Lord, I am so grateful that you called me to yourself.

     My tendency is to deal with the immediate, but my stated desire before you is that you would teach me to invest in eternity without giving in to distraction.   My Lord and My God, please do whatever is needed in the deepest parts of me, in order to bring about your likeness in me.

     Again Lord, I tell you that I want to be so available that I can be easily led by the Holy Spirit.

     I love you.  There is none other.  I love everything about you.    I love your creativity.  I love your faithfulness.  I love it that you are the Rock of Ages.

     Lord, please let me recognize you more quickly.  Please fill me with your love.    Reveal yourself to me anew.

     Change me.
     Use me.
     Please reveal yourself through my life

     When will He answer?

     Why does it appear that He is not going to do anything about it?

     Remember, time is a dimension designed to compel mankind to make decisions concerning eternity.   His relationship to time is different than ours.

     What does the bible say?

     He heard you.  He is never late.  Unless you are deliberately disobeying, He has you right where he wants you for today - even if it is not where you want to be.  He is the great Communicator and has no trouble letting you know when to do what.

     The One who holds the stars in place is also holding you.

      What stirs you the most?

     The brain rams at the situation over and over in an effort to gain just a little control in the form of understanding the situation.

     It just can not be understood right now.  This is a time to take it to Him and let Him have all of the matter - by faith.  This happens in prayer and will probably need to happen over and over and over.

     He who listens is able.  Completely able.  If you had the capacity to understand it, you would not be struggling so hard to get a handle on it.  It is what it is, and only He knows why and how it will play out.  Of course we pray these things through, but not because we understand. 

     No faith, no release.

     Soldier of The Cross, He does things that seem strange to us.  Our responsibility is to trust and obey.

     No matter what.           

     I told the story of Mr. Brunken in Sunday School this morning.

     Mr. Brunken was a major supporter of Prairie Bible Institute and has long since gone to be with the Lord.  As soon as he was saved he and his wife began working and earning money in order to give it away - to support Prairie and a particular radio program they loved. 

     Mr. and Mrs. Brunken had no education and never attended Prairie, but they believed in the training of missionaries to the extent that they raised herds of cattle, farmed the land and did whatever they could to raise money for the Lord's work.  When a large yield was hailed out one year, the Brunkens prayed for other work in order to be able to continue supporting PBI.

     And, they delighted in it.  The students who knew Mr. Brunken, most of whom are either with the Lord or retired, were deeply affected by his attitude.  By today's standards and label, he was not in "full-time Christian ministry" but he certainly was by God's standards.  Those who wrote about him said he was so full of the Lord that he was a major spiritual influence in their lives.  He was a simple man who understood a deep message.

     Soldier of The Cross, our lives must be about His business.  Our homes should be to receive others and love them.  Our children should be raised to serve the Lord.   Our income should be released to Him to be used in any way the Holy Spirit leads 

     We are to live in preparation for eternity.  We are to live putting others first.  We must be easily led.

     Let the Lord know your life is His and not yours. 
     Tell Him aloud.

      This is a season that challenges everyone.

     For some it is a painful memory of loss.  For others it is an attempt at creating memories.  Atmosphere.  It is usually a time of zigging and zagging to get things done.   At a time when we are celebrating the remarkable Love of our God, it is easy to miss the immediate.

     It is a particularly difficult season for me.  I participate in almost twenty symphony concerts, am in charge of the Christmas program at church, and it is also a time of grading almost two hundred university final exams.  In addition to that, there is an open house here at the Isaac House for many, many people whose gifts will be wrapped and place under a tree that I have no time to decorate.   Christmas stockings, my responsibility, will also be forced on numerous family and guests. 

     In the middle of all of this, there are always emergency situations with my clients, and it is not possible to just put things off.  I always think I will barely live through Christmas.

     This year, in the middle of the heaviest schedule I have ever had, the Lord has given opportunity after opportunity to share His Life, and with folks for whom I have prayed for years and years.

     We never know what He will do.  We never know what is around the bend.  

     Soldier of The Cross, gear up and prepare for answered prayer.
     Resist the temptation to declare that you have no time for anything.  
     Resist the temptation to think that the most important thing is to get control of everything.
     Resist the temptation to think you have to please everyone.
     Resist sentimentality.
     Resist the need to out do or match any other year.

     Soldier, the season does not change the calling.

     Stand before Him as in any other season and declare your availability.  Do it aloud.  Tell Him that He can have you and that you relinquish habit, unhealthy tradition and concept.  Tell Him that He can have every day, hour and minute to honor and reveal Himself.

     Then, watch Him work!

     Soldier of The Cross, do not miss the thing that is right before you.

     Remember, there is an enemy who is roaming about and is seeking to devour.  He would love to cripple you in order to deflect your attention from any point of ministry.

     Speaking of which, you have a responsibility to be a minister of Life.  His Life. 

     I have yet to meet a real Christian who says he has never gone through any fiery trial.  The issue is, how is that trial met?

     I remember a dramatic story of a man in North Vietnam who was a Christian.  So was his wife.  The communists arrested them, imprisoned him and put the  wife naked in a wooden cage and dragged her around the village for a day.  We do not know her fate, but the husband was buried alive.

     As the last shovel of dirt was about to be thrown on his face,  the Christian Brother said to the man assigned to the task, "Jesus loves you and so do I.  When you are born again, please find my daughter and tell her that you have met Jesus."

     I heard this story from the daughter's own mouth.  Several years after her father had been buried alive, the man who shoveled the dirt  found her in America.  He told her that he had met the Lord Jesus Christ and had accepted Him as his Savior.  Her father's killer then led her to the Lord.

     She gave the account in humility and in tears.

     Soldier of The Cross, do not loose the moment.
     It is about eternity.

     Your purpose is far beyond those who have no Lord.

     There is much to be said for refusing to veer from the Path.

     When you pray, are you deliberately considering the One who is listening?

    Over the years, I have been privileged to pray with some tremendous saints.  The older ones kneel and I have been greatly humbled in hearing these prayers.  I have knelt with God's servants in the dirt, on cobblestones, on carpet, in mud,  in the sand and surrounded by thousands of camels,  in danger and in safety.

     One thing is sure - He hears.  He is the ultimate Listener, and it seems to me that Christians often forget that the One who holds the stars in place is listening intently.

    So often we pray as though He has to be convinced.  Yes, I often quote His own words to Him in prayer, but I have taken Him at His  Word, and so must you.

     He who is The Word is listening to your words.  Hallelujah that we have the Indwelling Holy Spirit to aid us in our prayer life.

     Soldier of The Cross, like all else, prayer is a frontier.  No one else has your relationship with the Lord - it is unique between the two of you.   And, there is no limit.

     Learn to stand or sit or kneel, and pray.  Aloud.  Learn to see Him as holding the scepter and listening.  Loving.  Understanding.  Wanting the best for you.  The God of all Power.

     Declare it all to Him.  Even your need to know He is listening. 

     Aloud.
     Today