The Pursuit of God

Resources for Application

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Step 4: Surrender. Now that you have given your needs over to God, give yourself over to him (Ps 27:4). Abide in God’s love (John 15:9). Moreland says, It is time to open my heart to God and love him from my heart, to seek to connect with him, and to put myself in a place of waiting and anticipation for the Lord to make himself real to me or speak to me if he chooses. . . . As I wait, I seek to maintain my gaze on God, being aware that he maintains his gaze on me, whether or not I experience it. 18 Those who choose to engage in contemplative prayer like Tozer “want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.” 19 But do not be discouraged if you do not “feel” anything. Remember, The Presence and the manifestation of the Presence are not the same. There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of his presence. On our part there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for his work it is to show us the Father and the Son. 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. 20 Dallas Willard would begin each morning with contem plative prayer rooted in the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23. The four steps described above can be explored well by

18 Moreland, Finding Quiet , 100. 19 Page 25 20 Page 74.