Week 1, Day 1

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

Does Hunger Bring God Out of Hiding?

Divine interruptions in our daily affairs provide some of our most significant "proofs" of God's existence. In one moment, perhaps just a half of a moment, the God beyond time can invade our clock-driven existence and turn our world upside down.

Have you ever experienced a divine interruption? How did you respond to it? Was it a brief interruption for the moment, or a divine marker signaling a lifelong course change?

As I noted in The God Catchers, God "interrupted my self-defined successful career as a full-time evangelist with a simple but shocking revelation: 'You know, Tommy, your favorite services and My favorite services are not the same. You leave your services full and satisfied, but when you leave, I'm still hungry'" (p. 2).

That brief statement suddenly reduced two and a half decades of ministry to a frustrated journey from "God's good" to "God's best." A sick feeling engulfed me when I realized that much of what I had been doing as a well-intentioned full-time evangelist may have helped to perpetuate the kind of services that left God hungry and dissatisfied.

I left that God-encounter with a permanent spiritual limp, knowing I could never again support or be satisfied by "church as usual." You may not be a full-time minister, but you do play a role through your worship and ministry to the Lord in every service.

Have you experienced the same thing I did? What can you do to make sure God leaves your church service satisfied instead of hungry?

The Lord began to teach me about the importance of being a God Chaser during a nine-month period of what I call "divine discontent," when I learned that the only way we can bless God in our meetings was to leave them feeling hungrier for Him than when we first came.

How would you describe your hunger level and how you feel about it right now?

The term, divine discontent, is described this way in my first book, The God Chasers :

I somehow sensed that destiny was waiting ... a hunger had been birthed in my heart that just wouldn't go away. The gnawing vacuum of emptiness in the midst of my accomplishments just got worse. I was in a frustrating funk, a divine depression of destiny ... I just sensed that something awaited us from God.

My personal season of divine discontent ultimately led to an encounter with God that turned my life upside down and permanently rearranged my ministry. As of this writing, I haven't "recovered," and I pray that I never do!

Can you identify with the term, divine discontent? Are you ready for a life-changing God encounter?

Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms

What assumptions or beliefs would make the terms, God Chaser and God Catcher seem offensive to someone? Check any of the beliefs or religious paradigms that you believe may prevent people from chasing or catching God:

[ ] "God does not hide."

[ ]  "God cannot be 'caught' by anyone or anything.

[ ]  God really doesn't care about us as individuals, especially in the sense of having a personal relationship with us. After all, He is the Almighty Creator. He doesn't have the time or desire to concern Himself with our petty desires and needs.

[ ]  We have nothing that God wants.

[ ]  Human beings are not worthy of God's attention, therefore they don't get His attention.

[ ]  I'm already saved, so God lives in me and I don't have t o chase Him. The Bible doesn't tell me to "do" anything other than believe and receive Jesus as Savior.

Week 1, Day 2

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

True Confessions of a God Addict

Now I am no longer content just to “chase” Him. I want to “catch” Him, to collect a string of close encounters with Him. Sometimes I grow weary with the daily chase, but I must chase if I want to catch ( The God Catchers , p. 3) .

The natural world contains countless hints about the absolute addictiveness of intimacy with Divinity. It is said that crack cocaine is so addictive that many who decide to “try it just once” find themselves irresistibly drawn into its wicked web of ever-growing addiction and compulsive drive for more.

The list of overwhelming compulsions preying on us seems to grow longer by the month. Some grow compulsively addicted to gambling, ever chasing “that one final throw of the dice” or that extra set of lottery tickets that will land them a jackpot so large it will forever solve their financial woes.

For others, their virtually uncontrollable compulsions lean more toward the buffet line, the dessert tray, or the hotel bars and liquor store. More than a few fall into the darkness of sensual addictions too awful to imagine or describe.

How can such things so far removed from God be considered “hints” about some kind of “God addiction”? The answer concerns the very fact that our race has such a capacity for unfulfilled desire, and has nothing to do with the kinds of things for which humans become addicted.

Have you noticed that capacity for unbridled desire in your own life? Is it so strong that you fear you would throw away everything for one more taste, for just one more touch of that which seems unattainable? If this desire burns for anything or anyone other than God, beware. If your passion is turned God-ward, why fight it?

I am convinced that God put this infinite capacity for addiction in our hearts, and that its only cure and true satisfaction is found in the infinite riches of His presence who loves us with limitless love. He is, in essence, the only legal addiction for our race in the created universe (and there is no compulsion is this addiction).

Does it feel strange to speak of an “addiction” for God? Is it because you've been taught that addiction in any form is wrong, and a sign of weakness or defect? Are you willing to be called weak or defective because you pursue Him with incurable passion?

 C.S. Lewis, the celebrated Cambridge professor, thinker, and brilliant defender of the Christian faith, wrote in The Problem of Pain :
The mould in which a key is made would be a strange thing, if you had never seen a key: and the key itself a strange thing if you had never seen a lock. Your soul has a curious shape because it is a hollow made to fit a particular swelling in the infinite contours of the divine substance, or a key to unlock one of the doors in the house with many mansions…
…Blessed and fortunate creature, your eyes shall behold Him and not another's. All that you are, sins apart, is destined, if you will let God have His good way, to utter satisfaction … God will look to every soul like its first love because He is its first love.

Take It Personally!

Often, when we wander off in the wrong direction in our pursuit of Him, God calls out to us to help us along. When my youngest daughter and I played “hidey-face,” I loved to hear the lyrical sounds of her “little girl giggle” just bubbling with excitement. I loved it so much that if she wandered off in the wrong direction and stopped giggling in her search, then I would call out and say, “Over here…closer…”
Then I would listen to her stop and be still while she tried to locate the source of Daddy's voice. I am convinced that God does the same thing.

Week 1, Day 3

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

Early Hints of Passionate Perfume

Even then I had hints in my heart that, in some supernatural way, the pursuer becomes the pursued when God catches wind of our worship and praise ( The God Catchers , p. 4) .

Perhaps you've experienced the “suddenly” of His unexpected arrival in a meeting, in your car, or in the wee hours of the morning. His presence didn't linger the first time—it captivated you and then evaporated too soon.

How long ago did those first hints of something holy and heavenly first touch your life? What did you do about it? Did you pursue it, seeking for more? What happened? Did you forget it after a while and resume the “normal” things that fill your life?

The pursuit of God's presence may earn you criticism and scorn at times, especially from the friends and enemies who talk about “walking by faith and not by sight.” They are right about living by faith, but they are wrong if they interpret that Bible phrase to mean we should live by theology and not by experience, and by mental assent and not by personal relationship.

If God didn't exist, perhaps a passionless existence would be acceptable. But He does exist, and because He lives we can live. If the Bible is a true witness, then the God we serve is a God of infinite passion and delight; and He could never be classified as a mere Divine law clerk keeping score solely for the sake of eternal judgment. Judgment day will surely come, but God's greatest focus in on a passionate wedding and the riotous celebration that will mark its consummation.

None of this can ever be “argued” into you—it usually comes straight to the heart unannounced and unexpected. Like an arrow of heaven, just enough of His love and delight pierces your soul to drive a thrill (yes, I said thrill!) through every cell of your body. If the “physical thrill” was all we longed for, then we could find solace in the needle, pill and bottle. Yet none of these will do—it is Him we are after.

The faith comes in during those times when there is more pursuing than catching. Yet God never intended for us to make a religion out of being “unrequited lovers” and “lousy losers” who never quite connect with the heart of God. That just doesn't match up with the same God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son!

As I wrote in The God Catchers , 

“I've learned more about the fuel of desperation and the feel of destiny while in pursuit of His presence. The Lord also taught me more about embracing this place of what I previously called a ‘frustrating funk, a divine depression of destiny.' Weariness with man can birth desperation for God” (p.4).

Do you find it strange that in the middle of all of the crises and difficulties in the Bible we so often find praise and worship? When trouble invades your life, what is your first instinct? Do you gripe and complain at Him or worship and praise Him?

Paul and Silas worshiped Him from their jail cell. Paul worshiped Him throughout a lifetime of suffering and hardship. David wrote some of his most exalted Psalms from the dismal interior of the cave Adullam in exile from his own nation, family and home. Perhaps we should find it even stranger that praise and worship is so often absent from our daily lives.

What Do You Think?

At this point, you have probably read all the way through The God Catchers. (I hope you have had the opportunity to read The God Chasers as well.) Now I want you to read through a brief passage from page 8 of The God Catchers, in which I discuss the way my youngest daughter “captured” my heart. Then I want to ask your opinion about something:

She couldn't capture me physically, but she easily captured me emotionally. She couldn't move her legs fast enough to apprehend me, but her words easily captured my heart.

Some people take offense at my use of the term God Chaser , saying, “You don't have to chase God.” I understand but I don't agree. You may call it whatever you want; it doesn't bother me. My youngest daughter didn't have to chase me to get me to be her daddy, but if she wanted more than just to live in the same house, if she wanted attention and affection, then she knew which “buttons” to push. You may be content just to be in God's house, but I want to be in His lap!

[ ] A God Chaser is someone who already belongs to God's family, but wants to be close to Him, not just an acquaintance, a house guest, or a distant relative.

[ ] A God Chaser—and especially a God Catcher—isn't ashamed to display hunger, desire, and ambition to be close to the heart of God. It becomes their most treasured goal on earth.

[ ] We chase God, not because we “have to,” but because we “get to”!

Week 1, Day 4

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

His Hiding Has More to Do
With Joy Than With Judgment

At least eleven times in the Psalms, David said in effect, “You are a God who hides Himself ….” Why would the God of the universe, the almighty Creator, hide Himself from His creation? … I think the biblical answer has more to do with joy than with judgment (The God Catchers, p. 6).

To those who don't pursue Him, God seems to be hiding all of the time. To God Chasers like King David who become obsessed with the pursuit of His presence; even a moment of hiding or separation can seem like an eternity.

Where do you fit in this picture? Do you feel that God is more or less permanently hidden from you, or are you growing more and more obsessed with the pursuit of His presence because you are convinced He allows Himself to be “caught?"

The common understanding in David's day (and in ours as well, for that matter), is that God hid himself from men and women so His holiness wouldn't destroy them in their sin. There is definitely truth to that understanding, but God Chasers don't fear judgment as much as they fear separation from their Beloved.

Long before Jesus shed His atoning blood on the cross, God permitted David to break all of the rigid rules of the priesthood and of the Most Holy Place. David used to take his favorite footstool to the tent on Mount Zion and sit right in front of the ark of the covenant just so he could be near the presence of God.

How often do you retreat to your favorite “footstool” to sit before the Lord in sweet communion? It is often enough?

On page 6 of The God Catchers, I said:

Why would the God of the universe, the almighty Creator, hide Himself from His creation? We know, for instance, that He hides Himself from sin and pride, basically because He doesn't want His absolute holiness to destroy us in our pollution. But that isn't the main reason that God hides. He sent His only Son to take care of the sin problem forever once we repent and turn to Him.

I read somewhere that it was “for the joy set before Him” that Jesus endured the cross, scorned the shame, and took His seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 8 The judgment of sin was clearly involved in Jesus' journey to the cross, but it seems that joy, not judgment, propelled Him through the unspeakable sorrow of the grave to the exultation of resurrection morning.

What motivates or empowers your Christian walk the most? The critical judgment of other people or the joy of discovery in His presence?

In the same way, I'm convinced the joy of discovery prompts God to “hide” from us at times (and those are the moments we remember best). Sometimes during a meeting I will ask everyone who remembers the topic of the sermon delivered on the day they first received Christ as Savior and sensed the first glimmer of His presence in their hearts. At best, I usually see only a few hands go up. Then I ask how many people remember the experience they had the time they first discovered the Savior who loves them. Without exception, the meeting places take on the appearance of a sea of waving hands. Why?

How would you respond to these questions? What stands out the most in your personal history with God? Your failures or His triumphs?

Remember This!

Sunday Morning Kisses Are Not Enough!

She was immersed in the liquid joy of discovery and delighted by the unexpected excitement and serendipitous moment of encounter, “ It's him! ” Then we enjoyed about thirty seconds of sheer pleasure as we went through our private process of rediscovery and delight.
…When I finally set her down, she wanted to kiss me again.

Week 1, Day 5

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

When Sunday Morning Kisses 
Aren't Enough

God doesn't leave … He lingers. His greatest joy is to extend and expand the moments of encounter. Sunday morning kisses are not enough! ( The God Catchers , pp. 7-8) .

Do you ever have that sinking feeling that what we do in church could continue just as well whether or not God ever showed up? I fear that we have so formalized our relationship with God that all He receives from us in the brief times we gather in His name is “lip service,” those “fluttery fake kisses” we usually reserve for strangers on formal occasions. We also give fake kisses to people or relatives we barely know and really don't care to know better.

Have you ever given God a “fake kiss” on Sunday morning so you could do what you wanted to do Sunday afternoon?

The problem with fake kisses is that they carry no commitment or obligation with them. Passionate kisses may lead to something deeper, something more costly and more involved than we are prepared for.

There is no deeper commitment than the eternal covenant we make with God the day we receive His forgiveness and enter into an eternal relationship of intimacy with Divinity. Yet we insist on giving Him brief, controlled kisses during our rigid and schedule-driven meetings each week. He must feel more like a much-avoided aunt or an unappreciated neighbor than our Divine Groom and Redeemer. Nevertheless, He keeps pursuing us in the hope that one day our passion will rise and we will begin to pursue Him.

As I noted on page 12 of The God Catchers, “This book has one simple and straightforward focus: how you can capture God's heart .” For a growing number of passionate pursuers around the world, that has also become the defining focus of their lives.

Are you one of “them”? Are you desperate for another encounter with Him? What keeps you in the chase—love or legalism? Distant and infrequent flirtations once a week, or passionate pursuit every waking moment?

Sunday morning kisses aren't enough for the God who ceaselessly searches for worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. He is wondering when we will finally catch on and join in the joyful chase. He anticipates the day we make the joyful transition in our hearts from being simply the redeemed of the Lord to becoming the betrothed of the Lord—the Bride of Christ, without spot or wrinkle. What is impossible for man and man's ways is entirely possible for God—when we yield to His way.

Take It Personally!

Worship turns the tables on the chase . It takes you to the point where you don't have to pursue Him because He begins to pursue you. If you are a worshiper, God will track you down .

… Worship and spiritual hunger make you so attractive to God that your circumstances cease to matter anymore. He will move heaven and earth to find a worshiper. When you begin to worship with all your being and desire, your heart turns Him toward you. You capture His attention and attract His affection.

Week 1, Day 6

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

On the Trail of True Passion:
Tracking Down Worshipers

… At the very moment my little daughter would say, “Oh, Daddy,” I would turn and begin to chase her. Worship turns the tables on the chase. It takes you to the point where you don't have to pursue Him because He begins to pursue you. If you are a worshiper, God will track you down ( The God Catchers, p. 9) .

Countless books, play scripts, screen plays and dramatizations have portrayed various professional soldiers, adventurers and leaders as unwilling to cultivate long-term relationships with spouses and family simply because they felt it made them vulnerable. “If you have someone or something that you love greatly,” the theory goes, “you give your enemies the ability to hurt you greatly by robbing you of your beloved.”

Have you ever caught yourself holding something back from God while thinking, “What if He really isn't listening? What if He doesn't care?” Are you really willing to invest so much love in an invisible God you can't see?

It is no accident that soldiers over the centuries required their loved ones to stay home and as far away as possible from the field of battle. They would rather suffer hurt themselves or even suffer death than see their loved ones endangered.

God dares to love much, even though it exposes the Almighty to the pain of rejection and the possibility of theft (the theft of affections) by the Deceiver of men. As long men saw God primarily as a Celestial Judge who favored the administration of judgment over the distribution of grace, it appeared that God was risking very little. Then came the cross, when Heaven's Soldier literally laid down His life for His Beloved. What do we do now?

Many people grew up thinking God was up in heaven with a baseball bat, ready to smack anyone who stepped out of line. 

Were you one of them? What happened the first time you realized the truth about what Jesus did on the cross?

God has laid bare His passion for worshipers and the truth is out for all to see. We have no excuse for clinging to our passionless religious ritual when we know our Maker desires and seeks out more from us.

How much of the typical worship service really involves “worship in spirit and truth”? What part of the service do you think would actually attract God's attention and cause Him to “hunt you down”?

At the bidding of the Father, Jesus risked everything for you and I. Now it is in our laps—will we begin the passionate game of pursuit and capture again? The great Pursuer of worshipers is waiting for us to begin our song of praise and release passionate waves of worship and adoration toward His throne.

Allow me to paint a picture by rewriting a brief passage from The God Catchers. I've redirected the text from my relationship with my daughter to mirror God's relationship with the Church:

And so the game began again. She was determined to kiss Me, but it wasn't hard for Me to avoid her. I could easily move this way and that way to dodge her—the created universe is but a finite playground for My infinity.

Within a few minutes, she usually gets tired and says, “Oh, Daddy,” and stops her pursuit. She couldn't capture Me physically, but she easily captured Me emotionally. She couldn't move her religious services and self-made methods fast enough to apprehend Me, but her words easily captured My heart.

Does anything in these two paragraphs touch your heart? Are you moved to change something in your own life or worship to help you capture His heart?

What Do You Think?

The message in The God Catchers often challenges our ideas about “church as usual.” Some people get upset because the things revealed in this book seem to bring into question virtually everything they've done in the name of “church” over the past few years. What do you think?

We give Him a perfunctory kiss on Sunday morning and hurry to return to our religious toys and pretend encounters. All the while He is saying, “I've been missing you; I'd love to have some more loving kisses and hugs from you….”
God loves it when we want to linger in His presence, but those times are rare in most modern churches. We've become more time sensitive than Spirit sensitive. Whatever happened to “waiting on God”? (The God Catchers, page 12.)

1. Does anything in these passages challenge “church” as you've known it in the past? If so, then describe the challenge:

2. Can you give some examples of what could be called “our religious toys and pretend encounters”?

3. How many ways are we more “time sensitive” than “Spirit sensitive”?

Week 1, Day 7

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

God Will Take a Trip In Time 
Just To Be With You

God doesn't hide Himself from you so that He can't be found; He hides Himself from you so that He can be found. He hides for the sheer joy of being discovered ( The God Catchers, p. 11) .

As a proud father, I consider it no sacrifice to endure a full day of inconvenience, fatigue, rushing crowds, and crowded aircraft just to “experience thirty seconds of my daughter's joy in the driveway.” No matter how hard or inconvenient it may be, it is worth it to me to see the joy of discovery in my daughter's eyes once again.

My experiences with my three beautiful daughters combined with the convincing testimony of the Scriptures led me to write in The God Catchers, “God will take a trip in time just to spend a brief moment with humanity. He thinks it's worth it to be with you!”

Has it ever occurred to you that God really wants to be with you (as odd as they may seem)? Now that you know, has it changed anything in your thinking or lifestyle?

In The God Catchers, I noted that as my children grew older, they altered the way they relate to me. One incident I experienced with my youngest daughter seemed to typify the reaction of the time-sensitive church when our heavenly Father wants “more love than we have time” to give Him:

Even though my youngest daughter has partially outgrown the “hidey-face game,” I can still manage to squeeze some great kisses and hugs from her if I really work at it. The other day I said, “Honey, come up here and give Daddy some love. Give me some kisses.”

She was busy playing with some of her dolls and things, but she obediently crawled up on my lap and gave me a kiss. Then she was ready to get down again.

“No, come on. Give me some more love,” I said.
Then she said, “That's the problem with you daddies.”
“What do you mean?” I said.
“You always want too much love,” she said.
I could only grin and say, “Yeah, I'm guilty.”

That's the problem with our Daddy too: He always wants too much love . We give Him a perfunctory kiss on Sunday morning and hurry to return to our religious toys and pretend encounters. All the while He is saying, “I've been missing you; I'd love to have some more loving kisses and hugs from you….”

Do you agree with my statement, “We've become more time sensitive than Spirit sensitive”? Does this problem plague your personal relationship with God? What will you do about it?

Take It Personally!

Our problem in the church is that if we are not careful, the arrogance of our spiritual adolescence robs us of our childlike passion for His presence. More than anything else, we must learn that God does not hide so that He cannot be found; He is very careful to hide so that He can be found.
(The God Catchers, page 12.)

Arrogance and presumption have disqualified and dismissed us from God's presence since the first sin in the garden of Eden. God sent His Son to take care of our sin problem, but He gave us this solution to the chronic attitude problem I call “the arrogance of our spiritual adolescence”:

"…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The best way to begin the chase the right way is to begin the pursuit with humility, prayer, and hunger for Him.

Week 2, Day 1

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

The Restless Remnant:
Incurably Desperate For a God Encounter

The restless remnant is comprised of “the few, the humble, and the broken” who refuse to bow their knees to false gods, false messiahs, false shepherds, or trivial religious pursuits because they want only to see His face and dwell in His presence. The big problem with this remnant is that its members aren't easily cataloged, cross-referenced, or “boxed.” Their only common characteristic (and the only prerequisite for membership) is their defining hunger for the presence of the living God ( The God Catchers , pp. 193-194).

Most people do everything they can to avoid labels, stereotypes, and social “tags.” The most popular and effective avoidance technique may be compromise. If you choose to be a true God Chaser, and especially if you become a God Catcher; are you willing to be labeled as “incurably desperate” and compulsively addicted” ?

God finds it difficult or impossible to work with those who are desperate for the approval of people; but He can move mountains, nations, and entire generations with men, women, and children who are incurably desperate for Him .

It all seems to begin with the cry God can't deny, the urgent cry of a desperate heart longing for His divine touch. If you've had your fill of “religious stage gymnastics and emotional hype designed to excite and stroke the flesh,” and if you are sick of church games, man's manipulation, and passionless worship,” then you need an encounter with the Real Thing. 3

Understand, however, that an encounter with the manifest presence of God isn't without a certain cost.

What will happen to your social standing at work and in church if your symptoms begin to defy every attempt at disguise? Are you willing to pay the price of His presence?

Even one holy encounter with Him will permanently alter your perspective of life. Your “condition” won't get any better after you “catch” Him—you will just get more desperate than before. The glory of His face is addictive in the extreme.

Will you continue the chase if it marks you as a member of the restless remnant who desperate for yet another God encounter?

If your answer is yes, then you should prepare yourself for a life of uncommon courage and accomplishment in the Kingdom. God loves to work through people who dare to believe Him and are determined to pursue Him.

Are you willing to face the “heat” like the three Hebrew children who chose the flames of a furnace over the safety they could enjoy by merely bowing their knees before man's idea of what true worship should be?

What Do You Think?

It should be obvious that no one can really “catch” God, but you can capture His heart. Once you do that, God allows you to pull Him into your dimension. (Page 14)

What do you think about this statement? One of the first things you should do to test any statement about God is to ask, “Are there any clear biblical precedents or examples of this in God's Word?” Now it is time to apply this test to the statement above. Can you think of any incidents in the Old and New Testaments illustrating my claim? (HINT: See 1 Samuel 1:9-20 and Mark 10:46-52)

Week 2, Day 2

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

Just One Look Changes
Your Vision Forever

…after he caught sight of God taking His seat, Isaiah didn't see things the same way. He didn't say things the same way, and he didn't prophesy the same way (The God Catchers, p. 16) .

The best king in Isaiah's earthly life succumbed to the seduction of strength and ultimately died in shame and isolation. The prophet lifted his eyes in the temple one day and saw a greater king fill his vision, and suddenly his broken heart was transformed and filled with a burning glory.

The seduction of strength endangers everything in our lives. It can transform a natural gift for athletics, music, science or business ventures into a deadly idol that threatens to displace God Himself from the throne of our lives.

How many times have you watched someone you loved and respected fall into the depths of failure after succumbing to the seduction of strength? (How many times have you put more trust in your own strength than in God?)

None of us have room for two kings in our lives. 4 The King of Glory waited until Isaiah's earthly king died before He allowed the prophet to catch Him in the temple. He was saying, in essence, “Now I'll let you see Me. You thought the glory of the former king was incredible; let Me show you My glory.” 5

Has God been waiting for some king to die in your life before revealing His manifest presence to you? If you have any doubt about who or what you worship, examine your life. Where do you invest most of your time, energy, money, and appetite?

The good news is that Isaiah made it through the hard times after King Uzziah's death to become one of the greatest Old Testament prophets. As I wrote in The God Catchers, “What happened? Isaiah spent thirty seconds in the presence of the King, high and lifted up, and it utterly redirected, reformed, and transformed his life and ministry.” 6

Are there times when you wish your life would be “utterl y redirected, reformed, and transformed? What will it take, and how much are you willing to invest in it?

God will only have you one way— His way . In my first book, The God Chasers , I said:

… when Moses told God, “Show me Your glory,” the Lord said, “You can't, Moses. Only dead men can see My face.” Fortunately Moses didn't stop there. Unfortunately, the Church did.”

… The God of Moses is willing to reveal Himself to you today, but it is not going to be a “cheap” blessing. You're going to have to lay down and die, and the more you die, the closer He can come. 7

Just how close are you do you want Him to come?

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

As you read this brief passage from page 14 of The God Catchers, think about your own life and the times the voice of your children or family members suddenly “transported” you into their realm:

How did that little girl physically pull my 200-and-none-of-your-business pounds up from my place of thoughtful repose and transport me into her world as fast as my legs could carry me? Was it the strength of her little arms and delicate hands that did it? No, that is a physical and mathematical impossibility. She did it with her voice. There was an urgency to her cry.

Describe one or two of these incidents in your memory, and think about how they might apply to your own desire to “pull God into your dimension."

Week 2, Day 3

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

Brokenness and Dependency
Lead to Intimacy

Uzziah's chief sin, and the cause of his unclean flesh, was that he mishandled in presumption the glory of God …He knew better; he just chose to do things his way (The God Catchers , p. 19) .

King David and King Uzziah both began well, but they ended their courses of life in totally different places. 

What happened to these two great kings along the way that separated their destinies in God? (See page 20 of The God Catchers.)

Where David offered brokenness and totally dependent love to God and was invited into God's inner chambers of intimacy, Uzziah assumed he was worthy and barged into God's chambers with an offering immersed in the fragrance of pride, arrogance, and presumption .

What picture formed in your mind when you read this description of King Uzziah? Perhaps you thought to yourself, It's easy to see that King Uzziah was headed for disaster. That kind of behavior would never do in God's presence

If we could ask King Uzziah to describe his behavior, he might put things differently: “As the King, and as the true spiritual leader who led Israel back from spiritual apathy to spiritual revival; I felt it was my sworn duty to bravely enter God's chambers bearing gifts, while carrying myself with the self-respect and dignity appropriate for my office.”

We like to distance ourselves from any Bible personality who received God's punishment, and it is an art we practice and perfect from our earliest years. “I would never do something so stupid as that … I commit little sins once in a while, but nothing like the sin of Uzziah!”

Are you willing to admit that you have done your fair share of “distancing” and justifying in your life? Where or what did it get you?

The truth can become unbearably familiar at times, and the truth is that nearly every one of us has acted like King Uzziah at one time or another. In fact, anytime we approach the Lord outside of brokenness or totally dependent love, by default we are party to the Uzziah Syndrome.

Honestly examine your most recent church service, and carefully consider your own level of worship and inward conduct during that time.Would you characterize them as broken or whole? As dependent and loving, or as independent and friendly toward God?

The problem is that God has no interest in or liking for our independence and He is rarely if ever attracted to our wholeness. He is more interested in seeking and finding broken and contrite hearts than in collecting “independent but friendly hearts.” 

What are you offering Him right now?

Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions 
and Misaligned Paradigms

None of us have room for two kings in our lives. It was only after King Uzziah finally died that the “other King” could rise up and say to Isaiah, “Now I'll let you see Me. You thought the glory of the former king was incredible; let Me show you My glory” (page 16, The God Catchers ).

One of the best-known religious phrases in church circles warns, “Don't get so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.” It seems to me that that opposite danger is far more common and even more deadly. Perhaps we should start warning our children, “Don't get so earthly minded that you are no heavenly good.” List what you feel are the top five “kings” competing with God for our affections in this life:

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

Week 2, Day 4

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

Exchange Human Arrogance
For Holy Heartburn

The only cure for the “Uzziah Syndrome” is an Isaiah experience with God that you will never “get over.” Most of us never make it to that point because we get angry when we are confronted with the truth. We get angry instead of yielding to sorrowful repentance, and we insist on swinging our sacred religious censers filled with unauthorized and unacceptable offerings. What we need are burning lips and a hot heart. One coal from His altar will cure our arrogance. (The God Catchers , p. 21) .

Most of us would never describe ourselves as arrogant, because we have a preconceived idea about what arrogance looks like. The truth is that arrogance doesn't always swagger or speak in overbearing tones. Sometimes it does its work subtly, with sly intent and silent insubordination.

Arrogance often dresses up in priestly robes or our Sunday best, so it can secretly infect our worship like a killer virus. I asked this question in The God Catcher : “Has God turned away from us because of our empty religious forms? Has our presumption polluted our offerings and disqualified us for residence in His presence?” (p. 21)

Can you detect the presence of arrogance in the ways you have worshiped God? How did it affect your time with God?

“The arrogance of adolescence” describes a peculiar disinterest in and disdain of virtually everything that doesn't generate from “self.” When we grow “older” in our faith, it seems that we often lose the joy of innocence that marked our early days in Christ. As we “grow up,” we tend to grow cynical and critical at the same time.

We adopt a “been there, done that” attitude about the things of God, almost as if we are daring God to amuse or impress us with something newer or more exciting than they usual. This attitude often has an all-too-familiar sound: “Oh, it's just You. Oh, it's just church; they're just singing another song. It's just another sermon” (The God Catchers, p. 24).

How many ways has the affliction of adolescent arrogance crept up on you in church services? Did you ever sense the warning voice of the Holy Spirit signaling that you had crossed the line?

Many people confuse my message exhorting people to hotly pursue God's presence with the idea that “old is bad” and that God could not and would not speak to us using the things of the past such as hymns, traditional sermons, church rituals, etc. They miss the point. God can and does speak through these things when we pursue Him instead of limiting Him to certain things, procedures, or personal preferences.

Has God's presence ever touched you through songs, messages, or methods that you normally avoid, or that were totally unfamiliar to you? Do you think He did it “on purpose”?

Behind every song could be the fresh discovery of His presence. When passionate pleas replace dry discourses, “church” can become the celebration of His presence it was always meant to be. He was always there waiting, but the conditions were not correct (The God Catchers, p. 24).

What does God want you to do to help make it happen?

What Do You Think?

Sometimes my children come into my home because they have the “keys” to the door; they understand how to make an entrance as members of the family. Then there are times when their cries pull me from my world into their world. In that respect, they “captured” me by capturing my attention. Worship captures the attention of God, but it “pulls Him into our world” when the circumstances are just right. (Page 17)

What do you think some of those “circumstances” might be that can “pull Him into our world”?

What do you think are the “keys” to God's door? Can you think of any Scriptures that tell us “how to make an entrance as members of God's family”? (HINT: See Psalm 100:3-4, Hebrews 10:19-22, James 4:5-10).

Week 2, Day 5

Daily Devotional by Tommy Tenney
Experiencing His Presence

Offer Him Your Broken Heart
and See the Heavens Open

When brokenness appears in our lives, openness appears in the heavens ( The God Catchers , p. 25) .

Human desperation and brokenness are the mortar and stone of heavenly dependence, and they are the integral components of greatness in God. He can use virtually everything that drives us to the limits of our strength, endurance, abilities, and resources to draw us closer to His heart and deeper into His purposes.

If human desperation and brokenness are so important to the purposes of God, how can we remain in a continual state of desperation of brokenness before Him?

One way to remain in a state of heavenly dependency is to change our attitudes about hardship and impossibility. By definition, any assignment from God is supernatural. If it is really from God, then you will be unable to accomplish it apart from divine provision and intervention. A scholar cited in The Amplified Bible defines faith as “that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence.” 9 There is no better time or place to lean on Him with all of your being.

Do you prefer to pick the easy things you can do for God using your own gifts and abilities, or will you accept assignments from Him that push you far beyond your own resources, strength, abilities, and faith level?

It may have been the pain of a funeral that helped Isaiah put all of his dependence on God, but we know he was a changed man after he saw the Lord high and lifted up in the temple. Do you remember this passage in The God Catchers?

God will take advantage of your desperate feelings to create a dependency on Him. Thirty seconds in the manifest presence of God can change everything. It can change a nation, your destiny, and rearrange your future. You'll never be the same (p. 25).

What causes you to lift your dependence from your own shoulders or the shoulders of another person and place it on the broad shoulders of God? Are you really prepared for a God encounter that will change everything?

What Do You Think?

Where David offered brokenness and totally dependent love to God and was invited into God's inner chambers of intimacy, Uzziah assumed he was worthy and barged into God's chambers with an offering immersed in the fragrance of pride, arrogance, and presumption.
… Perhaps the Church suffers from the “Uzziah Syndrome” today. We insist on approaching God our way, and we say that everything is fine. Our way will be the acceptable way because we are sure we know what God likes. We think we can continue to “feed Him” like a trained pet on a chain with our crafted sermons, serial liturgies, and orchestrated prostrations in religious pride and arrogance (The God Catchers, page 20).

What do you think? Does this sound familiar?

1. Think of the most recent church service in which you participated. Did the assembled saints approach God in “brokenness and totally dependent love”?

2. Did the church body approach Him under the assumption they were “worthy,” offering Him praise and worship tainted by the odor of pride, arrogance, and presumption? (It is true that the blood of Jesus made us worthy, but the Lord did not shed His blood to give us a license to offend the Heavenly Father with human pride, presumption, and disrespect!)

3. If your local church body is like most, its worship services are marked by a mixture of