A good well-adjusted Christian is he who gazes upon and follows hard after the One who has called and chosen him.

      Distraction comes too easily.  The taking up of The Cross and following Him is the organic result of obedience, and that quality of obedience is supernatural.  It must be powered. 

     He is the source of all Power, and so many forget this fact.  There can be no walking on the water without His Presence, and in order to be able to see that He is standing with His hand outstretched,  there must be the fresh taking in of His Word and communion with Him in prayer.

     So many love to sing and wave their hands in the air, but often those same enthusiasts are caught in the snare of their own watery or even non-existent prayer lives.

     Soldier of The Cross,  the Christian life is not a gauntlet.  It is an open, free and protected place.  A Person.

     Set your course on Him and  nothing else.

     Were you rankled today?

     Why was that?    What about The Word of God?  Are you trying to justify yourself because of the position of the other person?

     Soldier of The Cross, you do not have that luxury.  Moreover, according to the Word of God, you are moving in the wrong direction.

     Consider He who gave Himself as a Ransom for Many.  Isn't that thrilling?  Why is that?

     Because it resounds when the gong in the soul is struck whenever He is totally in control.

     Soldier, move on in prayer and by faith.  In prayer and aloud.
     Alone.

     His Love is for you and through you.

     He never intended for you to envelope yourself in Him and settle down.  His Love is always moving.  He inhabits the hearts and minds of men and women and children who are willing to belong to Him, and He loves others through His Own.

     Your life isn't about about your love for everyone - it is about His Love.  His sovereignty.  His Word and His Plan.

     The features of His Love comprise the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  There is a supernatural ability to love the unlovely and it is by faith.  Often it means moving in to minister when it feels like you would rather swim in peanut butter.

     Those who are willing to take up The Cross know the flow of His Love and it isn't cheap.

     Those who meet with Him and agree with Him are filled with His Love. 

     Tell Him.  Aloud.

     Soldier of The Cross, learn to go with The Flow.

     He who created the rainbow is the same One who will be as creative with your life as you will allow.  Those who must have security and predictability will never know the fullness of His Life, because they refuse the adventure of faith.

     Although we have been created to move about in the freedom of His life and His leading, most are still straight-jacketed by the stodginess of settling down into the familiar and the comfortable.

     Not so for The Soldier of The Cross.

     Lord as I stand before you tonight, I know that I am founded on the Rock of Ages, even when it feels like the ground is always moving under my feet.

     I want to learn to trust you to the extent that you can do anything with this woman, who so wants to be available, flexible and alert to your slightest move.

     I want my security to be in you.  Nothing else.  Tonight, again I give it all to you.  The years of building, the years of learning, the years of service.  Please do whatever is needed in the deepest part of me in order to make me like you.

     I want to be ready to obey without any reservtion.

     My Lord and my God.         

     Those who serve the Lord may not splash around in the self-life.

     There is no excuse for answers that are hurled back to even the score.
     There is no excuse for temper.  Absolutely no excuse.
     There is no excuse for manipulation.
     Or negativity.
     Or criticism.
     Or of being a respecter of persons, which is so easy to fall into.

     The issue is, will you be a Soldier of The Cross, or will you be a difficult person whom others must put up with? 

     Love is not a feeling.  It is learned.  And for those who are His Own, it is learned in prayer and experienced by faith.  Soldier, this is not about you.  Or your feelings or your preferences.  It is about Him and His Word.

     You must deal with these matters in prayer.
     Aloud.
     Today.
 

     Most of the time, it is only a problem if it is a problem.

     Christians are often offended, get panicky about things and drag the past around in big soul barnacles.

     Why should we live that way when we have One by whose stripes we are healed?  Why live as though there were no help?  Why stew and fret?

     Why not live as we are instructed in God's Word, learning to come to Him, pouring it all out and moving forward by faith, all the while deciding to eagerly embrace any correction or chastisement?

     Wound-licking starts as a child.  Children must be taught to change the countenance.  They must learn to be sensitive to the needs of others before their own needs.  This is not natural and is learned through consistent and prayerful correction and, more importantly,  by example.

     What does it mean to take up The Cross?  It is the place of the death of the flesh - the flesh that wants its own way and anything else is a problem.

     Was Judas a problem?  Not for God
     Was Pharaoh a problem?  Not for God.
     Was the Cross a problem?  Not at all.  The Cross had to come before the Resurrection.

     Soldier, pray to be taught to march without missing beats.  It is supernatural.   You were created to walk on the water.  You were created to live by faith. 

     You were created to be grounded on the Rock and not on anything else.  Make sure your stability does not depend on what goes on around you.

     Present yourself as a Living Sacrifice. 
     Aloud.

     Soldier of The Cross, you must be aware of your thoughts.

     They all start somewhere.    We know we are influenced, and we can choose that influence.    It is not possible to choose to avoid temptation, nevertheless it is commanded that we take every thought captive and lead it away.

           [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),    
                              II Corinthians 10:5   (Amplified Bible)

     So then Soldier, your job is to take this matter to prayer.  If you do not, the enemy is able to shoot in a fiery dart and begin a thought against another, or even your own thought against yourself.

     God's Word has a great deal to say about the mind.  The mind is the initial expression of the soul, and if the ungodly thought is not recognized, the result is frustration and then anger, division and spiritual cancer.

     Soldier, only He is Light.  And, the One who named you and has your name written on the palms of His hands is also keenly aware of your thought life. 

     Take it to Him.  Aloud. 
     Today.    

     You feel tiny and insignificant.

     Yet, all the world is watching you.  So are the unseen hosts.  Your obedient thoughts give off something that honors God. 

     The tenderness of your countenance Glorifies Him.

     Your measured words reflect Him.

     No matter what happens, you are a Soldier of The Cross and the whole universe knows it.

     Looking back over the day, the important things are, what did you think and what did you say?

     If you met with the Lord, you lined up with Him and it is not possible to meet with Him regularly without the freshness of His Word.

     Your thoughts should have lined up with His.    Your mouth must not have been used to assassinate anyone, nor to spread negativity. 

     No one is exempt.  The enemy tries with every Soldier of The Cross.  He seems to have a limited repertoire, but unlimited energy.  Resisting him is the result of prayer.  No prayer, no recognition of what is happening.

      Believers must ask for the heart to be searched.  He who does the searching is able to reveal Himself in the matter and will cleans and lead.

     Today's Church has turned things upside down.   It's not about you. It is about Him.  From Him and to Him. 

     We can only see what is before us.

     All else we see by faith.

     Soldier of The Cross, what makes Him more real than anything seen by the eyes?  Prayer.  Those who deal with things in prayer, leave things with Him in prayer and cover others in prayer are those to whom eternity is more real than time.

     When you are tipped over, what spills out?  Is it eternity, or is it a soulish of dissatisfaction with what is before you?

     Determine to live in eternity before Time passes you by.