You were not designed to analyze the circumstances.

     You were designed to look to Him, to follow Him and to obey Him.  

     It is tempting to assume that obedience will result in understanding the situation.  Of course that is not the case.  He intended you to live with the impossible, be confronted by the unsolvable, while dealing with the unreliable.  Yet always, gazing upon Him and following hard after Him.

     Looking up means vigorously taking in His Word.
     Looking up means loving the unlovely.
     Looking up means telling Him in prayer what you value about Him.
     Looking up means refusing to lend your mouth in agreement with the circumstances.
     Looking up means praying according to the Plan and Promises of God.

     Looking up means taking up The Cross and following Him.

     Soldier of The Cross, look up and move on.

     . . . Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.
               Jeremiah 31:3 (Amplified Bible)

     His Love for us far exceeds the needs of Time.  He is drawing us to Himself in a manner and for purposes that are beyond our understanding.  The important thing is, we can rest in this Love.

     Everlasting means no end. 
     No changes.
     No conditions.
     No ripples.

     Can it be true?

     Soldier of The Cross, this Love can be appropriated in prayer.  It is more than a fact - it is a profound and transforming experience that gives value to life, regardless of the circumstances.

     Lord, tonight I bring you the thing that tugs on me so and I am glad to be able to come before the One who loves me with an Everlasting Love.
     I know you have hidden me in the cleft of The Rock and have covered me with your hand for my own protection.  You first loved me and Grace allowed me to respond.
     By faith, I step into the flow of Love that you have showered on me, and as I stand before you, I yield to you in every matter.  I know I must be changed.  I know I must be chastened.  I know I must be stretched.
     You have said your Love is personal and forever.  I want my life to reflect that Love.
     Please  do whatever is needed in the deepest parts of me, in order to bring about your likeness.      

     Are you available to be used for the Glory of God?

     If so, you must learn to sidestep both false accusation and accolade.

     We have been instructed to be being filled with the Holy Spirit and to walk forward in a straight line. So, He is gracious enough to lead us through the process of learning to look at Him, instead of clinging to our addiction of the opinion of others.

    This does not come easily.  The Soldier of The Cross must understand that while he must be easily moved by the Lord, he may not be easily influenced by the matters of flattery or negative attack.

     Some things should be brought to prayer and other things should bounce off without a penetrating influence. 

     How have you prayed?  If you want to be like Him, you must learn to be a minister of His life and not the protector and defender of your own.

     Soldier, come before Him and give up your right to need human approval.  Give up your right to deal with every little thing that comes at you.  Give up your right to have everyone agree with you.

     Do it in prayer.
     Alone and aloud.

     I have heard many people say, "I would not have gotten through it without the Lord."

     Or course they would have gotten through it.  Those without Christ get through all sorts of things.  The difference is, we who are His have Hope, the teaching of the Sovereignty of God and  Place to go.

     And He is surely that in the storm.  A Place to go.  He is our Fortress and our High Tower.  The Rock of Ages can't be budged, even when all else is crumbling.  He is a Place of protection.  He shields us from all that is not good for us. 

     He holds us and lifts us above the matter.

      Soon there will be no sorrow or sickness.  No darkness. No time.

     In the meantime, He who has engraved your name on the palm of His hand knows what you need, what you want and what you can take.   Can He be trusted?

     You are not a Soldier of the journey, or a Soldier of the plan.  You are not a Soldier of the try-harder camp. 

     You are a Soldier of The Cross.  The place where the flesh is put to death and your will is given in service to His.

     The experience of the Fortress and the High Tower is in prayer.  Tell Him you need Him.  And trust Him. And will serve Him no matter what.  Make room for God to be glorified.

     Tell Him.  Alone and aloud.

     Whose are you?

     Paul says he is a bond servant.  A volunteer who has made a commitment to be in the service of another.

     You know you are not your own, and that you were bought with a Price.  There is great protection in that. Your life is of infinite value and the tiniest little thing does not escape Him.

     The problem comes when it seems like it is the big things that escape Him.

     Whose are you? 

     If you are yours, it is your business.  But if you are His, it is His business.  It just looks and feels like it is your business.

     Lord, as I stand before you tonight, I life up hands before you that are clean and empty as far as I know. Again, I want to tell you I am yours.  I don't want to live any other way.  I don't want to pray any other way. 
     Lord, take my hand and lead me on.

     Even in the thick of the Battle, He speaks Peace to us.

     Soldier of The cross, you are not allowed to be frustrated. 
     You are not allowed to grumble and complain.
     You are not allowed to point a finger at someone else, nor are you to compare yourself with anyone.
     You are not allowed to rehash the thing over and over to anyone who will listen.
     You are not allowed self-pity.

     You are the object of His affection, and He loves you enough to want you to be able to have the bubble balance in the middle, even when it seems impossible.  That can only happen by going through deep waters and choosing to agree with His Word.

     The Prince of Peace went after you and He is not going to let you go.
 

     Many things simply have to play out.

     It is the flesh that demands a resolution now.

     Prayer brings to light things that would otherwise remain cloaked, and, rarely does the Lord do it instantly. 

     We live in the parenthesis of time, but we do not understand it even though we are familiar with it.  We seem to crave control in the form of having to see how the matter will resolve and at that, according to our tiny realm of experience.

     If I pray for patience,  I will not see a patient woman in the mirror tomorrow morning.  Rather, the Lord will grant me the privilege of going through something that is almost unbearable to the flesh, allowing me the opportunity to come before Him and wait on Him.

     By yielding to Him in the matter of Time, we who are His can taste eternity now. 

     Tell Him.
     Aloud.

     You will never get enough of the Lord.

     There is never a point at which you are saturated with His Word.  Or His Love.  Or His Body. 

     The issue is,  are you in pursuit of Him?    What does that mean?   Modern Christianity has become cheap.   A culture. 

     He who is God demands all and more.  Soldier of The Cross, turn and gaze upon Him who bore your sin.  He is the One who went after you and wooed you.  How can you be invested in anything else?

     Nothing compares with Him.

     Tell Him so.
     Alone and aloud.

     Can He who never changes be trusted enough to take you into the unknown?

     Had I been Moses, would I have stretched out my hand over the Red Sea as God commanded?
     Were I the widow, would I have tossed in my last mite?
     If I were Nehemiah, would I have gone to do the impossible?  And, would I have ignored all of the threats and intimidation?
     Would I have given Elijah my last drop of oil and flour?
     Would I have waited in the Upper Room?
     Is there any chance I would have raised the knife to dash it through my only son of Promise?

     Soldier of The Cross, we have a strange and wonderful God who never repeats Himself.  The issue is, what can He do with you?

     Has He changed, so that He does not require much?
     Has He changed so that you may attend to your matters before attending to His?
     Has He changed so that He can only be recognized by repetition?

     Lord, as I stand before you tonight,  you are my desire.  I love everything about you.  I love your people.  I love your Word. I love what you have made and I love the way you do things. After all these years, I still reel sweetly in the revelation of the Grace that came after me. 

     Again tonight, I present myself as a Living Sacrifice and  asked that you do anything in the deepest parts of me in order to bring about your likeness.   You have always revealed yourself through your Own, and I want to stand in those ranks.

     My Lord and my God.          
    

     Are you a no-risk Christian?

     There are those who will not consider or even pray about a matter unless they can see the end from the beginning.    Everything has to be logical and understandable.

     Grace isn't logical or understandable, neither is redemption.  But we know it is so because we have accepted it and tasted it.

     When did you last tell the Lord He could do absolutely anything with your life?

     The Soldier of The Cross may not be reluctant.  He may not design his own commission.  He must be ready to move, not for himself, but because he is in the Service of Another.

     Faith is a frontier that is infinite.  And, there is no other way to know God.

     No-risk Christians atrophy in their circumstances.  The Soldier of The Cross is on the move, even if he is quadriplegic.  He is not limited by circumstances because he is operating on a different plane.

     If you haven't told Him, tell Him, And, if you haven't told Him in a while, tell Him again that you are available and that He can do anything with your life.

     If you don't, you'll miss the Glory.
     Tell Him aloud.