Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897—1963) was an American pastor in the Christian and Missionary Alliance and an author who emphasized the need for a deeper knowledge of God and development of the “inner life.” For this reason. he has been described as an “evangelical mystic.” A.W. Tozer was extremely influential in evangelical Christianity in his generation and was often called a “twentieth-century prophet.”1
As a minister for 44 years Tozer, without any formal education, pastored several churches in the US and Canada. He was also a very successful author of over 40 Christian books, of which he wrote mostly about the need of a deeper relationship with God.
I love what his daughter said at his funeral: “I can’t feel sad. I know Dad’s happy. He’s lived for this all his life.”2 Perhaps one of the most quoted Christian authors of all time his quotes emphasized the need to draw close to God and to live a holy life. He appealed to not only a person’s mind but to his heart. Below are some of his more popular quotes that I pray may help you draw nearer to our Lord.3
“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”
“Jesus calls us to his rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.”
“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.”
“An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.”
“If man had his way, the plan of redemption would be an endless and bloody conflict. In reality, salvation was bought not by Jesus’ fist, but by His nail-pierced hands; not by muscle but by love; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by force but by sacrifice. Jesus Christ our Lord surrendered in order that He might win; He destroyed His enemies by dying for them and conquered death by allowing death to conquer Him.”
“The fact of God is necessary for the fact of man. Think God away and man has no ground of existence.”
“Did you ever stop to think that God is going to be as pleased to have you with Him in Heaven as you are to be there?”
“God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination, and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, “0 Lord, Thou knowest.” Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God’s omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.”
“Philosophy and science have not always been friendly toward the idea of God, the reason being they are dedicated to the task of accounting for things and are impatient with anything that refuses to give an account of itself. The philosopher and the scientist will admit that there is much that they do not know; but that is quite another thing from admitting there is something which they can never know, which indeed they have no technique for discovering.”
“God never uses anyone greatly until He tests them deeply.”
“The Bible is a supernatural book and can be understood only by supernatural aid.”
“If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face.”
“We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit.”
“How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none.”
“The true Christian ideal is not to be happy but to be holy. The holy heart alone can be the habitation of the Holy Ghost.”
“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.”
“God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without anything other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is.”
“In trying to count our many blessings the difficulty is not to find things to count, but to find time to enumerate them all.”
“One thing is certain: the call of Christ is always a promotion. Were Christ to call a king from his throne to preach the gospel to some tribe of aborigines, that king would be elevated above anything he had known before. Any movement toward Christ is ascent, and any direction away from Him is down.”
“One of the strange things about God is that He will come in as far as we allow Him. I have often said that a Christian is as full of the Holy Spirit as he wants to be. We can beg to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We can talk about it, but until we are willing to empty ourselves, we will never have the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God will fill as much of us as we allow Him to fill.”
“Jesus Christ knows the worst about you. Nonetheless, He is the one who loves you the most.”
“What’s closest to your heart is what you talk about, and if God is close to your heart, you’ll talk about Him.”
“To be specific, the self-sins are these: self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of others like them.”
“The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people.”
“It is one thing to have a lot of information about God, but it is another thing to bask in the warmth and reality of His presence.”
“The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations, and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.”
1 Who was A.W. Tozer? | GotQuestions.org
2 Who was A.W. Tozer? | GotQuestions.org
3 All of these quotes are from the following websites:
A.W. Tozer Quotes (Author of The Pursuit of God) (goodreads.com)
Inspirational Quotes by A.W. Tozer (bibleportal.com)
71 A. W. Tozer Quotes | ChristianQuotes.info
30 A.W Tozer Quotes To Strengthen Your Faith | Think About Such Things