“Delighting in God’s presence is not a do-it-yourself project. The very delicate nature of it requires an experienced guide, someone who can maneuver us around obstacles and bring us into the sunlight of God’s wonderful presence.”

“Today’s church faces the danger of a cross-less Christianity. A preacher will get up in front of the congregation and talk so piously about the “Great All Father.” Or he might say, “This we ask in the spirit of Jesus.”

“We obey because we trust. We trust in order that we might obey. If we try to obey without faith, we get nowhere. If we try to have faith without obedience, it ends in nothing. Christ has given eternal salvation to those who obey Him and to them who believe Him, for obviously the two are synonymous, if not identical.”

“Some try to find their own way or perhaps a shortcut. But there are no shortcuts on the pathway to God’s presence. Moses spent 40 years on the backside of the desert before he came to the burning bush. I am quite sure that for Moses, who had grown up in Pharaoh’s court, those 40 years were anything but convenient. God’s timing, however, is always perfect; therefore, only He can be our guide. Only He can direct us in this path into the presence of God.”

“Jesus took no road of convenience, nor did He seek a shortcut. He is our guide because He prayed, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” He earned our trust and our obedience because He did not take the path of convenience but went the way of the cross and died for us and became Our Great High Priest.”

“Jesus Christ, the great High Priest ordained of God and ordained for man, is the only guide to usher us into the presence of God. This may be the reason the enemy of man’s soul strives to come between God and us. But those who have found Christ have found the perfect Guide, and in following Him have found that rest and peace are in God’s presence.”

Culled from A. W. Tozer, “The Crucified Life.”