A.W. Tozer - His Ordination Prayer

A couple of weeks or so ago, I wrote about A.W. Tozer. Dr. James Montgomery Boice said, “Tozer has written for the ages, calling God’s people from trite, superficial Christianity to a serious pursuit of God.” I would be somewhat amiss if I did not include on the blog his ordination prayer. It reveals the heart of this man of God as much as anything he wrote in his later years. So I want to share it with you.

“Save me from the curse that lies dark across the face of the modern clergy,
the curse of compromise, of imitation, of professionalism. Save me from the error of judging a church by it’s size, it’s popularity or the amount of it’s yearly offering. Help me to remember that I am a prophet, not a promoter, not a religious manager- but a prophet.”

We live in a day when compromise and the concern about “numbers” has caused many a pastor to back away from the truth. As one pastor stated to me years ago: “ I know that what you are saying is true, but I can’t say that. I’ll lose people.” Unfortunately, I find that this pastor was expressing the dilemma that many pastors face.

A.W. Tozer stands as an example for me as a man, who with all of his limitations and weaknesses, placed the truth of God, as he saw it, above all else. I would recommend for your reading Tozer’s books, along with the biography of his life, entitled, In Pursuit of God by James Snyder.