Placeholder ImageAbout the Author

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963). Tozer's conversion to Christianity came when he was seventeen. As a result he gained an insatiable hunger and thirst for the things of God. A cleaned-out area in the family's basement became his refuge where he could pray and meditate on the goodness of God. His notebooks and tools consisted of prayer and the writings of early Christians and theologians—the Puritans and great men of faith.  Many said that if Tozer had food, clothing, and his books, he was content. The family never owned a car.  Tozer, instead, opted for the bus and train for travel, and even after becoming a well-known Christian author, he signed away much of his royalties to those who were in need.  In 1928, he accepted a call to pastor the Southside Gospel Tabernacle in Chicago, where he remained for thirty years.  Leonard Ravenhill once said of Tozer, "I fear that we shall never see another Tozer. Men like him are not college bred but Spirit taught."  The flippant did not like Tozer; the serious who wanted to know what God was saying to them loved him.  "God discovers Himself to 'babes,'" wrote Tozer, "and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials and they will be found to be blessedly few.”  Although never attending Bible college or seminary, Tozer received two honorary doctorates. During his lifetime, Tozer pastored several Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) churches, authored more than forty books, and served as editor of Alliance Life, the monthly denominational publication for the CMA. At least two of Tozer's books are considered spiritual classics, The Pursuit of God and The Knowledge of the Holy, a tremendous accomplishment for a man with no formal theological education. 


The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

From The Pursuit of God (1948)

by A.W. Tozer

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