Called to be Soldiers.
We’re not Struggling through… but Soldiering through.
Patricia Richard: The Lord open my understanding several days ago about believers and the struggles we face on our journey through this life. The old cliche’ The Struggle Continues just does not feel right anymore. The Lord impressed upon me that His children are not called to Struggle through, but to Soldier through. I thought to myself, well that makes sense in light of the Word of God:
2 Timothy 2:3-4 (NKJV)
“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that He may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”
Rochelle Indo: The definition for struggle as a verb: to make forceful or violent attempts to get free of restraint or constriction; used as a noun: a forceful or violent effort to get free of restraint or resist attack.
Attempts to free ourselves of a hardship could be premature in the realm of the spirit. Sometimes enduring will produce much character and fruit. Exercising the muscle of faith by seeing God in the situation and trusting Him to bring us through on the other side reaps a greater reward and prepares us to help others facing difficulties.
Patricia Richard: Being called to be warriors mean we should have a solid foundation. This means being rooted and grounded in God’s Word, offering prayers and supplications to God, and staying filled with His Spirit. A favored passage the Lord spoke to the multitudes:
Build on the Rock
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.” Luke 6:46-49 (NKJV)
Rochelle Indo: Did not Saul, later called Paul, find out the hard way that his efforts were futile? He was on the road to Damascus to persecute followers of the Way. He encountered the Lord Jesus; the King of kings and the Lord of lords. In Acts 9:5,6 Jesus told Paul that it was hard for him to resist Him. Paul realized the Living Lord and that he could not win by struggling against Him. He Immediately sought the Lord’s instructions… and our Lord gave him instructions.
In our storms, take pause and ask the Lord for instructions and He will give them to us. Remember Paul later wrote to the believers that we must put on the whole armor of God and stand our ground. Not to Struggle through, but to Soldier through. Ephesian 6:10-18
