The bottom line of your life is, have you decided to trust God, or have you not?    If you are trusting Him, you must look at Him.  You must listen to the things He says, because you have already decided that your life is in His hands and not your own.    What are the most basic facts you know about Him?    He is Love.    He gave Himself for you.    He is preparing a Place for you.    He watches over you.    He dwells within you as the Holy Spirit    His heart is ravished when you think of Him.    He listens intently.  He has already conquered death.    He has made it so that you can experience His peace at all times.    Where else will you go?  Who else will you follow?    So, He means what He says.  It means He will withhold no good thing.  It means that He will enter when the door is opened, and He will sup with you.    He will lead you with His eyes.    He will restore the years the locusts have eaten.    So, the One who holds the stars in place and gave His life for you, is only going to allow what is the best for you.  Therefore, thank Him.  Those who are thankful do not ask "why".   You don't need to know why.  In fact, you do not have the capacity to understand, even if you were told.  You are not Omniscient.  He alone holds the understanding.    Submit to the surgical knife of the Lover of Your Soul.  

   What are the things that undo you?    Usually they are the little things of everyday life.  Unkind words spoken, too much attention, too little attention, misunderstanding.     Whenthere is no taking up of the Cross, there is no dropping of the Load.   The hands must be empty to take up the Cross and follow Him.     He wants to make His own likeness in you.  That means taking you through the things that will sand away the useless places.    Soldier of The Cross, you are being prepared for heaven. Refuse to be tipped over.  Learn to look at lend yourself to the things that are of importance to Him, not the things that are important to everyone else. 

   Soldier of The Cross, the flesh has the strongest of feelings.    Disappointment is an emotion.  A feeling.  And, it is real. The issue is, is He real?  Is His Word true? Or is it not?       Soldier, consider the famous hymn.  Are you indeed a Soldier of The Cross     Yes?     Get up.  Dust yourself off, and gear up for the battle.  After all, what else is there?    Stand then in his great might,    with all his strength endued;    but take to arm you for the fight,    the panoply of God.    Leave no unguarded place,    no weakness of the soul;    take every virtue, every grade,    and fortify the whole.    Soldier, take this to prayer.  Aloud.    I tell you, if you have not prayed loud, you have never experienced the release that prayer can bring. You must formulate thoughts into sentences.      Come before Him and declare that you will serve.  Is there an area of your life that is open field for satan? Tell Him you will yield.    Do it today and do it aloud.  Tell Him that you will leave no unguarded place!

   Those who walk with the Lord know what it is to partake of His Life.    His Life far exceeds enthusiasm or fervor or bent.  His Life is always present where He is allowed to be.  This means that when the Soldier of The Cross is available, the Lord is ministering through that Christian.  This ministry if beyond anyone's personality or ability.  It is supernatural.    The Life of the Lord is resurrection Life.  It is described as "rivers of living water" that flow out of the one who is in unity with Him.     Soldier, there is nothing you can do to minister the life of the Lord, except belong to Him, cling to Him, Love Him and obey Him.     You can't improve your personality.    You can't take a course.    You can't practice.     You can't sacrifice to get it.    You can't imitate.    You can. just know Him.  Then, He will reveal Himself through you.  

   It is not difficult to have a relationship with the One who holds the stars in place.    All He requires is your availability.    There are many things that can stand in the way:        Intellectualism        Sophistication        Personal plans        The desire for the approval of others        The need to be in control        Longing for success        The need for comfort        Religion    Soldier of The Cross,  be like the leaf on the tree in the Fall.  Wait for Him.    He longs to communicate with you.      Tell Him you are available.  Tell Him today.    Aloud.              

   If you find change difficult, you need to get some things settled with God.    Traumatic change is never easy. Death, debilitating illness, an unwanted move, a broken relationship - any  of these will be tough.  However,  as Soldiers of The Cross, we have chosen to serve Another.  That means we must allow  the deep work of the Holy Spirit in order to be able to follow the Lord.    If we are available to be changed by Him, we are available to the changes He brings into our lives.    Concerning many things, we have free will.  There are changes we can choose not to make.  We can resist the gentle leading of the Spirit.  In so doing, we miss God's best for us. Nevertheless, there is choice.  If we follow him, there is Glory, transformation and freedom.    There comes a time when God allows change, or brings change that the flesh hates, simply because of the level of discomfort.  These changes should not be traumatic.  These changes are those that are a natural part of the supernatural course.    As an attorney, I see many people who do not have a choice.  They are heartbroken and would have done anything to avoid the situation in which they have found themselves.    As a member of the Body of Christ, I see those who fear a loss of control.  I see those who are so afraid God will let them down, that they deliberately and knowingly refuse to live by biblical principles.    Soldier of The Cross, are you really His?  Humility is a requisite to having any relationship with the Lord.  Why did Paul say less of me and more of Him?  All you know is what you know.  In fact, you do not even know all of the things that are "common knowledge."  How can you possibley know what is best for you?    For that reason, we have His Word.    He has asked you to wait for Him.  To trust Him.  To take His Word over what you see with your eyes.  He has asked you to let Him lead you.  He wants to be your Shepherd.     Put the baggage down.  Be ready to move.     Those who are ready in Christ are able to work with total concentration, regardless of the circumstances.     Those who are ready in Christ are able to live in the moment.    Those who are ready in Christ are aware of the needs of others.    Those who are ready in Christ are eager to serve.    Those who are ready in Christ have a world vision.    Those who are ready in Christ are not easily offended.    Those who are ready in Christ are able to love the unlovely.    Those who are ready in Christ are stable.    Those who are ready in Christ are like Him.

   Soldier of The Cross, there must be a genuine delight in His way and His time.    How can this happen, when there is an urgent need and it seems that He is not doing the thing that cries to be done?  How can this happen when it is already too late?    Soldier, you must put your weight down on God's Word.  Have you, in fact, made the decision to live by the Word of God?  Is there any other way to live?    Where is there a greater value?    This must be addressed in  prayer.  In the accelerating swirl, or in the eye of the storm, He is the same.  Everything is the same.  It only appears threatening by sight.  I reality, it is not so, because He has said so.     Soldier, speak to Him about this matter in prayer.  Simply be honest.  Address the issues to Him instead of letting your mind repeat the same circles over and over.  Let it go in prayer.     Do it now.  Do it aloud.  

   It strikes me that the Lord always brings heavenly surprises and special presents at the times least expected.    What a glorious thing it is when someone meets the Lord.  And when it is the one you thought you might never see come to Him, it almost unbearably pleasurable - except that it is so right.     He who has encouraged us to pray for all men every where, knows how to delight the faithful with  answered prayer!  To the honest heart, it is possible to say that when we get to heaven, we will see prayer answered that we never knew about on earth.    But while we are here, there are enough evidences of His listening, that no faithful prayer warrior can be anything other than energized by the sweetness and the creativity of answered prayer.    I have often prayed for things that I knew He could do and might do, but had never heard He had done before.  Some of those things have exploded into sight in the way that only He can do - spectacular, yet altogether in the course of things.     For thirty-two years I have brought people before Him and most of them have not met Him yet.  At the same time, I have prayed on occasion for some, and I have watched them come to him in just a few weeks or months.    It is His call.    It is His business.    It is His Kingdom.    And, it is His work.    Pray.  For the night is coming.

   We know that this world is not home.    We are sojourners and Pilgrims, and it is critical to keep that fact in the forefront of our lives.    There is so much to distract.  The gravity of comfort is louder than the confrontation of age or  loneliness.  The older we get, the louder the call to settle in and resist growth or change.    The faithful taking in of God's Word inoculates the Soldier of the Cross against putting roots down in to this brief life.  At the same time, the Bible brings Light to the prayer time and brings perspective on all things.  This means that the Christian who is in the Word and is prayerful, is free to enjoy everything.  He can enjoy even the smallest things with a greater freedom than the person who knows he is heaven bound, but just can't let go of control.     Freedom comes from sight.     Sight comes from walking in the Light.    Walking in the Light comes from being in the Word and in honest prayer.    Look around.  What do you see that will not decay?   Is there any human relationship that will not change in heaven?     Do you know where your Treasure is?    Soldier of The Cross, we are to live each day with the assumption that He is coming for us immediately. We must attend to those around us.  We must have clean hands.  We must be full of His Word.  We must be about our Father's business.    We must be looking for Him.

   Soldier of The Cross, it is not your job to deal with those who would distract.     The book of Nehemiah teaches us that when there is any rebuilding of The Wall, there are those who are always threatened.  They will rattle sabers, advance gossip, give false reports and do absolutely anything they can do to subvert God's Work.    Sometimes the enemy is seen and sometimes unseen.  All of the time, there is opposition to His Work. It He who makes the way.  It is He who prepares a Table before us in the presence of our enemies.  It is He who anoints our heads with oil.  It is His rod and His staff.    He is the Shepherd who leads us beside the still waters.      Are you a Soldier of The Cross?  Have you decided to follow Him?  When you become aware of the swirl, take hold of The Word.  You know where it comes from     Set your face like flint.  Look neither to the left nor to the right.     Gaze upon the Lover of Your Soul.