Collection of A W Tozer prayers volume 7
Collection of A W Tozer prayers volume 7
“Let’s pray. Oh Lord Jesus, We’ve just been thinking of an incident that took place in Thy earthly life, back in old Judea. Here we are Lord in another part of the world on another continent, among another kind of people, in another period of history. Human nature hasn’t changed at all. Men still have two eyes and two ears, their head’s still on top of their body and their feet underneath. They still grow old and die, and children are born and everything is the same. Colour, cultures, distances, they change; but, oh Lord, Thou knowest, people remain the same. There are people here tonight, eager people, who would run to inquire, “how can I be saved?”. Then when they find out would go the other way. There may be people who would eagerly inquire, “How can I be filled with the Holy Ghost?”. When they find out, sorrowfully turn away. My Lord God, alot must be Thy heart as it grieves ours a little bit, it must grieve Thine with infinite grief. We sorrow a little, Thou must sorrow with boundless sorrow. Thou man of sorrows acquainted with grief. We hid as it were our faces from Thee, and turn our back and go away. Sorrowing we go, but go a sorrowing. Oh Lord, have mercy, have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, oh Lord. not to putts upon Thee to deliver man, Thou didst humble Thyself to be born of a virgin. And Thou hast overcome the sharpness of death. Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. We therefore pray, oh Lord, save Thy people, which Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood. Lift them up. Make them to be numbered with Thy saints in glory everlasting. Oh Lord, this night, Shepherd of Israel and ours, find that lamb. Oh, Shepherd of thy flock, find that straying sheep we pray.In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
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“Father, We pray that Thou will be pleased to bless these words. Thou knowest how our words fly about like birds around a tree. Oh, but Jesus, take the words, and loose the text, and carry it home to our hearts. Put in us, we pray Thee, a great longing after Thee. A great object of our desire, to know Thee in living in colour, by the Holy Ghost, through the blood, until all our self-confidence is gone and we rest not. We ask these things. In the name of Jesus. Amen.”
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“Now our Heavenly Father, We are before Thee. We think that it’s hot, and we’re just slightly uncomfortable, but oh God, if we knew for a positive certainty that Thy Holy Son Jesus were coming at midnight tonight, nobody’d mention the weather. We’d be alert, and our loins would be girded and our lamps lighted, and our shoes on our feet and our staff in our hand. We would be looking and hoping; but, Lord, we pray Thee that Thou wilt help us to live now, and to think now, as if Thy coming was indeed as soon as midnight. And we pray that Thy blessing may be on us as we think together about the call of the Holy Ghost to men. Oh God, help we pray. May our minds be brought in from the busy world out there, and from the noise, and may they be centred upon holy things and holy thoughts. Thou knowest Lord it’s not certain how much longer any of us will be this side of the border. So we pray Thee while we are here and opportunity’s ours, to live all of it, and do what we can to make our calling and election sure. Help now tonight in the giving of this word. We pray in our Lord Jesus Christ’s name
Amen.”
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“Now let’s pray. Oh Love of God, Thou hidden Love of God, We have found Thee. We have found Thee, for Thou hast found us. While we were not looking for Thee, Thou are looking for us. We have found, and Thou hast found. And we know Thee, or rather, as Paul said, “we are known of Thee.” Now thou’t bless this fellowship, this group that’s heard these words tonight. May we go out in amid horns and airplanes overhead and noises of every kind, may we hear this gentle, insistent, sovereign, authoritative, winsome voice, calling us to be Christians, calling Christians to be good Christians, and calling good Christians to be still better Christians, calling us to put the world away and focus our attention on eternal values ‘t’ll be hereafter. Kingdoms have fallen and democracies have gone down in the dust. Great God, help us over these days just ahead. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.”
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“Let’s pray. Father, We pray for these who raised their hand, we have no way of knowing what the need might be. Thou knowest about it. But the great thing is, that the heart is the determined, and the will is set, that they’ll hear this voice of the blood of Jesus speaking, and breathing like a lion before a court, pleading for his client. So our advocate above, Saviour by the throne of Love pleads, and we pray that they may hear that voice, may quietly tonight, turn away from every thing, everything that could possibly slow them down. Put away every weight and everything that could keep them from being the kind of Christian they ought to be. And we pray for any who may not be Christians, who may be on the border and not sure. God, in Christ’s name we pray that they may turn to Thee with all their hearts: “For if ye call upon Me with all your heart ye shall most surely find Me.” Help us now Lord as we wait a little further and sing Thy praise. In Christ’s name, Amen.”
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“Father, We pray Thy blessing on the truth. Lord Jesus, we would, we would be clean men and women. We would put away evil. We would cease to do wrong. We would amend our ways. But all this, we would do knowing that in us dwells no good thing, knowing that left to ourselves we could not possibly wash ourselves, nor make ourselves right, nor live right. We thank Thee for the Holy Spirit. We thank Thee for the power of the gospel. We thank Thee for the retreat of prayer and a hiding place of devotion. We thank Thee Lord that it’s possible to live as becomes saints in an evil and adulterous generation. Grant that we may, for Christ’s sake, Amen.”
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“Let’s pray. Lord, how Thou did’st ever find us, when so many million go their way careless tonight. We’ll never know. But it’s grace sweet grace eternal that takes all our sins away, and David’s royal fountain washes us clean. We thank Thee, pray Thee for all present this evening, pray that there might be a searching of hearts, and an exposing of our nature before Thy light, to know whether indeed we belong in heaven or in hell, whether indeed we’re sons of Adam or sons of God. Oh God, save us from carelessness, here in Canada and down in the United States and many a fool other countries of the world were like this rich man. We have so much, we live sumptuous within our way, making us forget that sometime soon we’re going to die, and we’re going to go where the claim is laid to us, where we belong. Oh God, help this evening this hour, We pray for Christ’s sake, Amen.”
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“If now or after the service, you want to see me, I’ll be available… Let’s pray. It could be that somebody would like me to offer prayer for you. Last Sunday night after service, a young man from another country, who was a Roman Catholic, came to me, said he had heard me twice, and he was concerned. I can’t recall word for word; but something to the effect that he was deeply concerned about his soul and his relation to God and could I help him. I prayed with him, exhorted him, then told him to read the gospel of John prayerfully asking God for light. Maybe he’s here tonight. I hope he is. He promised to keep in touch with me. Maybe you would like to have me pray for you. If you would, the simplest old fashionedest way I know, is just to raise the hands so I’ll know who wants prayer. Would you raise that hand? Who would like to have me pray for them? For any need at all it might be, Ah, that might be in your life. Any need that might be in your life, put the hand up. We’ll know that somebody wants prayer.”
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“Dear Lord Jesus, we pray tonight that Thou wilt help us to shear thy people. Oh, we thank Thee for that, that glorious Jerusalem the golden, milk and honey blessed, where dwell the spirits of just men made perfect, and where Thy church will some day be. We thank Thee, oh, Lord Christ, victorious triumphant Lord Jesus. God hath made Thee both Lord and Christ, and hath set Thee head over all things to the church, made Thee heir of all things, Thou who art the shining forth of His glory, the express image of His person, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, we love thee Lord Jesus. We want to serve Thee. We want this church to be a Christ church in deed. We repudiate the ways of worldly churches. We repudiate the psychology and philosophy of worldly churches. We insist we want to be a New Testament church. Make it so. Lord we pray Thee. Bless these dear friends, For Christ’s sake, Amen. Now unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priest onto His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion now and forever. Amen.”
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But before we sing, I want to pray. Let’s pray. Oh, our kind Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast not left us in our sins. Thou hast thought of a way for us. Thou hast planned it in Christ Jesus, Thy Son, our Lord. Thou hast worked it out by blood and tears and groans and death and the miracle of resurrection and wonder of ascension to the right hand of the throne. Thou hast sent the Holy Ghost to save everywhere throughout the world. ‘He that believeth on Him shall not perish. Whoever calls of the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Oh, we thank Thee heavenly Father. Time’s running out. It’s later than we know. Then Thou hast warned us gently and carefully to be careful what we do, to be careful what we do lest we take too much for granted, to be careful, lest the devil get the seed, lest the cares of life take the seed, lest we be Christians only in name, and have a name that we live but are dead. My God, ‘twould be better that we should perish from the rich precincts of Toronto. Better that we should die pagans, than to die Canadians and Americans and Englishmen and Scottsmen who heard from their childhood this wondrous message. Better to have let it go. Oh God, how do we say to thee in that time what or second do we have. From the body naked savage men smeared with pig grease and clay, we stand up and say we never heard it. But who here can say, “oh God, we’ve heard it and we’ve heard it and we’ve heard it until we’re bored with it.” God, forgive us. Give us a new something, a new baptism of interest, a new fresh interest in the things of the gospel. Oh God, we pray that Thou will help the friends here tonight. Lord we pray for those who are well saved, that they might become so keenly concerned for others that aren’t saved, that they would continue to work for their salvation hard and struggle and pray and labor until one by one they’re gathered in. Grant we pray, our God, that there may be a harvest of souls that are long overdue Lord, it’s long overdue. But God, we’re not giving up. We expect to see it. We expect to see it Father. We expect Thee to give us a harvest. We expect to see young people brought in and older people. We expect to see the the the new faces and hear new voices and see the travail of Thy soul oh Lord. We expect it. For Thou art God and because Jesus Christ Thy Son said, “if we wanted anything, ask in his name” and You’ll give it to us. And because that’s why the gospel’s being preached and that’s why we’re here. So, we expect to see it God. We don’t believe that Thou doest speak to men vainly or say anything to anybody carelessly. We believe that when Thou doest make a promise, that promise is as good as gold. So, we’re expecting Father. We’re expecting Thee to do it. Move around the margins: our relatives, our friends, our neighbours, people all around here that are not here tonight, but they can be here. They can be brought in, and they can be won. We pray Thee oh God, fall on the churches, fall on this church, fall on our people. We pray that our… with a new affection of love for men, that we may not depend on the Word from the pulpit only, but that we might supplement that Word with earnest soul winning effort. Now come on that’s, Father, we’re looking for help oh God. Once more we remind Thee that we have for this church a vision of a strong Bible based morally right solid vigorous active loving church, that the people will feel when they comes in here that surely the Lord’s in this place of a truth. Lord it may be slow but we believe it’ll come. Now at the first, the little sprout, then the stalk, and then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear. So, put us through those stages fast Lord, because we need the corn, and we need it fast. We need it so. Great God we need it. We’re trusting Thee.
We pray Thee for any tonight that are not committed, that have been… the Holy Ghost has found them somewhere there among the rocks or on the wayside or among the thorns. Dear God has found them. We pray Thee that they may come out from there, and be good ground and receive the truth into honest hearts, and bring forth fruit onto patience onto perfection.
We ask this in Christ’s name.”
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“We pray Thee this night, that Thou’ll help the young man who is seeking thy face, blessed Jesus. And then we pray for some who for their own reasons did not see fit to present themselves publicly. We pray for them, and ask that Thou Lord will be with them, as Thou certainly will be with them right on and keep shinning the light until they’ve either said the last no or said a happy yes to Thy invitation. Pray now Thy blessing upon us, and may mercy and grace attend us all the days of our lives. Dismiss us now with Thy blessing, Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
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“Oh Father, we beseech Thee for all of these. Take them through the fire and through the flood, but above all things, through the blood. And if they have to sit by the River Chebar as Ezekiel did, or be thrown down in a pit as Jeremiah was, or be surrounded by bent and fanatical foes as Elijah was, or be on the Isle of Patmos as John was, or to fall flat down in a faint as Daniel did, or whatever the cost, we pray Thee, make Christian worshippers out of these men and women. This we ask in Jesus name.”
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“Father, first of all, help us. First of all, Thy name should be hallowed. Hallow it, and that Thy King should come and that Thy will should be done all over the universe, down here as it is up there: that that be first. And the other things fall in line. Blessed be God and blessed be His Holy Son Jesus Christ. This we ask in Jesus name.”
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“Bow Please. Oh God our Father, we thank Thee, we thank Thee, we thank Thee for Jesus Christ Thy Son. We haven’t done anything that we could think of but what we’re ashamed. We haven’t done anything but what we ought to be ashamed. We haven’t done anything, our brains, out minds, our bodies, our souls, our spirits, we haven’t done anything ourselves, except what Thou hast given us. What Thou hast given us we’re not ashamed. We’re glad for and deeply grateful, and we will go and appear and be there dressed in Thy righteousness alone, faultless we stand before the throne. And Thou will know us, and claim us, and not be ashamed, ’cause we were redeemed in Thy mercy: poor, scarred, bruised, pathetic, pale-faced, dying, Thou didst find us, save us, lift us, and renew us, and give us life, and we are Thine. Now bless this congregation and we pray for any who may not be saved, they might see what they’re missing, and turn quickly Jesus Christ, say, “Lord I’m sorry for my past. From here on, I’m Thine.”
A W Tozer