The
following prayer by prophetic pastor A. W. Tozer
(1897-1963) presents profound insights into the
heart of this leader, renowned for his intimacy
with Christ and great integrity. Let us ponder
it as an example of how we might intercede for
clergy, and let us offer prayers in accord with
it for both emerging and established church
leaders. This is the prayer of a man called to
be a witness to the nations. This is what he
said to his Lord on the day of his ordination.
After the elders and ministers had prayed and
laid their hands on him, he withdrew to meet his
Savior in the secret place and in the silence,
farther in than his well-meaning brethren could
take him. Its amazing how this prayer still
applies to today's world and could have been
prayed yesterday.
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And he said, "O Lord, I have heard Thy voice and
was afraid. Thou hast called me to an awesome
task in a grave and perilous hour. Thou art
above to shake all nations and the earth and
also Heaven, that the things that cannot be
shaken may remain. O Lord, my Lord, Thou hast
stooped to honor me to be Thy servant. No man
taketh this honor upon himself save he that is
called of God as was Aaron. Thou hast ordained
me Thy messenger to them that are stubborn of
heart and hard of hearing. They have rejected
Thee, the Master, and it is not to be expected
that they will receive me, thy servant.
My God, I shall not waste time deploring my
weakness nor my unfittedness for the work. The
responsibility is not mine, but Thine. Thou hast
said, 'I knew thee...I ordained thee...I
sanctified thee' and Thou hast also said, 'Thou
shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and
whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak'.
Who am I to argue with Thee or to call into
question Thy sovereign choice? The decision is
not mine but Thine. So be it, Lord. Thy will,
not mine, be done.
Well do I know. Thou God of the prophets and the
apostles that as long as I honor Thee, Thou wilt
honor me. Help me, therefore, to take this
solemn vow to honor Thee in all my future life
and labors, whether by gain or by loss, by life
or by death, and then to keep that vow unbroken
while I live.
It is time, O God, for Thee to work, for the
enemy has entered into Thy pastures and the
sheep are torn and scattered. And false
shepherds abound who deny the danger and laugh
at the perils which surround Thy flock. The
sheep are deceived by these hirelings and follow
them with touching loyalty while the wolf closes
in to kill and destroy. I beseech Thee, give me
sharp eyes to detect the presence of the
enemy...give me understanding to see and courage
to report what I see faithfully. Make my voice
so like Thine own that even the sick sheep will
recognize it and follow Thee. Lord Jesus, I come
to Thee for spiritual preparation. Lay Thy hand
upon me. Anoint me with the oil of the New
Testament prophet. Forbid that I should become a
religious scribe and thus lose my prophetic
calling. 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
its size, its popularity or the amount of its
yearly offering. Help me to remember that I am a
prophet...not a promoter, not a religious
manager, but a prophet.
Let me never become a slave to crowds. Heal my
soul of carnal ambitions and deliver me from the
itch for publicity. Save me from bondage to
things. Let me not waste my days puttering
around the house. Lay Thy terror upon me, O God,
and drive me to the place of prayer where I may
wrestle with principalities and powers and the
rulers of the darkness of this world. Deliver me
from overeating and late sleeping. Teach me
self-discipline that I may be a good soldier of
Jesus Christ.
I accept hard work and small rewards in this
life. i ask for no easy place. I shall try to be
blind to the little ways that could make easier.
If others seek the smoother path I shall try to
take the hard way without judging them too
harshly. I shall expect opposition and try to
take it quietly when it comes. Or if, as
sometimes it falleth out to the Thy servants, I
should have grateful gifts pressed upon me by
Thy kindly people, stand by me then and save me
from the blight that often follows. Teach me to
use whatever I receive in such manner that will
not injure my permissive providence honor should
come to me from Thy church, let me not forget in
that hour that I am unworthy of the least of Thy
mercies, and that if men knew me as intimately
as I know myself, they would withhold their
honors or bestow them upon others more worthy to
receive them.
And now, O Lord of Heaven and earth, I
consecrate my remaining days to Thee...let them
be many or few, as Thou wilt. Let me stand
before the great or minister to the poor and
lowly; that choice is not mine, and I would not
influence it if I could. I am Thy servant to do
Thy will, and that will is sweeter to me than
position or riches or fame and I choose it above
all things on earth or in Heaven.
Though I am chosen of Thee and honored by a high
and holy calling, let me never forget that I am
but a man of dust and ashes, a man with all the
natural faults and passions that plague the race
of men. I pray Thee, therefore, My Lord and
Redeemer, save me from myself and from all the
injuries I may do myself while trying to be a
blessing to others. Fill me with Thy power by
the Holy Spirit, and I will go in Thy strength
and tell of Thy righteousness, even Thine only.
I will spread abroad the message of redeeming
love while my normal powers endure.
Then, dear Lord, when I am old and weary and too
tired to go on, have a place ready for me above,
and make me to be numbered with Thy saints in
glory everlasting................amen and amen.
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Aiden Wilson Tozer was born April 21, 1897, on a
small farm among the spiny ridges of Western
Pennsylvania. Within a few short years, Tozer,
as he preferred to be called, would earn the
reputation and title of a "20th-century
prophet." Able to express his thoughts in a
simple but forceful manner, Tozer combined the
power of God and the power of words to nourish
hungry souls, pierce human hearts, and draw
earthbound minds toward God.
When he was 15 years old, Tozer's family moved
to Akron, Ohio. One afternoon as he walked home
from his job at Goodyear, he overheard a street
preacher say, "If you don't know how to be saved
. . . just call on God." When he got home, he
climbed the narrow stairs to the attic where,
heeding the preacher's advice, Tozer was
launched into a lifelong pursuit of God. In
1919, without formal education, Tozer was called
to pastor a small storefront church in Nutter
Fort, West Virginia. That humble beginning
thrust him and his new wife Ada Cecelia Pfautz,
into a 44-year ministry with The Christian and
Missionary Alliance.
Thirty-one of those years were spent at
Chicago's Southside Alliance Church. The
congregation, captivated by Tozer's preaching,
grew from 80 to 800. In 1950 Tozer was elected
editor of the Alliance Weekly now called
Alliance Life. The circulation doubled almost
immediately. In the first editorial dated June
3, 1950, he set the tone: "It will cost
something to walk slow in the parade of the ages
while excited men of time rush about confusing
motion with progress. But it will pay in the
long run and the true Christian is not much
interested in anything short of that."
Tozer's forte was his prayer life which often
found him walking the aisles of a sanctuary or
lying face down on the floor. He noted, "As a
man prays, so is he." To him the worship of God
was paramount in his life and ministry. "His
preaching as well as his writings were but
extensions of his prayer life," comments Tozer
biographer James L. Snyder. An earlier
biographer noted, "He spent more time on his
knees than at his desk."
Tozer's love for words also pervaded his family
life. He quizzed his children on what they read
and made up bedtime stories for them. "The thing
I remember most about my father," reflects his
daughter Rebecca, "was those marvelous stories
he would tell."
Son Wendell, one of six boys born before the
arrival of Rebecca, remembers that, "We all
would rather be treated to the lilac switch by
our mother than to have a talking-to by our
dad."
Tozer's final years of ministry were spent at
Avenue Road Church in Toronto, Canada. On May
12, 1963, his earthly pursuit of God ended when
he died of a heart attack at age 66. In a small
cemetery in Akron, Ohio, his tombstone bears
this simple epitaph: "A Man of God."
Some wonder why Tozer's writings are as fresh
today as when he was alive. It is because, as
one friend commented, "He left the superficial,
the obvious and the trivial for others to toss
around. . . . [His] books reach deep into the
heart." His humor, written and spoken, has been
compared to that of Will Rogers--honest and
homespun. Congregations could one moment be
swept by gales of laughter and the next sit in a
holy hush.
For almost 50 years, Tozer walked with God. Even
though he is gone, he continues to speak,
ministering to those who are eager to experience
God. As someone put it, "This man makes you want
to know and feel God."
