The Tozer quote was a setup for series of posts from Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography, by Ian Murray. I was fascinated by the variety of spiritual experiences described as I read the book. We'll start with Edwards account of his conversion experience (These are my paraphrases. Edwars actual language is probably more difficult to read and understand than the King James Bible.)
He had just read 1 Tim. 1:17 (“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.”) Edwards wrote that “as I read the words, my whole soul was suddenly filled with the presence of God and His glory. I had never experiencend anything like this before. The words of this Bible verse hit me with a strange sene of power. I found myself thinking of the glory of God and I realized that it was only in His presence that we could experience true joy. I wanted to be so close to Him, so aware of His presence. I longed to be in heaven where I could dive deeply into the sea of God's love and stay there forever."
"I began to experience, from time to time, the presence of God. It was as if, all of a sudden, this passionate intense longing for God would come to life in my soul. It was like a fire. I had a desire to be with Him that was so intense that I couldn't find the words to describe it."
“God was becoming more and more real to me and this filled me with unspeakable joy. The way I looked at life changed dramtically. I began to have a continuous sense of the presence of God and an ongoing experience of a deep inner peace. It seemed as if I could see the glory of God whenever I looked at His creation.”
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