Tenney Quotes & Sayings

I used to pursue preaching good sermons and great crowds, and attempt great accomplishments for Him. But I've been ruined. Now I'm a God chaser. Nothing else matters anymore. I tell you that as your brother in Christ, I love you. But I love Him more. I couldn't care less about what other people or ministers think about me. I'm going after God. That's not a pride thing; it's a hunger thing. When you pursue God with all your heart, soul, and body, He will turn to meet you and you will come out of it ruined for the world. — Tommy Tenney

God is no respector of persons, but He does play favorites. — Tommy Tenney

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 attracts His affection. — Tommy Tenney

There have always been dreamers. Men and women who catch a glimpse of something beyond themselves who dare to reach for goals and visions.. Yet no earthly dreamer can match the greatest of them all, the Dreamer who died on the cross to make His dream a reality. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word." The literal meaning of logos, the original Greek term translated as "Word," is idea, thought or blueprint. It is an ancient Greek theatrical term describing the work of a playwright as he conceives, or dreams up, the plot of a play. So we could say, "In the beginning was the dream". — Tommy Tenney

The word of the Lord to us is to stop seeking His benefits and seek Him. We are not to seek His hands any longer, but seek His face. — Tommy Tenney

God is more interested in developing your character than keeping you comfortable. — Tommy Tenney

Repentance prepares the way and makes the road of our hearts straight. Repentance builds up every low place and takes down every high place in our lives and church families. Repentance prepares us for His presence. — Tommy Tenney

If we're not comparing the present moment to thoughts of the past or thoughts of the future, the present moment is actually perfect just as it is. — Matt Tenney

A true God chaser is not happy with just past truth; he must have present truth. God chasers don't want to just study from the moldy pages of what God has done; they're anxious to see what God is doing. — Tommy Tenney

people don't want doctrine, they don't want tracts, and they don't want our feeble arguments; they just want Him! (When will we learn that if people can be argued into the faith, then they can just as easily be argued out of it as well?) — Tommy Tenney

But a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with only an argument ... If we can lead people into the manifest presence of God, all false theological houses of cards will tumble down. — Tommy Tenney

Ironically, it was the father's blessing that actually "financed" the prodigal son's trip away from the Father's face! and it was the son's new revelation of his poverty of heart that propelled him back into his Father's arms. Sometimes we use the very blessings that God gives us to finance our journey away from the centrality of Christ. It's very important that we return back to ground zero, to the ultimate eternal goal of abiding with the Father's in intimate communion. (pg. 243) — Tommy Tenney

Being a servant will take you places where your talent will never take you. — Tommy Tenney

We need Jesus every moment of every day. To say anything else is ludicrous. — Tommy Tenney

We have churches filled with people who can win Bible trivia contests but who don't know Him. I am afraid that some of us have been sidetracked or entangled by everything from prosperity to poverty, and we've become such an ingrown society of the self-righteous that our desires and our wants and those — Tommy Tenney

It takes the glory of God to conceal a matter. It takes the honor of the king to seek out for it. — Tommy Tenney

I do believe that long periods of silence and introspection do a great deal to enrich a person's spiritual and emotional dimensions. — Tommy Tenney

Mary was a virgin and he Bible says that she 'found favor' - that means there must have been others in the race. What quality did she have that made a depository of the royal seed? She was a virgin - a clean place - he looks for clean places to deposit truth & she was open to this unique & unusual move of God. — Tommy Tenney

We think revival means a silver-tongued preacher, some good music, and a few folks who decide they're going to join the church. No! Real revival is when people are eating at a restaurant or walking through the mall when they suddenly begin to weep and turn to their friends and say, I don't know what's wrong with me, but I know I've got to get right with God. — Tommy Tenney

By studying the Bible one can at best know about God. There is a vast difference between knowing God and knowing about God. Knowing God comes through direct power encounters and through biblical study. These power encounters are usually of a variety which cannot be found within the context of the dusty moldy pages of God's past tracks. — Tommy Tenney

Break out of our boxes, Lord, and ruin everything that isn't of You!") — Tommy Tenney

God literally moves his throne from heaven. When this happens the church is building a chair, a seat, a place for God to come. — Tommy Tenney

One would naturally expect that the Lord Jesus Christ would be sufficiently important to receive ample notice in the literature of his time, and that extensive biographical material would be available. He was observed by multitudes of people, and his own followers numbered into the hundreds (1 Cor. 15:6), whose witness was still living in the middle of the first century. As a matter of fact, the amount of information concerning him is comparatively meager. Aside from the four Gospels, and a few scattered allusions in the epistles, contemporary history is almost silent concerning him. — Merrill C. Tenney

Christianity is not a system of philosophy, nor a ritual, nor a code of laws; it is the impartation of a divine vitality. Without the way there is no going, without the truth there is no knowing, without life there is no living. — Merrill C. Tenney

Your problems aren't too big
perhaps your worship is too small. — Tommy Tenney

With relationship comes access, and with intimacy comes influence. — Tommy Tenney

I am tired of reading about God's visitations of yesteryear. I want God to break out somewhere in my lifetime so that in the future my children can say, "I was there. I know; it's true." God has no grandchildren. Each generation must experience His presence. Recitation was never meant to take the place of visitation. — Tommy Tenney

He's looking for people who are hot after His heart. He wants a Church of Davids who are after His own heart3 (not just His hand). You can seek for His blessing and play with His toys, or you can say, "No, Daddy, I don't just want the blessings; I want You. I want You to come close. I want You to touch my eyes, touch my heart, touch my ears, and change me, Lord. I'm tired of me the way I am, because if I can change, then the cities can change too. — Tommy Tenney

There is much more of God available than we have ever known or imagined, but we have become so satisfied with where we are and what we have that we don't press in for God's best. — Tommy Tenney

Fire doesn't fall on empty alters. There has to be a sacrifice on the alter for the fire to fall. If you want the fire of God, you must become the fuel of God. — Tommy Tenney

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. — Tommy Tenney

All of these people kept on being professional musicians and composers in the strictest sense. — James Tenney

God Chasers are people whose passion for being in His presence press them to chase the impossible in hopes that the uncatchable might catch them! — Tommy Tenney

Whatever impresses you attracts you. Whatever you pursue becomes your purpose. — Tommy Tenney

I've come up with another formulation about style: that it's essentially a manifestation of a certain habitual set of limitations. It's what a composer does NOT do that defines a style. — James Tenney

Good things have become the enemy of the best things. I challenge you and release you right now as you read these words to let your heart be broken by the Holy Ghost. It's time for you to make your life holy. — Tommy Tenney

The difference between the truth of God and revelation is very simple. Truth is where God's been. Revelation is where God is. Truth is God's tracks. It's His trail, His path, but it leads to what? It leads to Him. Perhaps the masses of people are happy to know where God's been, but true God chasers are not content just to study God's trail, His truths; they want to know Him. They want to know where He is and what He's doing right now. — Tommy Tenney