Are You Lonely Too?

[LivingbyFaith]

The Loneliness of the Christian

by A. W. Tozer

 

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.

The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.

He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The above description of "the lonely saint" describes my life 100%.  I've felt alone most of my life, even when I've been around others, but in the past ten years, I have found that people are literally being removed from my life and I am having to walk this journey of life "Alone!".

As much as it can feel so lonely, I think it's a privilege - I feel like it's God's way of bringing us to a place of total "Dependency" upon God Himself, I don't know?

How about you?  Do you walk alone and if so, why do you believe God takes us through this loneliness?

God bless!

 

Edited November 11, 2018 by LivingbyFaith

[LivingbyFaith]

I think I may have the answer to my own question?...

 We no longer identify with this world, and have no covetous lust for all the things that are in it. The truth of the matter is, we don’t feel at home on earth anymore. This environment of sin, sickness, war, politics and poverty does not seem “natural” to us anymore — neither does the deceitfulness of riches and the craving for other things.

We have separated ourselves from the world and worldly things, therefore, we do not find enjoyment in them anymore, because these things are no longer a part of our nature.

 Our nature now is to please the Father and the Lord Jesus – that is the motivational driving force that gives us pleasure. The older we get in Christ the more we realize how “impermanent” the things of this world are!

[Marilyn C]

14 minutes ago, LivingbyFaith said:

 

The above description of "the lonely saint" describes my life 100%.  I've felt alone most of my life, even when I've been around others, but in the past ten years, I have found that people are literally being removed from my life and I am having to walk this journey of life "Alone!".

As much as it can feel so lonely, I think it's a privilege - I feel like it's God's way of bringing us to a place of total "Dependency" upon God Himself, I don't know?

How about you?  Do you walk alone and if so, why do you believe God takes us through this loneliness?

God bless!

 

Hi LivingbyFaith,

It seems we are both Aussies. That is probably why we are up at this hour and those overseas are asleep.

Yes I can identify with what you have posted. Yet amid that the Lord brought different ones to be mentored and I have had the privilege of seeing them mature and now reaching out to others. I also can`t go out too much, (CFS) but then the Lord has provided this forum to make friends and a vehicle to help others, plus learn things myself.

Perhaps the total dependency is needed before we can then mentor others as we would draw them to ourselves instead of to the Lord, because of our need.  However when the Lord is in His rightful place then other things can be added. I pray that you will have the joy of mentoring others too.

My husband and I have been on our big Australian trip and when we came to Perth we met up with someone from the forum and had tea and communion together. Then further on we stayed at a couple of friends we made on this forum too, and had such a precious time with them. Hope you can find good friends here. I`m always open to have a chat if you want to PM me.

all the best, Marilyn.

[Michael37]

32 minutes ago, LivingbyFaith said:

The Loneliness of the Christian

by A. W. Tozer

 

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.

The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.

He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The above description of "the lonely saint" describes my life 100%.  I've felt alone most of my life, even when I've been around others, but in the past ten years, I have found that people are literally being removed from my life and I am having to walk this journey of life "Alone!".

As much as it can feel so lonely, I think it's a privilege - I feel like it's God's way of bringing us to a place of total "Dependency" upon God Himself, I don't know?

How about you?  Do you walk alone and if so, why do you believe God takes us through this loneliness?

God bless!

 

Some people are more gregarious than others. They tend to belong to clubs and be involved in group activities. Living alone can be a challenge for those who have a constant need for companionship. On the other hand there are those who enjoy their own company and thrive on solitude.

I went through some very lonely times before I met my wife as did she which made for a good rapport between us when we compared notes. Currently I enjoy quality friendships within a small fellowship in contrast to the past larger fellowships where the friendships turned out to be shallow and less durable.

I do sympathise with lonely people and over 30 plus years in Property Maintenance and ministering in rest homes have encountered many of them. 

[Equippers]

1 hour ago, LivingbyFaith said:

The Loneliness of the Christian

by A. W. Tozer

 

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.

The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.

He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The above description of "the lonely saint" describes my life 100%.  I've felt alone most of my life, even when I've been around others, but in the past ten years, I have found that people are literally being removed from my life and I am having to walk this journey of life "Alone!".

As much as it can feel so lonely, I think it's a privilege - I feel like it's God's way of bringing us to a place of total "Dependency" upon God Himself, I don't know?

How about you?  Do you walk alone and if so, why do you believe God takes us through this loneliness?

God bless!

 

God created us for fellowship with other human beings, in this case other believers.....

Charles Stanley has this video on loneliness i think you should check it out.

i don't know who this Tozer person is, but i do know something about Charles Stanley, he seems to think as i remember it, God does not want us to be lonely for a long period of time, and He is a God that met our needs.

also his video is targeted at born again believers i think.....

[LivingbyFaith]

Thanks everyone for your wonderful and encouraging words.  I am trusting the Lord to see me through this as I travel this road, one day at a time, Him and I together! Amen

[turtletwo]

 Good topic. Thanks for sharing from A.W. Tozer's writings.

2 hours ago, LivingbyFaith said:

How about you?  Do you walk alone and if so, why do you believe God takes us through this loneliness?

Yes, mostly alone... My main source of fellowship is here at Worthy (as I am not able to attend church, due to medical reasons.) Naturally, nothing comes close to the sweet Presence of my Lord. Loneliness, for me brings Him nearer.

Why am I walking alone? Haven't thought about it much. So I prayed about this and the words "purging out the dross" came in to my mind. The Lord is perhaps telling me that looking too much to fellow Christians is a sort of dross that He needs to remove. Maybe it interferes in our relationship because scripture describes Him as a jealous God.

Associating with worldliness with the unsaved (or sadly, even the church?) ...I've lost interest in this stuff for years now.

3 hours ago, LivingbyFaith said:

We have separated ourselves from the world and worldly things, therefore, we do not find enjoyment in them anymore

I thought your summary below covered it nicely.

3 hours ago, LivingbyFaith said:

We no longer identify with this world, and have no covetous lust for all the things that are in it. The truth of the matter is, we don’t feel at home on earth anymore.

to the statement below.

3 hours ago, LivingbyFaith said:

Our nature now is to please the Father and the Lord Jesus – that is the motivational driving force that gives us pleasure.

 

[Zemke]

2 hours ago, Equippers said:

God created us for fellowship with other human beings, in this case other believers.....

Charles Stanley has this video on loneliness i think you should check it out.

i don't know who this Tozer person is, but i do know something about Charles Stanley, he seems to think as i remember it, God does not want us to be lonely for a long period of time, and He is a God that met our needs.

also his video is targeted at born again believers i think.....

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Hi Equippers, Tozer was a preacher 60 years ago and edited a Christian magazine also. Most of his books are comprised of short editorials he wrote for that publication. He seemed to always be speaking spiritually about issues as did most Christian writers before his time. I don't believe he was addressing physically being alone, out of fellowship, as in Proverbs 18, He who dwells alone argues against all sound reason and seeks his own. But the reality of walking in the Spirit sets us apart from the things of this world, including the inability to relate to others and them to us.

Just like the man Jesus healed who was blind from birth and was questioned if he was even who he said he was, the people weren't sure and even his family took a step back and said, "ask him, he is of age." and as we read the text says, "and Jesus found him".  The miracles in John have a salvation theme to them.                 

Tozer is addressing that distinction, the separation from this world we experience when born again, that separation should be a joy and not something we should try to fix. James tells us "friendship with the world is enmity towards God".  James was addressing worldliness getting into the church.    Most of our time is spent with non-believers if we aren't in full-time ministries such as a pastor or we work with Christians in a Christian business etc., so a spiritual walk will be a lonely walk but a blessed walk.  

That's not to say we won't go thru a desert experience. A lack of good fellowship for a period of time, short or long. We all will to some degree. And I believe it's to grow closer to Him.

 

Edited November 11, 2018 by Zemke

[Neighbor]

5 hours ago, LivingbyFaith said:

The Loneliness of the Christian

by A. W. Tozer

 

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.

The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.

He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The above description of "the lonely saint" describes my life 100%.  I've felt alone most of my life, even when I've been around others, but in the past ten years, I have found that people are literally being removed from my life and I am having to walk this journey of life "Alone!".

As much as it can feel so lonely, I think it's a privilege - I feel like it's God's way of bringing us to a place of total "Dependency" upon God Himself, I don't know?

How about you?  Do you walk alone and if so, why do you believe God takes us through this loneliness?

God bless!

 

No I am not lonely not at all. I give thanks to God in all things  even solitude whether by choice or by circumstance. Ther eis always comapny of God's word, and no matter where I go  or have to be there is God's creation, and th epromise that is certain that I will be with Him  both now as well as  into forever into eternity to come. as my very young grandson said to his grandma as she was dying at hospice. Right from buzz lightyear- to infinity and beyond!

I am not alone, no reason to be lonely, can't be even in solitudinous times.

[turtletwo]

@maryjayne I remember when you joined Worthy. We chatted and were glad to have found each other. It was nice to know someone else out there had this same situation in common.

Neighbor introduced me to a live stream of his church services. I started watching those. You told me you would remember me in prayer at that time, which touched me. Thanks again for that thoughtfulness.

17 minutes ago, maryjayne said:

I feel sure the God understands this, and does not condemn us for not fellowshipping, but support us and helps us to use this time to get closer to Him, free from distraction.