Tozer on the Presence of God

Posted on October 31, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

This is a quote from How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit, by A. W. Tozer.

“[T]here is an unseen Deity present, a knowing, feeling Personality, and He is indivisible from the Father and the Son, so that if you were to be suddenly transferred to heaven itself you wouldn’t be any closer to God than you are now, for God is already here. Changing your geographical location would not bring you any nearer to God nor God any nearer to you, because the indivisible Trinity is present, and all that the Son is the Holy Ghost is, and all that the Father is the Holy Ghost is, and the Holy Ghost is in His Church.”

As I read this, the question came to me, what would the church look like if we lived this out? What would my life look like if I always remembered that God is beside me every step of the way?

If Jesus was riding shotgun, would I loose my cool when I’m cut off in traffic? If I took into consideration the presence of the Holy Spirit, would I think the thoughts that I do or react to people and events the way that I do? In many instances, I would not.

The point of Tozer’s paragraph is that the Holy Spirit is within us and sees what we think and do.

In Psalm 139:7 David writes, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (NASB) The answer to this rhetorical question is “nowhere.” There is no where I can go to get away from God in the person of the Holy Spirit. None, zip, nada.

The point of this post is to remind myself and by extension, you the reader, that God is always present and that I should act accordingly.

The good news is that when I fail (not if I fail), God has provided a means of dealing with the failure (see 1 John 1:9).

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

On division in the church

The point I take from these verses is that we need to exercise caution when deciding to make ourselves distinct from the churches around us. If we are to be distinct, it is to be in our commitment to preaching and living out the gospel, a distinction that we should be happy to observe in the other churches around us. Any other distinction brings division rather than unity.

Defending God’s honor? A response to the Islamic riots

Riots in the Islamic world are intended to defend the prophet’s honor. A blog post at www.thinkingchristian.net triggered some thoughts about how Christians should respond.

The softening of the Gospel

Under the Gospel, our hearts experience the softening that allows for a proper understanding of the role of the law.

Love and the Cross

“Only for Christ has the power to incapacitate the sturdy for self that is the bane of every sinner, and only the grace of Christ has the power to produce that ” – Paul David Tripp Tripp goes on to point out that death of self is a prerequisite to fulling loving Christ. Jesus […]

Who builds the church?

When I am tempted to be overwhelmed by the problems in the church, I need to remind myself that it is not up to men to build the church. Jesus told us that he, himself, is the one who builds his church (Matthew 16:18).

Crowds and compassion

While we might view a crowd as an inconvenience, Jesus viewed the crowd as an opportunity to meet their physical and spiritual needs. There is much we can learn from Jesus’ feeding of the 4,000 as recorded in Mark 8.