Others like beyond tuesday morning Features >>
About the Book
"Beyond Tuesday Morning" by Karen Kingsbury follows the story of two survivors of the 9/11 attacks, attempting to rebuild their lives while facing challenges of grief, guilt, and forgiveness. As they navigate through their pain, they find hope and healing in unexpected places, rediscovering the power of love and faith to overcome tragedy.
A.W. Tozer (Aiden Wilson Tozer)
Early life
Tozer hailed from a tiny farming community in western La Jose, Pennsylvania. He was converted to Christianity as a teenager in Akron, Ohio: While on his way home from work at a tire company, he overheard a street preacher say, "If you don't know how to be saved ... just call on God, saying, 'Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.'" Upon returning home, he climbed into the attic and heeded the preacher's advice.
Pastor
In 1919, five years after his conversion and without formal education in Christian theology, Tozer accepted an offer to serve as pastor of his first church. That began 44 years of ministry associated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), a Protestant Evangelical denomination, 33 of them serving as a pastor in several different congregations (his first, a small storefront church in Nutter Fort, West Virginia). Later, he served thirty years (1928 to 1959) as the pastor of Southside Alliance Church in Chicago; the final years of his life he spent as pastor of Avenue Road Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Observing contemporary Christian living, Tozer felt that the church was on a dangerous course toward compromising with "worldly" concerns.
Born into poverty, Tozer was self-educated and taught himself what he missed in high school and university.
Author
Tozer began writing in 1931 for the denominational magazine of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Alliance Weekly (now Alliance Life), which became the platform from which his writing career emerged. He later wrote the monthly column âThereâs Truth in Itâ (1936â37) and âA Word in Seasonâ (1944â46). In May 1950, he became the editor of the Alliance Weekly, a position he filled until his death in 1963.
At the urging of David W. Fant, publications secretary of the C&MA, Tozer wrote biographies of A. B. Simpson (1943) and Robert A. Jaffray (1947). It was the publication of his third book, The Pursuit of God (1948), that made Tozer a household name among evangelicals. In addition to the 12 books he published in his lifetime, more than 40 other books have been compiled from his magazine features, editorials, and transcribed sermons.
During his lifetime, Tozerâs works were published by Christian Publications, Inc., the denominational press operated by the C&MA. The publishing house declared bankruptcy in 2006 and was purchased by WingSpread Publishers of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.[8] In November 2013, Moody Publishers acquired Wingspread from parent company Zur Ltd., a transaction that included more than 60 Tozer books and pamphlets. Some of Tozerâs works are now in the public domain and have been issued by multiple publishers.
Personal life
Tozer had seven children, six sons and a daughter. Living a simple and non-materialistic lifestyle, he and his wife, Ada Cecelia Pfautz, never owned a car, preferring bus and train travel. Even after becoming a well-known Christian author, Tozer signed away much of his royalties to those who were in need.
Prayer was of vital personal importance for Tozer. "His preaching as well as his writings were but extensions of his prayer life," comments his biographer, James L. Snyder, in the book In Pursuit of God: The Life Of A.W. Tozer. "He had the ability to make his listeners face themselves in the light of what God was saying to them," writes Snyder.
Death and legacy
Tozer died on May 13, 1963, after suffering a heart attack. He was buried in Chicago, and later the family had his remains reinterred at Ellet Cemetery, Akron, Ohio. A simple marker reads: A. W. TozerâA Man of God. The Alliance Weekly ran a memorial issue with numerous tributes and excerpts. The same issue also featured âGodâs Greatest Gift to Man," a transcription of his final sermon. A few months prior to his death, Tozer had submitted the manuscript to The Christian Book of Mystical Verse, which was released in 1964 as his final book. His official publisher, Christian Publications, released many titles after his death, based on his magazine articles and sermon transcriptions. These continue in print with Moody Publishers. Several other publishers have released his public domain works.
In 2000, The Pursuit of God was named to Christianity Todayâs list of 100 âBooks of the Century.â In 2006, Knowledge of the Holy was named in âThe Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals.â Contemporary Christian music artist Lauren Barlow of BarlowGirl later published a compilation of stories told by 59 artists, writers, and leaders about A.W. Tozerâs personal inspiration.
Do You Exercise for the Wrong Reasons
âWhen I run, I feel Godâs pleasure.â Such were the memorable words of Olympic sprinter and Christian missionary Eric Liddell (1902â1945), at least through the lens of Chariots of Fire , the 1981 Oscar-winning film that told his story. Perhaps youâve heard his inspiring line in terms of life calling. In what vocation  do you feel Godâs pleasure? What role or occupation does it seem he made you to fulfill? However, with the last generation of research in view, it might be interesting to introduce Liddell to the fairly recent discovery of endorphins, and ask how much they played a part in his feeling Godâs pleasure as a runner. My experience as a very amateur runner is that you donât have to be a pro to âfeel Godâs pleasureâ in, and because of, intense bodily exertion. God made endorphins to help us feel his joy. Godâs Grace in Exercise God made us to move, and to do so vigorously. And he wired our brains to reward and reinforce it. Regular human movement has been assumed throughout history, but the innovations and seeming progress of modern life have made a sedentary lifestyle more typical than ever before. Weâve never needed to state the obvious about exercise as much as we do today â not just for earthly health, but for the sake of spiritual soundness and strength. âEndorphins are a gift from God, put there by him to lead us to himself.â The word endorphins  is simply a shortened form of the phrase âendogenous morphine.â In other words, these are morphine-like chemicals that originate within our bodies. They âinhibit the transmission of pain signals; they may also produce a feeling of euphoria.â And they are a gift from God, put there by him to lead us to himself. It wasnât until as recently as 1974 that two independent groups first discovered and documented this long-undiscovered divine kindness tucked quietly inside the human brain. Endorphins, and their effect of bodily pleasure, subconsciously incline humans toward certain activities, like raucous laughter or spicy foods. But in particular, the most notable and discussed is âvigorous aerobic exercise.â As John Piper cites in When I Donât Desire God , Either brief periods of intense training or prolonged aerobic workouts raise levels of chemicals in the brain, such as endorphins, adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine, that produce feelings of pleasure. (203) And the holy pursuit of pleasure is an unblushing Christian concern throughout the pages of Scripture, and most pointedly so in the words of Christ himself. For Joy in God Have you seriously considered how physical  exertion can be a means, among others, of your spiritual  health and joy? God made our bodies with an enigmatic connection to our souls. How God stirs our souls in worship and Bible meditation often has tangible and unpredictable effects in our bodies. And what we eat and drink, and how we sleep, in our physical bodies affects our level of contentment in the soul. According to professor David Murray, âExercise and proper rest patterns generate about a 20 percent energy increase in an average day, while exercising three to five times a week is about as effective as anti-depressants for mild to moderate depressionâ ( Reset , 79). âGlorifying God with our bodies is not mainly about what we donât do.â God not only means for us to enjoy the long-term benefits of regular bodily exertion, but also the immediate effects that bolster and energize our emotions that day. And having our souls happy in God (with whatever little supplement we can get from exercise) is the premier way to fight and defeat the alluring lies of sin. Author and pastor Gary Thomas testifies, âUnderstanding my body as an instrument of service to God is giving me renewed motivation to take better care of it in the face of my cravings and lazinessâ ( Every Body Matters , 20). For Love of Others But regular bodily exertion not only can assist our personal pursuit of joy in God, and fight against joy-destroying sin, but also ready us to move beyond self-focus and have our hearts primed to meet the needs of others. The beneficiary of exercise that is truly Christian is not just me, but my family, my neighbors, my church, my coworkers, and anyone else God puts in my life to bless in word and deed. As Piper explains elsewhere, Today, my main motive for exercise is purity and productivity. By purity, I mean being a more loving person (as Jesus said, âlove your neighbor,â Matthew 22:39). By productivity, I mean getting a lot done (as Paul said, âabounding in the work of the Lord,â 1 Corinthians 15:58). . . . In short, I have one life to live for Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:15). I donât want to waste it. My approach is not mainly to lengthen it, but to maximize purity and productivity now. Precisely because âwe are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in themâ (Ephesians 2:10), we want to cultivate our bodies so that they are a help, rather than a hindrance, in the cause of love. We want our bodies to be an aid, not a net neutral, in readying us to sacrifice our own comforts to do good for others, at home and around the world. For Godâs Own Joy Yet exercise not only can contribute to the matrix of our joy, and in doing so help ready us to meet the needs of others, but what goes unsaid far too often is that glorifying God with our bodies is not mainly about what we donât do . Itâs easy to focus on the many unrighteous acts from which we should abstain, but glorifying him in our bodies is first and foremost a positive pursuit and opportunity. And, as in the parable of the talents, our bodies are gifts from him to grow and develop, not bury and let languish. âThe biblical take on exercise is not âLife is short; let your body go,â but, âHarness the body God gave you.ââ God is not opposed to our bodily existence; neither is he uninterested. He is for the body.  âThe body is . . . for the Lord, and the Lord for the bodyâ (1 Corinthians 6:13). And not only is he for the body  in this age, but also in the age to come. The very next verse reads, âGod raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his powerâ (1 Corinthians 6:14). The creative brilliance and glory of Godâs design in the human body will not be discarded at Christâs second coming. Our future is embodied. Faithful Christian theology does not diminish the importance of our bodies, but heightens it â from Godâs creative design, to his ongoing affirmation, to his promise to raise them, to his calling to use them. Feel His Pleasure The biblical take on exercise is not âLife is short; let your body go.â Rather, with Godâs revealed truth ringing in our ears, we say, âLife is too short to not harness the body God gave me.â Our assignment in this age is a vapor. We are âa mist that appears for a little time and then vanishesâ (James 4:14). Too much is at stake, and our days are too few, to limp our way through by not leveraging our bodies (as weâre able) as the gifts from God they are. Join me in learning what itâs like to feel the pleasure of God.
