What kind of soldier am I?

Ephesians 6:18-20 (NKJV) 

¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--
¹⁹ and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

The Christian soldier is to pray at all seasons, and under all circumstances. His praying must be arranged so as to cover his times of peace as well as his hours of active conflict. It must be available in his marching and his fighting. Prayer must diffuse all effort, impregnate all ventures, and decide all issues. The Christian soldier must be as intense in his praying as in his fighting, for his victories will depend very much more on his praying than on his fighting. Fervent supplication must be added to steady resolve, prayer and supplication must supplement the armor of God. The Holy Spirit must aid the supplication with His own strenuous plea. And the soldier must pray in the Spirit. In this, as in other forms of warfare, eternal vigilance is the price of victory; and thus, watchfulness and persistent perseverance, must mark the every activity of the Christian warrior.

The soldier-prayer must reflect its profound concern for the success and well-being of the whole army. The battle is not altogether a personal matter; victory cannot be achieved for self, alone. There is a sense, in which the entire army of Christ is involved. The cause of God, His saints, their woes and trials, their duties and crosses, all should find a voice and a leader in the Christian soldier, when he prays. He dare not limit his praying to himself. Nothing dries up spiritual secretions so certainly and completely; nothing poisons the fountain of spiritual life so effectively; nothing acts in such deadly fashion, as selfish praying.

The Complete Works of E. M. Bounds.

Prayer Warriors,

Reading this brought a question to my mind.

         What kind of soldier am I?

Oh, how I desire to be that one ready for battle, in or out of season, having the full armor of God. Fervently praying for the body of Christ, my neighbors, family member’s, our country….sometimes we have to ask ourselves, why don’t we pray more? There are lots of reasons but one is maybe if I really fought in battle (prayer) the enemy would come and rage war. You’re probably right. Fear cannot be a factor in how we live our lives as Christians. We may not say it out loud but if I"m not moving forward in obedience or I’ll just lay low, I’m still a Christian and I’m on my way to heaven but are the people around you, are they? So if we’re not moving forward in an area of our Christian walk, are we walking in fear or faith? This is very convicting for me! A good soldier is always prepared and is ready to defend those that are around him. They are not concern about their own lives but the lives of others. I’m not saying we won’t experience fear but if we let control our lives in way or another…….keeping us from experiencing everything Christ had intended for us to walk in. Enemy will put fear in our hearts, but we have a promise…..

   

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

          Hebrews 13:6 (NKJV) 
          ⁶ So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

Let’s be soldiers, full of faith, ready for battle in prayer for the people he has put in our path.

          Blessings,
          Christina 

Kissed by the Father

Psalm 85:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰ Mercy and truth have met together;

Righteousness and peace have kissed.

Prayer Warriors,

When our Lord spake that parable of the prodigal son, and represented the Father as seeing his child afar off in his misery, and how he had compassion on him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him, one cannot but feel what a touching and tender illustration he has given of this most exquisite passage of his own word: Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

 Barton Bouchier.

The Treasury of David.

                                         

What a beautiful picture does he give us on God’s mercy, truth, righteousness and peace? The prodigal son came to His senses (Luke 15:17) because He finally wanted to live in God’s Truth and not his own. The truth of God is amazing because reality sets in, and I see what a mess I’ve been sitting in. Then there’s that choice of what will I choose? Do I keep living in the mess I made or do I receive the Mercy of God, which was given to the prodigal son, and for you and I. God will always meet us with mercy, they are new every morning. He covers us with Christ Righteousness, the cross, the Lamb that was slain. We need to be a people that forgive and receive forgiveness. Where there is forgiveness, there is peace. Christ died so that we can be forgiven and be at Peace with God.

We need to pray for the prodigals in our lives and for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for ourselves. We need to walk in mercy and truth, but there has to be that balance. We can speak the truth, but it has to be full of mercy. Jesus spoke the truth always, but His eyes were full of mercy. We cannot forget that the righteousness we have, has been given to us by Jesus Christ. I had a debt, I could not pay and He paid debt, he did not owe. It was paid on Calvary. And we can have the peace of God that passes all understanding in whatever we may be going through.

When the prodigal son came home to His father, He was met with a kiss, full of love and mercy. 

Just like our Heavenly Father does! 

Blessing,

Christina