A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night (DF Christian Bestsellers Book 2)

by A.W. Tozer

steady trend of industry

God begins our journey, and the Angel knows the way; only He can take us to the place of God’s choosing.

I need to quiet my heart in order to hear God’s direction. This must become a daily discipline for all of us. It is too easy and convenient to trust human inclinations. We gravitate toward earthly methods.

When God called me to Chicago, I didn’t have a vision for ministry there.

This is intriguing to me because you'd think Tozer would have a plan and outlook for his ministry there. But Chicago was a new place, there Tozer had to trust God and wait for the vision to unfold.

His preparation in us is in complete harmony with His knowledge of everything that is going to happen to us.

I want to point out here that this Angel cannot lead an enemy. That is not His purpose.

Followers cant be enemies since they follow willingly and dont fight the leading of the Spirit of God.

The relationship of a physician with his patient would be a good illustration of this. The physician must have cooperation. If the patient is fighting against the doctor, the doctor cannot do what needs to be done for the patient. It is when the patient surrenders to the doctor that he gets the help he needs.

This is an excellent illustration.

All of His plans have been put together with every contingency thought through, so when man fails, it is no surprise to God and He has a solution already in motion.

It is the restoration of God that makes the difference in our lives.

today.

We must keep in mind, that all the examples aforementioned are used to show the grace of God in forgiveness and restoration that uses a man's imperfections for His glory. In this generation, the attempt is made to acknowlwdge man's weakness and frailty without the call for repentance to be restored a right place and rightful use of God. This is why this church age seems weaker than prior ones. This age wants to retain their sins of infirmities and not resign from the way of life that produces them, and will even say God is glorified in this. But oh no, not so.

If I’m not believing God, I’m not being led by God.

Unbelief hinders believers from the promises of God. If you asked them, they would agree with what God has said and claim to believe all of His promises. But unbelief says that this is for someone else, somewhere else, and at some other time.

Unbelief says, “Some other time, not now. Yes, that’s what God says, but certain things have changed, so it doesn’t really apply to us today.”

Unbelief says, “Some other place, not here. Yes, I believe the promises of God, but they’re not for here. We are living in a different place, and the promises of God do not really apply.

Unbelief says, “Someone else, not me. Yes, I believe the promises, but they really are not for me. Certain promises don’t apply to me, so I can get out of obeying God’s Word.”

faith says, “If some other time, then why not now?” And that’s the important thing. If God said it for some other time, why does it not apply now? Faith says emphatically that it does apply to me right now.

then why not right here? If it’s good wherever, then why can’t it be good here where I am standing?” Faith says, “If someone else, then why not me? Whatever God has done for anybody else, God can do for me.”

Faith takes the “I” out of the equation and brings God back to the center. If God said it, then it must be true, and if it’s true, then it’s true now, and if it’s true for someone else, it’s al...

I think David understood this when he stood against Goliath. Goliath was the stronger of the two. There was no way this little boy, David, could ever defeat that enemy with a slingshot. But David came against Goliath not in his own strength but in the name of the Lord.

Its one thing to confess weakness, and another to confess YOUR weakness. I dont believe God called and ordained ed us to live a life of defeat, always scrambling trying to live victoriously. No, i believe God gives us the power to conquer and be more than a conqueror. We are not to be submissive to our fallen nature but to resign ourselves to the divine nature in Christ and overvome our enemies. If we do this, we will triumph every time over our foes though they be greater than us.

Many times in our daily walk we focus on an enemy. We have the right focus, but the enemy is dormant. We are satisfied with the fact that the enemy is not active. We do not give consideration to the fact that there is an adversary out there. That adversary is an enemy in action trying to defeat us.

Enemies are general but the adversary is personal. Our attention, watchfulness, and focus should be on the enemy thats active in our lives.

Embracing the enemy cost Israel quite a bit. And when we do the same, it also costs us.

If I think I can handle my situation all by myself, I am facing defeat before I even start.

Again, it is in the confession of our weakness and inability that we can profess and boast in the power that God supplies.

Just like Israel, I need to remember that God is not trying to glorify me; rather, He wants to glorify himself through my life.

In Egypt, they could never experience the blessings of Canaan, the land of the promise.

It seems simple but you can't experience the blessings of the promised land while in the land of bondage. Where you are matters.

They think they can enjoy the promises

of God while still living in the evil land.

One thing we need to comprehend is that God saves us out of to bring us into. God saved Israel out of Egypt in order to ...

we have been saved not only from something, but we have been saved unto something.

The journey into the promised land is a process of discovery, sacrifice and conflict. It is through this we experience the all sufficient power, wisdom, and glory of God.

They do not create the promised land, they simply enter.

A promised land already prepared and furnished for inhabitants. But had to be maintained by obedience to the same God that provided the land.

we need to know whether we are the kind of Christian we want to be.

Am I the kind of Chtistian i want to be? What kind of Christian do i want to be?

If we want to draw upon our own strength, God will not forbid it. On the other hand, if we want to access the great mercy and grace of God, we have an open door. We have resources we have not yet tapped into, which is why it is so pathetic to struggle and fight battles that have long been over.

My biggest enemy is not Satan. My worst enemy is myself. If I could let go of the past that God has led me out of and latch on to what God has for me now—the provisions and the access to heaven He has for me—I would begin to experience the kind of Christian life that is full of joy, praise, and honor to God.

We must take confidence and comfort in the fact that God is not driving us into some valley somewhere. Rather, like the shepherd who leads his sheep and goes before them, God goes before us and leads us into situations He has already prepared for us.

Has God prepared every situation for us? Has He already endowed us with the help and strength needed to overcome? If so, why little victory or conquering? Have we not by faith and joy drawn out the well of salvation that which we need that He has amply supplied?

The destiny is created and established by God, and so is the pathway.

If I am where God wants me to be, I will have everything God wants me to have to be all He wants me to be right now. He is never shortsighted.

Concerning God's vision and foreknowledge, He's neither shortsighted, near sighted nor far sighted. He sees all, the end from the beginning.

We must recognize that Israel did not deal with these enemies on their or the enemy’s terms, but rather on God’s terms. God was preparing them for their destination.

This is powerful!

know it.

An enemy but still a servant of God, smh. Wow

These accounts were written for our instruction. Our worst enemies can become our best helpers. Our spiritual riches may lie in enemy hands. And we must look for them there.

The first enemy I would mention is our temper.

Another enemy would be inferiority complexes.

My inferiority just shows me that I cannot do something, but God can do it through me. If I think I can handle my own situation, I’m really going to be in trouble, but when I feel inferior, I can look to God and God can open up to me the riches of His grace.

When I see that my inferiority is my enemy, I have an opportunity to turn it over to God, and God can step in and be my strength at that moment.

This is so true. I've found that acknowledging my strength and frailty and weakness places me in an humble posture before God to receive strength in my soul that only He can give. Its more productive this way instead of "white knuckling" in my own strength and inevitably fail.

Another enemy that we might have is carnal ambition.

Saul was ambitious to climb the ladder of religion as it was in those days. He was going after Christians like nobody in his day. Then God took that ambition and switched it around, and that ambition that once wanted to destroy the church was no...

Another enemy is timidity.

Rebellion is also an enemy of Christians.

People, for one, could be our enemy. Their criticism and abuse can actually bring us the riches of humility.

Satan was the enemy of Job, but God used Satan’s attack and turned it around to be a blessing to Job. All that Satan did was to clear the way for God to bring into Job’s life riches he did not have before.

If you would conquer your enemies, you must not imitate them. Your victory lies in being different from them and contrary and even hostile to them.

Not only our victory but the proof of our peculiarity and belonging to another-God.

They had their marching orders—not to conform, but rather to contradict.

And this is our challenge and issue today, to demonstrate our distinctiveness by our different lifestyle that honors God. Rather, many fall prey to being conformed to their surroundings instead of displaying a transformative difference.