Where are the soldiers of The Lord?

You, child of God, are in mortal combat! And the toughest cross you've been called to bear is yourself. We are our own worst enemies. Our hearts- so desperately wicked and full of venomous poison- are perverse to the uttermost.

Whether rich or poor, male or female, we are all born alike and are called to fight the good fight of faith; putting on Christ and making no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. We cannot trust ourselves. Christianity is an all-out battle that declares civil war on our own fallen passions so that the desires of Christ may reign supreme in us. Biblical Christianity is not (as some would suppose) mere passive and indifferent resignation; it is resistance, a holy and violent resistance of the highest order.

The New Birth, by the power of the Spirit, brings new faculties along with it: a willing soul-disposition to obey God and a burning, fiery, jealous love for the truths of the Gospel. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no Christian living for it is not just difficult to live a life of faith in Christ: it is impossible! Only God, in whom all things are possible, can enable us worms for such a task. God uses trials and tribulations to mould us into the image of Christ; He gets rid of the dross so that He can put His shine upon our face.

However, in contemporary evangelicalism, it is sad to say that Positive Confession, the Word of Faith movement, Fourth-Dimensional Theology and neo-pagan triumphalism are presenting distorted versions of the Scriptural Gospel because they have openly downplayed (and ultimately done away with) the biblical doctrine of suffering. If you take suffering out of your Bible, you haven't got a Bible left from which to preach! Read the book of 1st Peter and try to tell me that Christians are not supposed to suffer! It's the saint that presses on into God in the midst of affliction who perseveres unto the end and knows the Master's comfort. Spurgeon once said, "The Christian must learn to rejoice in tribulations, because as his tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus".

If we had no hope of solace in this warfare, we would of all men be most miserable (1 Corinthians 15:19). The battle, at times, may rage of fiercely without any sign of dying away, our arms may get heavy and our strength may fail us, but rest assured: help is on the way! You are not alone, soldier of the cross! You will be able to repeat Jeremiah's words, "You drew near in the day I called upon You" (Lamentations 3:57).

Cursed is the man who hopes in man, but blessed is the man whose hope the Lord is. The Balm of Gilead is ever present and ever willing to relieve our heavy load and to encourage us to be courageous and valiant in the hour of testing. We have His sure promises, that we will not be tried above that which we are able; and He is not a God who tells lies.

Paul compared the young Christian pastor Timothy to a soldier, a militant and active serviceman on behalf of the kingdom of his Lord; and so the Holy Spirit urged him (and continues to urge us) onward and upward! With our eyes fixed on the One who is set before us we will be able to overcome in the hour of testing and triumph over this world, the devil and even the cross of all crosses: ourselves. Can you say along with the apostle: it is no longer "I" but Christ? Therein lies the secret of all overcoming.

When your eyes turn off yourself and look unto Christ, then you’ll be able to press onward and upward!

Come on, soldier, let’s keep pressing on!