It’s Better To Be a Hungry Baby
Than a Stuffed and Complacent “Maybe”

[God] has noticed that the repetitive falsehoods are fading away, and He’s waiting for them to be replaced by a new vocabulary of honesty: “No, I am not all right, and everything isn’t fine—I’m hungry! (The God Catchers, p. 63).

On rare occasions, instinctive human behavior appears to faintly resemble divine behavior. For instance, when was the last time you saw a flock of adults rush toward another adult to coo, ooh and ah, and make a big fuss over them? When was the last time you saw this happen when a little baby was brought into a room?

Is it wrong to imply that Christians should remain babies in some way? Is it possible or desirable to somehow “grow up” in Christ while retaining a baby’s total dependence and crying need for Him? (Are you interested?)

Perhaps you noticed that there is something about childlike dependency, trust, and urgent need in the human heart that captures the heart of Divinity. Jesus had His “little ones” in mind when He issued some of the New Testament’s strongest and most severe warnings about misuse and abuse.2 He was talking about more than natural babies and toddlers—He was referring to everyone, young and old, who cried out to Him with juvenile cries of desperation and dependency.

Are you convinced that His words apply you? Why or why not?

God loves us all without showing partiality; but He does extend the extra care and protection found in His presence to those who openly demonstrate their urgent need for Him.

Hungry babies just aren’t intimidated by the people around them. They put their total focus and energy on their hunger and the source of their satisfaction. At the height of their hunger, they make no room for distractions of any kind (The God Catchers, p. 62).

In contrast, many Christians do their best to demonstrate their independence and self-sufficiency in public worship gatherings. They would never think of “going forward” in a public invitation for prayer. Such a transparent admission of need is unacceptable because it would reveal politically incorrect cracks in their carefully cultivated façade of Christian perfection. In their determined effort not to attract any attention to their need, they’ve also managed to totally lose God’s interest and attention!

Where do you fit in this picture? Are you a “bold and hungry baby” in His presence or a “stuffed and complacent maybe” who approaches worship on a whim, willing to worship Him as long as you feel like it?

Some of us have “faked fullness” for most of our Christian lives. Whether in church or on the job, we live with a “pasted-on smile,” and we refuse to leave home without it. The truth is that more and more Christian “fakers of fullness” are saying, “I’ve had enough of that.” Their inner hunger is beginning to get the best of them, and God is beginning to get interested once again (The God Catchers, p. 63).

Have you had enough? Is your inner hunger level beginning to get the best of you?

 Remember Where You’ve Been, But Always Dare to Dream

Have you noticed that true hunger has an uncanny ability to make us genuinely real and brutally honest? Just the mention of the word hunger recalls the mental picture of a hungry baby who thinks nothing of disrupting a church service to display his hunger (page 62).

1. When you think of the word hunger, what image fills your mind?

2. Have you ever been hungry-hungry to the point of desperation or even starvation? Do you think spiritual hunger can reach the same desperation point?

3. Recall times of spiritual hunger in your life (perhaps it is more than a mere memory-you may be desperately hungry for Him right now). What are you prepared to do about it?

Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:28-30, in which Jesus calls to Himself everyone who is weary and overloaded.

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, I’m so hungry for You that I’ve dropped every façade of fakery I possessed. I don’t care who knows how desperate I am—I need You!

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Let Hunger Rise and Have Its Say!

Have we become like the Laodicean church members who said, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” while totally unaware that they were “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked”?3 (The God Catchers, p. 63).

Rent a meeting room, set tables, and invite 200 guests to a five-course meal “fit for kings.” Then watch what happens when your guests are “served” by perfectly dressed and trained waiters delivering single servings of sugar pills, pieces of fruit-flavored chewing gum on toothpicks, breath mints, antacid tablets, and plastic wrapped candies. The guests may manage to preserve the pretense of civility for one or two of these “courses,” but the time inevitably will come when someone brave enough to break the silence will voice his hunger (and irritation with such a façade of a feast).

Would this one person’s honesty make his less vocal companions feel embarrassed at first? Would that make his honesty inappropriate or wrong? How does this example apply to your life and your local church experience?

The medical world uses the term, placebo, to describe the sugar pills physicians sometimes prescribe as “medication” for unknowing patients. These “medications” have no medicinal or nutritional properties, but the patients gladly receive them as the cure for what ails them. How many times do we go home after our worship gatherings happily clutching powerless spiritual placebos prescribed in place of the real cure for our gnawing hunger of the heart? (It is rare to find an insincere or dishonest pastor, so the problem must be that spiritual leaders are simply human too.)

We go through life trying to fill our existence with empty platitudes and man-pleasing programs while we gradually grow weaker and colder in spirit—until the day hunger finally rises up to have its say.

Have you ever felt hunger rise up in your soul to voice your hunger in desperate tones? What would happen when or if it did?

Why does it take so long for us to perceive our condition and seek the face of our Cure? In the absence of courage, truth is most often concealed and weakness is rarely revealed. God had good reason to warn us that fearing man is the equivalent of a dangerous trap set for our souls.4 Momentary fear races through entire church congregations when even one voice rises to God in uninhibited frustration and desperation, “God, I need You!”

When this kind of honesty surfaces in a church service, we start to feel awkward. That is because most of us are uncomfortable with this amount of intense hunger ...

We are afraid to recognize and confess our gnawing hunger of the heart, and we are even more afraid of its cure—a fresh and intimate encounter with the presence of God. It’s simple: God’s children need more than Daddy’s Word, Daddy’s gifts, Daddy’s daily provision, or the assistance of Daddy’s earthly assistants. We need Him. We desperately long to feel His touch on our lives (The God Catchers, p. 63).

Why would God release such a spirit of hunger in a local church? Why did He put this book in your hands? Could it be that desperate hunger part of His divine agenda for you?

What Do You Think?

Some of us have “faked fullness” for most of our Christian lives. Whether in church or on the job, we live with a pasted-on smile, and we refuse to leave home without it. The truth is that more and more Christian “fakers of fullness” are saying, “I’ve had enough of that.” Their inner hunger is beginning to get the best of them, and God is beginning to get interested once again (page 63).

1. What do you think? Are you personally acquainted with “faked fullness” and the pasted-on smile? Explain.

Are you personally acquainted with “faked fullness” and the pasted-on smile? Explain.

2. Honestly, is your inner hunger beginning to get the best of you? Describe what is happening in your life as you learn more about hunger and the pursuit of God.

Scripture Reading: Revelation 3:14-19, in which Jesus reveals the desperate condition of the complacent and satisfied church.

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 
15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 
16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 
17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 
18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, not my will but Yours be done. In Your mercy, deliver me from the snare of satisfaction and the sin of complacency. Thank You for opening my eyes to my own desperate condition. I’m determined to pursue You and sooth my heart’s longing in Your presence.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Climb God’s Tree of Sovereignty  
To Activate Your Destiny

Don’t miss your moment in the Son; God has invested more than you know in you and your encounter with Him (The God Catchers, p. 65).

Have you ever read that the God you serve “declares the end from the beginning”?5 Curiosity led me to dig deeper, and that is how I discovered that the Hebrew word translated “declares” actually means to stand boldly out opposite.6 I don’t claim to be a theologian, linguist, or English professor, but that string of words sure sounds to me like “seeing and doing things backwards from the usual.” That perfectly matches the situation described on page 64 of The God Catchers:

Zacchaeus’s friends, along with many contemporary folks who casually peruse the pages of the Bible, probably share the same thought about him: “Lucky for him that sycamore tree was there.” I am reminded that it takes longer to grow a sycamore tree than it does to grow a man, and it seems to me that our Sovereign God approaches neither task lightly, casually, or haphazardly…

Long before Zacchaeus was born, I believe God planted a seed beside the Jericho road.

Review your life and answer this question: What seed did God plant in the earth in anticipation of your birth—and the day you would pass His tree of destiny with a strangely compelling urge to climb it? Did you climb or decline? (You may be standing in the shade of yet another tree this very moment…)

We can count on God to “stand boldly out opposite” from our way of seeing and doing things. Man may call it lucky, but I can almost hear God reply to us, “There was no luck involved. I work with the dynamic of destiny birthed in a meeting of divine sovereignty and human desperation.” We shouldn’t be surprised. God warned us that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours.

“No, nothing is more important to Me than preplanning encounters with My children.” Then He added, “I can’t make Zacchaeus climb the tree, but I can plant the tree. Only his hunger will cause him to climb the tree. In the meantime, My sovereignty will make sure the tree is in its place, ready and waiting for his climb to destiny” (The God Catchers, p. 65).

If is really true that God preplans encounters with His children (and the life experiences of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Ruth, and all of the prophets along with the twelve disciples and Paul seem to confirm it); then shouldn’t we make “destiny tree-climbing” one of our prime priorities?

Isn’t this just another name for God Chasing? Are you pursuing His presence or just watching the chase from the safety of a church pew or easy chair?  

Take It Personally!

Scripture Reading: Revelation 3:20 and 1 Samuel 3:10-11; where we learn that Jesus Christ knocks on the door of our hearts as Christians; and we consider the way young Samuel answered the knock of Divinity in his life.

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 

10 Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”
11 Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

If I have to climb every tree and open every door that presents itself in my pursuit of Your face, I’ll do it Lord. I am too desperate for You to miss my moment in the presence of the Son. The cost of missing You is far higher than the cost of chasing and catching You!

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Deity Over Dignity!

Accept Your Blind Date With Destiny

While Zacchaeus stood in the shadow of the sycamore tree debating over his dignity, the angels were cheering, “Go on; climb the tree, man! Get up there; we didn’t guard this tree for 50 years for nothing. Deity over dignity!” (The God Catchers, p. 66).

Consider this fantastic possibility: Even before your conception years ago, God had already prepared and preplanned your blind date with destiny. Not only in the all-important matter of salvation through Christ, but also in the fulfillment of His purposes for your life. The problem comes with our distorted concepts of personal dignity. It is possible that one Jericho tax official in particular wrestled long and hard with the crucial question of dignity:

How often have you wrestled with dignity’s indignity over the necessity of humility in the chase? No one can escape it. Have you ever read that even Jesus “humbled Himself”?8 Is a still small voice pressing the point of eternity in your heart? Can you hear the cry, “Deity over dignity”?

… After all the sovereign preparations for this blind date with destiny, this was no time for Zacchaeus to wrestle with his fear of public disapproval by a public that already disapproved of him (The God Catchers, p. 66).

The Bible tells us that God shows no favoritism. That means that He has also made preparations for your blind date too. Whether or not you “wrestle” under the tree is up to you. Destiny awaits you if you climb it.

What Do You Think?

“No, nothing is more important to Me than preplanning encounters with My children.” Then He added, “I can’t make Zacchaeus climb the tree, but I can plant the tree. Only his hunger will cause him to climb the tree. In the meantime, My sovereignty will make sure the tree is in its place, ready and waiting for his climb to destiny” (page 65).

1. What do you think? Do you believe God is really wants to have encounters with people? Do you believe God has planted “a tree of destiny” for you? Have you already climbed it?

2. If you haven’t encountered your “tree” yet, how hungry are you? What will you do when you find the tree God prepared for you?

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:13-16 and John 10:10b. The same God who saw us even before our conception orchestrated the birth, life, and death of His Son to give us life, “that we may have it more abundantly.”

13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

10 b I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982..

Lord, I would rather die with Your deity in my sight than live with man-fearing, man-pleasing dignity ruling my life. Deliver me from my dignity that I might be caught up, lifted up, transformed and consumed in Your deity.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Something happened to me after decades of serving God and preaching what I thought was revival. Something was missing, and I had an idea it was God’s presence. That was when I decided that I was tired of standing on the sidewalk watching the “Jesus parade” pass by. I became too hungry to be satisfied with “church as usual” (The God Catchers, p. 67).

Have you ever read the account of Zacchaeus or some other Bible character, and then felt pangs of longing or even jealousy wrack your soul? “Why couldn’t it have been me, Lord?”

Whether we like it or not, the cross of daily crucifixion and all-out commitment is mandatory for God Chasers who are too hungry to be content with church as usual.

How does the idea of daily cross bearing and God Chasing match up with our modern concept that being a Christian is mostly a matter of regular church attendance? How does it match up with your daily life?

Zacchaeus climbed the tree, but Jesus invited Himself to the house. God plants the tree in your life, but hunger makes you climb it. God creates the occasion, but you must take advantage of it… “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” 10 If you dare to climb the tree of hunger, you may not have to invite Him—He may just invite Himself (The God Catchers, p. 72).

Passion For God Often Offends Men

Bartimaeus’ friends couldn’t do for him what Jesus could. They were offended by the beggar’s cries because they perceived it to be a distraction; but the Son of God was attracted to Bartimaeus’ cries because He perceived it to be worship served on a platter of pure passion. (The God Catchers, p. 69).

It is inevitable. The moment desperation shows up in your life, certain friends will show up with “wise counsel” designed to quench the fire, lessen the urgency, and dampen the passion—all for your own good of course.

Even Jesus had His earthly family show up at the door asking for Him while He was still speaking. Many believe they were on a mission to bring Him to His senses. If that really was their goal, He would have none of it. He was possessed with zeal for the Father and His Father’s house and would permit no interference with His pursuit of His destiny.

Have you chased God long enough and passionately enough to offend some of your friends and loved ones? Was God offended by the passion of your pursuit?

Are you, like Bartimaeus, saying to yourself, “If I could just know for sure…”? Bartimaeus didn’t know for sure, but he was determined not to miss his moment. He thought, Well, if He’s this close, I have to do something to capture His attention.

If Bartimaeus had listened to his friends, he would have missed his divine appointment. One cry wasn’t enough. Most of us don’t like living in the tension between the first cry and God’s final response (The God Catchers, pp. 68-69).

Bartimaeus discovered something unpleasant and difficult in the gap of time between his first frantic cry and Jesus’ final response—the tense time of waiting, uncertainty, persecution, and sheer faith experienced by everyone seeking His visitation. The first thing produced by a cry of desperation is rarely inspiration. It is usually the irritated shouts, comments or whispers of disapproving people around you. As we noted in The God Catchers, “If the first voice that reaches you after your first cry of hunger says, “Calm down,” it probably won’t be the voice of God” (p. 69).

Have you heard conflicting voices speak to you since you began the chase? Did the first voices urge you on in your passionate pursuit of Deity, or did they pressure you to maintain the proper posture of humanity at rest?

What Do You Think?

There may be times in your life when your spiritual “senses” seem deafened or blinded, and you won’t be able to sense the nearness of God. In times of spiritual sensory deprivation, you must walk by faith and stand on His Word. You may have to take someone else’s word that He is in the house. Whether it is a worship leader, a spouse, or a preacher, pay close attention when the person says, “He’s close” (page 71).

1. What do you think? It should be obvious that none of us is privileged to live in His manifest presence every day or even in every service. That means we must learn to walk by faith and not by sight. What do you do when you can’t sense God’s nearness?

2. Describe an experience when God used someone else to help lead you to Him:

Scripture Reading: Mark 10:46-52, in which blind Bartimaeus releases such passionate cries of desperation that he captures the Lord’s attention over the noise and chaos of a surging crowd.

46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.
47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.”
50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.
51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”
52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.

I’m determined not to miss my moment with You, Lord. If You’re this close, I have to do something to capture Your attention! I’m desperate for You—“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Desperate Enough to Arrest God’s  Attention

I wish more of us in the church would get tired of standing on the sidewalk of spectator Christianity while the “Jesus parade” goes by. Somebody needs to get hungry enough to cry out. Somebody needs to get desperate enough to arrest the attention of heaven and say, “I’m not going to let You pass me by, Lord. I thank You for what You have done, but I’m desperate for what You can do” (The God Catchers, p. 72).

Most people have a persistent picture of Jesus Christ reaching out to the blind, the demonized, and the physically handicapped. There isn’t anything wrong with this picture because He does come to us. We know from the Scriptures that we love Him because He loved us first. The problem arises when you let this one-dimensional view limit your response to Him. The fact is that really desperate people often reach out to Him using every means available.

What picture of the Master “hangs in the wall of your memory”? Is He coming to you or to others in need, or are you running to Him? Do you unconsciously expect Him to always come to you in times of need or do you understand your responsibility to run to Him as well?

·        Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus with all of the power his lungs could muster.

·        The woman suffering from incurable and chronic blood hemorrhage pursued Him in the middle of a crushing crowd. She risked everything just to secretly touch the hem of His garment—which may indicate that she approached Jesus from behind on her hands and knees while using one hand to fend away the feet of the crowd pressing around and above her.

·        The persistent mother from Canaan pursued Him beyond the accepted boundaries of social, racial, and religious protocols—she was desperate to win deliverance for her daughter.

·        The demoniac possessed by a legion of demons rushed to meet Jesus at the lake shore with his body covered by nothing but the blood from his self-mutilation.

·        The desperate friends of the paralyzed man confined to a litter resorted to property damage and “breaking and entering” to place him in the presence of the Healer.

It is sobering to realize that none of these responses would be considered “acceptable” in the typical North American church service! (The ushers would have those nuisances out of the door before the second offering.) I long for the day it is not only acceptable but common for the lost and hurting to cry out and run to Him in our worships services.

If these responses were acceptable to Jesus Christ, why would they be unacceptable in churches today? What would you do if you knew you had to capture the attention of God in some way?

Bartimaeus couldn’t even see the one he was chasing. He was incapable of effectively pursuing Jesus in a physical way, yet it was this blind beggar who became the “God Catcher” that day. How did he do it?

… What did Bartimaeus do to arrest the momentum of the Messiah? Examine the words he sent from his heart to the ears of God. He said, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He worshiped! With all the passion, hunger, and desperation in his being, the son of Timaeus arrested the attention of the Son of God. Radical praise brings radical presence! (The God Catchers, p. 70).

What Do You Think?

Worship comes in many forms. It can touch Him through the slightest brush of a finger against the hem of a garment. It can reach Him through the hoarse-voiced cry of the vocal cords, or it can traverse time and space without a sound as a silent scream of passionate desperation from a broken heart.

Desperate worship stops God in His tracks no matter what social strata it comes from. All are equal in His sight. If God would stop the parade of the universe long enough to change these two human destinies forever, what could He do for you (page 72)?

  1.                 What do you think? Do you really believe that your desperate worship could actually “stop God”?

2.                 Re-read the passage above and answer the question again (or as many times as it takes until your answer is yes).

Scripture Reading: Matthew 15:22-28, where the widow from Canaan arrests the attention of Jesus and receives a miracle through the persistent and passionate faith.

22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”
23 But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”
24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.

Lord, I don’t want to be presumptuous and I don’t want to be too proud to cry out to You either. All I know is that I need You more than I need the approval and blessings of anyone else. I love my family and friends, but they can give me what You can—the privilege of dwelling in Your presence. If I’m desperate enough to cry out to You, then maybe I can arrest Your attention and catch You once more with my passionate worship.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

He is the Cure For Our “Me” Disease

… a lot of Christians never “get it” …They think church is about them, so they turn church into glorified ”bless me clubs” when God thinks it’s a “bless Him club.” God has this incredible idea that church is all about Him, and He can’t seem to get it out of His mind (The God Catchers, p. 76).

Two of the most persistent and destructive deeds of the flesh include our human tendency to claim God’s glory are our own, and our stubborn habit of “steering” our worship services closer to man’s heart than to God’s. In The God Catchers, we noted, “For some reason, God actually thinks people dress up and gather together in a church meeting for Him! That gives new meaning to the phrase, ‘waiting on the Lord,’ doesn’t it?” (p. 77)

Have you noticed that “things we do in church” are generally considered exempt from our thinking about “deeds of the flesh”? Examine a typical church service and contrast the things that might please God with the things that would only please the flesh.

Few people have the time or patience to pity what we call “pretend waiters” in The God Catchers. It is almost certain that you have suffered at the hands of these pretenders who feel obligated to interrupt your meal and conversations every five minutes or so, even in some of the finest restaurants. I wonder how God classifies the quality and consideration of our “waiting” in the spiritual restaurant called the church?

How would you rate your waiting skills? How ranks first on your “ones to please” list each day and especially in corporate worship settings?

I’ve noticed that whenever God begins to manifest His presence in our services, it requires us to suspend our plans. It is at that touchy point of self-sacrifice that many of us begin to resent His visitation as an inconvenience! How dare He interrupt our carefully devised plans—He almost acts like He owns that place.

Have you ever felt irritation and offense over God’s interruption of your plans? Did you turn your back on the supposed offense or on the alleged Offender? Are you willing to embrace some temporal disappointment in exchange for divine visitation?

In The God Catchers, we read, “The Lord loves to come to services where we anticipate His every desire and whim. He delights to see us carefully seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every part of the service—whether our preset song lists, order of service, or programs are disrupted or not” (p. 78).

He is the cure for our “me disease,” but it all begins with us. We possess the power to change the level and quality of service in our worship services. God is ready and willing to manifest His glory among us. It is up to us now.

Are You Seated High Enough
To See “What Was Always There”?

If we forget that this is all about Him, if we revert to the myth that church is all about us, then we never quite enter in and we miss the whole purpose of it all. The short version of this is that we need a perspective change (The God Catchers, p. 79).

In those moments when our vision is the clearest, we quickly admit that most of our lives are spent on us and not on Him. We may even admit that most of the time we invest in corporate worship is really spend dealing with our issues and not with His. God really doesn’t mind us dealing with our issues in church, He care about every detail of our lives. However, I think He wonders when we will return to our first priority and purpose in life—loving and pleasing Him.

Has the myth of “us” stolen the promise of His presence in your local church services? Is it time for a personal and corporate perspective change to refocus the “service” on Him?

We aren’t as “cocky” we devote more attention to Him than to us during our worship services. Why? It is because we can’t march according to human maps and man-made priorities in those meetings. We have no choice but to search for and seek out the face of the God who has the habit of “moving on us” to keep us out of presumption and habitual ritual. Any commitment to finding this God who hides can create some measure of godly tension and discomfort at times.

It’s a lot like trying to find the opening in heavy, room-darkening shades in an unfamiliar hotel room in the morning. Some of those rooms can get so dark that you can’t tell what time of day it is. Sometimes you get out of bed and try to find the opening in the drapes by running your fingers along the pleats until you suddenly see a shaft of light. “Oh, there it is.”

That is what we do in our services sometimes. We don’t exactly know where the opening leading to His presence is, so we just run our hands along the pleats of the veil until we find the place where it has been freshly ripped.

Are you committed to finding the God who hides? Just how uncomfortable and stretched are you willing to become in your pursuit of His presence?

God tends to take us beyond the edge of our comfort zones to change our perspective of His presence. He will gladly disrupt the patterns of entire congregations and cities if it means He will be welcomed and served with His favorite delight in the end. It all comes back to the question, “What does a human waiter offer a divine customer?” (Add the question, “What is the human waiter prepared to sacrifice for Divinity’s pleasure?”)

What Do You Think?

Gifted waiters don’t act as if you inconvenienced them by showing up in their restaurant or in their serving section. They make you feel special, as if you are a long-lost and beloved family member who has returned for a special reunion meal.
… Can I tell you that is also what a good worship “service” is like? The Lord loves to come to services where we anticipate His every desire and whim. He delights to see us carefully seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every part of the service—whether our preset song lists, order of service, or programs are disrupted or not (page 78).

1. What do you think? Is it really possible to make God feel special, like a beloved family member being honored at a reunion meal? (HINT: See 1 Corinthian 11:23-26.)

2. What do you think? How often have you attended a worship service in which every effort was made to “seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit,” even if it meant changing previously made plans? Was the service significantly different from other services? Explain.

Scripture Reading: Colossians 3:1-3 and 2 Peter 2:1-4. Where Paul commands us to seek the things above and set our affections above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God; and where Peter assures us God has already given us everything we need for success in this life.

1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

The Holy Bible, New King James Version, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.) 1982.

Lord, forgive me for setting my sights on what is “low and lifted up” instead of raising them to view You, high and lifted up. I am hungry for You, and now I see that the only way to experience Your manifest presence is to wait upon You and put Your desire for true worship first. I’m determined to wait upon You and pursue You until I find You.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

What Spirit Possesses You to Sing At Midnight?

Your heavenly Father never intended for you to dwell in the earthly realm, constantly looking at and dwelling on your problems. You were birthed for the heavenlies. In fact, you are the only creature of earth that was birthed for the heavenlies. Everything else in the earthly realm must stay in this realm. You don't belong down here, so shake off those earthly chains! (The God Catchers, p. 81).

It seems backwards somehow, but the best way to make things better when you feel bad is to worship God. Naturally, the last thing our flesh wants to do when things are bad is to thank God for His blessings and worship Him. It may not make much sense to the human mind, but it makes perfect sense in the mind of Deity.

What is your natural response when things go bad in your life? Do you want to run away from the problems, run to God and cry for help, or drop to your knees and worship Him? Which choice seems most logical?

Consider the illogical actions of Paul and Silas in Acts 16. The prisoners chained to the walls and locked in the stocks of the ancient Philippi prison in Macedonia probably thought the two men held in the inner dungeon were out of their minds. It is likely the old timers in that place had never heard sane men sing in that foul-smelling darkness, yet those two new comers were singing and worshiping their God so loudly their voices were hoarse! The diagnosis of insanity was even more probable since everyone in the prison heard the sickening thunk of rods striking human flesh just before the strangers were brought to the cell reserved for chief offenders. As the midnight approached, the prisoners listened to the singing and thought, What unearthly spirit possesses these men and causes them to sing and pray when they should be wailing in pain and cursing the men who beat them?

What Spirit possesses you in times of pain, difficulty, or impossibility? Do you sing and pray to Him or moan and groan to men in the midnight hour of adversity?

What is the secret of worship during the dark hours of life? "When you begin to worship, you ascend to join the Object of your adoration. The Bible says God '…made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus'" (The God Catchers, p. 81). There is no evidence that our divine seating assignment changes with changing circumstances on earth, and there is a certain logic to the idea that when you have a big problem you should seek out a bigger solution.

When you have an encounter with the presence of God, the problems that loomed so large that they blocked out the light of hope itself suddenly seem to be so much smaller that they've lost their power to paralyze and control your life. Did the problems change? No. Your perspective changed. You now view them from the eternal perspective of heaven as God always intended. That is what worship does for you. Your problems aren't too big-perhaps your worship is too small!

More Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms

An elevated perspective changes everything.

That is why you can come into a worship service weighed down with big troubles and insurmountable problems and suddenly sense a change the moment you catch an “updraft” of the Spirit (page 80).

… Suddenly you find yourself soaring in His presence. When you take time to look down, the childlike part of you wants to turn to Him in awe and wonder to say, “Wook, Daddy! Widdle troubles, widdle problems, widdle fears” (page 81).

Some of the most common assumptions or misaligned paradigms are those we cling to individually. There are rarely voiced or supported by the leadership in our churches, but these ideas and ways of thinking still persist. None is more common than the “mountain of a problem” paradigm.

Can you count the times you’ve entered a worship service with your thoughts clouded and overshadowed by a pressing problem or “mountain” of fear and doubt? (If it has happened more times than you can count, then you are like most Christians today.) This may well point to:

a.    An earth-bound mentality

b.   A form of spiritual myopia (nearsightedness) that afflicts every believer at some time or another.

c.    A habit of looking harder and longer at the problem than at the face of God and His unchanging Word.

d.   A need for a new perspective, preferably from the heavenly realm of God

e.    All of the above.

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:4-7, where Paul tells us we have been raised up together with Christ and are seated with Him in heavenly places.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Worship is my lifestyle, Lord. I won’t reserve it for the comfort of an organized worship service with other believers—I’ll tap its deep well in the dark hours of my life as well. The demand for worship is as constant as the faithfulness of Your love and the depth of Your worth as the Almighty Creator. Therefore, I will praise You in good times and bad, and I will worship You morning, noon, and night, Lord. I’m desperate for You, and in You I have everything I need.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

The Proof Is In the Waiting

Everybody likes the end results of a miracle, but no one likes the waiting process. Yet it is in the waiting that He actually proves He is God in response to your absolute dependency on Him. Waiting puts you in the position to know that Satan cannot rob you, and that it is impossible for God to be "late" (The God Catchers, p. 86).

David clearly understood the concept of waiting on God. He didn't offer us theory, conjecture, or imagination when he wrote about waiting in the Psalms. He had impeccable credentials as a waiter. The prophet Samuel anointed David as Israel's new king when he was still a youth, but David didn't assume the throne until he was thirty years old. In fact, he spent most of those years waiting on God while running for his life from King Saul. He waited, worshiped, cried out, and praised God in caves, in the cities of his enemies, and in the wilderness. Later, King David even waited on God when his own son rebelled, assumed the throne, and led an army campaign to murder him. The proof of God's presence in David's life was in the waiting, and in the results produced by his waiting on Deity.

Which part of David's life do you prefer: the promise part, the waiting part, or the ruling part? Which part of your life do you prefer? Which is the most important?

The only way we can "entertain" God's presence is by waiting on Him. If we want His presence to invade our individual lives, we must learn to wait on Him individually. If we long to see His presence invade our churches or our city, then we must learn to wait on Him and serve Him in corporate unity. Remember that you must deal with first things first: Become a good waiter privately before you can effectively play a role corporately.

How are your personal "waiting skills"? Do you know how to make God feel at home in your home?

In most cases, we could maintain life and church as usual even if God "never showed up." That means we have little or no true dependency upon Him. He proves He is God as we wait upon Him in absolute dependency. Any way you look at it, we must restructure our lives and worship to restore true dependence on Deity and less dependence on humanity.

 What Do You Think? 

What will happen if we ever learn how to entertain His presence by waiting on Him? Is there any way to measure the potential of the supernatural power of God released in His people? If a city is to receive divine visitation, someone must learn how to host the Holy Spirit! (page 84)

What do you think?

Scripture Reading: Psalm 27:11-14, in which David urges us to wait patiently before the Lord.

11 Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I've been living far to independently lately. I renounce every independence in my life, and I announce my total and complete dependence upon You. I am completely and permanently in need of Your presence moment by moment. Apart from You I can do nothing but fail and fall. I will patiently wait on You; hungry, thirsty, and longing for Your presence.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

God Chasers Never Play
With Man's Matches!

Our problem is that we get in such an all-fired hurry to get results that we try to use man's matches to set our own hair on fire! There is a big difference between the fire of God and the fire of man (The God Catchers, p. 90).

Every year, a number of weekend barbecue fans and cookout kings experience close calls with eternity and the emergency room when they grow impatient with their stubborn charcoal fires. "Let's hurry this thing up," they say. After they "anoint" their burned sacrifice with highly flammable gasoline or charcoal lighter fluid, they light a man-made match that nearly ends life as they know it. Two sons of Aaron tried to hurry up their priestly service to God by introducing "strange fire" into God's holy presence and they became the barbeque that day. In the spirit realm, God's fire and man's matches don't mix at all, but we ignore the warnings and wonder why we get burnt so often in our quest for "revival fire." True revival can come only from the true Reviver. No substitute will do.

Have you or a church leader you know ever grown so impatient with the chase that efforts were made to "hurry up God" by using one of man's matches (such as booking a sure-fire evangelist, using revival formulas, or implementing "fire in the church" programs)? Did any of them really work?

Patient waiting and service are indispensable tools for true God Chasers. In a sense, the pursuit of God's presence is similar to the natural process of pregnancy and delivery. Without the waiting there is no delivery. If delivery comes before its time or is artificially triggered by a foreign substance, then there is a serious risk of spontaneous abortion or miscarriage.

The actual birthing stage of the pregnancy process usually comes to a climax in a matter of hours or a day at most, but it takes nine months of waiting to reach that point. Mothers who have carried a baby from conception to birth understand the sweet pain of waiting (The God Catchers, p. 89).

Do you understand the "sweet pain of waiting" for His presence? Is the joy of His arrival worth the pain of the wait?

Jesus told the disciples to "tarry" or patiently wait on the arrival of God's fire in the person of the Holy Spirit. They followed His instructions without question, not by twiddling their thumbs. They waited and served God in prayer and unity until the time of divine delivery arrived. I was surprised to see that A.B. Bruce, a biblical scholar of the nineteenth century described the delivery this way in his classic theological work, The Training of the Twelve:

The events of Pentecost were the answer to the prayers offered up during those ten days, which we may call the incubation period of the Christian Church.

Waiting, tarrying, pregnancy, incubation-all of these words speak of patience, endurance, and eager anticipation of something more and greater coming our way. The bottom line is this: God Chasers never play with man's matches, no matter how impatient they may feel. There simply is no substitute for the Real Thing, and God's presence comes when, how, and where God chooses. All we can do is wait.

Is it easier to wait knowing that it is a natural part of God's plan for your pursuit of His presence? How does it change your perspective of the dry periods you face as a God Chaser?

What Do You Think? 

We know from the Divine Record that by the time heaven’s fire fell on the worshipers in the upper room and “set their hair on fire,” there were 120 people in the room. What happened to the other 380 people? They just couldn’t wait. When you can’t wait, you may miss your moment (page 89).

1.      What do you think? What do you think happened to the “other 380”?

2.      How far will you go to make sure you don’t miss your moment?

Scripture Reading: Leviticus 10:1-3, Luke 24:49, and Acts 2. These passages contrast the "strange" or profane fire of man with the fire of God experienced at by the 120 at Pentecost.

1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 
2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 
3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.’ ”
So Aaron held his peace

49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 
6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 
7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 
8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 
9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 
11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 
12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”
13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 
15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 
16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
21 And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.’
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 
23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 
24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 
25 For David says concerning Him:
‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 
30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 
31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 
32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 
33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 
39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 
43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 
44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 
45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, I feel pregnant with Your purposes. Labor has overtaken me, and desire for the arrival of Your presence moves me to press on and press in. delivery. Lord, I will wait upon You as long as it takes.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Never Interrupt God's Disruptions

Sometimes our greatest temptations for interrupting God's divine disruptions are rooted in some of God's best gifts (The God Catchers, p. 91).

Every Christmas season and birthday children in North America face a crucial test unawares; a test that may prepare them for effective service in the family of God. What do they do when their parents give them good gifts on those special occasions? Do they take time to look Mom and Dad in the eye and thank them before rushing off to play with their gifts in another room? Do they climb up in their laps and give them snug hugs of gratitude and love, or do they rip off the wrapping paper and disappear without so much as a "Thanks, bye, see you later"?

Did you pass the test in your youth? Did you pass the test the last time you encountered Him in a corporate worship service or prayer meeting?

Our Father in heaven has blessed us abundantly, but all too often we get caught up in the rushed pace of life and quickly go our way, much as the nine lepers who failed to return and praise God after Jesus healed them. Sometimes I wonder if Jesus is still saying, "Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" Some of His best gifts include His spiritual gifts, the spiritually gifted people He sent to lead and equip the church, and His inspired Word. The problem is that we tend to grab His gifts and hole away in our rooms playing church games while forgetting about Him.

We are so blessed by God's Word and by His leaders and charismatic gifts that we can quickly forget that church is about Him, not us. He gave us these gifts to equip us, heal us, lead us, confront us, strengthen us, instruct us, enlighten us, and inspire us in our Christian walk. However, God's gifts should never, ever, in no way whatsoever, take away or minimize our service of love to Him. Our primary object of pursuit should be the Giver, not the gifts!

How easily are you distracted from your primary pursuit of the Giver by the splendid quality of His abundant gifts to you and to the church body? How do you reset your focus when this happens?

Far too often, God's people place their affections on the blessings and gifts God gives them to meet their personal needs. He delights in giving good gifts to His children, but His chief delight is in receiving love, adoration and worship directly from them. It all boils down to who wants to give more than receive. On those occasions when we seek His face rather than His hands, He inevitably meets us in the face place of worship. Yet the moment we sense His manifest presence, we often abandon our position of worship to assume the position of petition; turning our focus from the face of the Giver to His hands. At other times, as soon as His manifest presence raises our excitement level, we want to interrupt our visit with Him to take His gifts and meet the needs of humanity. That isn't a bad thing, but in comparison to ministering to Him, it isn't the best thing. Once we minister to Him, we will find it far easier to minister to man's needs with unequalled authority and spiritual power. These are not deadly sins or unforgivable mistakes, but they usually do cut short our visit with Deity. His manifest presence usually lifts so we can continue our ministry to one another without any further interruption from Deity.

Have you experienced any of these "interruptions of God's disruptions" in your life or in a meeting? What happened when you turned your eyes from His face to minister in His place?

Perhaps I said it best in The God Catchers:

You know men are reaching in their own pockets for matches when their words indicate the presence of a fleshly clock somewhere: "Is this service going somewhere? We need to do something. I just wish we'd hurry up and get to the point." He is the point. His presence is the destination. "Well, what are we going to do? What's next?" That is like standing on top of Mount Everest and saying, "Which way is up?" One step in any direction is a step down (p. 90).

 Remember Where You've Been, But Always Dare to Dream 

Our problem is that we get in such an all-fired hurry to get results that we try to use man's matches to set our own hair on fire! There is a big difference between the fire of God and the fire of man. When the fire of God's presence descends to the earthly realm, it burns but doesn't consume. … 
On the other hand, a lot of people have been burned by "the church in a hurry" over the centuries. Man's fire promotes man's methods instead of God's purpose and presence. That's why we often experience "burnout" (page 90).

1. Do you have "singed hair" and "burn scars" from man's fire and man's methods? Explain. 

2. In your opinion, do people get burned in the church when leaders wait on God too long, or when they grow too impatient to wait and try to light a holy fire themselves?

Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:25-33, where Jesus gives us the prescription for stress relief and proper focus in every area of life (which includes the balance between seeking God and seeking His provision).

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 
27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 
29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 
30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

The truth is that I've lived with less than the best all of my life, Lord. Now that I've discovered the wonder of Your presence, I'm ruined for second-best. Now that I've discovered there is more of You for the asking and the chasing, I live for each new moment of divine encounter. One step in any direction is a step down, and I refuse to take that plunge. My heart longs for You, and nothing and no one less will do.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

What Does a Human Waiter
Offer a Divine Customer?

If you have made a good beginning, do not let the pregnancy of purpose turn into a miscarriage of man or an abortion. God is tired of tapping our shoulder in vain attempts to wrestle us away from our agendas, religious ruts, and fleshly formulas for church. He's looking for a radical few who will say, "I'm going to wait on You until it all happens" (The God Catchers, p. 93).

So what does a human waiter offer a divine customer? "You offer Him good "service"! Offer Him persistent worship and insistent hunger that refuse to give up until He shows up, not spiritual thumb twiddling!" (The God Catchers, p. 94) Virtually anything that is labeled "persistent" or "insistent" is discarded by passive religious systems as either presumptuous toward God or as "too works oriented." Evidently, somebody forgot to tell Jesus that, because He "mistakenly" brought it up in His ministry.

How do you view people who are persistent or insistent in their comments, complaints, or requests to you? Have you ever approached God with a persistent or insistent heart (in line with His Word of course)?

Jesus specifically told His disciples to pray like the "persistent widow" who knocked on the judge's door so persistently that he finally granted her request just to get rid her irritating insistence.10 There is no evidence that Jesus made a mistake here, or anywhere else for that matter, but we like to act like it was a mistake. On the contrary, the previous verse clearly says Jesus wanted to teach the disciples "that men always ought to pray and not lose heart."11

If "waiting on God" actually involves waiting, then do you understand why persistence and patience are so important to God Chasers who seek to become God Catchers?

One of the keys Moses used in the battle with the Amalekites was the posture of worship (see The God Catchers, p. 94). Worship is the main course a true waiter serves a divine customer. Yet there are times when you must serve Him worship in less than pleasant circumstances. True waiting comes in when you learn how to worship over your negative circumstances.

If you are a mother missing her prodigal son, then go home to that empty bed where your wayward son used to sleep. Stretch out your hands and worship over the place of opposition. Turn his empty bed into an altar and turn the tables on the adversary. Turn your health challenges into a place of worship. Turn your empty financial barns into a place of seed-sowing worship!12

Are you facing an impossible situation, a heart wound that just won't heal, or a situation involving an enemy who is determined to stop or destroy you? Make them into a place of worship, an altar of adoration where you offer worship and praise to the God of your salvation.

Can you sense your passion breaking out of its cage? Do you sense your spirit breaking loose from bondages old and new? The old-timers had a phrase for these moments. They called it "waiting on God." You are living between "the already" and "the not yet." It's already promised, but it's not yet delivered. All you can do is wait on God-and that is the best thing to do when you are living in the land of potential, in the in-between zone (The God Catchers, p. 95).

More Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms

Time and time again I watch people worship and welcome God until His manifest presence enters their meetings-and then some of them begin to look at their watches, consult their order of service, or glance at their sermon notes and say, "Well, we've got to continue on with the program now." What program? I thought this was all about Him! We need to learn how to revere divine interruptions (page 90).

When the manifest presence of God enters a worship service, human timetables and manmade agendas often lose all value. In that moment, we must either revere the divine interruption or despise it as a mere disruption of the established order. Everything that follows will depend on that decision. The problem is:

1. Divine interruptions nearly always require the dismantling of human programs. True or False?

2. When God's manifest presence enters center stage, there is no longer any room for man to share the spotlight. True or False?

3. Those seeking man's approval must deal with feelings of jealousy when God enters a service and draws all hearts to Himself. (After all, didn't they labor over their sermons and songs for many hours? How can they just "lay them down" in the absence of any plan, program, or sequence of pre-established events?) True or False?

4. The God who created time is under no obligation to complete His work by lunchtime. (Doesn't God know those roasts we have cooking at home are expensive?)
True or False?

Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:12-14, where Paul describes his all-or-nothing approach to God Chasing and being apprehended by God (or what we call God Catching).

12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I'm living in the land of potential as a refugee in the in-between zone. You are my only hope as I stand between the already promised and the not yet delivered. I'm waiting on You, and I'll just keep waiting on You until You come…

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Human Fullness is The Greatest Obstacle
to Supernatural Filling

Some of us are determined to "present our fullness for God to fill." Then we complain to anyone who will listen that this "intimacy with God stuff" is a hoax. God isn't interested in meeting you at your best-that is really when you are at your worst. He isn't interested in blessing your independence; He responds to your dependence. His strength is attracted to your weakness. He casts down the proud, but He runs to the pitiful1 (The God Catchers, p. 100).

Many confirmed God Chasers in this generation and in generations past share the common conviction that the powerlessness of the church stems from its prayerlessness and its habit of leaning on the weak arm of the flesh rather than on God. It is easier to conduct church business and church worship gatherings according to "cut and dried" patterns, using the more easily controlled natural gifts and abilities of people rather than admitting our reliance upon the irritatingly supernatural gifts and abilities of God. The problem is that if we think and act like we can do a thing without God, then it isn't His.

Take the time to examine your life and the life of your church. How much of what you do each day, and how much of the typical church service, is duplicated effortlessly in business offices, civic organizations and country clubs every day? How much can be attributed solely to the intervention, provision, or personal visitation of God?

We can make people feel better through comforting words, and we can sound wise by delivering the wisdom of men packaged as the wisdom of God. We can even educate people in the Word of God without ever introducing them to the reality of His presence. Yes, their lives will be improved through their proximity to the Truth, but they deserve more. If we presume to "do church" in God's name, the least we should do is lean upon His strength, wisdom, love, grace, and mercy with all of our ability (or should we say "inability"?). I don't remember John saying, "As many as are led by the habits, patterns and programs of men, behold, they are the sons of God." Isn't the Spirit supposed to be involved somewhere in that process? If we think we can "do church" using our "human fullness" without relying on His personal participation and supernatural visitation, then it seems logical that anyone can "do church" without God and have the same "unsupernatural" results. Unfortunately it is more than logical; it seems to be a way of life in much of the modern church world. (Is it any wonder that we are often powerless to transform lives, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed and provide godly leadership in our cities?)

Is it wrong to meet needs using your natural gifts, wisdom or accumulated knowledge? Is a God Chaser a "hyper-spiritual" person who over-spiritualizes even the mundane things of life? (You know the answer to these questions is no.) How should you, as a God Chaser, remain dependent upon God and offer Him emptiness throughout the normal day so His supernatural fullness can invade the mundane?

The desperate widow and mother who encountered Elisha turned to God's fullness for relief when her life and the lives of her sons were endangered by the loss of her husband and the emptiness of her food pantry. She didn't offer God full bowls, pans or containers. She didn't even limit her offering to her personal capacity for "emptiness." Elisha the prophet told her to "collect emptiness" from her neighbors, so she scoured the area for every pot and pan she could.2 The widow didn't understand the importance of her collected emptiness, and neither do we most of the time. "She didn't realize that her cumulative emptiness would literally determine the measure of her miraculous filling" (The God Catchers, p. 99).

God loves to pour out His fullness on man's emptiness, but this won't happen until we run out (or willingly lay down) our strength, resources, ideas, programs, agendas, personal charisma, and "holy hyperbole." James said we "have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."3 God is "full of pity" or compassionate (The God Catchers, p. 100).

It may hurt, but I have to ask you: Are you full of yourself or full of His presence? What has the fullness in your life produced? What are you "full of"? What do you offer to Him?

 Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms

I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, but it appears that the real harbinger of revival is not a good preacher or a good singer-it is the amount of our "collected hunger." The "God of More Than Enough" is inexorably drawn to the empty capacity of our growling spiritual stomachs, especially when we gather in one mind and one accord with an unappeasable appetite for Him (page 98).

Human beings like clear "cause and effect" relationships. If revival ignites somewhere, we assume that "something" triggered it-something we can duplicate that will benefit us. We really hope that "something" allows us to enjoy the benefits without taking any of the responsibility. Perhaps you've noticed that God doesn't work that way. Our responsibility for hunger is unavoidable on the individual and on the corporate levels. You and I are called to hunger for God.

1. What are you hungry for?

2. What do you hunger for in your local church?

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 4:1-7, in which God uses a destitute widow to reveal how the volume of our spiritual hunger determines how much of His fullness we can receive.

1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”
2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few.
4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”
5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out.
6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased.
7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, my hunger can't be satisfied by anything in human pantries or on this planet. I have an unearthly appetite for heavenly things, and especially for You. I want You. I've had my fill of earthly treasures and they left me feeling emptier and more desperate than ever. Forgive me for offering You my fullness, and please accept my empty longing for Your presence.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

God Searches For Passionate 
Pot and Pan Collectors

We shouldn't be content merely to present our own emptiness to the Father; we need to collect the emptiness and pain of those around us-exactly as Jesus taught us to do through His own example. Didn't I read somewhere that "He always lives to make intercession for them"? What do you live for? (The God Catchers, p. 100).

Whether in the church or in our individual lives, the preoccupation with "self" and self-comfort looms as one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the Christian life. According to the Scriptures, God searches for worshipers and for people who will lay down their lives to stand in the gap-God's intercessors and anointed "pot and pan collectors." These people look beyond their own needs and wants to "collect emptiness" from everyone their lives touch. Why? They offer the collective emptiness to the God of More Than Enough in return for His fullness on behalf of others.

Are you a holy pot and pan collector or a personal need and want seeker? Do you spend most of your time before the One who laid down His life for you seeking His blessings, or by laying down your own life before Him on behalf of others?

…it appears that you can collect emptiness from your neighbors like [the widow] did. In my mind, that is exactly what we are doing through intercessory prayer for our neighbors, schools, public officials, the government, and other nations (The God Catchers, p. 100).

Intercessory prayer isn't exactly the most popular activity on the Christian scene. Could that be because it usually done beyond the view of the public eye, and because intercessors are rarely recognized, praised, or honored for the service they render on their knees? I'm reminded that intercession is the occupation Jesus chose after He defeated the enemy, rose from the dead, and took His seat at the right hand of the Father. Could we do any better?

Does the idea of intercessory prayer seem to be an odd match with the picture of a passionate God Chaser in hot pursuit of God's presence? Why? Every God Chaser of any consequence has been a person of deep and consistent prayer-how are your "knee skills"? How would you rank prayer-especially selfless intercessory prayer-as a "pursuit vehicle" in the chase for His presence?

God Chasers have no need to "work up" passion for God or compassion for others. If you intercede for others while you pursue Him, you will find yourself following the example of Jesus and "feeling compassion" on behalf of those God leads into your life.

God says, "Pour out whatever oil you have. Empty yourself so I can fill you with more of Myself." The volume of your emptiness determines the amount of your filling. He can't fill any thing more than what you present to Him (The God Catchers, p. 101).

While you are gathering up the emptiness in your own life, will you take the time to gather up "not a few" vessels of emptiness from those around you and others God leads into your path? If you can increase the volume of the emptiness you offer Him…

 What Do You Think? 

Some of us are determined to "present our fullness for God to fill." Then we complain to anyone who will listen that this "intimacy with God stuff" is a hoax. God isn't interested in meeting you at your best-that is really when you are at your worst. He isn't interested in blessing your independence; He responds to your dependence. His strength is attracted to your weakness. He casts down the proud, but He runs to the pitiful (page 100).

1. What do you think? Do we instinctively approach our heavenly Father in the same way we approached our earthly parents, proudly displaying our accomplishments in hopes of praise? 

2. What do you think? Have you ever wanted to display your disappointment by telling someone, "This 'intimacy with God stuff' is a hoax"? Are you comfortable offering God your brokenness and dependence?

Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 22:29-30, where God describes His search for someone willing to "make a wall, and stand in the gap … on behalf of the land"; and Philippians 2:20, where the apostle Paul describes his search for someone to faithfully care for the church of Christ rather than "seek their own."

29 The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. 
30 So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I thought my hunger and thirst for You was measureless…until I began to see the hunger and thirst in those around me. I've gathered them together in my heart and I lift up all of these empty vessels to You along with my own desperate longing to pray, "Fill us with Your fullness, Lord."

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

The Hungry Get Desperate, 
The Satisfied Become Apathetic

God is looking for really hungry people. He hopes to find them in the church, but if necessary He will bypass an entire temple filled with dainty casual nibblers just to find a few really hungry people on the street, in a bar, or on the wrong side of town. Really hungry people tend to be really desperate people (The God Catchers, p. 102).

I've heard it said that many Americans are starving in the land of plenty-not because of the scarcity of food, because we have plenty, but because of their choices of food. Unfortunately this statement applies to the church as well. As stated in The God Catchers:

Our problem is our diet. We like to stuff ourselves on spiritual junk food and feast on dainty bless-me treats. That is the kind of spiritual "food" that has all the form and outward appearance of godliness, but is a standing denial of its power. When the real meat and bread of His presence is placed in front of us, we turn away from His table of intimacy to look for another "quick and easy" flesh-blessing snack at the shallow-food bar. The unpleasant truth is that God is under no obligation to feed casual nibblers at His Communion table (p. 101).

Do you view hunger to be your friend or your enemy? Hunger nearly always feels uncomfortable and even painful, but what role does it play in your physical and spiritual well-being?

People who aren't hungry can easily walk past a banquet table offering the finest and most expensive foods, delicacies, and refreshments available to man. Hungry people, on the other hand, may feel stomach pains at the mere sight of a picture portraying the potential of food! Satisfied Christians can attend a meeting where God manifests His presence and works miracles only to return to their homes unmoved and unimpressed with "the departure from the usual" in that service. Hungry God Chasers grow restless at the mere mention of a possible visitation by God, and the spend many of their waking hours anticipating the moment He manifests His presence once again.

Do you find it easy to attend worship services and leave without sensing God's presence? Does the mere mention of His possible visitation trigger spiritual hunger pains in your heart? Are you chronic and incurable God Chaser?

People who aren't really hungry, especially those who enter His presence fresh from the bless-me church smorgasbord, tend to sample a little here and snack a little there with extended pinkies in mock discernment. They appear to be looking for "just the right feeling" or "just the right song" to get in the mood for communion with God. … In the natural, true hunger can turn an honest man into a dishonest man, and it can transform a non-violent man into a violent maniac. True hunger will make you do things you never, ever think you would do (in the natural and in the spiritual realm). (p. 102)

Do you casually nibble and search for favorite portions of each worship service, or do you enter every gathering feeling the desperation and urgency of a hungry soul, wondering, "Maybe this is the day He will visit us again…"?

More Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms

Our problem is our diet. We like to stuff ourselves on spiritual junk food and feast on dainty bless-me treats. That is the kind of spiritual "food" that has all the form and outward appearance of godliness, but is a standing denial of its power. When the real meat and bread of His presence is placed in front of us, we turn away from His table of intimacy to look for another "quick and easy" flesh-blessing snack at the shallow-food bar. The unpleasant truth is that God is under no obligation to feed casual nibblers at His Communion table.

"Casual nibbling" is the trademark of someone who isn't hungry for some reason or another. We assume that God's grace obligates Him to feed everyone at His table. He does lay food on the table for all who would eat, but He does not prepare smorgasbord fare loaded with sweet but worthless delicacies for every finicky eater. Please mark "True" or "False" after each of the statements below concerning this passage from The God Catchers: 

1. Casual nibblers tend to be drawn to the sweet "bless-me" treats, the personal benefits and emotional thrills of flirtation with Divinity. True or False

2. Casual nibbling allows us to lightly taste God's fare without making any commitment to complete the course and accept its obligations. True or False 

3. Casual nibblers who have filled up with dainty bless-me treats instead of life-changing "bread of His presence" will have no strength to stand in times of trial and adversity. 
True or False 

4. If the Scriptures are right, then the "real meat and bread of His presence" from His table of intimacy produces joy and strength in those who draw near (see Psalm 16:11 and Nehemiah 8:10b). 
True or False

Scripture Reading: Luke 6:20-22, where Jesus spoke directly to His disciples about the blessings in store for those suffering from heart hunger and spiritual thirst in the desolate and dangerous land of man's religion.

20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. 
21 Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. 
22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord Jesus, my soul aches at the mere mention of Your name. My heart leaps with every rumor of Your coming, and each possibility You will manifest Your presence. I'm not satisfied with mere spiritual dainties-I'm ravenously hungry for You in Your fullness. I'm desperate to feast on the bread of Your presence and quench my thirst with the wine of Your Spirit.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Plant Your Emptiness In the Field of His Fullness

When you collect emptiness or create emptiness by sowing what you have into the promises of God, you are living between "the already promised" and the "not yet delivered." You are "banking" on the faithfulness and compassion of God, who always responds to human emptiness with divine fullness. Collected hunger cries out for His filling, and our collective collected hunger will basically determine how much of Him we will receive (The God Catchers, p. 104).

Most people who live in agricultural areas or have some history rooted in the ancient occupation of farming understand the term, "seed corn." They know that survival demands that a farmer set aside a portion of his best corn as a "deposit" on next years crop (especially in Third World nations where it may be impossible to purchase seed from a store or agricultural supply store). I put it this way in The God Catchers:

There is another way to "collect human emptiness" so you can receive divine fullness. It is rooted in God's law of seedtime and harvest. When a farmer prepares to plant seed in the ground, he must take seed corn off the storage shelf to invest it in the field of faith. In other words, he creates emptiness on his shelf to create fullness in the field for harvest. For a while, it looks like there is only emptiness in both places … The temporary emptiness created when you sow "what you have in your house" by faith produces an incredible filling. It is the law of the harvest, of sowing and reaping, in open display (p. 103).

What emptiness do you have in your house that you can sow in the field of faith? Is there an emptiness in your neighbor's house or life that you can sow as seed corn on his or her behalf? Gather all of the lack you can to sow into His abundance and remember that the volume of your harvest depends on the volume or your collective collected emptiness and lack!

I'm convinced that an unprecedented harvest is coming to the kingdom of God, a harvest so prolific that the harvesters will even overtake the sowers!6 However, the church in its present condition is too small in its thinking and too rigid in its ways and expectations to contain or properly care for such rapid growth. The church must change to provide biblical training and nurture for so many new Christians.

God wants to break outside of our centuries-old religious box. That means our hunger has to get bigger than the box. We literally must have an uncontainable hunger for Him if we ever hope to accommodate and entertain His presence.

Have you felt "stretched" and challenged by the Holy Spirit to change since you began chasing God's presence? Has it birthed a new excitement for the harvest in your heart? Are you willing to pay the personal price for such radical change?

 What Do You Think? 

People who aren't really hungry, especially those who enter His presence fresh from the bless-me church smorgasbord, tend to sample a little here and snack a little there with extended pinkies in mock discernment. They appear to be looking for "just the right feeling" or "just the right song" to get in the mood for communion with God. God is looking for really hungry people. He hopes to find them in the Church, but if necessary He will bypass an entire temple filled with dainty casual nibblers just to find a few really hungry people on the street, in a bar, or on the wrong side of town (page 102).

1. What do you think? How would you classify yourself-as a casual feeder or a "starved gorger"? 

2. What do you think? Are there examples in the Bible where God bypassed the religiously complacent to fellowship with the uncommonly hungry? (See Matthew 9:10-13 and Luke 15:1-10). 

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 9:10-11, in which we find rich counsel in the sowing of our "emptiness seed" from a passage generally applied to finances in the kingdom.

10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 
11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know I can't stay where I am today. You are on the move and I have no choice-my hunger forces me to move with my Source of supply. Change me; expand my heart and my mind to accommodate new frontiers of faith and boldness so I can play my part in Your purposes. My direction is uncertain, but my Goal is rock-solid. I will follow You, Lord. My heart's desire is to dwell in Your presence all the days of my life.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Sow Fervent Cries of Emptiness and Hunger
And Reap Supernatural Fullness (Revival)

Collected emptiness is one of the keys to citywide and nationwide revival, because our collected and collective hunger may even cause God to bend the rules of the universe. Ask Moses! Ask Hezekiah! He has frozen the movements of the cosmos at the sound of a worshipful prayer. He has made the dead to rise and struck down the mighty and proud in response to the fervent cry of emptiness and hunger (The God Catchers, p. 105).

When hunger leads you to His feet and your heart burns with the wonder of His love, you begin to share the very passions of God's heart. The same passionate love that led Jesus to lay down His own life to save you and me will ignite new passion and vision in your heart for revival in your generation and the generations to come. All of the great revivals of the past were launched when the dry tender of hungry human souls came into contact with the spark of God's passionate love for the human race. In other words, God uses human torches-God Chasers filled to the point of spontaneous combustion-to light the fires of revival in cities, nations, and entire generations!

Are you filled with His passion and compassion to the point of spontaneous combustion? Are you prepared to become a torch in God's hand, a God Catcher caught in His embrace?

It is possible to start a fire with a single spark carried in one human heart, but it is much better to start a firestorm using the collected heat and energy of many sparks bound together in a single torch of fierce heat. Change your thinking if necessary to include the process of collected the hunger, thirst, and emptiness of those you encounter each day. Offer that collective collected emptiness to the God of More Than Enough in faith, and expect a harvest of His fullness great enough to fill every empty space your gift represents. Believe Him for a visitation and habitation of God's glory that will overwhelm every device, scheme, work and accomplishment of the enemy in the process.

Do you concentrate solely on offering God your own hunger and emptiness, or are you willing to reach out and collect the emptiness of others as well? It can be costly, but are you willing to make the investment in tomorrow's harvest?

Why should we gather the emptiness of other people and offer it to God? Isn't that greedy? No, the only way to follow in Jesus' footsteps is to give up our lives in His name and lay down our lives for others. We are not after a modest shaking, we want a full-blown, all-out earthquake of His glory that is too large to be registered on the Richter scale or any other scale for that matter. The reason is clear:

Revival is not a natural process of time; revival only occurs when eternity visits time. Revival requires supernatural intervention and the suspension of natural processes because you really only have revival when "something that is dead comes back to life" (The God Catchers, p. 105).

Are you prepared to cry out for a resurrection of the dead? Openly display your hunger and desperation for eternity's visit to time. Cry out for Him to manifest His glory in this generation and revival will simply be a byproduct of His nearness to our needs.

… True wide-scale revival requires a supernatural encounter with the manifested presence of God. This happens when we create and collect emptiness by diverting our hunger from man to Him. Remember, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."

Remember Where You've Been, But Always Dare to Dream 

Do you remember the first time you saw His face, the first time that you had an encounter with His presence? If you do, then you understand why people will put up with three weeks of bad church for just 30 seconds of His presence. They just keep coming in the fervent hope that somewhere, someday, man will get out of the way so they can see Him. The first time you see His face hooks you for eternity.

1. Describe your first encounter with God: 

2. Do you know what it is like to "put up with three weeks of bad church for just 30 seconds of His presence"? If so, then describe your dream for the local church you attend:

Scripture Reading: Exodus 3:7-10, where God ambushes Moses with destiny, and says the cries and suffering of His people motivated their divine encounter.

7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 
8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 
9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 
10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, I'm diverting all of my hunger away from man to focus it on You. I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. I know I'm blessed, but I'm not content to stop there. There are too many hungry and desperate people around me who don't know the wonder of Your presence. I'm after nothing less than an explosive encounter with You of such magnitude that it shakes everything that can be shaken.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Let Hunger Lift You Higher and Closer to Him

I confess to you that if there is a secret that I could leave with you in this book, it is this: Your hunger will take you to places in God that nothing else can. Hunger for Him can take you higher and move His presence closer to you that you ever dreamed. By God's design, He is moved and attracted by the hunger of the human heart (The God Catchers, p. 108).

We are too easily satisfied with stories of someone else's encounter with Him … If you are tired of merely hearing about the God encounters other people had, then start collecting and creating emptiness. The same hunger that drove them into His presence will transport you into His presence too. Is your stomach growling yet? Can you feel the hunger pangs starting to grow in strength and frequency?

Christians hide their hunger just as lepers hide their disfigured limbs. We also disguise our passion with paste-on faces and rigid limbs in fear that our peers will uncover our "dirty secret" and drown us in their self-righteous disapproval. What if the very things we consider demeaning to the Christian faith are actually the fuel of God's fire in our hearts? Release the hunger you are hiding behind your rags of outward righteousness. Remove every false disguise; peel away every layer of fake piety and openly display your passionate desperation for His presence. Focus your thoughts on Him and His holiness; let holy hunger pangs grip your soul and transport you where you've never been before. Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near!

The level of passion is increasing-are you feeling more uncomfortable or more at home as the spiritual temperature rises? Why?

Unlike man, God is more interested in your tears of repentance and cries of desperation than in the sharpness of your creases and the size of your offerings. He delights in mascara-stained faces and elaborate hairdos draped across tear-stained carpets. He rejoices over humbled kings of commerce and brokenhearted barons of business and enterprise. It is only the proud that He ignores.

What will you offer Him? Proud religious accomplishments garnished with proper public piety or tearful cries of repentance and hunger soaked in the fiery sauce of desperation? Which would He accept and which would He reject?

Our churches have been guilty of false representation and false advertising long enough. We've claimed to be the bride of Christ while conducting our business and going our own way as if we were "separated" from Him. It is time to return the supernatural part of God's nature to God's house. If we dare to claim, "God is here!" then better be prepared to do what it takes to back up our claim. In The God Catchers, I said:

For too long the church has trumpeted to the nations, "He's here! He's here!" when there wasn't enough of Him there to make the church discernibly different from the world. Our claims were true in the sense that the omnipresent God was present in our churches, but that is no claim to fame. His omnipresence is everywhere, even in bars and nightclubs. It's His manifest presence that we must become hungry for, those undeniable moments when you know…He's here! (p. 109)

Are you hungry for more of Him than you have every experienced? Will you pay the price to stay in His presence? The world is waiting and hoping that we really will produce evidence of the Real Thing-call upon His name and offer Him your uninhibited, unshackled hunger for His presence. 

What Do You Think? 

When you collect emptiness or create emptiness by sowing "what you have" into the promises of God, you are living between "the already promised" and the "not yet delivered." You are "banking" on the faithfulness and compassion of God, who always responds to human emptiness with divine fullness (page 104). 

1. What do you think? Have you been "collecting and sowing emptiness"? Do you know what I mean by living between "the already promised" and the "not yet delivered"? Explain. 

2. What do you think? Why should anyone want to "bank" on God? (After all, you can't even see Him.)  

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55:6-13, where the Prophet says, "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near…."

6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. 
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 
10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 
12 “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I'm removing every self-generated and self-maintained religious disguise and pretence from my life. I refuse to maintain a lie any longer. I am so hungry for You that I will even risk rejection from others so I can draw close to You.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

The Best God Chasers Are 
Skilled Emptiness Collectors

God is shopping for the place of the next outbreak, a place where He can pour out His presence in such volume and power that it will impact people far beyond the four walls of our church buildings… God has enough glory to flood the earth to overflowing. The problem isn't whether or not God is enough. The only things that determine how much oil of His presence flows among us is how empty we are and how much unity we can collect (The God Catchers, p. 111).

If you had ten million dollars to give away, would you be careless when deciding where to place that money? I hope not just any recipient would do because the only predictable aspect of undisciplined human nature is its ability to squander, misuse and abuse resources without forethought or consideration of consequences. God is very particular about where He places His treasure, and its worth is beyond earthly measure. In fact, He prefers to deliver it personally to two or more of us at a time, and preferably while we are in the posture of worship, the ultimate position of humility and selflessness…

How would you characterize the "spiritual posture" you maintain most of the time? Do you stand proud before Him to assert your biblical rights? Are you seated (and half asleep) most of the time or does He find you most often approaching and chasing Him from the position of humility, passionate adoration, and continuous need?

When God's manifested presence comes down to us in response to our worship, He doesn't come to you on one side or to me on the other side of the mercy seat. He comes right in the middle of us. Didn't Jesus say, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them"? He always comes in the middle, and the size of that middle space, the collected and collective sum total of our corporate emptiness, determines how much of Him comes. Wherever you gather with one or more fellow worshipers in His name, He will come in the middle of your collective emptiness (The God Catchers, p. 110).

This concept of offering God "emptiness" may seem strange, but it is thoroughly biblical. It amounts to "leveling" or confessing the truth to God each time we meet. The truth is that no matter how "high" we climb in our walk of faith, we still need His infinite grace and mercy simply to draw our next breath. Each moment of life is a gift from His hand we must never take lightly. Jesus gave us the Scriptural "proof text" for offering the Father emptiness when He told His disciples in blunt, no-exception-to-the-rule terms, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." That means you must "deny utterly, disown and abstain" from, contradict, refuse, and reject" yourself and take up your cross every day. That sounds like a good way to offer Him your emptiness every day.

How do you collect emptiness in your life? How do you collect collective emptiness in your family, in the local church, and in your city or region?

Can I say again that the real harbinger of revival is not a good preacher or a good singer? It is the amount of our collected hunger. I repeat, God is inexorably drawn to the empty capacity of our growling spiritual stomachs when we gather in one mind and one accord with an unappeasable appetite for Him (The God Catchers, p. 112, emphasis mine).

More Erroneous Assumptions,
Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms 

Sometimes it seems that we have no idea what hunger does to God. … Collected emptiness is one of the keys to citywide and nationwide revival because our collected and collective hunger may even cause God to bend the rules of the universe. Ask Moses! Ask Hezekiah! He has frozen the movements of the cosmos at the sound of a worshipful prayer.13 He has made the dead to rise and struck down the mighty and proud in response to the fervent cry of emptiness and hunger.

Hunger seems so "nonreligious" that we automatically assume it shouldn't be included in any "thinking person's faith portfolio." I'm not sure what should be in a "thinking person's faith portfolio," but if hunger isn't in it, then God probably can't be found there either. "Thinking," in and of itself, does not draw us closer to God. The Bible uses more passionate terms to describe how God wants us to act toward Him (fill in the missing words from Matthew 22:37-40, NKJV): 

Jesus said to him, "'You shall ____ the LORD your God with ___ your _____, with all your ____, and with all your ____.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall ____ your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments ____ ___ the Law and the Prophets."

Scripture Reading: Numbers 14:20-21, where God answered the intercessory plea of Moses to forgive the Israelites, and then declared the whole earth would be covered with His glory.

20 Then the Lord said: “I have pardoned, according to your word; 
21 but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord— 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

God, I am desperately hungry for You. I don't lift up my fullness, because I have none. All I have to offer You is my collected emptiness, a holy vacuum that can only be filled by Your presence. I need You! My vessel is empty and my future is in jeopardy. I openly display my desperation and utter dependence upon You. I humble myself and create emptiness so that You might create fullness. I anticipate the joy of a harvest of Your presence in me. Come fill me, Holy Spirit (The God Catchers, p. 112).

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Do You Know How To Carry Heaven's Hot Coffee?

How do you carry the fresh encounter of God in your inward vessel? How does a church body guard the divine deposit from one worship experience to the next? How do you "take this home" in real life? Walk carefully and be aware of His every movement in your heart. Whether you are driving your car, leading worship, preaching a sermon, or bathing your baby, if you feel Him softly tap your shoulder, then "fold up the letter" and turn to look into His face. When He invades your empty space of hunger, turn to meet Him in your spirit. Answer His gentle summons as the young man named Samuel did; he tentatively called out into the darkness of his empty room, "Speak, for Your servant hears" (The God Catchers, p. 115).

We all go through various rites of passage in our lives-the first feeble attempts to roll over, to walk, to talk, to dress ourselves, the first time we noticed the opposite sex, the first time we drove a car. Almost without exception, our first attempts at these things are tentative and awkward. Through the natural process of trial and error, we ultimately move past the awkward stage and such things become second nature to us in time. God wants each of us to go through Samuel's rite of passage as well, where we learn to recognize and heed His voice for ourselves.

The first time He tends to come suddenly. After that, you may encounter Him unexpectedly as you earnestly "chase" Him and seek His face. Prepare a place of hunger, desire, worship, and praise for Him, and invite Him to turn aside and dwell with you. "What do You want, Lord? How can we bless and host You tonight, Lord?" (The God Catchers, p. 116).

Has the Lord ever "invaded your empty space of hunger"? What did you do when it happened the first time? Did you handle things differently the next time?

The next phase takes us beyond the realm of communication and into the task of transportation and distribution. Jesus died and the cross to accomplish more than to save your soul-He wanted to duplicate Himself through us. None of us can begin to measure up to Him individually, but we can do the works of Christ together as one body (that is what the great commission is all about). When God visits us and deposits His manifested glory among us, He expects us to carefully guard and carry His divine deposit in two directions-we carry it back into our worship gatherings so our carrying capacity can be increased even more, and we carry the light of His presence into the darkness to make disciples of the lost.

Are you willing to "walk carefully" to carry and preserve His divine deposit when you go home, return to the workplace, shop at the store, or participate in non-church activities during the week? Do you think this is really necessary, or should "spiritual stuff" be reserved form the few hours you actually spend in a church building each week?(This is what I call "God-In-A-Box Religion".)

 What Do You Think? 

Have you ever experienced something that was so wonderful, extraordinary, and delightful that you never wanted it to end? … God also creates new moments we never want to end when He walks into the middle of our worship service, prayer meeting, or personal devotional time and reveals a glimpse of His glory. How do you retain something so wonderful and so fleeting? (page 114)

1. What do you think? Have you experienced an extraordinary encounter with God that you never wanted to end? Describe it:  

2. How do you hold on to such moments?

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-10; in which we see Samuel walk through the process of recognizing God's voice as distinct from the voice of Eli, his spiritual teacher and mentor.

1 Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 
2 And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, 
3 and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, 
4 that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!”
5 So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down. 
6 Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 
7 (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.) 
8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. 
9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 
10 Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I'm determined to walk carefully while carrying the hot deposit You have poured into my life. Your presence is too precious to be wasted or lost through careless handling. Holy Spirit, help me hear Your still small voice and sense your gentle tap on my shoulder. Give me "ears to hear and eyes to see" what You have for me. Then teach me how to carry heaven's "hot coffee," the holy deposit of God's manifest presence, from glory to glory and into the wounded world of the lost in Jesus' name

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

If You Can Carry More, You Will Receive More

…If you can return to your worship gathering or private devotions without spilling anything God deposited in your heart, then you won't have to start over. You can go on from this deposit of glory to the next level in Him, moving from "glory to glory." The goal is to increase your capacity to carry His presence and His light into the realm of darkness (The God Catchers, p. 117, emphasis mine).

Even casual readers of the New Testament passages should notice two outstanding things about God and the church. First, it is clear that the Father expects every member of His family to be a working member. He never envisioned a house full of "couch potatoes" planted in front of the Holy Spirit television waiting for Daddy to come home with the groceries. Second, it is also clear that we are to imitate the actions of Jesus Christ by caring for others more than for ourselves. That takes us right back to the final words of Jesus:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Many of us resent it, but God expects us to take on more "carrying capacity" as we grow up in Him. We've done everything we can to remove one specific dirty four-letter word from our church vocabulary (w-o-r-k), but God keeps bringing it up again. The more you know, the more you should go. The more you can do, the more you should do. Perhaps our failure to be faithful in the most basic things explains His unwillingness to entrust us with His divine deposit of glory.

How would you classify yourself-as a working member of God's household, or as a lounging member waiting for more groceries? Is your local church casually consuming God's groceries to satisfy its own appetite, or is it seeking a Divine deposit to make new disciples by transporting the Bread of His presence to hungry hearts in the world?

Are you really serious about an ongoing habitation of the glory of God? Do you seriously believe you can literally change the environment of your home, your job site, and community? If His presence is involved, then I believe it too. Do you honestly expect to draw the lost and hungry in your family and community to Jesus Christ? It won't happen if you try to do it by cramming doctrine down their throats. On the other hand, if you can make them so hungry for His presence that nothing else matters, then I will believe it too (The God Catchers, p. 116).

Once I encountered the reality of God's manifest presence in my life, I had to redefine and restructure my ideas about ministry. From that point on, I was more interested in imparting hunger for His presence than in delivering information about His nature. We do need information about God's nature, but we need impartation of hunger for His presence even more. Even the demons of hell possess and believe basic information about God5, but they will never possess a hunger for His presence-such an encounter with unveiled Deity is the substance of hell's most persistent nightmares. The more you encounter His presence, the more of Him you want. God-hunger is "catching" because God ordained it that way. I've visited countless church congregations that define their corporate mission with the phrase: "That we may know Him and make Him known." This is a perfect description of what it means to be a God Chaser.

How do you define your mission from God? Is it "to receive blessings from Him and ask for more," or "to know Him and make Him known"? How would you define the mission of Jesus' earthly ministry? Did He primarily impart information about the Father or hunger for relationship with the Father?

Love your friends, hug your kids, go out to eat, laugh and talk, but remember that God has deposited something supernatural in you. Walk carefully so you won't "spill" any (The God Catchers, p. 117, emphasis mine).

What Do You Think? 

If you are talking to your friends and you suddenly feel a wave of His presence roll over you, just stop talking and see what He wants. I stop preaching when I feel a wave of His presence, no matter how many people are watching me. That is the time to silently pray, Do You want anything? God, You are in charge. Learn to carry His presence so you can become a contagious carrier (page 117).

1. What do you think? Has this ever happened to you? Describe it: 

2. How did you handle the situation then? What would you do differently now?

Scripture Reading: Matthew 25:14-29, where Jesus links faithfulness with increased capacity in the parable of the talents (or divine deposit).

14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 
15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 
16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 
17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 
18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 
21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 
22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 
23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ 
26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 
27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 
28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 
29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I am thankful for everything I've learned about Your nature and about your past dealings with humanity; but I want more. I want to know You. I want to see Your face and experience Your glory. Thank You for every blessing You have showered upon my life and upon the church-but please, show me Your face. Fill me with more and more of Your presence and anoint me to transport more and more of Your light to those in darkness.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

We Need More "Box-Breaker Marys"

Learn to carry His presence so you can become a contagious carrier. King David discovered that God's glory (represented by the ancient ark of the covenant) was meant to be carried on the shoulders of men, not on man-made platforms or devices… We still try to carry His glory on the "ox carts" of our man-made, man-driven programs or evangelistic formulas. We prefer them because they are easier, they are more predictable, and they are softer on the flesh that dominates many of our services (The God Catchers, p. 117).

In 1931, U.S. researchers coined a name for people who are contagious carriers of diseases. It happened after they traced an outbreak of typhoid to an Irish cook named Mary Mallon who was working in the United States. Even to this day most people remember "Typhoid Mary" as the woman who carried a disease without being consumed by it. Another Mary has been remembered for two thousand years because she carried a costly alabaster box of perfume into another person's house just to break it and anoint Jesus with its costly fragrance as an act of worship. Her act of worship forever marked Box-Breaker Mary as a carrier of a divine disease; and affliction marked by incurable and contagious hunger for God's presence.

What spiritual "disease" are you spreading wherever you go? Are you a contagious carrier of holy hunger, groundless gossip or pathetic apathy? Are you willing to pay the price to be a an Box-Breaker Mary or a Damascus Road Paul?

It isn't easy to "carry God's presence" from one place to another, but it is mandatory nonetheless. This statement may sound radical, but it is accurate. I read somewhere that …

… it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

God deposits the knowledge of His glory in human vessels, and He wants us to walk in unity so the light of His presence can be pooled, concentrated, amplified, and expanded to "flood the earth with His glory." That means we must learn how to carry His divine deposit into our worship gatherings and back out into the world to minister to those in need. As noted in The God Catchers, "The truth is that the presence of God comes on the shoulders of men and women, and it always has. A program will never usher the presence of God into a church" (p. 117). No matter how we look at it, we must increase our skills and enlarge our capacity to carry God's glory when He makes the divine deposit.

How hungry are you for His presence? Will you risk rejection and brave ejection to carry your alabaster box for Him no matter what the cost?

 Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms 

All biblical worship, especially in the Old Testament, was characterized by a sacrifice. In the eons of human existence before the Son of God invaded our world and shed His blood to purchase our freedom, only animal blood could permit men to draw near God's presence. Now we can draw near to Him through the blood of Christ and offer Him the sacrifice of praise and present our bodies as living sacrifices. God provided for us, but our obligation to present something to Him is as binding as it ever was (page 118).

Most of us presume that all sacrifices ended the day Jesus offered Himself on the cross to atone for our sins. It is true that we no longer offer animal sacrifices for sin or forgiveness; but it is not true that God no longer delights in any sacrifices! According to both the Old and New Testaments, God is still very interested in certain types of sacrifice.

1. According to the apostle Paul, God expects us to offer this kind of sacrifice-even after Jesus completed His work on the cross:  (See Romans 12:1). 

2. John the Revelator described another ancient sacrifice that is offered to God at the end of time:  (See Revelation 8:3-4). 

3. This eternal sacrifice has blessed God on "both sides" of the Cross:  (See Psalm 54:6, Hebrews 13:15). 

4. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the Father personally seeks people to offer this sacrifice to Him: (See John 4:23-24).

Scripture Reading: Romans 12:1-2, where Paul describes the minimum "sacrifice" all New Testament believers are required to give to God.

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, I'll be a Box-Breaker for You. Make a divine deposit in my life and I'll offer my "earthen vessel" back to You. I'm so desperate for Your presence that I offer my life as an alabaster box to be broken before You to fill my world with the fragrance of Your presence. My life is not my own, for I've been bought with a price…

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Prepare a Meal and the Hungry Will Come

I have a recurring dream that some Sunday morning, the hunger of God's people will reach such white-hot levels that it will create the habitation of the Holy Spirit. That morning, all the restaurant managers in the city will wonder, Where is the Sunday morning crowd? All this food is going to waste. Hour by hour goes by and not one Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Brethren, Church of Christ, or Pentecostal shows up at the food bar. Why? The glory of God has broken over the city, and visitation has become habitation. Everyone is so busy dining at the table of His presence that no one even thinks about pulling up at a natural dinner table (The God Catchers, p. 119).

It is easy for people to dismiss God Chasers as mere thrill seekers as long as they have never experienced the manifestation of God's presence. Once a critic personally experiences the celestial thrill of divine visitation he will understand the heart of God addiction. (A status change will be in order because the job title of "critic" will no longer apply.) There is something about the Bread of His presence that reduces everything else on man's religious menu to the status of yesterday's second-rate leftovers. When God "shows up" in His concentrated presence, everything we've read about in His Word suddenly becomes real in a new way. Pastors discover they no longer have to labor in the Word to encourage the sheep to feed on God's Word. Suddenly God's people discover a new appetite for everything related to God and His purposes. They can't consume enough of the Bible; they find themselves sharing the gospel with anything and everything that moves. They feel compelled to unload, give out, pour out, and share the divine abundance that exudes from every pore of their being. That is simply to be expected when God's fullness visits man's expectant emptiness.

Are you still evaluating the "God Chaser syndrome" as if it were an illness to be cured, or have you caught the disease that is nearly as exciting as it's Cure? Have you ever caught Him? If so, are you "cured" or are you even more determined to pursue Him more while passing on your divine disease to others?

The only way God's presence will break out over an entire city and region is if His people learn how to entertain His presence in their undying hunger for Him and carry it with them. This kind of hunger burns so brightly that it gives no place to "respect of persons" or personal agendas. Labels and religious jargon fall away and lose their power in its heat. The only thing hunger will recognize is the Source of its satisfaction (The God Catchers, p. 119).

Throughout human history, wise men and women have understood that the best way to draw a crowd (whether it is a crowd of people or a herd of beasts) is to throw a feast. Movie theaters make sure the smell of buttered popcorn wafts through their theaters while large full-color pictures of mouth-watering refreshments form a feast for the eyes. Television advertisers know how to tweak every wish, desire, and lust in human nature; and nearly every "open house" of any kind in American culture includes a spread of assorted dainties, drinks, and delectable desserts to bring in a crowd. None of these things can begin to compare with the attraction of divine visitation in human habitations. The appearance of the Real Thing ignites unbearable human hunger for supernatural satisfaction.

What kind of hunger do you ignite in the hearts of the people around you? Does the perfume of His presence linger when you enter a room of hungry souls? What kind of "table" have the churches of the city set for the hungry souls who live there? Are you offering them yesterday's stale crumbs of past visitations or the fresh Bread of His presence?

What would happen if the glory of God broke over your entire city or region? Think of the far-reaching effects it would have on the people who live there ... Are you willing to stand in the gap until God breaks out over your city? … Some people automatically assume that "this God Chaser stuff" is all about the selfish pursuit of just another "religious buzz." No, it is all about God and His purposes, not about us (The God Catchers, p. 119).

 What Do You Think? 

What would happen if the glory of God broke over your entire city or region? Think of the far-reaching effects it would have on the people who live there. Are you willing to stand in the gap until God breaks out over your city? (page 119)

1. What do you think? Imagine what would happen in your town or city and describe it: 

2. Are you willing? What do you think it will take to see God break out over your city? 

Scripture Reading: Revelation 19:7-9, where John sees the great marriage supper of the Lamb, which perfectly pictures the joy and feasting we enjoy in this life when God's people lay aside every tool of division to feast on the Bread of His presence.

7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 
8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 
9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.” 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, make me a tool of eternal hunger in Your hand. Permeate me in Your presence to the point that Your fragrance lingers and fills every room I enter. May an unavoidable hunger of the heart seize everyone I meet, whether saved or unsaved. May all hearts turn to You when I pass through a room

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Guard the Divine Deposit-Keep Your Eyes On Him

Any time God visits you with a miracle, an outpouring of His Spirit, or the beginnings of true revival, the enemy will come and attempt to steal the promise and destroy the deposit the Lord gave you (The God Catchers, p. 121).

Peter the disciple understood the dangerous period that immediately follows those glorious moments of miracles, outpourings, revelation and glory. He was minding his own business after a long hike to a northern town just below Mount Herman when the light bulb of revelation suddenly came on. After the disciples told Jesus what everyone else was saying about His identity, He asked who they believed He was, and Peter blurted out what all of creation had been waiting to hear: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Have you experienced a "mountaintop event" after a momentous God encounter, ministry success, or successful faith walk far beyond your own ability? Did you sense the need to be on watch for an attack or temptation just around the corner? Were you right?

It wasn't long before disaster struck Peter's life. When Jesus began to explain that He was destined to die on the cross, Peter apparently felt that new authority as an anointed "seer" qualified him to judge and rebuke the Son of God for negative thinking. Merely seven verses after Peter received praise from Jesus for his prophetic insight, he then heard Jesus say things no man (or church body) wants to hear: "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

How many time have you caught yourself (or been caught by someone else) thinking more about what men might think than about what God might think? Is this a warning to churches as well?

Most of the time, the thief called Satan is too smart to tempt God's people with "big" sins. His best saint fishing success comes with lures dressed up in church habits and traditions. As long as the end result displeases God, Satan has no problem using some of the greatest blessings of God to attract godly people to his hook.

Unfortunately, God's visitation rarely turns into habitation because of our human tendency to immediately turn our focus away from His face to concentrate on the "good feelings" His presence creates in our bodies and souls. These side benefits are wonderful, but we must keep our central focus on God, not on the pleasant side effects of His presence (The God Catchers, p. 121).

Have you ever asked God to meet a need in a time of crisis, and then become so preoccupied with His miracle blessing that you neglected to thank Him for it or return to your position of worship? Have you spent more time seeking revival than seeking the Reviver?

Success without humility sets the stage for failure, just as spiritual satisfaction without fresh hunger for God's presence may become the breeding ground for spiritual apathy. The moment we turn our attention from His face to measure and compare "what we received" against what others received, we begin to lay a foundation for strife and division. It is more important than ever after a visitation of God for us to leave our worship services hungrier than when we came.

I know of many cities where a measure of His glory visited and major revival broke out. Thousands of people received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in these cities. Many of these visitations began during an interchurch search for God's presence, with several congregations and pastors working closely together in one mind and one accord. Later, just as the visitation began to look more and more like habitation, interchurch differences turned to strife and grieved the Holy Spirit (The God Catchers, p. 120).

Where do you keep your focus? Are you locked into His gaze, His presence, and His beauty, or do you take "breaks" to measure and compare yourself against other God Chasers? Are you prepared to "keep your hand to the plow" and not look back-or to the side? As long as you keep your eyes on Him, you won't have to worry about what others are doing. It is all in His hands.

 Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms 

God may allow us to "catch" Him, but He will never allow us to leave His presence unchanged. His glory has a way of changing and transforming mortals. Somehow we come away from these encounters more attuned to His loving compassion for the lost and hurting around us. Rather than drive us inward, His manifest presence always turns our eyes away from ourselves and toward others. It drives us beyond the four walls of our meeting halls to seek and save the lost (page 120).

People who have never experienced a genuine encounter with God's manifest presence may be tempted to dismiss accounts of God Chasers who became God Catchers as useless tales invented by emotional experience seekers. The assumption is that God Chasers are so obsessed with their quest for emotionalism that they totally abandon their obligation to spread the Gospel and serve the needs of others. 

1. Have you ever experienced the manifest presence of God? Did it leave you unchanged, or forever hungry for another encounter with Him? 

2. Did your encounter with Divinity cause you to abandon hurting and lost humanity?  

3. It has been my experience that God imparts His heart for the lost in genuine encounters with hungry believers. How about you?

Scripture Reading: John 10:9-14, where Jesus says He is the Door to God's kingdom and the abundant life, and immediately warns us that the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 
12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 
13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 
14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, I want You. Grant me the wisdom to keep my focus on You and Your kingdom rather than on the opinions and approval of mankind. I will keep my eyes upon You, not upon Your many blessings. I want more than a temporary passing visitation-I long for an abiding habitation of Your presence. I take David's dream as my own, "One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD...

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Do You Know How to "Catch" God in His Promises?

Has your divine promise from God dropped dead in the field of dreams? Is your hope for a miracle lingering between a comatose state and a grave of adverse circumstances? Have you watched the children God gave you slip away into sin, rebellion, or bad company while your heart broke for the hundredth time? It is time to lay the broken, fallen, and dying things in your life on the bed of worship in the room of praise that you prepared for Him. It isn't over until God says it is over (The God Catchers, p. 123).

Why would Jesus forewarn us about the nature and strategy of the thief who opposes us unless it was possible to anticipate and overcome his assault? Every Christian should already know the basic fundamentals of putting on the armor of God, and of the power given to us through the shed blood and the name of Jesus Christ. Yet even good and godly people will experience attacks of the enemy, and virtually all of us will know the reality of the "death of a vision" or the challenge of a promise delayed or seemingly denied.

… A woman in Elisha the prophet's day discovered this unpleasant pattern, but her careful preparation met the enemy's attack head-on. The key is that she made room for God's presence in advance. Her example offers clues for your own preparations for the habitation of God and the enemy's attempt to kill or steal His divine deposit. This woman had enough discernment to perceive the anointed mission and calling of Elisha. She had enough wisdom to want more of a holy visitation and enough determination to follow through on her plan to entertain the prophetic presence. She knew how to "catch" God in His promises (The God Catchers, p. 121, emphasis mine).

Have you remodeled your life and prepared a room for God's presence? Have you prepared a habitation for divinity in your humanity through your brokenness, hunger, passionate worship and adoration for Him?

If you build Him a place of praise fitted with a bed of worship, you may discover that when "… when a day of trial and tribulation comes, that room you prepared for holy visitation will become a room of omnipotent intervention." Learn to fall to your knees and seek His face instead of standing to your feet and clenching your fist to rage at the circumstances.

Do you have a place of visitation where you can rest your dead or dying visions and hopes? Begin to prepare for His habitation now, even before He shows up. You have to create the empty space and furnish it with your hunger, your worship, and your praise (The God Catchers, p. 124).

Remember Where You've Been, But Always Dare to Dream 

Unfortunately God's visitation rarely turns into habitation because of our human tendency to immediately turn our focus away from His face to concentrate on the "good feelings" His presence creates in our bodies and souls. These side benefits are wonderful, but we must keep our central focus on God, not on the pleasant side effects of His presence (page 120).

Have you ever turned your focus away from God and toward the feelings and exhilaration you felt in His presence? What happened, and how would you do things differently? 

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 4:8-37, where we discover how a non-Jewish woman managed to "catch" God in His promises even before the death and resurrection of Christ.

8 Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. 
9 And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. 
10 Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.” 
11 And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there. 
12 Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. 
13 And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.” 
14 So he said, “What then is to be done for her?” And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.” 
15 So he said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. 
16 Then he said, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!” 
17 But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her. 
18 And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. 
19 And he said to his father, “My head, my head!” So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 
20 When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. 
21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. 
22 Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.” 
23 So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.” 
24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” 
25 And so she departed, and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman! 
26 Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ” And she answered, “It is well.” 
27 Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.” 
28 So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?” 
29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.” 
30 And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. 
31 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.” 
32 When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. 
33 He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. 
34 And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. 
35 He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. 
36 And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” 
37 So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

"Father, I have the promise of Your Word. 'Blessed are the poor in spirit…blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.' You visited once, so I know You will come back again. The next time You show up, I'm going to be ready for You. I'm thankful for what You've done, Lord, but I want to see what You can do" (The God Catchers, p. 124).

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Are You Prepared For God to Say Yes?

Are you ready for His visitation, Pastor? Have you prepared for the coming of the One you've asked for, sir? Have you prepared for His presence, Mom? God visited you before, and He will come again-make everything ready for the King of glory. The next time He visits, will He discover the empty space of hunger and desire you have made for Him alone? (The God Catchers, p. 124).

If revivals seem to come and go on the human landscape while the Reviver remains the same yesterday, today, and forever; what is missing from the equation? The answer must at least include the changing levels of our hunger for His manifest presence. In other cases, a lack of knowledge about His Word played a part. In other times, perhaps the sins of key leaders brought disrepute on the kingdom and annulled with work of the Spirit. However, it seems that in every case God manages to have a hungry remnant pass through the fires of adversity to rekindle the coals of worship and set the stage for His return.

I've revisited many historic places where God visited. Satan always tries to steal the divine deposit. In many of those places, a hungry remnant is carefully preparing a place with no agenda but their raw hunger and desperation for God. They want His fresh deposit, they are walking carefully, and they believe by faith that He will pass their way again. They are right; He will (The God Catchers, p. 124).

Are you preparing a place for Him? Do you have an agenda, or are you operating on sheer hunger and desperation for His presence? Are you willing to pay the price for a fresh deposit of God's presence?

One of the things I've learned as a God Chaser is the importance of "relinquishment" in our daily discipline. Many times the Reviver cannot give us the desire of our hearts because our hands, lives, and ministries are filled with the desires of our flesh. I'm not limiting the desires of the flesh to the most blatant sins of misplaced or uncontrolled sexual appetite, chemical and drug addiction, or amoral ethics and conduct. Some of the greatest offenders before God are the sins of the flesh dressed in the trappings of church.

What would we have to relinquish or give up to carry or entertain His presence? The answer is anything that turns our focus away from Him and back toward us. Some of the chief offenders that turn up in conversations with pastors around the world include religious traditions, rigid congregational or denominational worship patterns, personal habits and preferences, and fixed personal or organizational agendas (The God Catchers, p. 125).

God hasn't changed. Whether we are saved or unsaved, He still requires us to empty ourselves to be filled with His presence. He refuses to "bunk up" with our favorite secret sins, our selfishness, or even the church doctrines we idolize in place of the Head of the church. As I said in The God Catchers, "Some of us need a miracle of God to release our grip on our families and our brethren. So be it" (p. 126). His fullness is worth the effort it takes to empty our hands and hearts of second-best things any day.

Are you prepared to say no to yourself so He can say yes to your hungry cry? Are you prepared to release your things so you can receive Him? Are you desperate enough to entertain Him and make a habitation for His presence?

 What Do You Think? 

Anytime God visits you with a miracle, an outpouring of His Spirit, or the beginnings of true revival, the enemy will come and attempt to steal the promise and destroy the deposit the Lord gave you. A woman in Elisha the prophet's day discovered this unpleasant pattern, but her careful preparation met the enemy's attack head-on. The key is that she made room for God's presence in advance. Her example offers clues for your own preparations for the habitation of God and the enemy's attempt to kill or steal His divine deposit (page 121).

1. What do you think? Has this ever happened to you? Describe it: 
 
2. How would you "make room for God's presence" in advance?

Scripture Reading: Revelation 3:19-20, where Jesus says He will dine with anyone who hears His voice and answers His knock at their door.

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I am pitiful; I'm running out of words, and I don't know how to do what You have called me to do. Holy Spirit, I know there is a place of Your presence in which our lives are changed. Once we encounter You there, we will never be the same. We call for holy habitation. We join our passionate cries with the cry of Moses: Please show us Your face! We are passionate for one thing-You. Set our hearts on fire with hunger; make us miserably desperate for more of You. Set Your hot coal of hunger and holiness on our tongues and in our hearts. We long for You. Let Your fire burn in our churches; let the fire blaze in our homes. It's not a man that we want; we want You, Lord. Show us Your face, God (The God Catchers, pp. 127-128).

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Where Are the People of the Inner Chamber?

When someone shows you their hidden key, he has given you family privileges. God has shown us His hidden key-the key to His heart and the secret place of access to divine intimacy. In the Authorized Version, Solomon called it "the secret places of the stairs" (The God Catchers, p. 131).

In those rare times when I sit down and watch an evening news program on television, I'm fascinated when I see a crowd of TV reporters, journalists, photographers, and gawkers pressing against a police line outside the home of a celebrity or political figure. 

The TV reporters pose for the cameras in strategic locations with the front door of the house in view while they proudly postulate and elaborate on the latest rumors about those who live inside. Photographers snap photographs of the swirling crowd and the unopened doors while journalists shout questions at the police and interview gawkers for "man-on-the-street" impressions. None of them have access to the facts or the people they concern because they don't have privileged access to the house or its occupants. 

Everything goes into high gear the moment a family member arrives (hopefully with a police escort). The crowd reluctantly parts so the one person with privileged access can make her way to the door and enter the privacy of the house-leaving behind scores of frustrated fact and fiction gatherers doomed to permanent separation from the object of their interest inside the house. 

Sometimes I wonder if we've built much of what we call church around second-hand musings, opinions and "educated guesses" about the Object of our interest-provided by people who may have never entered the inner chambers of God's habitation.

It should be obvious that God doesn't mind if we enter His "house" and prepare refreshments for Him in anticipation of His manifest presence there. Especially since He's given us the key! Unfortunately, centuries of bad human decisions and our attraction to the stuff of religion muddied the waters of our privileged grace relationship with divinity. We have used man-centered, religion-based traditions and methods to rebuild the walls that divide God and man-after Jesus shed His precious blood to break them down (The God Catchers, p. 131).

Do you feel as if you've spent most of your life outside the habitation of God, even though you have attended your share of church services? How can you pass through the swirling crowds and confusion outside to enter the place of His presence? Is there a secret passage or entrance?

Part of the problem is our preoccupation with the opinions and whims of men. As we noted in The God Catchers, "We plan our services, craft our sermons, and sing our songs to move men, but where is the church that knows how to move the heart of God?" (p. 133) The Scriptures warn that the fear of man is a trap or a snare1; but most of us are afraid or unwilling to admit that we have a "man-fear problem." The time has come for honesty and boldness. God has given us a key; now He is waiting for someone bold enough to use it.

Do you know how to move the heart of God? Do you have a man-fear problem to give to Him? You have the key, now what will you do with it?

Where are the people who know Him so intimately that their worship and adoration can almost "change" His mind? Where are the people of the inner chamber, the intimate companions of God who are so in tune with His heart that others seek them out for advice on how to approach the King? God wants to raise up a generation of God-pleasers, not the run-of-the-mill religious man-pleasers. Our destiny is founded upon His wisdom and purposes, not the ever-changing whims and wishes of men. That means the church desperately needs people who possess "the secret of the stairs" Solomon alluded to in his Song of Songs (The God Catchers, p. 134).

Are you encouraged and inspired to become a "person of the inner chamber"? Will you pay the price to possess "the secret of the stairs" and become an intimate companion of God?

 Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms 

One time I took [my wife] to visit a man who; according to my mother, actually taught me how to walk during my infancy. When I knocked on the front door, it was obvious that he and his wife weren't home. My wife turned around to go back to the car, and I said, "Where are you going?" She said, "They're not home, so I'm going back to the car" (page 130).

Have you ever "gone back to the car" because you thought God "wasn't home" after you knocked at the front door with a few songs, an opening prayer, and a sermon? Explain. 

Scripture Reading: Song 2:14, where Solomon unveiled the secret places of the stairs reserved solely for his adoring beloved and painted a prophetic portrait of the privileged access the Messiah has reserved only for His bride, the worshiping church.

14 “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret places of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your face is lovely.”

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Lord, You have given me the hidden key to Your heart and revealed the secret place of access to divine intimacy. Forgive me for my preoccupation with the opinions and approval of others when I should have eyes only for You. You tore down the dividing wall and I will leave it there, to run to the secret places of the stair and commune with You.

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GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Discover the Path of Secret Access 
And Tap the Power of Proximity

Somehow … five men developed a path of secret access to the heart of God. He is saying, "There are people whom I am reluctant to talk to in times like these because I know they can move My heart. They can bring Me to the point of doing something that was different from My original intention. It is as if some people can talk Me into more things than others can." We know it as the power of prayer! (The God Catchers, p. 135).

There are some who scoff at the very idea of a mere man or woman moving the heart of God through fervent prayer. Perhaps in their understanding of things, everything that will ever happen is already written in stone and we are mere pawns in the hands of uncaring fate. The problem with this idea is that holy book we call the Bible, with its outrageous revelation of the God who cared so much that He sent His only Son. To make matters more difficult for the theorists, that Book is filled with proof and testimony of divine intervention instigated by very, very human intercession and petition. As we noted in The God Catchers:

Explain to me why God singled out five men in the Old Testament the way He did? In the Book of Ezekiel, God said: "Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. God also declared in the Book of Jeremiah: "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth7 (pp. 134-135).

What is God saying in these passages? [If you examine the context, it is clear that it is God doing the talking.] Would He say such a thing about you? (Why not?)

All of these men were certifiably human. They experienced serious adversity and hardships that they survived only through the personal intervention of God. There are two other traits they seemed to share: they were all incurable, chronic God Chasers, and they were personally involved in praying for and ministering to others. What made them stand out from the millions of people who also lived on this planet during their lifetimes?

These men managed to get close enough to God to win His heart in some way. This is the power of proximity personified. We are not talking about bribery or flattery; we are talking about God Chasers who knew how to pursue Him with genuine passion in ways that drew Him close. Noah, Daniel, Job, Moses, and Samuel-they all drew close to God in spite of impossible crises and adverse circumstances (The God Catchers, p. 135).

What factors separates the power of proximity seen in the lives of these men from man's twisted imitations known as bribery and flattery? The first is the heart motive behind the words and actions; the second factor is relationship. My wife and children possess a special power of proximity with me because they are my family members, and I've given them the key to my heart. The third factor is God Himself. He is God, and He can only be "moved" when He chooses to be moved. He cannot be bribed or moved by flattery in any way. He has never received "offerings" given with impure motives, and He cannot be fooled or misled.

Do you long to draw near to Him because you love Him or because you love the blessings of His hand? How often to you approach Him in love and adoration and make a petition on someone else's behalf instead of merely seeking your own good?

 What Do You Think? 

… I explained to my bride, "It is understood in this area that if some folks tell you where they have hidden the key to their house, then they won't mind you making coffee in their kitchen." When someone shows you their hidden key, they have given you family privileges. God has shown us His hidden key-the key to His heart and the secret place of access to divine intimacy (page 131).

1. What do you think? Knowing that God has given you the hidden key to His heart and His presence, how do you intend to use it? 

2. Is it presumptuous to think you have been given the right to approach God's throne, or is it presumptuous to think you have not? (HINT: See Ephesians 2:17-19, Hebrews 10:19-22.)

Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 14:14, Jeremiah 15:1, James 5:16; in which God speaks about five men who knew the path of secret access to His heart; and a New Testament exhortation about the power of prayer.

14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth.

16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I hunger and thirst for Your presence. Other things may satisfy the passing needs and desires of my physical body, but You alone are my total source of joy, fulfillment and abundant supply. I appreciate the bounty of Your hands, but I hunger for the beauty and grace revealed in Your face.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Building Habitations and Arks In a Scornful Land

What made Noah so special? The answer is that Noah chased God in a day when no one else on the planet cared whether or not God even existed, and he did it at great personal cost (The God Catchers, p. 135).

Worship takes many forms and faith and obedience are two of the most prominent forms on the list. God is honored every time we dare to believe Him and trust Him with our live and livelihood. He is also blessed when we obey Him even though we don't understand the purpose of His command or its final outcome.

How do you feel about obeying God before you know all of the details? Has He ever given His children all of the details before launching them on journeys of faith?

Noah is one of the five men God singled out as a man of influence in heavenly matters precisely because he dared to believe and obey Him with very little confirmation and no human encouragement for nearly one hundred years. How many modern God Chasers want to quit when they endure a week without encouragement from other believers?

How is your chase affected by the negative comments and disapproval of those around you? Are you influenced more by the criticism or by encouragement? What if you receive neither in the course of your chase for God?

What made Noah so special? What qualified him for inclusion among the faithful five who personified the power of proximity?

Noah continued to chase God in obedience despite universal disapproval of his God project. He endured the taunts, laughter, and nonstop verbal abuse of neighbors while he constructed a boat in a place with virtually no water and absolutely no rain! It was the equivalent of building an ocean liner in your backyard in the middle of the Mohave Desert, yet Noah did it and pleased God with his sacrifice of praise through obedience. In the end, Noah's righteousness and humility before God saved his entire family and the human race as well (The God Catchers, p. 135, italics mine).

What can you learn from Noah's ark-building experience of the past that might help you build a habitation for God in the present?

Perseverance to Pierce the Heavens

There was something about Daniel's hunger for God that brought instant response to his prayers. Maybe it was his appetite for heavenly wisdom or his humility before divinity that promoted him to the field of the five men whose words could capture the heart of God (The God Catchers, p. 137).

For thousands of years Christians and Jews alike have considered Daniel's name to be synonymous with prayer, conviction, and faith. God used Daniel's intercessory prayer for his people to illustrate the celestial operation of prayer and the nature of spiritual warfare in the heavenlies. 

It is interesting that when the angel Gabriel appeared 21 days after Daniel began to pray and fast before God on behalf of his people, he said, "At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved." 

God answered Daniel's prayer on day one; the remaining twenty days were spent dealing with demonic hindrances to God's prompt response. We noted in The God Catchers, "The passages describing Daniel's intercession for his people reveal one of the Bible's clearest pictures of warfare in the heavenlies. It also shows how closely God listens to and heeds the prayers and cries of His people" (p. 136). 

Daniel had the relationship and heart attitude that captured God's heart, but he also had the heart to persevere and overcome the adversary's resistance to God's will in the earth.

How to you compare to Daniel's godly standard of prayer and perseverance? Do you have the key to access God's heart? Do you have the determination, courage, and raw faith in God's faithfulness to keep praying even when you don't "feel" anything?

Leadership of any kind in the church usually operates on the "iceberg principle." Most of the "work" of the ministry takes place in the hidden place of prayer and intimate communion with God. This is what creates the platform for the highly visible remainder of ministry that takes place in public view. It seems that most of our ministry training efforts in traditional seminaries and schools of ministry focus on the public "tip of the iceburg" while minimizing or overlooking the all important "secret ministry of the prayer and worship closet" that supports, energizes, and facilitates all public ministry.

Has anyone ever taught you how to persevere until you pierce the heavens? Are you prepared to experience it and then teach others how to do the same?

Daniel's life epitomized a life spent for God and for others. His life priorities were clear; he put his relationship and obedience to God first; then he served his people. He seemed to understand that God gave him favor with kings for a higher good than his own personal comfort and security.

… He consistently put God first above the approval or men and even above his own safety and comfort. He also realized that his privileged access to God was meant to benefit more than just himself. He had a responsibility to stand in the gap for others, exactly as another higher and greater Intercessor would one day stand in the gap of sin for the human race(The God Catchers, p. 137).

For whom are you "spending" your life? Are you chasing Him with your praise, prayers, and worship for His sake? Are you investing your "power of proximity" selflessly as an intercessor by standing in the gap on behalf of others?

 What Do You Think? 

… some newer church traditions seem to throw out any idea that God is holy, supremely just, and all-powerful. By the time modern man was done with Him, He was barely God at all … As a result, many people take God's grace for granted, almost as if they deserve His grace. How can that make sense? If it is deserved, it isn't grace. If it is grace, then it isn't deserved (page 132).

1. What do you think? Does this seem like "the ditch opposite from the 'aloof God' ditch"? Explain.

2. God isn't aloof from us, but our sin does separate us from Him. Grace is His answer, and through Jesus we are drawn near to Him. Can you explain the problem we create when we begin to think we actually "earned" grace or somehow "deserve" it? (HINT: Think like a spoiled child who believes she earned or deserves all of the gifts she receives at a birthday party or at Christmas.) 

Scripture Reading: Daniel 9:21-23, Daniel 10; where Daniel intercedes for his people, God quickly responds, and angels do battle on his behalf.

21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. 
23 At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:

1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision. 
2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. 
3 I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. 
4 Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris, 
5 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! 
6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. 
7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.
8 Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength. 
9 Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground. 
10 Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. 
11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. 
12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 
13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. 
14 Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.” 
15 When he had spoken such words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless. 
16 And suddenly, one having the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke, saying to him who stood before me, “My lord, because of the vision my sorrows have overwhelmed me, and I have retained no strength. 
17 For how can this servant of my lord talk with you, my lord? As for me, no strength remains in me now, nor is any breath left in me.” 
18 Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me.
19 And he said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!” So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” 
20 Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. 
21 But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, help me become the pursuer in prayer and the knight of the knees You ordained me to be. Teach me how to lay my life daily on the altar of surrender as I pursue Your face. Show me how to pray with the same passion, conviction, faith, and perseverance as Daniel so I may pierce the heavens and please You with my praise, worship, and fervent prayers of intercession.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

In Passionate Pursuit of the Face Place

[Job] became God's "poster child for God Chasers" when he proved under extreme hardship that his love was directed to the Giver of blessings, not the blessings of the Giver (The God Catchers, p. 137). Perhaps Moses' secret point of access to the Father is revealed in this one-of-a-kind conversation with God: "So the LORD said to Moses, 'I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.' And he said, 'Please, show me Your glory'" (The God Catchers, p. 139).

Two men in the Old Testament seem larger than life to us, even on "this side" of the cross. We look at the lives of Job and Moses today and think, "Who in our day could do the things those men did in theirs?" Within the boundaries of God's purpose for your life, the answer is you could. Job suffered while caught in the middle of a disagreement between the Creator and the fallen angel, Satan. That disagreement is still going on as you read this book, and it will continue until Satan is thrown into the lake of fire. Job lived long before Jesus entered the world in the form of a man, but in God's view, Satan had already been defeated by the Lamb "slain before the foundations of the world." You live under the cloud of the same cosmic disagreement, and you have even greater benefits available to you from God's divine solution to sin. So what did Job do that you can do too?

Job was a man who passed the supreme test of adversity and demonstrated his unconditional love for God before the galleries of both heaven and hell. Even though Job cried out in pain and often expressed his frustration and desperation through his ordeal, he never wavered in his unqualified love for God (The God Catchers, p. 137, emphasis mine).

How do you bear the pain of adversity or of being misunderstood by your friends? Do you still chase God when the sky seems to fall on your head, or do you shake your fist at heaven in anger and resentment? Is your love for Him truly unconditional?

What was so special about Moses? Once again we discover a murderer transformed by a life-changing encounter with the manifest presence of God. Moses, like Saul centuries later, was formally trained for leadership but misused his authority and zeal until God intervened. This should give all of us hope. What was this man's secret ?

Moses: God Knew Him By Name The murderer and picture of failure God chose to deliver His people was no stranger to God's anointing and glory. Time and again, we see Moses spending long periods of time in God's smoke-obscured presence receiving the Ten Commandments, the Law, and the detailed instructions for the tabernacle of Moses and the ark of the covenant (The God Catchers, p. 138).

How much time to spend alone with God? Would you say that the fruit or end product of your life in God might increase if you increase the amount of time you invest in your relationship and communion with Deity?

Perhaps most important of all, Moses was the one man who dared to ask for the impossible in his passion for God. He asked God to show him His face. He had to wait 1,500 years and pass from life to death to see it come to pass, but he was an incurable God Chaser with a passion for God that would not be limited by the less passionate masses around him.

As I wrote in The God Chasers, "This burning desire to see God's glory, to see Him face to face, is one of the most important keys to revival, reformation, and the fulfillment of God's purposes on the earth" (The God Catchers, p. 139).

Do you have a burning desire in your life? Do you burn to see His face and dwell in His presence, or do you burn for more earthy issues and concerns? How do you feel about passion and the radical pursuit of God? Is it worth living and dying for?

 Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms 

We also have a dangerous tendency to celebrate the men and women God has blessed more than the God who blessed them. In some cases, the celebration becomes so extravagant that it borders on "the idolatry of the anointed." Perhaps we should remind people in our meetings, "Remember that you didn't come to see me; you came to see Him. You don't need the hand of man laid on your head as much as you need the presence of God to touch your heart" (page 133).

A "misaligned paradigm" is a crooked way of thinking, and logic chain disconnected from the truth and waiting to collapse in a harmful way. When we idolize the anointed servants of God rather than give all honor to God, we are like the death row inmate who kisses and praises the prison inmate who delivers the notice of pardon. 

1. The inmate had: (a) nothing or (b) everything to do with the pardon. 

2. The fellow inmate: (a) authorized the release by his own authority or (b) merely delivered a message from a higher authority outside of and higher than the correctional institution. 

3. The only one who deserves the kiss and all of the praise is (a) the inmate carrying the message or (b) the Governor who authorized and signed the decree of pardon. 

4. Perhaps ministers of the gospel should say (a) "Thank you, I do the best I can," or (b) "Don't praise or worship me, I'm just delivering the Good News and gifts from the King of glory. Come out of your 'cell' and meet Him face to face. Give Him all of the praise." 

_{Answer Key: 1-a, 2-b; 3-b, 4-b.} 

Scripture Reading: Exodus 33:11-23; revealing the power of proximity in the relationship between Moses the God Chaser and God the Redeemer of men.

11 So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. 
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 
13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 
14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 
15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 
16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 
17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” 
18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 
19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 
21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.
22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 
23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I'm desperate for the face place; the place of divine encounter where my humanity encounters Your divinity and falls down in complete and unconditional surrender and love. Lord, show me Your face.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Whether You Come to Him or He Comes to You,
 Brokenness is the Link Between Heaven and Earth

Sometimes you come in your fullness and make yourself empty, as Zacchaeus did. At other times you cry out in your bankruptcy, hunger, and pain, and God shows up. That's the cry God can't deny (The God Catchers, p. 149).

Men and women come to Him in every conceivable posture and position, but we all wind up in the same position in the end-on bended knee.

Some come to Him steeped in pride and stiffened by a stubbornness descended from Adam's seed. 

Others bend low and come to Him in the knowledge of their sin and some come crawling face down in their desperate need for deliverance, healing, and miraculous intervention in their impossible situation. It seems easier for God to lift someone who comes to Him "meek and lowly" than to "lower" someone who comes to His throne haughtily.

How do you approach the King of glory-from the position of the meek and lowly or from the position of pride while parading your own strength? Do you cast your prayer list at His feet or do you first throw your crown at His feet in worship, humility, and unconditional adoration?

I pray that the church will arise and seek the face of the Reviver with such unity that He will come suddenly to reveal His glory. If it happens, then (to rephrase my statement from The God Catchers, p. 151), "His heart won't change because of our impeccably structured request or the sheer logic of our arguments. Logic won't have anything to do with it, but passion and relationship had everything to do with it."

Passion caused God to remodel heaven so He could turn the dead-end door of death into a secret place of access to heaven. In His passion He said, "I have to figure out way to get My kids in here, even if I have to remodel what was preexistent." It is illogical that God would sacrifice His own Son just to get close to you, but passion got in His way.

Many people would love to challenge the very concept of passion in the church by asking, "What does passion have to do with the gospel?" Passion has everything to do with it. 

Pure logic would rule out the mercy and grace Jesus made possible on the cross. It was passion that led God to sacrifice so much for what seems to be so little in heaven's economy. The Bible says, "For God so loved…" and not "For God so thought…" I am not against logical thought or the acquisition of knowledge; but I must protest when I see logic, human thought, and mere knowledge exalted to idol status.

What role does God-ward passion play in your life? Do you pursue Him primarily because it seems logical, or because passion for His presence leaves you no choice?

It is …the passion of a God Chaser that transforms him into a God Catcher. (The God Catchers, p. 152, emphasis mine).

Remember Where You've Been, But Always Dare to Dream 

Sometimes you come in your fullness and make yourself empty like Zacchaeus did. At other times, you cry out in your bankruptcy, hunger, and pain, and God shows up. That's the cry God can't deny (page 149).

1. Do you remember times when you "emptied" yourself to reach out for God? What happened? 

2. Do you have memories of crying out to God in times of spiritual of physical bankruptcy or desperation? Describe what happened:

Scripture Reading: Psalm 51:16-17, where David desperately asked God for forgiveness after his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband-and discovered the power of genuine repentance and a broken and contrite heart.

16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982

Father, I am consumed with hunger for Your presence. Show me how to empty myself when necessary to receive Your fullness. In those times when I feel empty and weary, teach me how to turn the tables on trouble by offering my emptiness to You in exchange for the joy and refreshment of Your presence.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Press Beyond Casual Hunger For The Ultimate
 Reward of Passionate Desperation

Perhaps you have gone beyond the stage of casual hunger. You have even surpassed the supercharged arena of hunger fueled by passion. You have reached the point of all-out desperation where you no longer act like yourself. You are desperate for an encounter at the face place. Hunger is written all over your face. You have become like Moses who said, in essence, "I'm tired of Your hands; show me Your face, Lord. Show me Your glory" (The God Catchers, p. 152).

Casual hunger is a sign of lethargy and inactivity. With few exceptions I've noticed that when people tackle labor-intensive tasks or projects that push them beyond their normal limits get hungry-really hungry. Our bodies burn energy when we work, play, or think with intensity. They store excess energy in the form of fat when inactivity takes over.

How would you define the modern church-lethargic and overweight or energetic and ravenously hungry? How would you define your personal walk with God?

Casual Christianity may actually be our worst enemy in this millennium. As we noted in The God Catchers:

After centuries of painting passion as something evil and untrustworthy, the church must rediscover the true power of "God-ward passion." I read somewhere that God's Son exhibited His uninhibited passion for His Father's house: "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up." Pardon me, but that doesn't sound very "laid back" or logical to me. It sounds radical, illogical, and "over the edge" of proper religious behavior (p. 152).

When was the last time something happened in your local church service that was passionate, uninhibited, zealous, radical, illogical or even "over the edge"? Are you ready to follow His footsteps and allow yourself to be "eaten up" by zeal for the Father's house?

Perhaps the reason so many in the body of Christ avoid the passion of the "face place" is that they fear the responsibility that comes with divine encounter. We never leave such an encounter unchanged, because they are about impartation more than information transfer. When God plants His desire in a human heart, a divine transaction takes place involving empowerment, vision, and a godly determination beyond the norm. This much is sure: You will think and act differently afterward.

It only takes thirty seconds in the manifest presence of God to change the course of history for you, your city, or the nation. There is a river of tears rising across America and the world right now. This flood of holy hunger has been orchestrated by God Himself. He is determined to prepare places of divine encounter, but it is up to us to "climb the tree of destiny" (The God Catchers, p. 153).

Has the level of hunger in your heart been rising? Have you noticed anything strange taking place in your church or in other churches across the nation and the world? What are you prepared to do about it? Are you really prepared for the life change that comes with a God encounter at the face place?

You need to put your hunger on display like a little child who is totally oblivious to the satisfied and settled people around you. Put a voice to your God-induced hunger and pain. It is time to run to the "face place" for a one-on-one encounter with your heavenly Father. Expect God to answer when you pray, "Father, set our hearts on fire with passion" (The God Catchers, p. 153).

 More Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms

After centuries of painting passion as something evil and untrustworthy, the Church must rediscover the true power of "God-ward passion." I read somewhere that God's Son exhibited His uninhibited passion for His Father's house: "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up" (page 152).

Passion is one of those power-packed forces that does great good when released in proper settings, and great evil when released in improper or inappropriate settings. Our problem in the church is that we considered the explosive potential of passion to be too volatile to be released in the church or the life of faith. Consider these examples and decide for yourself: 

1. Passion toward your neighbor's spouse is Appropriate or Inappropriate.

2. Passion toward your own spouse in the intimacy of marriage is Appropriate or Inappropriate. 

3. Passion directed toward a political cause, moral belief, or a sports event is considered by society to be Appropriate or Inappropriate. 

4. Passion directed toward God and His presence is Appropriate or Inappropriate. 

Scripture Reading: Matthew 13:14-17, the chilling explanation Jesus provided for Isaiah's prophecy about those with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear (the casual nibblers)-all sandwiched between the crucial parable of the talents and the parable of the sower.

14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; 
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ 
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 
17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, set my heart on fire with passion for Your presence. May every other request, petition, and complaint fall behind the deepest cry of my heart: I want You, Daddy!

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Enter His Presence With Your Words, Leave it 
With a Depository of His Divine Purpose

When the Scriptures say we must become as little children to come to Him, it is God's way of saying, "You will always be My baby." He is always ready to play another round of celestial "hidey-face" with His children. The beckoning finger of God is saying, "Come on." It is time to put a demand on the passion of God ... You have no idea how much He loves you. Let your worship and hunger cry out to Him in desperation right now (The God Catchers, p. 155).

It was customary in ancient times for anyone having an audience with a king to bring gifts with them. We must revive that custom in the church. All we offer the King of kings in most so-called "worship" services are a few half-hearted songs sung mostly for ourselves and some partial tithes and offerings (some of which is laced with the offensive smell of grudging resentment or doubt and unbelief). But for the grace and mercy of God, we would all be dead by now. Perhaps this explains why so many American Christians seem to demonstrate more passion over a basketball referee's call than over the eternal things of God.

What do you offer the God who made everything? Your works are valued, but do they have any value to Him? How do you open the heart of the Kings of kings?

Never come before the King "empty-mouthed." Bring Him the treasures of your heart carefully wrapped and delivered in the passionate words of your lips-a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Words can run faster than works; worship will capture what our hands can't reach. 

Your works will never capture Him, but your worship, your passion, and your cry of desperation will capture His heart and usher in His presence when nothing else can. 

Some of us need to make a "nagging phone call to Daddy" right now and say, "Daddy, I want You." It doesn't matter whether we kneel, stand, or lay prostrate on the floor. Any posture is appropriate in the passionate pursuit of His presence (The God Catchers, p. 154).

How will you enter His presence the next time you seek Him? Where is your greatest passion in life? Are you prepared to live the rest of your life as a child in His presence?

The process begins with a simple cry of the heart, a longing of the soul given voice through your conscious choice. We tend to never start because we make things more difficult than they really are. There are no formulas, programs, or seven-step plans to His presence; but there is truthfulness, repentance, and the words of your heart. Just be prepared for Him to answer your cry. It happens so rarely in the environment of religion and hypocrisy that many of us are shocked when God actually answers us! (I would rather be shocked than not.)

I must warn you again that once you begin the progression of frustration, you can never return to "life as usual." It's a lot like getting pregnant. Once it happens, nothing will ever be the same. The heavens are pregnant with purpose right now because God is preparing to birth something. Men and women everywhere are saying they feel "awkward, off balance, and strangely out of place." This ungainly awkwardness of man is typical when God prepares to arrive on the scene (The God Catchers, p. 155).

 What Do You Think? 

Perhaps you have gone beyond the stage of casual hunger. You have even surpassed the supercharged arena of hunger fueled by passion. You have reached the point of all-out desperation where you no longer act like yourself. You are desperate for an encounter at the face place. Hunger is written all over your face. You have become like Moses who said, in essence, "I'm tired of Your hands; show me Your face, Lord. Show me Your glory" (page 153).

1. What do you think? Is this an accurate portrait of your spiritual state right now? What are you desperate for? 

 2. Have you ceased to "act like yourself"? Are you prepared to change forever in His presence when He allows you to "catch" Him?

Scripture Reading: Hosea 14, where the prophet urges the children of Israel to repent and return to the Lord "taking words with them."

1 O Israel, return to the Lord your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; 
2 Take words with you, And return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips. 
3 Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’ For in You the fatherless finds mercy.” 
4 “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him. 
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; He shall grow like the lily, And lengthen his roots like Lebanon. 
6 His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon. 
7 Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall be revived like grain, And grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon. 
8 “Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’ I have heard and observed him. I am like a green cypress tree; Your fruit is found in Me.” 
9 Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

There's no turning back now, Lord. It's too late for me. I've fallen for You and I can't get enough of You any other way. I'm desperate for an encounter with You, for an all-out surrender at the face place that leaves me delightfully and permanently addicted to You. If my life becomes a depository for divine purpose, so be it. I'll carry Your dream to full term just for the privilege of seeing Your face.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Desperate to Deliver Something Larger Than Ourselves

A woman in labor has gone beyond the definition of hunger and far surpassed the meaning of passion. Now she is openly, unapologetically desperate to deliver her gift to the world. So it is with the people of God at the apex of the progression of divine frustration (The God Catchers, p. 159).

The time of mystery is over and the news is out: The church is pregnant something big is coming soon. Parts of the body have lodged protests over the inconvenience and "impropriety" of the whole thing, but it is too late. God is about to birth something in the earth through His bride that will affect the nations. We shouldn't be surprised to see our lives disrupted.

People in every era and culture understand what happens to a woman who is nearly full term in her pregnancy. Her center of gravity has drastically changed, her balance has shifted, and she is forced to walk differently. This perfectly describes the church today. It feels off balance and awkward right now. Why? The church is pregnant with the purposes of God and the time of birth is near. … If the determinate length of our waiting really does predetermine the size and passion of His answer, then perhaps it would help to apply this concept to our "divine pregnancy." I heard somewhere that the pregnancy of an elephant lasts two years! Perhaps that means that the "larger births" are always preceded by the longest gestation periods (The God Catchers, p. 156).

Do you feel spiritually off balance and stretched at times? Is there an expectancy in your spirit that keeps growing stronger with every hint of His nearness, and every rumor of His visitation?

Don't be surprised if His sudden visitation throws you off even more. God usually "births" things in individual hearts before He touches entire regions as a whole. That is because He always uses people who yield to Him to carry change and revival to the world. 

Consider the example of God's dealings with women in the Bible. When He touched Sarah's barren and aged womb, she became pregnant and gave birth to Issac. When He touched Rebekah, she became pregnant with twins and bore Jacob and Esau.

The angel of the Lord touched Manoah's wife and she became pregnant and bore Samson who would judge Israel. When God answered the desperate prayer of a barren woman named Hannah, she became pregnant and gave birth to Samuel. He touched a priest named Zacharias and his barren wife Elisabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist. Finally, when the Holy Spirit touched Mary, she became pregnant with Jesus.

Do you really want God to touch you? Are you prepared for the changes, the stretching, the frustration, the public scrutiny, and the hard work of labor that comes with pregnancy?

When the "fullness of time" comes, when something is about to be born into the world, all of the pressure and expectancy of the pregnancy comes to bear on one goal-the safe delivery of the new into the old. Until that moment, we may feel that time has nearly stopped along the way.

Do you feel like you've been pregnant with the promises of God for a long time? You have done everything you know to do to bring it to pass, and now it has brought you to your knees and you are desperate. You have finally arrived in the ultimate posture of worship-desperate despondency! (The God Catchers, p. 157)

Are you weary with the chase? Do you feel discouraged because the time you've spent waiting on Him has outstripped your memory of the moments you spent in His presence?

Once a holy thing is birthed in your life or church, it may take you the rest of your life or many generations of the church family to catch up to the inner work God completed in you in just moments. Consider Saul who was renamed Paul:

He met the resurrected Carpenter from Galilee, and it took three years of isolation in the desert for Paul's theology to catch up with his thirty-second experience with the Messiah in blinding glory. He poured out this revelation knowledge in the form of New Testament letters or epistles he wrote to the young churches in the first century. We are still feasting on the revelation knowledge Paul received in that thirty-second moment of time (The God Catchers, pp. 157-158).

Have you ever experienced an encounter with the resurrected Carpenter that left your life spinning and made your old life and ministry obsolete? How did He impart His heart to you? Did He work through your intellect or speak directly to your heart, leaving the intellect to catch up later?

 Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms 

Passionate desperation can turn God Chasers into God Catchers. You can't run fast enough to catch God, but your passionate cry of desperation, your words, can run faster than you can. This isn't an opinion; just ask Hosea the prophet. He said, "Take words with you, and return to the LORD." Words can become powerless and empty when deprived of either truth or passion. Jesus said the Father is seeking worshipers, but He didn't mention a divine search for theological experts or the evangelical equivalent of Pharisees. 

1. Man celebrates the "Age of Reason" the "Romantic Period" in human history books, philosophy and art courses. It appears that God would rather celebrate the "Age of P_______ D________ and His eternal Romance with W_______ . 

2. God isn't impressed with your speed in the 100-yard dash; He is more interested in what you do on your k____ in prayer and worship. He is looking for the kind of _______ ________ that turns God Chasers into God _________.

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:18-23, where we are told "the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now" in a picture that perfectly describes the condition of the church today.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 
23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I don't understand everything You've done in my heart and I don't need to. I just know how desperate I am to see Your face and introduce others to the same joy. You've "ruined me" for every form and product of man-centered religion. All I long for is to pursue Your presence and do Your will. Whatever You imparted to me is greater that I am, and it is more difficult to accomplish or deliver than all of my talents, energies, abilities, and faith put together. The only solution is to stay close to You until Your purposes in my life come to pass.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Daddy, I Want You! (In Good Times and In Bad)

Don't get weary in your waiting. You are too close and too far along to back out now. Don't stop-maybe this is what it looks like right before the heavens break and He emerges through the matrix of time to manifest His glory among us. If you are waiting on a promise from God, fan the flames of your desperation and put it on display. Make that nagging phone call to heaven and tell Him, "Daddy, I want You!" (The God Catchers, p. 160).

Nearly every meeting I attend (and I lost track long ago), I tell myself, "Maybe this is the night He will come…maybe this is the day He will reveal Himself once again." Sometimes I get weary, but most of my fatigue stems from impatience with "man things." 

Frankly I'm hungry for Him, not for His earthy assistants. I love the people of God complete with all of their oddities, differences, and special quirks. The only thing for which I have no patience is the stuff of humanity posing as the stuff of Divinity. When I'm hungry for Him and His, nothing else will do.

Are you weary with empty religion and man-produced revival? Are you afraid you will end the chase just before God shows up? (You should be-He is close to you if you are really desperate.)

Worship is the process where we find Him in our wholeness. Brokenness is the process whereby God finds us in pieces. I am convinced that God hides when we think nothing is wrong, just to preserve the freshness of encounter. We are in our most dangerous state when we think everything is fine and we are "satisfied" with life (The God Catchers, p. 160).

The Bible says even the rocks and trees will cry out to God if we don't. What is so special about the worship of humanity that draws divinity close? For one thing, we don't have to do it. Our worship is really special when we finally come to our senses and offer Him what we were created to give Him-freely given worship offered in spirit and in truth. 

True worship can only be offered from a humble heart consumed with love for Him. That is what makes your worship special in those times when you are relatively "whole" and everything seems to be fine. It is worship precisely because you choose to take your eyes off of yourself and your wants long enough to acknowledge the He is the center of your universe. He is the Creator and you are His creation; and you love Him simply because He is.

Do you find the pace of your chase slowing down when things seem to be going well in your life? To put it another way, do you pursue Him with more passion and urgency when things are going wrong in your life? How can you "step up the pace" of the pursuit even during the good times?

For better or for worse, most of us find it easier or more natural to pursue God's face with fresh passion during difficult times. Perhaps it is part of our nature, or maybe God designed it that way knowing we would face regular challenges in our daily lives. Either way, life is always better when we're "following hard after God" than when we chase our own fleeting dreams and fantasies apart from Him.

… God has no need to "hide" from us in our times of crises or self-cultivated hunger. When we fall into sin and hurt ourselves or grow desperately frustrated during the pursuit, God immediately shows up. The game is up because the purpose of joy is discovery, not the chase itself. 

For the same reason, the Father takes joy in transforming God Chasers into God Catchers. He likes to let you catch Him! The purpose of the pursuit is the finding, not the hiding, and nothing changes the hiding into the finding so quickly as the cry God can't deny (The God Catchers, p. 161, emphasis mine).

How do you cultivate hunger for Him in good times? Do you make a daily habit of reading His letters, remembering the joy of His presence, and lingering over every memory of His faithfulness in your life and the lives of others? Does this process sound similar to the patterns we often follow in human relationships?

What Do You Think? 

It is time to put a demand on the passion of God. If He ripped the veil of separation in Jerusalem two thousand years ago, then He will rip apart anything that separates you from Him now. He will rip through every obstacle in your life if you put a demand on His passion. You have no idea how much how much He loves you. Let your worship and hunger cry out to Him in desperation right now ... (page 155).

1. What do you think? Does this statement sound too good to be true? Why? 

2. If you doubt whether or not "now" is the time to put a demand on the passion of God, then ask yourself, "When is the right time?" God has been waiting for thousands of years-why should He wait for you even one day longer? 

Scripture Reading: Psalm 126:5-6, in which tearful sowers are encouraged and chronic seed bearers are assured of a harvest.

5 Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. 
6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, I miss You. Thanks to Your favor and faithfulness, things go "right" in my life much of the time. In the bad times, when my life, my health, my family members, or my financial security are threatened by the circumstances of life; I have no problem running to You. That is when I struggle to hold the course until You come. It is in the good times that I most often fail to seek You with passion and urgency. The truth is that I am always in a crisis apart from Your presence. I need You moment by moment, I long for Your presence every minute of my life and beyond. Keep me desperately hunger and passionate for You, Lord; and lead me not into the temptation of satisfaction and dullness of heart.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

Holy Filling Is the Quest, Holy Frustration Is the Address

"But Tommy, I don't like living with this … this, this uneasy feeling. Will I ever stop feeling that I need more of Him?" Will it help if I tell you that all the spiritual luminaries of ages past have lived at frustration's address? Holy Hunger is their street in the village of Repentance, and Divine Desperation is their zip code. Their hunger was greater than their receiving, and their divine discontent made them pray a prayer like this: "Show me Your glory." They didn't base their faith on the success of their pursuit; they based their pursuit on the strength of their faith (The God Catchers, p. 164).

The myth persists that we enjoy a perfect life after receiving Christ despite two millennia of persecution, adversity, and opposition for His name. The lives of Peter, Paul, James, John, and many other less-known saints mentioned in the Bible make it clear that divine desperation is a natural part of our life in Christ.

Some may hope it isn't so, but students of the Word know it's so. God Chasers who hope to become God Catchers must inevitably enter the zip code of Divine Desperation and take up residence in the village of Repentance. In their quest for Holy filling, they make their home on the street of Holy Hunger.

Is your hunger "greater than your receiving"? Do you know what it feels like to experience His presence and yet hunger for more?

The passionate pursuit of God's presence puts a serious demand on the human soul, a price that some may find too high to pay. As we noted in The God Catchers:

Once you decide to abandon your permanent place in the pew or leave that comfortable padded seat in the back of the church to chase Him, God issues a permanent change-of-address notice for you. From that moment on, you become a spiritual traveler in transit, a pilgrim on an eternal pilgrimage to the place of His presence (p. 164).

The necessity of repentance is the first demand you encounter when you enter the chase. It dawns on you that the repentance that led to salvation was a door to deeper repentance, not just a one-time occurrence. From that point on, salvation is not the issue for that has been accomplished for you by Christ Jesus. Now you are consumed with a desire for holiness and righteousness before the One you long to be near, and a broken and repentant heart is the first steppingstone to His manifest presence.

Are you prepared to live life as a spiritual pilgrim in perpetual pursuit of His presence? Were you ever told about the important of repentance-continual repentance-to those who hunger for righteousness and holiness?

Repentance can accelerate the process of entering His presence. I've often said that repentance is like "worship on steroids." True repentance produces godly sorrow that bridges the gap of sin that separates us from Him. It also births desperation and brokenness. If worship entreats the presence of God, it seems that repentance places a demand on His presence because He said He will not despise the sacrificial cry of a broken and repentant heart. … The full faith of God Himself backs His statement about repentance. It places a legitimate demand on His presence; it fuels it like pressing an accelerator on a car (The God Catchers, p. 165).

There is a world of difference between repentance and condemnation. Repentance produces godly sorrow and salvation; condemnation produces death. Repentance leads to something better, purer, and healthier; condemnation or "worldly sorrow" produces ever-descending cycles of depression, guilt, and hopelessness. It amazes me that so few Christians realize the freedom available in God through the cleansing power of heart-felt repentance. Repentance removes the pressure each day when holy filling is your quest and holy frustration is your address.

Is repentance part of your daily worship before God? Do you view it as a "morning shower" to cleanse the soul and prepare you for pure service to Him?

Our problem is that most of us have a concept of repentance as "an occasional visit to the village of Repentance." God calls us to a lifestyle of repentance, which is living in the village (The God Catchers, p. 165).

 What Do You Think? 

Once you decide to abandon your permanent place in the pew or leave that comfortable padded seat in the back of the church to chase Him, God issues a permanent change-of-address notice for you. From that moment on, you become a spiritual traveler in transit, a pilgrim on an eternal pilgrimage to the place of His presence (page 164).

What do you think? In the footnote for this statement (on page 206), I make it clear that being a "pilgrim" does not include the act of hopping from church to church. What do you think it does mean?

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 11:23-12:12, where Paul portrays the "glamorous" life of a first century apostle, and describes what it was like to live at frustration's address while glorying only in his weaknesses and his total dependence upon God's strength.

23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 
24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 
25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 
26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 
27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 
28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? 
30 If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. 
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 
32 In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; 
33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands. 

1 It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: 
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 
3 And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 
4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 
5 Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. 
6 For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 
8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 
11 I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing. 
12 Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. 

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, please forgive me for so rarely visiting the village of Repentance. Today is a new day, and I choose to begin by moving my heart into the village of Repentance. I'm frustrated by the dichotomy of my longing for You and my fullness with "me." Please forgive me and cleanse me of my unrighteousness and make me more like You. Above all Lord, let me dwell in Your presence all the days of my life.

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney

God-Ordained Tension Produces
God-Ordained Growth

The chase can take you into some of the most challenging circumstances you will ever experience because worship takes you somewhere that you can't go otherwise. It is what you do in those circumstantial moments of divine frustration that determines whether you remain a God Chaser or you become a God Catcher. The first is good, but the second is better; and the truth is that God will constantly move us from the role of chaser to catcher and then to chaser again. After all, we serve a God who moves (and hides) (The God Catchers, p. 167).

Someone of great experience wrote somewhere that "we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." It seems this process takes place not so much in a static church pew as in a dynamic journey or the passionate pursuit of Him who is holy. 

God expects us to gather as a community for worship, caring, and equipping for the "work of the ministry." Yet too many of us strip off our "running gear" and cease the chase the moment we step out of a worship facility or church meeting. We stop short of God's best when we cut short the growth process I call "chasing God."

Where have you grown the most in your walk with God? Was it always pleasant, peaceful, and stress-free? Was it worth it? (Are you prepared to keep on chasing Him though the chase will take you into even more "growth periods" marked by obstacles, opposition, and awkwardness?)

It is possible for a developing child can "grow" by merely eating food, with most of the increase taking the form of body fat. It is better if the child eats healthy food, exercises vigorously, and then gets plenty of rest. The modern church seems to excel at two of the three activities, while virtually ignoring the component of spiritual exercise. 

Nothing of importance happens in your spiritual life if you avoid pursuits that require you to stretch and exert yourself far beyond your comfort zone. This is what it means to go from glory to glory. The Christian life isn't a destination (i.e., your personal pew at a prime location in the church sanctuary), it is an exciting, ever-changing journey of faith that constantly requires you to become more than you have been in Him.

What do you see most often in the church: "destination-based" single-event spectator Christianity, or "faith-based" pursuit of God and the continuous progression to the next phase of His glory? How would you describe your life in Christ to this point?

God births a frustration in your heart that compels you to pursue Him for more and more of His presence, which in turn makes you want Him even more! This is the only true "marriage made in heaven." Our faith isn't based on feelings, but it is fueled by passion. We anchor our faith on the things God said and promised in His inspired Word, but passion provides the courage and drive to pursue and serve the God of the Word (The God Catchers, p. 166).

Your greatest growth spurts will not come in the moments of His visitation-they come later, in the periods of holy frustration that follow the visitation. He imparts fresh strength to you every time you successfully hurdle the desire to quit the chase or lay down and give up. The moment you look up from "the bottom" to praise Him anyway, He rushes to meet you again. When you make up your mind to lift your hands in praise and wait upon Him, He raises you higher. The process couldn't be any more divine or any more painful. This is the God-ordained life of a God Chaser, and the triumph of a God Catcher.

Think of the testimonies you've heard and read in your life and in the Scriptures. Which testimonies stood out the most to you-the testimonies of divine visitation, or the testimonies of divine visitation at the end of tremendous tests, trials, and difficulties? What God Chaser/God Catcher events in your life will speak louder to your unsaved friends?

We are called into a life of dynamic, real-life faith punctuated by alternate waves of nearly unbearable spiritual hunger and the unspeakable joy of His intimate answer to our hunger. I call this state of God-ordained tension "living at frustration's address on Holy Hunger Street in Divine Desperation" (The God Catchers, p. 167).

 Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms 

The full faith of God Himself backs His statement about repentance. It places a legitimate demand on His presence; it fuels it like pressing an accelerator on a car. Our problem is that most of us have a concept of repentance as "an occasional visit to the village of repentance." God calls us to a lifestyle of repentance, which is living in the village.

1. Are you included in the "most of us," do you only make occasional visits to the village of repentance? Why? 

2. Do you believe God has really called us to a lifestyle of repentance? Why?

Scripture Reading: Psalm 42, where the Psalmist show us how to worship our way out of impossibilities with the determined declaration, "For I shall yet praise Him…."

1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 
3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” 
4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. 
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. 
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar.
7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. 
8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me— A prayer to the God of my life. 
9 I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 
10 As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.

Father, it is true that my pursuit of You has taken me far beyond my comfort zones into places and situations I would have never gone on my own. Yet I am determined to move beyond the "good" place of a God Chaser into the "best" place of a God Catcher. Grant me the grace and faith to say yes to You even when every cell of my being wants to say no and give up. I'm determined to pursue you with the same passion in "bad" times as I do in good times. All I know is that I can't seem to get enough of You, but I'm determined to try!

GodChasers.Network is a ministry of Tommy Tenney