of God that the Scripture speaks of:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men."
THE MASTER warns His disciples: "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
There is therefore only one true Master, as it is also true that there is only one true Father in heaven. Not even one of the Master's true disciples can claim him or herself as His successor (or vicar) on earth. Anyone who claims that he or she is a successor of the Master is blind.
Aaron, an Old Testament high priest, needed a successor, for he died and remained dead in the grave. His sons, who had the Levitical priesthood, also needed their successors, because all of them died and stayed dead like all other mortals.
Successorship therefore is only true of those Old Testament ministers and priests that die and can't continue their priestly work themselves, being prevented by death. And that's why they needed successors during that old dispensation.
"And they [the Levitical priests] truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death, but this man [Christ], because He continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them."
The Master therefore doesn't need any successor, because He ever lives to make intercession for anyone who comes to take shelter in Him.
Yes, the true Master died once at the cross of Calvary to take away the sin of the world. The apostle John wrote, "And He is the propitiation for our sins : and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Yes, the Master died for our sins. But the momentous difference between Him and all the rest is that He didn't stay dead. The Master rose from the dead on the third day!
The apostle Paul said, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS according to Scriptures; and that HE WAS BURIED, and that HE ROSE AGAIN again the third day according to the Scriptures:"
There is only one true Master and Savior. He is THE LORD JESUS CHRIST Who died for your sins on the cross of Calvary. But He didn't stay dead! He rose again the third day! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today! And He will remain alive tomorrow and throughout all eternity!
Come to JESUS, dear friend, right now. Hear HIS SPIRIT speaking to your heart right now! Yes, HE IS in you. This is one the greatest of all mysteries that He Who is THE TRUE LIGHT enlightens every man that comes into the world. This mystery among the nations is Christ in you, the hope of glory!
The Master is in you. His light is enshrined in your inner being and in your heart. Your outward covering of soul and body may temporarily dim His light to your carnal mind and understanding. But He is there alright in you, waiting to be discovered by you!
Listen to the Master right now, not in a temple made of steel and rocks, but inside of you, internally in the temple of your body which He Himself created for His Spirit's residence. The Creator of the universe doesn't dwell in temples made by human hands, neither is worshipped by men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He gives to you, me, and to all life, and breath, and all things.
Long for Him in your heart in humility. Seek Him in repentance. Hunger and thirst for Him and His righteousness, and He will fill you. He will reveal Himself as He did to His servant, Paul. The apostle said that God was pleased to separate him from his mother's womb and call him by His grace, and that for the purpose of revealing His Son in him! (Galatians 1:15-16)
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Again, dear friend, welcome to this blog site, and we hope that what you will read here will be, under God, a means of spiritual enlightenment and blessings.
To God alone be all the glory and praise!
About Me
- Calvin San Agustin
- I was a former atheist. By God's grace, I am now a humble bondservant of Christ. I am also a believer in universal reconciliation, also termed the wider hope, universal salvation, etc. It's my prayer that, under God, you'll find my blogs of help in your pursuit of truth. God bless you!
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