As in any discipline, the basics must be reviewed and embraced over and over and over.

     We all need to hear again and again how critical it is to be consistent in the Word of God and in prayer.  There can be no effective prayer without the fuel of the Word, and there is no application of the Word without prayer.

     The devotional life is the number one target of the enemy.  Why is that?  Because without it, Jesus morphs into a belief instead of a present Person.

     Soldier of The Cross, you would not neglect brushing your teeth or bathing.  Why is that?  Because they are essential to health.  

     We need acute sight and hearing.  We need to be attune to the Indwelling Holy Spirit. 

     Fight for this!  Give it your all.  The requirement is not extended lingering.  It is consistency.

     Craving Him is the result of meeting with Him consistently.

     This is what your life is about.

     Bring it to Him and ask Him to be reminded.  Write down your verses and put them on your refrigerator.  Say them to the mirror.  Sing.  Sing.  Sing.

     Tell Him you’re longing to meet Him in your devotions.  Tell Him aloud.

      Soldier of The Cross, remember that those in ministry must assume there will be constant hits.

     Meaning that even Jesus was insulted, scoffed at and ridiculed.  

     I love it that Mark gives us interesting details about these things.  When the woman with the blood issue touched the hem of His garment, the disciples immediately assumed he could not tell who had touched Him in a special way because the whole crown as pressing into Him.

     Then, when he went to heal the daughter of Jairus, those around laughed when He said she was only sleeping. But they certainly did not laugh when she got up and ate!

     Soldier, He called you and He appointed you.  You must learn to not react so badly when you are challenged or when someone is aggressive against your ministry.  All of heaven and hell understands what is going on.  You don't need to understand it, but you must acknowledge your calling and therefore you must acknowledge your protection.

     Are you called to be a stay at home mom?  Is that less important than any named evangelist?   

     Obviously, no.

     Soldier, we are all in the same line.  Will you move forward when called?  That is the issue.  No looking around.  Answer the call each day and each hour.  Fill yourself with the Word of God and march!

     Tell Him over and over what you love about Him and why you want to serve Him.
     Do it aloud.

     You are the only Jesus most people will see.

     Right before I had a real encounter with the Lord, I remember thinking about a few of the Believers I had known and realizing for the first time that there was nothing about them I could separate from their relationship with Him.

     I was 29 before I realized that about my father.  I thought about a clarinet player I knew.  And a local pastor of a tiny church.  I was confronted.

     His Own ought not to sling back what others deserve or get them behind their backs.  A Soldier of The Cross who really wants to be a disciple has to learn to suffer misunderstanding and often just plain abuse, while turning to the Lord for not only consolation, but for wisdom in how to handle or not handle it.

     We are staggeringly wealthy.  We must learn to appropriate it and to use it.

     Soldier, in the Kingdom, nothing is learned by hearing about it.  We learn by having experiences that require waiting, prayer, restraint, the ministering love to the unlovely and launching into the frontier of faith.

     Just tell Him you are available. Like a leaf on a tree when the wind blows.

    Tell Him aloud.  You can't say it if you don't mean it.

     There is a difference between hoping God comes through and knowing He will do far more than can be imagined if He is allowed.

     The Believer has two choices: trust God,  or worry and be worn out by trying to fix it     

     Even though most of us can quote a number of verses about rolling our burdens on Him and. being anxious for nothing, the mind and the mouth betray the lack of confidence in God's care and intervention.

     Soldier, this is a big issue for you because you became a Soldier of The Cross when you told Him you would let Him do anything He wanted to with your life.   And, the Christian walk is one of always moving on into the frontier of trust.

     It is either true or it is a lie.

     How do you know God is real?

     Review what He has done. 
     Review answered prayer. 
     Review how you have changed since the time you yielded to His touch.

     There are times when we find ourselves in the most unfair situations and it seems like things will never be equalized.  He is a God of justice and He will come through, though most likely not in the way you want or the time you think it has to be.

     Soldier, there is nothing else.  If God can be trusted, let us learn to trust Him.  This means we never stop learning.

     Restate your availability to Him.  
     Aloud.  Then look up and move on!

     Soldier of The Cross, Believers ought to know how to talk.

     If His name is The Word, and if all of existence was spoken into being:

        "The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of our awesome God reflecting God’s Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His Father’s essence,  upholding and maintaining and propelling all things the entire physical and spiritual universe by His powerful Word carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal. When He Himself and no other had by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down revealing His completed work at the right hand of the Majesty on high revealing His Divine authority, 
                               Hebrews 1:3  (Amplified Bible)

     No more talking about what you hate.
     No more endless would-licking aloud.
     No more over and over telling about how you were abused.
     No more negativity.

     We all need to confide in someone at some point.  Make sure you are reporting and not attempting to influence the listener to hold your point of view against an offender.

     The bottom line is the power of His Word in your life and that manifestation through your words.  This is not about perfection; it is about response to the Indwelling Holy Spirit.

     Soldier, do not second guess yourself.  You are equipped by the Word of God.

     Take this to Him aloud.
     Today.

     If at all possible, most prayer ought to be aloud. 

     It is not always possible or practical. But much of the time if prayer is not aloud, it disintegrates into wool-gathering or sleep.

     "I cry aloud with my voice to the Lord; I make supplication with my voice to the Lord."
                      Psalm 142:1  (Amplified Bible)

     One ought to be praying during the day and night, and it isn't always going to be out loud.  But there should be an appointed time each day when there is deliberate prayer that flows out of words chosen by the supplicant.

     The Lord often speaks through the prayerful words of the Soldier of The Cross.  It changes everything.

     Start with acknowledging who He is and tell Him what you love and appreciate about Him.  The Indwelling Holy Spirit will take it from there.

     Do it today

     Often it is the little annoyances of life that get to us.

     If that is justified or never dealt with, big blows are crippling.

     Stability is an obvious feature of the Soldier of The Cross.  It is the result of making choices that go against feeling but are good behavior and wise words.

     Stability does not mean never having extreme feelings.  It doesn't mean always avoiding mistakes.  It means being rooted in the Word of God which fuels prayer with resulting godly behavior. 

     It means forcing one’s self to move straight ahead doing the next thing according to the light and wisdom available.  That might mean a kind word when you can barely speak, or it might mean not speaking when you feel like eating someone's face off.

     We are sojourners and pilgrims.  We keep moving.  We can't avoid problems, but we move through them with the vast help available to us.

     You are being watched, not only by those around you, but by unseen powers of both darkness and Light.

     Fuel up and moved on.

     Take it to Him and do it aloud.  In so doing, you will choose your words carefully. He speaks to the petitioning heart by leading the choice of words.

     The behavior of most people is dictated by feelings or the lack thereof.

     This should not be the case for the Soldier of The Cross.  Feelings come from numerous sources, and often from the enemy.  Personal history accounts for much of human reaction and emotion.

     Soldier, this is not to imply all your feelings are false.  Actually, all your feelings are real. The issue is, how do they line up with God's Word?

     You feel what you feel.  If you learn to deal with this matter with the Word of God and in prayer and if you choose what He says, over time, you will not be driven by emotion.

     There will never be a time when you are not slammed by intense feeling.  It does lessen, and because of your determination to be changed into His Likeness, obedience allows you to recognize what is happening and you are then free to choose the right behavior even when you are feeling the wrong thing.

     What is it you want?   Do you want Him?  Do you want to be like Him?  It means tough choices.   When you choose what is eternal, the temporal shrinks to allow the light to dawn.  God's Word will come to mind.  The Indwelling Holy Spirit will present to you the option of obedience.  

     Then, freedom.  Healing.

     What else is there?

     Soldier, take this to Him in prayer.
     Aloud.

     Why, oh why is it that so many Believers neglect spending time with God?

     And how can it be that most would agree The Word of God is alive and full of power (Hebrews 4:12) yet, so few have developed that habit of taking it in daily?

     Because it is alive and full of power, there must be a taking in of the Word and it must be in such a way that the mind will consider it during that day.  Reading a large amount is great, but probably not for devotional purposes.

     I am a vigorous advocate of memorization because the Indwelling Holy Spirit will burp it up all day.  

     Everyone ought to learn a number of the key verses to quote at any time, but in devotional reading, you don't need to wait for some verse that grabs you and makes your hair stand up on end.   Just select the next verse or one of the next few verses and write it down several times.  Say it over and over.  Even if you remember only a part of it, your life will be different and you will hear it in your mind all day.

     God's Word protects us from getting entangled in everyday life.  Living is one thing, but being entangled is entirely different and so unpleasant.

     True discipleship is not possible without meditating on His Word.  Meditation is not possible without taking it in afresh.

     Are His Promises true?  

     Learn them.

     Develop the habit of saying the scripture back to Him while in prayer.
     Aloud.

     We must always remember that God supports His own work.

     Hudson Taylor said "God's work done is God's way will have God's supply."   That was behind his policy of never asking for money for his missionary endeavors.  George Mueller operated the same way.

     God has assigned some of the weakest people to do the biggest things and He has won battles in ways we would never think possible.  
 
     What about Jericho?  Marching around silently and then playing a trumpet?  What?
     What about Gideon's defeat of the Midianites?
         "When three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”
                             Judges 7:20   (Amplified Bible)
     And the enemy army clobbered each other and ran away!

     The list is endless.  God never does the same thing twice.  He is infinitely creative and watches carefully over the thing He has appointed.  

     We put one foot in front of the other in love and obedience, knowing He is clearing the way for the next step.

     God anoints His own for what is to be done and supports His own in the doing of it.

     Soldier of The Cross, the big issue is pursuing Him and desperately wanting to know and recognize Him more fully.

     He never hides.
     His attention to you is way, way more than you can imagine.

     Bring this to Him and do it aloud if at all possible.