Soldier of The Cross, how far will you go for and with Him?
If we are upset with Him for what He allows, we presume an equal footing with Him.
Soldier, stand before Him and declare your bottom line. In the difficult time, you must do this early and often.
Can you say to Him that He can do whatever He wants?
Tell Him aloud.
Learning to depend on the Lord is a tough battle for the flesh.
Yesterday I actually heard a preacher say that one should not have to trust God for something that he needs right now. He should pray in enough provision in advance so that he never needs anything.
I don't find that anywhere in the Bible. In fact, the whole Word of God teaches that the child of God must learn to depend on Him, and must unlearn independence.
We are to follow Him and to be changed into His likeness. We are to be in payer about all things because we were not created to do anything without Him.
Soldier of the Cross, we must admit our need for Him. Our need for each other. Our need for trials. Our need for His Word and our need to recognize that all things come from His hand and not ours.
Without Him, we have a tiny little worm's-eye view, and He alone sees all. We must be led and we must understand that no area of life is exempt. This is a particular problem for Christians who seem to think everything else can involve faith, but finances must be an exception.
The days. The hours. The minutes.
We need Him so.
What is the value of The Cross?
It is the place of the death of the flesh. Without The Cross, there is no experience of Resurrection Life which exerts its power over believers. (Phil 3:10) For that reason, we are told there is no discipleship apart from The Cross. (Luke 9:23)
Soldier of The Cross, without this obedience, there is no power to follow Him.
Without this obedience, there is no power to love unconditionally.
Without this obedience, there is no power to see or hear.
Without this obedience, there is no power to live according to God's Word.
Without this obedience, there is certainly no power to minister.
It feels hard and sounds hard, but like all matters that ride the wings of faith, choosing His way supersedes all barriers. Without The Cross, there is no lightening of the load nor is there the experience of His Presence.
Soldier, just tell Him and do it aloud.
Tell Him you will take up the Cross today and that you will trust Him for the result.
There is a Place in your heart. It is the place of decision. You can look at Him, and you can decide that He is in charge and that there is nothing else worth living for. In that place, there is a U-turn from the self life.
You can do this. It must be aloud with formulated thoughts that agree with Him.
There is nothing else.
There is no one else.
Those who have yielded to the Sovereignty of God during times of loss have been able to do so because they have lived in the practice of agreeing with God.
It is often the little things of every day life that are our undoing. It is during those thorny moments that the rubber meets the road. Perspective is off and here comes the Flesh Flash!
From cover to cover, God's Word tells us where our attention should be and how we should behave. We are not allowed time off for bad behavior!
Those who are solid are solid in private as well as in public. This is the result of agreeing with God in prayer, then in attitude.
Soldier of The Cross, can He do anything in and with your life? Are you able to tell Him so?
You have nothing to lose except insecurity, fear and anxiety.
Lord, I stand before you tonight and state before the unseen powers of the universe that I am yours. I ask you to teach me what it means to lose my life so I can find it. I want to learn to agree with you in all things.
I trust you. By faith I step over the line and ask to live a life of faith that is such that I can be trusted with things that don't make sense to the human mind.
Please Lord, do anything in the deepest parts of me in order to bring about your likeness in me.
Soldier of The Cross, what is your charge?
It is not your gift.
It is not your family.
It is certainly not your career.
It isn't even towing the mark.
Your charge is to know the Lord Jesus and the Power of His Resurrection.
" [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death. . ."
Philippians 3:10 (Amplified Bible)
The Apostle Paul was completely converted.
He made no claim to perfection, but he laid claim to the risen Lord and did not look back. His life was about anything that had to do with the Lord and His purposes.
From his writings, it can be assumed that although prison was miserable confinement, he did not consider his own situation to be equal with the needs and condition of the churches.
You do not find Paul choosing self-protection over ministry. Although stoned and left for dead, he returned to Lystra where the stoning had taken place. Not because of a stubborn streak, but because of ministry.
If you have no problems, you are not a Soldier of The Cross. If you have no enemies, it is not necessarily a good sign.
We are not looking for a good life. We are looking for Abundant Life, and it is not cheap.
It comes at a great cost.
Everything.
Here is the question: are you really a Soldier of The Cross?
Have you decided that He is The Truth? Have you concluded that there is nothing else?
If so, you have crossed The Line. You have put on the Cloak of a servant. You are a Living Sacrifice and are telling Him so each day. (After all, it is your reasonable service.)
You are in a season that leaves you feeling weak and without momentum. You hurt. You have prayed and you do not sense relief. In fact, the difficulty and attack are such that you feel crippled. Perhaps you have just lost a loved one. Or perhaps you have gone through what you or others have labeled as a failure.
The bottom line is, to whom do you belong? Are you yours, or are you His?
Soldier, when you feel as though you can do nothing, you must just do the next thing. Of course, you can do the next thing. It is the list of things that you can not do.
Just do the next thing. Often there is release in doing the smallest things. The discomfort does not last forever. He sees and He cares.
You have yielded your body and your faculties as a living sacrifice. It means moving on by faith even when you feel paralyzed.
Look up and move on!
Lord Jesus, I stand before you and agree that my life is to be for you and for your purposes, whatever that means.
I have seen the Love that went to The Cross. I have seen the Love that rose again and is preparing a Place. I have seen the Love that initiates each day and each hour.
So desperately I need you, oh Lord.
Teach me to wait.
Teach me to forgive.
Teach me to serve.
Teach me to sing.
Teach me to go.
Teach me to give sacrificially.
Teach me to speak.
I tend to cling to the familiar and the comfortable, but as I stand before you now, by faith, I relinquish that futile right.
Lord Jesus, do whatever must be done in the deepest places of my heart, in order to make me like you.
No one who is taking up The Cross and following Him has a sense of being on top of everything.
The whole self-image business is putting the cart before the horse. Why do I need an improved self-image? If I am insecure or somehow damaged, that needs to be addressed, but not by convincing me that I can be fixed.
A believer with a poor self image has a problem because the scriptures teach we should not be comparing ourselves using our own standards.
We must be looking at the Lord and scrambling hard after Him. When I am moving and busy with His agenda, I am not thinking about myself or feeling sorry for myself. When I am serving others, my attention is on others, and not on myself or my issues. Not only that, but where does the Bible say I should think highly of myself?
Here is God's answer to the self image problem - "And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].
Luke 9:23 (Amplified Bible)
Those Christians do not have self-image problems, who are standing before the living God each day and telling Him that He can do anything with their lives. They are eager to be changed. Eager to be like Him. And they are not occupied with feeling, but are occupied with Him.
We are human and we all experience failure, misunderstanding and inadequacy. We can never be our own Everlasting Arms.
Security is in Him.
The anxiety is given to Him.
We agree with Him in the loss.
We agree with Him in all things and we know we are in the cleft of the Rock.
What does the hymn say: ". . .He hideth my life with the depths of His Love. . ."
Soldier of The Cross, it's true. It is really true.
Agree with Him today.
Aloud.
I am a conservative.
I see no other choice. I am nevertheless distressed at a number of things that Christians are doing, cloaking themselves as representatives of Truth.
Some are appointed and gifted to fight those battles. Others have a position and take action against those who do not agree.
Let's take abortion for example.
What does God's Word say? If you are His and you agree that He is sovereign, there is no question as to your personal choice or lack there of in the matter. The problem lies with those who do not yet know they have a Savior.
Abortion is not really a political issue, but that is the only place where there is a public forum. So, we have an obligation to come forward and speak - even to engage in diatribe. To press and to do what can be done.
I have met a number of Christians who are far more interested in harassing the other party than they are about praying for them. A few years ago, a friend and I played a concert in upstate
Soldier of The Cross, Love is the issue. Those who have no Savior can't hear. Screaming at a deaf man does no good. It only exhausts the noisemaker and frames him as a fool.
The intimate relationship with the Lord is the balancing factor. It is not the blind offender who must be pursued. It is not our place to punish those who do not agree - even those who are in serious violation of God's law.
Don't you understand, but for Grace, you could be the offender.
Pray, love, visit. Hand out Bibles. Support those who are appointed by God to fight the battle. Your job is not to bring misery, but to reveal Jesus.
