A.W. Tozer's A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night, is drawn from a sermon series preached by the author. Each chapter begins with a prayer and ends with a hymn. Between, there is discussion of how God led the Israelites with a literal cloud by day and a literal fire by night, and parallels of how He leads those in His church today.

Ideally, this book could be used as a devotional. Though I did not agree with all Tozer had to say, I did find many statements of truth that were encouraging and challenging.

Overall, I found this book to be "okay". It was one that I looked forward to reading at first, then had to force myself to finish. My rating may have been influenced by the long span of time spent reading the book. However, this is not one I would be likely to recommend to others.

This was a great, inspiring and relatively easy read. This compilation of sermons regarding the will of God by AW Tozer is accessible and would be great to read for devotionals and inspiration. There were lots of great quotables here and it was relevant today - despite the age and time passed since its writing!

I like the idea of the book - trying to discern God’s calling/direction for us, but I was a little put off with how verses were, in my opinion, taken out of context. The scripture in Exodus that the author uses for the basis of this book was for a very specific people and moment in. I do t agree that we have an angel guiding us. We have the Holy Spirit. Also, I don’t agree that the place He is preparing for us is referring to and earthly place but rather our heavenly home - the ultimate goal and hope to look forward to. Those are just examples from things I saw right off the bat. It really bothers me when people use scripture out of context Ande I think that happened here some.

A.W. Tozer's words are still very much applicable and relevant for life today. I always look forward to researching and picking up the new works that are released. I frequently read through his books several times over, and each time I come out with new revelation and insight.

A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night: Finding and Following God’s Will for You by A.W. Tozer

5 stars

“When we allow God’s Word to beyond our ears and into our hearts, it stimulates us to do that which God is calling us to do.”

A.W. Tozer is considered to be one of the most famous Christian ministers and writers of the twentieth century. He is widely regarded and this is my first time having the pleasure to read one of his works. This short novel opens up with a prayer before each chapter and ends with poems from famous Christians prior to Tozer’s time in ministry. The theme of A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night is the presence of God with the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt toward the promise land of Canaan. This novel is fantastic. I adored every chapter and I was moved. I actually picked this one up because God kept whispering this phrase into my mind and after a couple of times, I finally realized that I had a copy of this novel with the exact phrase He was whispering to my soul. This novel was very timely for me. It’s challenging, enlightening, and steeped with spiritual pleadings for the church to turn towards God’s promise and His Jesus instead of the empty promises of the world or that we offer ourselves under the guise of good ideas. Tozer delivers Biblical truth with surety and confidence. It’s beautiful and absolutely uplifting to read. I enjoyed every single minute of the experience that this novel provides. If you are a fan of Tozer, I can’t recommend this enough. If you haven’t read Tozer like me then this is also a great starting place.


“We need to relax a bit, turn away from the noise of the world, and listen to the voice of God because He has everything put together. He has prepared for us a place of service and ministry and will open the doors, despite the obstacles and the confusion we may experience during the journey.”

Whimsical Writing Scale: 5

Plotastic Scale: 5

Cover Thoughts: It’s simple. It’s not a bad cover, but I do think that it could be improved.

Thank you, Netgalley and Bethany House Publishers, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A Cloud by Day, A Fire by Night is the first book I have read from A.W. Tozer. It is a collection of 23 chapters selected by James L. Snyder that start with a prayer, followed by an encouraging devotional section, and ends with a sampling of hymn lyrics. The chapters center around sermons by Tozer that examines battles faced by Christians in modern times and points out that battles were also faced by the Israelites. Therefore, lessons learned in Exodus can help us through the battles we face today. The book helps the reader learn how to discern the Will of God for their life. It is easy to read and is highly encouraging. In my case, it is also timely as the ever-busy spring season is upon us. In the first portion of the book, Tozer exhorts us find a way to calm the frenzied noises around us so that we take the time to listen to God’s voice. I recommend this book to anyone who longs to follow His direction more.

I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not obligated to write a positive review.

I enjoyed this book! I believe that A.W. Tozer was a very wise man, and reading through some of his sermons offered great insight. The book was written in a very simple format and did not take long to read, but that didn't take away from the impact of Tozer's words. If you're looking for something to tell you WHAT God's will is for your life, this book is not that, but if you're looking for encouragement on HOW to discern God's will and have faith in the waiting, this book is for you. I give it 4.5/5 stars.

I was drawn to this book because, like so many people, I am trying to follow God's path for me and find that it's more difficult than I think it should be. I happened to come upon this book while I am reading through the early books if the Old Testament so my regular Bible study was further contextualized with this book and made both far more meaningful, which only reinforces that God always has a plan.

I don't know that A. W. Tozer has any brilliant new spiritual insights to share in this book that you haven't read or heard already on this topic. But, like many themes in the study of God's will and God's word, you need to hear them multiple times and from multiple points of view before the lessons really begin to turn into actions. With that in mind, his words do inspire the reader to action or, at least, they did for me. The parallels he draws between the early Israelites struggling through the wilderness felt familiar and Tozer's reassurances about God's guidance and plans encouraged me to stay on course (maybe return to course), seek God's will, and remain faithful.

The book is arranged so that each chapter opens with a prayer followed by a message continuing to develop the theme of the book. The chapter closes with a verse from a hymn. Individual readers might not find each of those components necessary, but I believe that most readers will be moved by some combination of the text with the prayer and hymn, perhaps varying by chapter. The hymns include great classics that will warm your heart long after you sing them in your head.

Don’t we all, at some time or another, wrestle with the question “What is God’s will for my life?” I know I sure seem to ponder this question often but I always find any works from Tozer to be helpful. He was a sincere, godly man who sought the Lord’s will in all aspects of his life. Through 23 sermon excerpts compiled by James Snyder, A Cloud by Day, A Fire by Night encourages Believer’s to dig deep into the Word of God, knowing and understanding that God is always there, just as he was during the Exodus from Egypt, guiding His people day and night, never leaving them or forsaking them. Until we reach our heavenly home, we can know God’s will for us by knowing Him and His Word.

I used this book as a daily devotional since it has the structure of one. The hymns added even more depth to Tozer’s teaching. I'll be looking to buy a print copy because this is one that I find myself wanting to underline and write notes in the margins. It can be used as a companion to Bible journaling, as well.

I was provided an electronic copy of the book through Netgalley and the publisher. No review was required. No compensation was received.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading "A Cloud by Day, a Fire by NIght" by A.W. Tozer. I didn't know much about his life, so I enjoyed getting to know more about him and his ministry through his sermons. Did you know that A.W. Tozer did not finish high school? He only went to one day of eighth grade.

Although "A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night" is a shorter book compromised of 23 sermons, it hit me deeply. I had to read them slowly and over time. I'm so glad I endured because there were a lot of nuggets that encouraged me in my spiritual walk including:

"When we allow God's Word to go beyond our ears and into our hearts, it stimulates us to do that which God is calling us to do."

"It is the voice of God that will guide our way through our personal Jordan rivers and into the promised land. Without that voice of God, our Jordan will never open up, and we will never get across."

"I need to quiet my heart in order to hear God's direction. This must become a daily discipline for all of us."

"No challenge is bigger than God."

"His grace is a reflection of His character and His nature, not our weaknesses."

"If I'm not believing God, I'm not being led by God."

"The cloud by day and fire by night stand between our enemy and us."

"The key ingredient in defeating the enemy is obedience to God."

"Once we are out of Egypt, we do not pitch a tent and say, 'Well, I have arrived.' No the truth is effective only when we emphasize that we have been saved not only from something, but we have been saved unto something."

"What God has for us is not based on who we hare, but rather who He is."

"We can have as much of God as we will take."

"I am where I am today because of the wisdom of God in opening up the right doors at the right time."

"We do not need to figure out our own roadmap or how we are going to go to or what we are going to do. We need to stay careful that we stay in His presence, and this is the work of faith. I need to cultivate the presence of God in my own life."

"To know the enemy is the first step, but it is only the first step."

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

"I think confidence is a part of friendship. My friendship with God has brought me to a place where I have confidence in Him, and that confidence is expressed in trusting Him with everything He sends my way."

"As a believer in Christ, I want my worship of God to be the strongest aspect of my life."

"God enjoys blessing us; His only problem is to get us to believe Him."

"In the will of God, there is no failure."

"Imagine dying without fulfilling the will of God."

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

"Every promise of God unfolds to us the character and nature of God."

"Out in the desert they could not enjoy the fruit...That is because they are in the desert, and once they get into Canaan, they will nourish their soul on the fruit of the land."

"Imagine Israel living under the cloud by day and the fire by night. What could be more awesome than knowing and experiencing the amazing presence of God?"

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

"When Israel refused to go into Cannan, Canaan did not disappear. It was there forty years later when they finally decided to obey God and go in. Even after their long years of blundering in the wilderness, God's gift to them was still available to them, but only on His terms."

"How often do we refuse to go into God's blessing because it looks too difficult for us?"

"Everyone has as much of God and His blessings as he or she wants to have. I have said this before, and I will continue to say it: I am today what I am because of my response to God."

"During the day, the cloud contradicts the light and at night, the fire contradicts the dark. If I could simply get a handle on that. My circumstances do not define me, but rather, God's work in me always contradicts them...We are the ones opening our hearts to receive as much of God as we will. God does not determine how much we shall have; we decide how much we are going to accept from God."

"May I see Thee in front of me in such a way that I can see nothing else."

"An essential lesson here is that a delayed blessing is still God's blessing. God is not intimidating by our disobedience."

"You have floundered for years. You have stood at the barrier to the blessed land for a long time, but it's time to rise up. The Lord of all nature commands you."

"The fruit in Canaan was not a result of Israel planting trees. It was a result of Israel obeying God and following Him into that land. They took possession of the land, which included all of the fruit of Canaan."

"We have been to so many altars and read so many books, and still the cloud hovers...Just look on him and let Him work."

I had high hopes for this book, but found it very basic. I prefer books that dig deeper instead of skimming the surface and would have expected more from Tozer. His other works are great, but I was not challenged by this one. It would be a great read for a new believer, but doesn't go deep enough to provide new depth of insight for more mature believers.

I have greatly enjoyed A. W. Tozer's writings and this collection of his sermons was no exception. I greatly appreciated the brief chapter divisions, making this an easy book to pick up with a busy schedule. Another aspect of this book that I appreciated was the beginning of every chapter with prayer. We cannot be reminded often enough of the importance of prayer. Also, for each chapter in this collection, the last paragraph or page was a quotation of a hymn or song full of praise to God. What an excellent arrangement!

Although the arrangement and selection of quotes and hymns added to the excellence of this work, A. W. Tozer's writing itself distinguishes it as a classic must-read. A. W. Tozer's superbly written expressions of praise and challenges to Christians in every age are simple to understand, yet distinctly challenging to live out in our own lives. I personally appreciate how Tozer's writings express the incredibleness of God, not only His love and mercy for us, but also His amazing power, wisdom, grace, justice, peace, and sovereignty. All of Tozer's writings have impressed me with how clearly he expresses the true emotions that Christians experience throughout their walks of faith.  I am constantly amazed by God's character and His great condescension to save us sinners. I think Tozer expresses in works what I oftentimes cannot---how incredibly amazing our God is and how eternally incredible His work on our behalf is!

I also appreciated the connection of the theme of the book--guidance of God in the Christian's life--to the Biblical account of Israel following God by the cloud and fire, in the title of this book. The imagery in this book with the title, themes, and the individual descriptions in each chapter was outstanding. I would encourage you to pick up this book and read it. It is an excellent encouragement and challenge!

A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night is a compilation of A.W. Tozer's sermons around Exodus as compiled and edited by James L. Snyder.

Starting off with seeking God's will in your life, each of the 23 sermons is a compact reminder that as God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Canaan with visible, tangible signs of His presence, God will also lead you through your wilderness into the place that He has prepared for you. He doesn't promise it will be easy, doesn't sugarcoat it with the platitudes common in church nowadays, emphasising instead that the journey will be hard and there will be many things that discourage us and disappoint us on the way, and that obedience often means surrender and sacrifice as well.

It's easy to get distracted and to give up, but remember that God goes before you, and stands behind you, providing the cloud by day and a fire by night to get us to where we're meant to be. If you need affirmation of God's truths and guidance to understanding God's will for your life, this is a good book to pick up.

Note: bloglink will go live on 6 March

This was a very encouraging book. Tozer wants us to see that God’s will and guidance are available to us today as they were to Moses and the children of Israel thousands of years ago. As he walks us through the Exodus account, he applies the lessons learned by Israel to our daily lives. He encourages us to take those lessons and allow God to use them to draw us closer to Himself.
Snyder has compiled a good collection of excerpts from Tozer’s sermons and writing. He has organized them into devotional length chapters. Each one starts with a prayer and ends with a verse of an applicable hymn.
The only thing that I could wish was that some of the sections were longer. Many times Tozer stated his position without ever quoting scripture, he referred to it often, but it wasn’t actually written out for us to read. I would have liked to have it quoted in the book.
I really appreciated the cohesion between the quoted Bible version and Tozer’s words. It was helpful to see the phrases that Tozer used as the basis for some of the sections came directly from the Bible.
As always be sure to check everything he says against the Bible. It will either strengthen the impact or save you from error.
I received this as a free ARC through NetGalley and Bethany House Publishers. No favorable review was required. It was my pleasure to provide my honest opinions.

2 stars
This is an interesting book even though it seems to be very legalistic. The author seems to miss the point of grace . I have a hard time recommending this.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

I have heard my pastor quote from A. W. Tozer a few times in the last year so when I was given the opportunity to review this book that is coming out Spring of 2019 I was excited to try it. While Tozer himself is no longer on this earth his classic and encouraging words remain. The book is actually set up so that it could be read a chapter a day similar to a devotional. It is a quick 176 pages (paperback version) divided into 23 chapters, each beginning with a simple but relevant prayer or poem.

In today's modern world of distractions and endless responsibilities dragging us farther and farther away from how God wishes we would live, Tozer's message remains clear and focused, reminding us of the truths of God's love for us through His almighty power and attributes. Sample chapter titles are "Coming against our enemy", "Blessings and Battles" and "The Curse of Delayed Blessings".

A favorite and timely quote: "There are weeds of unbelief choking our belief. Our job is to find them and uproot them from our lives. The Angel before me will faithfully lead me away from all elements of unbelief hiding within my life."

The way in which Tozer reminded myself of the many enemies I have (myself being the greatest) but recognizing the enemies such as temper, inferiority complexes and of course facets of other people in general is a valuable reminder of obedience and turning those into weapons for the kingdom of God.

As you go throughout your day making your simple decisions and then perhaps your tougher decisions, are you remembering God's will? Do you struggle with finding what God's will means for you? Through Tozer's own inspired words in A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night you may find a little more clarity in recognizing paths of rebellion and ambition and instead better yourself by leading in the path of graciousness. Tozer himself writes "I am where I am today because of the wisdom of God in opening up the right doors at the right time."

I really enjoyed this book and will continue to do so. Its message is timeless and can be used as a daily tool to remind yourself which binoculars to use as you are choosing paths all the while cultivating the presence of God.

This is a compilation of short sermon topics that A.W. Tozer preached over his lifetime of ministry. There are 23 short chapters dealing with why we as Christians struggle to Find the Will of God for our lives or why we struggle to Follow the Will of God for our lives.

Each chapter is short enough that it could be read as part of your daily devotions. Thus you can easily work through the book in a month.

A.W. Tozer is a great example of a man who found and followed the will of God in his life. He lead a successful pastoral ministry in Indianapolis and then followed the Lord's leading to Chicago where he had another successful pastorate. What is interesting is that he wasn't look for a change in Pastorates. He was happy where he was. But after accepting a guest speaking engagement in Chicago he felt the Lord's leading to move there and take over a different ministry.

The joy he found in that move has been expressed in many of the books and sermons which he penned.

This compilation from his sermons gives us a great insight into how A.W. Tozer thought and followed the Lord. There is nothing new or earth shattering in this book, but it is a great reminder of how God leads and why we at times don't hear correctly from the Lord.

One simple truth is, Do you Believe God? The answer seems simple to most of us, the answer is yes, I believe God. Well if we do then A.W. asks why don't we seem to be succeeding in the ministries we are doing? Is it because we have listened to ourselves and not to God?

You will be challenged to look in a fresh way on how God speaks to you.

I pray that this little book will give you some much needed clarity for you in how you respond to God's calling and direction in your life.

A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night
Finding and Following God's Will for You
by A.W. Tozer
Bethany House
Bethany House Publishers
Christian
Pub Date 05 Mar 2019


I am reviewing a copy of A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night through Bethany House Publishers and Netgalley:



We often ask ourselves How we can know what God’s will for us is personally. The question haunts us at all times.


A Cloud by Day, A Fire By Night shares with us his teaching of God’s will taken from the sermons he preached before he left his successful church in Chicago. Tozer was no stranger to facing difficult decisions, his wisdom and biblical insight shared in this book will help us in our own decisions.


I give A Cloud by Day, A Fire by Night five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This was more of a devotional and I wasn't expecting that. I thought it was going to be his complete sermons. Tozer is always good, but I would have enjoyed more.

I received this book free from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

First sentence (from the introduction): A very important theme in Dr. A.W. Tozer’s ministry was the subject of God’s will for each of our lives.

I would recommend using A Cloud by Day, a Fire by Night by A.W. Tozer as a devotional book. I'm not sure if that's what the publishers intended. It's certainly not marketed as being such. The book has twenty-three chapters. Each chapter begins with a prayer and ends with a hymn. It could easily be used as a devotional for a month allowing for grace days and busy schedules.

The subject of this book is GOD'S WILL. Snyder has edited together some of Tozer's writings/sermons on this subject. (Tozer died in the early 1960s--1963, I believe.) Snyder writes, "This book is about more than finding God’s will for your next step or decision in life—it about is following His will to the end." I love that. This one is just as much about obedience and sanctification and worship as it is "God's Will."

Tozer is one of my favorite, favorite authors. Not because we always agree with one another on every little issue but because we're kindred spirits when it comes to the Word of God. Tozer is ZEALOUS and PASSIONATE and IN LOVE with the Lord. Tozer is not afraid to speak the truth--proclaim the truth--to the world.