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

by A.W. Tozer

Many tender-minded Christians today

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here. They want spiritual victory, the land, etc., but th...

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They think of Christianity as gentle and yielding, possibly a consequence of artistic pictures. They see these pictures painted by the great artists of the past and somehow that gives them a notion of what the Christian life is all about. They do not see Christians as a group that should break down and destroy the enemy. They are too weak to consider the truth that Christ was a rev...

We have the god of worldly pleasure.

We also have the god of carnal flesh.

Then there is the altar of popular religion.

We also have the altar of compromise.

Then we have the altar of comfort.

How

Christ Himself didnt live a life of convenience nor comfort so how can we? The reimaging of Christ into a frail, weak, soft spoken do-gooder has hurt the influence and integrity of Christianity.

We also have the god of intimidation.

We also have the god of mammon.

Then we have the altar of culture.

The problem with many Christians today is that they want to tell God how they are going to serve, as well as the conditions of their serving. This is not acceptable as far as God is concerned.

I need to really think about this to see if I’m willing to obey God at all costs. Am I willing to turn my back on all other things in order to obey God? That is a question that needs to be pondered carefully and prayed over in a way that we will come to loyalty to God and God alone.

God demands that we trust Him completely.

God wants us to trust Him even though we have no idea what our next step is.

God knows the way that we take even when we don't.

I think confidence is a part of friendship.

The friendship is built, i believe, on the ability to be honest with God and for God to invite us to be honest with Him.

What do I understand about God’s love that will enable me to serve Him in a way that will honor and please Him?

The last one would be worship. No matter what is in our pathway, no matter how and in what direction God is leading us, we are to let the whole thing go into His hands and fall before Him in trembling adoration.

As a believer in Christ, I want my worship of God to be the strongest aspect of my life. I want everything in my life to flow out of my adoring wonder and worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, when I am serving God, I am in the proper place of fellowship with other believers.

We serve Him because we should. There is no merit in this, no reward due us.

When we try to serve God based on our convenience, we are in the beginning stage of rebellion against the will of God.

The more my faith in God develops, the more my life begins to mature in the direction God wants it to go.

In the will of God, there is no failure.

There is no premature death in the will of God.

There are no tragedies. Everything that comes into my life comes in such a way that God can mold me and prepare me for the next step.

We Christians need to cultivate this passion for the deeper life.

Too often Christians believe that all they need to do is accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and then everything will be all right. The Christian life must progress deeper and deeper into the things of God, the very heart of God himself.

Too many people view Christianity as an insurance policy so that when they die they can go to heaven. They do not see it as a road map leading them into the heart of God.

I think the majority of Christians are in that position today. They are in the desert wandering aimlessly, and before them is the promised land with all of the blessings and glory of God waiting for them. They see it, but they cannot quite understand it or reach it.

This is profound.

We have romanticized what it means to be a Christian. And we overemphasize the advantages of Canaan and ignore the enemies.

This is so true!

The enemy is trying to keep us from possessing the land that God has for us.

And this is why there's conflict and struggle, because the enemy of our soul doesnt want us to possess the blessings of God (which is more of God, Himself) and wants us to settle for a little plot of victory, or complete entanglement and affiliation with the enemy.

Keep in mind that they turned back with God’s promises in their ears, with the Angel before them, and with the divinely chosen land waiting for them.

What an act of defiance and lack of faith.

We have the idea today that we need to relate to the culture if we are going to reach people for Christ.

Hard to imagine this being the case in his day, its definitely the case now.

The rich life in Christ contradicts the culture around us in just about every aspect.

Christ contradicts the culture

If we'd only learn and embrace this we would have a better representation of the church.

Christ contradicts the culture in every aspect. We do well to learn and embrace this than fight it or transform it into a life of cultural tolerance

It takes a battle.

PThis is a powerful truth! Regardless of the preparation of our blessing or blessed place, it will still require a battle either of ourselves or of the enemy. Blessings doesn't dispense of conflict.

This kind of truth has consequences, and too often, like Israel, we stand at Canaan preferring the wilderness and desert and miss the wonderful promises God has for us.

A staggering and sad picture.

God is always as good as His promises.

He have to be, because His promises are extensions of Himself! God always does what is good; He can't do bad! So even when we experience bad from the permissive will of God it HAS to work for our good. The question is, can we endure the bad to experience the good?

It amazes me that Thou desirest my worship.

What is my worship compared to His worth?!

Reverence is the door that opens to obeying God.

Israel now must be detached from Moses.

Its often difficult for a movement to go beyond the personality of its leader. Uet it is necessary to see Christ as All in all.

You do not lose God when you lose a man of God.

Too many times we look backward and try to relive yesterday when God’s plan is in front of us and ahead of us.

When God leads us to do something for Him, He always empowers us to do it. And this is where obedience comes from. I can only obey God when I know what He wants me to do. I may not understand all of the implications of what He wants me to do at the time, but I understand that He wants me to do something, and if He wants me to do something, He will give me the power and ability to do that something.

This is personally encouraging and edifying.

I think we all need to be doing things above our personal, human ability. We need to rise above it and begin living in the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be doing work not that we are capable of doing, but work that can only come through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

I repeat, very encouraging from Dr. Tozer. Many times the things impressed upon my heart from God seems monumental, and me, small in ability to perform the task. However, as Tozer says, God will supply by divine power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the task.