Soldier of The Cross, we are asked to identify with His sufferings.
Can this happen without suffering? No.
So then, we have before us a Treasure that can be received or rejected. Which will it be? Are we willing for the thing that is the best but may be the hardest?
The bottom line is always the same - can He be trusted?
So Soldier, the question is, how far are you willing to go?
Tell Him and do it aloud.
The Soldier of The Cross must live by prayer.
And of course, without the fresh taking in of God's Word, there is no effectiveness in prayer because there can be no Holy Spirit led agreement with God.
I once heard A. W, Tozer say that he would not consider attending even a committee meeting without preparing his heart in prayer. How remarkably easy it is to sachet through the day moving from one thing to the next, all the while operating in dim light and barely able to hear.
Prayerfully going through the day does not mean that there must be a little ceremony over each activity or encounter. There does however, need to be a commitment of the day in prayer and an affirmatively stated availability to be a living sacrifice. A stated desire to take up The Cross and follow Him. A request to be changed into His likeness, whatever it takes.
Prayer leads to more prayer. Prayer opens the door and He comes in to sup.
Where He is, there is always healing.
Where He is, there is Light.
Where He is, there are ears to hear.
Where He is, sin is exposed.
Where He is the Divine fire burns away what has to go.
Soldier, pray.
Aloud, and in the language of your heart - your every day language.
Know that our Sovereign Lord is an attentive listener.
Pray according to God's Word. He listens and He is active, and so He says from cover to cover.
The ball is in your court
Are you willing to wait for Him? Will you agree that He knows best? Didn't He die for you?
Is there really going to be a Wedding Supper of The Lamb?
This is no small thing. He heard and He is actively addressing the matter.
Soldier of The Cross, in prayer, state again that His way is eternal and that you know by His Word that He has already addressed the matter.
Do this aloud and alone.
Our God does the most with the least, uses the lowest to reveal the highest, and sets free those who are in the worst bondage.
If He did things as we think they should be done and on our schedule, we would be revealed rather then seeing Him.
Soldier, you must agree with God. About everything. Even when there is a matter that must be changed, the flesh tugs to see and experience the release in a way that can't compare to His.
Doesn't He give and doesn't take away? Can you say "Blessed be the name of the Lord?
You must agree with God.
Aloud.
It is His business and you must let it go.
If you hang on to it, you will either never feel victorious enough or you will be a monument to regret.
Give it up in prayer - to the One whose design included it in the first place.
Aloud.
Are there any places roped off from the Lord?
May He open any door?
This span of time is one of decision. What is withheld from Him? I have heard some pretty big fish claim the right to rule some ares while thinking they are letting the Lord have other areas.
The bottom line is, less of me and more of Him. Letting go.
Transparency in prayer results in a clean conscience and allows the Holy Spirit to move into the deepest places.
Soldier of The Cross, He is The King. The Word. The Bright and Morning Star. He wants to prepare you for eternity. He is not a lifestyle or a standard. He is a Person who gave Himself for you.
Now you must give all you have in order to know Him and let Him prepare you for eternity.
Can He be trusted? Will He come in with automatic weapons and unload?
The One who holds the stars in place cherishes you and wants to make you free.
Let Him.
What is your all?
You don't know that. Only He does. It is about how much you ask to be His when you pray. Then, you can do more than all you can do. When we get to heaven, we will discover what was our all.
Recently a new convert said to me "I wish I knew how I am doing. . ." We are never the issue. He is always the focus.
So, Soldier of The Cross, no taking of inventory. Only He is able to know how you are being stretched. The miracle of His life through us is that He can do the most amazing things in the unseen when we agree with Him. The Holy Spirit is more than able to reveal anything that needs to be confessed.
Tell Him He can do anything. Ask him to give you exercises in faith. Declare your intention to submit to anything and everything that He wants to do in your heart.
Do it alone and aloud.
You are a Soldier of The Cross.
That means that you have crossed The Line and have made the decision to eagerly and obediently pick up the Cross, which is the place of the death of the flesh, and follow hard after Him.
And, it means you will do this daily.
You may not live as do some believers do, who act as though they have no Sovereign God.
Impatience must go.
Any impurity of the mouth must go. Christians must have clean language and that without game-playing.
Needing human approval must be replace by His approval.
Idleness must go.
Smart, get-back comments must go.
Self-defense must go.
Constantly trying to guarantee the future must go.
Relationships are marked by sacrificial and wise love.
God's Word is always in the mouth, and not as a preachy missile.
There is a tender and constant attention to the Body of Christ.
Money comes from and goes to the Lord.
Paryer is the common denominator of all activity and decisions.
Daily we must affirmatively take up The Cross and it must happen in prayer.
Aloud.
So, Soldier of The Cross, you must decide what your life is about.
Is it about the unresolved, or is it about the Truth of God's Word?
Are you going to bend under the problems by sight, or are you going to agree with God? Although the enemy would love to delude you, this is not a complicated matter.
You must agree with God.
Declare your decision to Him.
Do it alone and aloud.
Look up and move on!
I have been hearing a troubling theme as of late:
An ostinato has crept into the church today concerning life's priorities - that a Christian should put God first, family second and ministry third.
Not only is there is no such teaching in God's Word, but is the opposite of how we are intended to live. We were not designed to worship at three altars, or even two. We are to love the Lord with all that we are and have.
If we are fully His, nothing can be deliberately separated out. If I am putting the Lord first, I will want to learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in everything from floor-sweeping and diaper changing, to leading the lost to Christ.
There is no formula. Such a list produces passivity and allows excuses for avoiding living by faith.
Soldier of The Cross, every minute is about Him. It isn't about you or me or our families or our ministry. Those expressions are gloriously released when we are willing to be alive unto Him and take up The Cross and follow hard after Him.
How can it be that someone could be a Living Sacrifice, let the Lord have full play in the heart, pray according to God's Word, yet be a jerk at home and a dud in ministry? It isn't possible.
He has called us to Himself. He wants to express Himself through us in word, thought and deed - all the time.
He wants the ground under our feet to be a place where He is revealed and glorified.
Only to be what He wants me to be, every moment of every day;
Yielded completely to Jesus alone, every step of this pilgrim way:
Just to be clay in the Potter's hands, ready to do what His Word commands;
Only to be what He wants me to be, every moment of every day.
(Norman J. Clayton)
