One of the most important exhortations in God's Word is that of waiting on Him.

     There are almost 200 verses about this matter.  Why is it so hard?  

     One might think that it is not as difficult for the cautious Christian to hunker down and just wait and watch for the Lord.   Not so.  

   
     It is a matter of faith versus flesh. 

     Soldier of The Cross, the natural thing is to want the solution now.   The sense is that the matter needs to be resolved, and with a touch of emergency. The natural thing is to do even guaranteed fruitless things, just so there is a feeling of addressing the matter.  The natural thing is to talk to everyone and anyone who might be able to exercise an influence.  The natural thing is to worry.

     I have been in life and death situations and know that there are times when it is essential to not only knock on doors, but to kick and to pound.  I have been in airports in the tiniest and most obscure countries of the world and have had to get on a plane that has been either canceled or overbooked.  I know what it means to stand for hours and insist that there will be another plane scheduled, even when the agent thinks I am daft.  I know what it means to think someone you care about will be imprisoned or tortured  or killed if you are not there in time.   You do all you can and then you prayerfully tackle the impossible. 

     God has never been late.

     Herein lies the problem:  it is faith that enables the Soldier to advance without guarantee of ”success".  So, without reliance on God, there is hope only in the foreseeable.

     Faith is a frontier.  Are you willing to move into the formerly unknown?  We who are His have the only guarantee.  We serve a Sovereign Lord who has made promises, and He has never failed.  Is there any matter in which you can say "God failed me"? 

     Do you believe Him?  He said He would "withhold no good thing. . . “  Is it, or is it not true?

     Why did He ask David to wait until he heard the sound of marching in the tops of the Mulberry trees? (I Chronicles 14:15)

     What difference does it make?  It does not matter.  It was God's plan, and it included waiting, assurance and recognition of His deliverance.

     It is the same for you. He has not changed.    He cares for you just as much as He did His Servant David.  He cares about your job.  He cares about your thought life.  Your marriage.  Your reputation.  Your depression.   Your grief.  Your sickness.  Your children.  Your finances.

     He cares, and He is on the way.

     Tell Him.  Agree with Him. 

        Lord Jesus, there is nothing but you.  I stand before you now and declare that I will wait for you and I will submit to anything and everything that pleases you.  I do not need to understand and I do not need to have anything on my own schedule.
     I want to learn to wait for you.  It does not feel good now, but I am asking you to change me.  Oh, Lord, please do the thing in the deepest recesses of my heart in order to bring about your own likeness in me.
     By faith and according to your Word, I hereby claim the victory that is mine in your name.

     Change me, change me,   Oh Jesus, please;
     All of my heart and life, oh Jesus seize;
     Teach me to live out my life on my knees.
     Change me, change me, Jesus.

     We do not need to know why.

     We only need to know that He can be trusted.

     Death, suffering, separation, poverty, evil - there is so much that can not be understood.  We can philosophize about everything, but we do not have the capacity to take in the whole of God's Plan.   If we could understand everything, there would be no need for faith.

     We know we can rely on Him to hear us, to respond, and to know what is best.

     If I really believe He knows better than I, I won't ask Him "why", inasmuch as my question would imply my ability to approve the right answer.

     What does it mean to be a Soldier of The Cross?  
     It means that you have decided to take up The Cross daily and follow Him.
     It means that you have determined to take Him at His Word and you have told Him so in prayer. 
     It means that you have told him you will be a living sacrifice, whatever that means.
     It means that even though your flesh bucks and paws the ground, you want more than anything to let Him deal with the things in you that limit the flow of His Life.
     It means that you want to be being filled with and led of the Spirit and you have told Him so.
     It means He is more precious to you than anything or anyone else.
     It means that you are available to love the unlovely.
     It means you are willing and eager to live by faith and that God can trust you in situations in which He might not put others.
     It means you will live by the whole Word of God.

     We do not have the right to an explanation from the Lord.

     So Soldier, attend to the thing right before you.  Live for Him one day at a time and let Him deal with the things that can not be understood.  

     When we are with Him, we will understand it all.

      What does it mean to be a delight to the Lord?

     We know that He treasures obedience above sacrifice. 

     What does that mean to you?  How flexible are you in the Hands of the One who holds the stars in place?  Did He or did He not name you and call you?  Can you say you have experienced His touch?  The New Birth?

     How are you praying about your situation?  Are you praying for the result you think you should have, or are you praying that you will be a Living Sacrifice and that you will be dead to all else?

     Do you trust Him, or are you still craving to be self-supporting so that you do not have to rely on Him?

     Thank God, He has come to live in us in the Person of the Holy Spirit.  We are able to pray according to His will when we agree with Him.  What is your conflict?   Do you experience a sense of lack of identity?  Are you suffering because the matter is not resolved?   Is it a matter of what others think?  The impending unpaid bills?   The disapproval of your spouse?  A recalcitrant child?

     Is there anything too great for Him?

     If there is something standing in the way of your enjoyment of the Lord, it is not a lack of His Provision - it is a lack of your reliance on Him.

     What thrills The Master?
    

     Obedience.

     Agree with God.
     Aloud.
     Today.

     God does not seem to duplicate anything.

     Everything is new.  No one is exactly like anyone else. Even if a hundred people walk the isle to receive Christ, He deals individually in fullness and creativity in every heart.

     Soldier of The Cross, if you are looking for a safe formula or a pattern like someone else's, you will miss the Lord. 

     Are you thinking that so and so should be done, but you are not moving in that direction because it appears impossible?  Consider whom we serve.
     Are you thinking it is too late?  Consider whom we serve.
     Are you thinking it is something another could do, but that you are not equipped?  Consider whom we serve.
    

     Finally, are you thinking you should be able to get things together and establish yourself as others around you have done?  It will never happen.  You have been created to need Him.  You have been created to follow Him into the Frontier of Faith. 

     You told Him He could have you and you really meant it.  Now, He is leading you on.  Others, even other Christians, may be recognized or achieve some stability, whereas it seems that when you put forth the same effort you do not get the same result.

     It is because you have crossed the line.  You decided to follow Him.  You told Him so and He is leading you on.

     It is always time to tell Him again.  You need nothing but Him.  You agree with Him that nothing else satisfies   You will go through anything and let Him do anything in order to bring about His likeness in you.

     Tell Him again.  Aloud.

        My faith has found a resting place,
        Not in device or creed;
        I trust the ever living One,
        His wounds for me shall plead.

        I need no other argument,
        I need no other plea,
        It is enough that Jesus died,
        And that He died for me.

     If it were not good for us, He would not have asked us to learn to submit to Him.

     He has not sent us the memo and expected us to comply.  He became the ultimate, visible demonstration of sacrificial love and offered Himself publicly with nothing to gain. 

     But, He knew we would be His Bride.  He gave Himself as a Ransom for Many, none of whom deserved anything but eternal death.  Yet, here we are.  Loving Him.  Wanting Him more.  Enjoying Him.  Being thrilled by His Word and His Body.  And, in addition to all of the privileges and treasure,  He says He is knocking on the heart's door and wants to come in and sup with us if we will answer. (Revelation 3:20)

     What does that mean?

     We have a tiny, limited concept of His Love for us.  The mind knows it is true, but the heart rarely experiences it. 

     He can be trusted.
     He knows far more than we.
     He wants only the best for us.
     He leads us with His eyes.
     His heart is ravished when we think of Him.

     And,  we have the Indwelling Holy Spirit who leads, empowers and reveals Jesus.

     Soldier of The Cross, you have nothing to lose.

         Lord, I long to know you more intimately.  I want to please you and I want to be useful.  Please do whatever needs to be done in my heart in order that I might submit to you completely.  I want to obey you.  I want to declare you.  I want to reveal you.

    I know there is nothing better.
    I know there is nothing else.
    You alone are my Rock and my Salvation.

      Soldier of The Cross, learn to recognize the Lord.

      If you have told Him you want to know Him and to recognize Him, He will be faithful and you will learn to know what is from Him and what is not. The issue is not recognizing the enemy - the issue is knowing and recognizing Him.

     You have the Indwelling Holy Spirit who illuminates the things of God.   You have discernment.  Yet, sometimes it is hard to know.

     Remember how Moses dealt with the burning bush? The Bible says he "investigated" (Amplified).   Often we are lead with the "still small voice".  Rarely is the Christian led by a torrent of event or sweep of emotion. 

     We have not been created with the capacity to understand many things, nor are we allowed to know why.  It is not important.  The issue is what does He want?  What glorifies Him?   

     Soldier, keep in mind that all the choices of time have eternal impact.

          One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the   
          house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty   [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.

     Psalm 26:4 (Amplified Bible)

     What are your priorities?    Getting all the ducks in a row?  Any other form of security? 

     Do you intend to agree with God?

     Soldier, He does not hide.  Moreover, His love for you is intense to the extent that He is eager and available for your attention.

     Soldier, He will not tease you.

     Wait.  
     He will reveal Himself.

  Real love endures anything and lasts forever.

     This does not mean that Love puts up with everything, but it does endure.  Time can not quench it, nor can hell's assault diminish it.

     Love is always ready to respond and does not protect itself from the next rejection.

     Love does not figure out how to get its own way, but considers what is best.

     Love does not gossip.

     
     Love is not afraid to declare itself.

     Love is infinite and always expands into the place allowed.

          Lord Jesus, teach me to love others as you love me.  I can't understand how you could love me, but you called me to yourself, revealed yourself to me and rescued me.  It was Love to which I responded.
          I want you to be able to love through me.  Please do whatever is needed in the deepest places of my heart in order to make me more like you.
    Though I sometimes resist, I now choose in prayer to submit to the surgical knife of the Lover of My Soul.
         My Lord and my God.

       Soldier of The cross, God's Word is your bottom line.

      Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting]

         Psalm 131:2 (Amplified Bible)

     Soldier of The Cross, there is much work to be done, and you have no idea what God is doing in the background.  We serve a Lord who is not a God of formulas and human understanding.  We also serve a Lord who adores us and pays careful attention to every matter, great or small.

     Just before the verse above, the Psalmist says “. . .neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me."    Meaning that even the deepest and most mature Christian has no capacity to figure out why, how or when.

     We have an enemy who is always out to steal and destroy.  He is an expert at distraction.   Even seasons of abundant blessing can be ruptured by a broadside blow if you attempt to understand or analyze things.  The enemy is just waiting to pounce on the moment that strains to be in control, rather than reflecting on God's Word.

      The mind is the battleground.  The place of choice.  The thoughts will not be taken captive and led away for you.  It is something that you must do, first in prayer and then with affirmative choice and action.   Those who are in the Word of God daily, have the advantage of slicing through the thought life with the Sword.

      Are you or are you not a Soldier of The Cross?   Have you told Him you will take up the Cross daily and follow Him?  Do you see the death of the flesh as valuable and necessary?

      We have the Indwelling Holy Spirit.  There is power to make the choice that feels like it cannot be made.  If you are to be a living sacrifice, you may not lie down on the altar and wave a list of demands in the air.

     It is His way or your way.  If it is His way, you don't need to understand.
     You need to follow.

     Soldier of The Cross,  do you have a reserve?

     Or, are you His no matter what?

     If you have stood before Him and have honestly told Him He can do anything with your life, you have a tremendous protection.

     Only He can make sense out of the things that don't add up.

     Look up and move on.