If you go church shopping, you can find almost anything you want.     There are large churches that have MacDonald's golden arches inside the walls, with accompanying huge playroom.  There are churches that promise health and wealth.  There are churches that guarantee a religious experience.     And, here and there, there are churches that encourage the believer to look at Jesus.  To want to be with Jesus.  To want to be like Jesus.  To want to be used of Jesus.  To want to reflect Jesus. To want to Love Him.    Those who have genuinely fallen in love with Him recognize and seek out others who have also tasted this Love.  And, when they get together, there is a supernatural unity, because the priority in each heart is the same.     Man looks on the outside.  But He who looks on the heart knows of the desire for Himself, and He honors this in a unity of the Spirit that ushers in the power of praying in His name.  Hence the famous verse that says:       Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.–Matt. 18:20    Soldier of The Cross, you have been called to look away from all that distracts and gaze upon Him.     Concentrate.  Concentrate on the Lover of Your Soul.  Put all you have into the only place where there is eternal investment - the Everlasting Arms.    Seek out those who want the same thing.  Then pray together and watch the Lord work.

   What can the Lord do with you?    Can He make last minute changes?     Can He take something away?     Can He take anything away?    Is your body His?    Are your children His?    Is your reputation His?    Are your finances His?    What about your church?  Do you trust God for the decisions of leadership?  Do you pray for the leaders?  Do you have to be right?    How often are you heard to be criticizing the music, the preaching, the Sunday School, the decor, the food, the decisions of the preacher 0r other leaders?    Soldier of The Cross, your determined purpose is to know Him.     Look for Him, wait for Him, and deal with this matter in prayer.  He will open your eyes and He will enable you to glide through the maze of life, even within the spiritual complexities that will not be understood until Heaven.    He is yours and you are His.    That defines all else.

   Despise not the day of small beginnings...    Soldier of The Cross, be available.  God does not do things according to human design.  When He leads, it is most often in the manner of Gideon's army.  Less is more    Look for Love.    Look for Power.    Look for His Life.    Soldier,  He does not do the same thing twice.  Break away from concept and wait for Him.    He will never disappoint.

   What is the trend of the modern Church?    It seems to me that there is an emphasis on being different and upbeat.  There seems to be an almost desperate need to present a harmless and  electric  Gospel  to the young people.  Often this is done with music that parallels music with lyrics and sounds not compatible with a calm heart and a mind set on the things of the Lord.    Innovation is good, even necessary.  But being different for the sake of appealing societal weaknesses means nothing except compromise.    God has never needed  a packaged message.  He is able to get through the thickest walls and can reach the heart's deepest recesses.  The most important element in a church is prayer that is based solidly on the Word of God.  Although He can use anything He does not need gimmicks and He is  not desperate for approval of those who always want to have the feeling of a religious experience.    He can speak to an available heart in the grandest cathedrals, or a mud hut.  He can reveal Himself through a brilliant and educated speaker, or a simple servant who is available to be a vessel.    God is neither modern nor old-fashioned because He is eternal and does  not need to jive with the times. There is nothing of Him that has outlived its usefulness.    At the same time, the old ways are not necessarily the best ways.  They are just familiar.     The radical Church is a place where the Lord is in control.  Where He is preferred over anything else.  Where His Word is honored and where those who have gathered together agree with Him.    There must be an understanding that to serve the Lord is to die to self, as is so clearly taught in his Word.   There must be lots of prayer, both private and public.  There must be a missionary vision and support.  Songs should have substaantive meaning.    There must be an emphasis on taking up the Cross and following Him.      What the church needs today is members out of whom flow "rivers of living water. . ."      Soldier of The Cross, be a Pillar in the House of the Lord and let His Life flow out of your death to self.

   Today is the American Easter.    We celebrate the Resurrection as a Church and as a royal Race and as individuals.    How do we know He is risen?  I know, because He touched me.  and it changed everything.    I was lost and the Risen Lord  sought me out.  I have no question about that.  He is more real to me than the things that I see each day with my eyes and touch with my hands.    Lord Jesus, I am so thankful that you were willing to die publicly and rise again privately.   More than anything, thank you so much for the gift of Salvation and for the Resurrection Power that is available.   Please do whatever is needed in me, to make me more like you.  Use me for your Glory.   I want nothing else.

   Soldier of The Cross, remember that the Lord looks on the heart.    Many things are not as they appear, and that is the reason we have been told not to judge.     When we come before Him, we know that we are able to come just as we are.  He receives all who come before Him in honesty.  In rescuing those who are without Christ, one of the most important things to be realized is that no one is outside of His reach.    There are verses that no one can explain away - those that say that some will turn away and some will be reprobate.  We do not attempt to present answers.  Many have tried and for the most part, they fail.  We simply take God at His Word and we admit that there are things we can not understand.   In the meantime, we preach in season and out of season.    We have several missionaries who have gone out under our mission, and they are ministering in some of the most difficult areas of the world.  They are in the difficult places of the former Soviet Union, including Siberia.  They minister to the elderly and dying, the severe alcoholics as well as those who are religious without the Lord.    These faithful saints will be there first to tell you that there is always hope for salvation.  Grace is always more than enough to bring the most fallen sinner out of the deepest quicksand.    Prepare your heart.  In the Word and in prayer.  Make sure there is no deliberate sin in your life.    Then, go out and be available.

    The Lord leads His own beside the still waters.    Soldier of The Cross, as long as we live in this world, there will be storms and hardship.  That fact is not the problem, because we serve One who has promised to save us from the fear of evil, even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.     Moreover, we know that we will have  enemies, but that He will set a table before us in their presence.    We have a Shepherd.  We have one who anoints us with oil.     Does your cup run over? It does if you are taking Him at his Word.    Walking by faith is an active, affirmative expression of agreeing with God.  Either these things are true or they are not.  It is a question of relinquishing pointless independence for reliance on one who is Perfect.    Do  not misunderstand.  He does not make everything go away.      If we allow Him, He will make us like Himself, and the process does  not take place without the fire and the flood.    Look up and move on!

   Soldier of The Cross, have you given your life to the Lord?    Then trust Him,  and do  not speak as though you resent what He has allowed in your life.  When you speak about the matter, your speech should reflect what He has said in His Word, and it should reflect your relationship to His word and His Sovereignty.    This is a great part of walking by faith and giving God room to express Himself in and through your life.    Follow after Him with all your might.  Tell Him you want Him and that He Can do anything with your life.    Tell Him aloud and tell Him now.

   When looking at your daily life, is it possible to see that you have an allegiance that is not of this world?    If you are a Soldier of The Cross, you have made the affirmative decision to take up the Cross and follow Him.  It means that you have decided to be His disciple.  It means that you have been attracted to His Life, His Love, His Body and His Ways.    Those who live with you and those with whom you have casual contact should be able to see your clean living and should also be able to see who it is that you serve, and what your priorities are.    He is reflected in your countenance, your speech, your body language and your use of time.  Is His Word in your mouth?    Do you need to be served or are you a servant?  Are holding anyone responsible for your life?  What is the theme of your conversation?  Is it usually negative?  Is it about Him and His Word?    Or, have you determined to be transformed?  Are you telling Him that you want him to minister through you?  Do those around you know that they are loved with supernatural love?    Soldier, you are being watched.  Carefully.  By all.  Even the person who bags your groceries.  Be assured that everything matters.    Give yourself to Him each morning and do it aloud.  Know that He is listening and that He honors all prayer that lines up with His Word.  The thing is, you must come to Him with abandon and  you must do it aloud.      I have never met a person who said they waited for Him and were disappointed. Neither  have I ever read anything written by anyone who regretted yielding all to Him.    He is the Great Rewarder of those who seek Him, and a Seeker is easily identified  because of Love.    Tell  Him.  Aloud.

   Who can lay all burdens at the feet of the Lord?    Is it possible to live without worry?    We are told we must give him all our anxiety.  We are told to roll our burdens on the Lord.  Therefore, there must be a way.   The problem is,  most people have an addiction to the habit of worry.    There must be a time when the Believer decides that he or she is going to lean on the Everlasting Arms.    If you have met the Lord, you are empowered to do this.  To make matters even simpler, you were not designed to carry the burden of worry.    Worry is the state of mind in which one attempts to fantasize about a solution or a consequence.  Often, worry concerns something that will never happen.     Worry is sin.  It is distracting, crippling and blinding.    Learning to trust the Lord is a process.  It begins with a decision and with telling Him so in prayer.  Then, the Holy Spirit reminds the Soldier of The Cross that there is choice.    Do not be satisfied with less than all of the release into which you have been born.    Tell him that you will learn to lean on Him.  Tell him aloud.