What does it mean to be a Soldier of The Cross?    It means that you agree with God.  You agree with His Word - the Bible.  It means that you have decided that He is worth more than anything else, and that you will take up The Cross and f0llow Him.    It means that when He asks in Romans 12, that it is reasonable to be a Living Sacrifice, and that your body and your faculties belong to Him,  that you agree with Him.      It means that you have been touched by Him and there is no turning back.  It means that you have considered and chosen your priorities.     It means that you have fallen in love and there is no turning back.   After all, is there anything else?

   For those who follow and serve the Lord, real Love is by faith.    There is such a tendency to think of Love as an emotion, but we know from I Corinthians 13 and the whole of God's Word that Love is more than strong feeling.  Often the experience of Love follows the obedience that makes Love possible.    If  Love does  not take account of an evil done to it, or if it does  not  ever get puffed up, it has to be supernatural.    Certainly we have the precious experience of human love.  When we walk in obedience to the word of God, there is a Love that is the result of refusing ungodly thought. Refusing gossip.  Refusing to keep score.  Putting others first.    No one ever arrives - not until heaven will we be perfect.  There is no one who has it "all together." But there is One who gave Himself for us, and His Design is for us to walk in the Light and, to Love to the extent that we experience "rivers of living water. . ."    Have a ready smile.  Be aware of your countenance.  Do not engage in conversations that you know are unwise. Be ready with a word of encouragement. Even if you don't feel like it. Govern your thoughts.    It isn't fake.  It is obedience.

   If you go church shopping, you can find almost anything you want.     There are large churches that have MacDonald's golden arches inside the walls, with accompanying huge playroom.  There are churches that promise health and wealth.  There are churches that guarantee a religious experience.     And, here and there, there are churches that encourage the believer to look at Jesus.  To want to be with Jesus.  To want to be like Jesus.  To want to be used of Jesus.  To want to reflect Jesus. To want to Love Him.    Those who have genuinely fallen in love with Him recognize and seek out others who have also tasted this Love.  And, when they get together, there is a supernatural unity, because the priority in each heart is the same.     Man looks on the outside.  But He who looks on the heart knows of the desire for Himself, and He honors this in a unity of the Spirit that ushers in the power of praying in His name.  Hence the famous verse that says:       Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.–Matt. 18:20    Soldier of The Cross, you have been called to look away from all that distracts and gaze upon Him.     Concentrate.  Concentrate on the Lover of Your Soul.  Put all you have into the only place where there is eternal investment - the Everlasting Arms.    Seek out those who want the same thing.  Then pray together and watch the Lord work.

   What can the Lord do with you?    Can He make last minute changes?     Can He take something away?     Can He take anything away?    Is your body His?    Are your children His?    Is your reputation His?    Are your finances His?    What about your church?  Do you trust God for the decisions of leadership?  Do you pray for the leaders?  Do you have to be right?    How often are you heard to be criticizing the music, the preaching, the Sunday School, the decor, the food, the decisions of the preacher 0r other leaders?    Soldier of The Cross, your determined purpose is to know Him.     Look for Him, wait for Him, and deal with this matter in prayer.  He will open your eyes and He will enable you to glide through the maze of life, even within the spiritual complexities that will not be understood until Heaven.    He is yours and you are His.    That defines all else.

   Despise not the day of small beginnings...    Soldier of The Cross, be available.  God does not do things according to human design.  When He leads, it is most often in the manner of Gideon's army.  Less is more    Look for Love.    Look for Power.    Look for His Life.    Soldier,  He does not do the same thing twice.  Break away from concept and wait for Him.    He will never disappoint.

   What is the trend of the modern Church?    It seems to me that there is an emphasis on being different and upbeat.  There seems to be an almost desperate need to present a harmless and  electric  Gospel  to the young people.  Often this is done with music that parallels music with lyrics and sounds not compatible with a calm heart and a mind set on the things of the Lord.    Innovation is good, even necessary.  But being different for the sake of appealing societal weaknesses means nothing except compromise.    God has never needed  a packaged message.  He is able to get through the thickest walls and can reach the heart's deepest recesses.  The most important element in a church is prayer that is based solidly on the Word of God.  Although He can use anything He does not need gimmicks and He is  not desperate for approval of those who always want to have the feeling of a religious experience.    He can speak to an available heart in the grandest cathedrals, or a mud hut.  He can reveal Himself through a brilliant and educated speaker, or a simple servant who is available to be a vessel.    God is neither modern nor old-fashioned because He is eternal and does  not need to jive with the times. There is nothing of Him that has outlived its usefulness.    At the same time, the old ways are not necessarily the best ways.  They are just familiar.     The radical Church is a place where the Lord is in control.  Where He is preferred over anything else.  Where His Word is honored and where those who have gathered together agree with Him.    There must be an understanding that to serve the Lord is to die to self, as is so clearly taught in his Word.   There must be lots of prayer, both private and public.  There must be a missionary vision and support.  Songs should have substaantive meaning.    There must be an emphasis on taking up the Cross and following Him.      What the church needs today is members out of whom flow "rivers of living water. . ."      Soldier of The Cross, be a Pillar in the House of the Lord and let His Life flow out of your death to self.

   Today is the American Easter.    We celebrate the Resurrection as a Church and as a royal Race and as individuals.    How do we know He is risen?  I know, because He touched me.  and it changed everything.    I was lost and the Risen Lord  sought me out.  I have no question about that.  He is more real to me than the things that I see each day with my eyes and touch with my hands.    Lord Jesus, I am so thankful that you were willing to die publicly and rise again privately.   More than anything, thank you so much for the gift of Salvation and for the Resurrection Power that is available.   Please do whatever is needed in me, to make me more like you.  Use me for your Glory.   I want nothing else.

   Soldier of The Cross, remember that the Lord looks on the heart.    Many things are not as they appear, and that is the reason we have been told not to judge.     When we come before Him, we know that we are able to come just as we are.  He receives all who come before Him in honesty.  In rescuing those who are without Christ, one of the most important things to be realized is that no one is outside of His reach.    There are verses that no one can explain away - those that say that some will turn away and some will be reprobate.  We do not attempt to present answers.  Many have tried and for the most part, they fail.  We simply take God at His Word and we admit that there are things we can not understand.   In the meantime, we preach in season and out of season.    We have several missionaries who have gone out under our mission, and they are ministering in some of the most difficult areas of the world.  They are in the difficult places of the former Soviet Union, including Siberia.  They minister to the elderly and dying, the severe alcoholics as well as those who are religious without the Lord.    These faithful saints will be there first to tell you that there is always hope for salvation.  Grace is always more than enough to bring the most fallen sinner out of the deepest quicksand.    Prepare your heart.  In the Word and in prayer.  Make sure there is no deliberate sin in your life.    Then, go out and be available.

    The Lord leads His own beside the still waters.    Soldier of The Cross, as long as we live in this world, there will be storms and hardship.  That fact is not the problem, because we serve One who has promised to save us from the fear of evil, even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.     Moreover, we know that we will have  enemies, but that He will set a table before us in their presence.    We have a Shepherd.  We have one who anoints us with oil.     Does your cup run over? It does if you are taking Him at his Word.    Walking by faith is an active, affirmative expression of agreeing with God.  Either these things are true or they are not.  It is a question of relinquishing pointless independence for reliance on one who is Perfect.    Do  not misunderstand.  He does not make everything go away.      If we allow Him, He will make us like Himself, and the process does  not take place without the fire and the flood.    Look up and move on!

   Soldier of The Cross, have you given your life to the Lord?    Then trust Him,  and do  not speak as though you resent what He has allowed in your life.  When you speak about the matter, your speech should reflect what He has said in His Word, and it should reflect your relationship to His word and His Sovereignty.    This is a great part of walking by faith and giving God room to express Himself in and through your life.    Follow after Him with all your might.  Tell Him you want Him and that He Can do anything with your life.    Tell Him aloud and tell Him now.