Hold On Good Solider

First, let me inform you of something you may already know. And that is there’s a war going on, and you and I have been enlisted to serve on the front lines.

This wasn’t a draft. You didn’t have to register for the Selective Service. No, this "Army" isn’t a volunteer militia. You didn’t have to - nor could you - choose to be here, but you were chosen before the foundations of the earth.

?May I tell you that God is The Commander-in-Chief, who has ordered your enlistment? It wasn’t based on your prior service in the church. It wasn’t based on your abilities - or your inabilities.

God didn’t assess your qualifications or your education of how he made his calculation of you, no His determination, to enlistment you was a Divine predestination.

I like the way Paul said it. Paul said it best in Romans 8:30; when he said, "Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified."

So, we need to understand that we were predestined to be

called into this "Army" of the Lord.

?I don’t intend to mislead you and give you some false sense of security that would suggest that you are free of trials and tribulations; in fact, your current situations or circumstances just may be direct result of your enlistment.

In fact, the reason you may be having some of the problems that you are having is because you have been enlisted in this army.

When you started sing I’m on the battlefield for my Lord and how you promised him that you serve him until you died, you may have just signed yourself up for what you are going through.

But the Lord sent me to encourage you this morning to hold on good soldier. He told me to encourage you by way of (James 1:2-4) While you’re on the battlefield, "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, (that word patience means to endure or to stay under) have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing".

I need you to consider this is our Basic Training. Speaking of basic training. Once you’re in Basic Training, certain expectations are required of you. I need us to understand that the Commander-in-Chief expects us to "put off the old man with his deeds" (Colossians 3:9). In other words we can’t act like a civilian; in fact, the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible reads, "No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting Officer" (2 Timothy 2:4).

As solders Ephesians 6:11-18 it teaches us how to dress while in this army, Ephesians 6:11 starts off by saying; Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Because in this fight 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, to protect your heart and chest, we must have on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

I’ve must tell you that in this army you will have to endure some hardness just because you’re in the "Army," but while you are enduring Hold On Good Soldier.

Here is the latest Operations Order. Hold on and understand that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). But yet while you are wrestling I still need to tell you to hold on.

The enemy may have an arsenal of weapons; he may have tried to keep you suppressed, depressed, compressed, or distressed, but be encouraged in the midst of the fight. Be encourages, and Isaiah 54:17 that says "no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Allow me to tell you that there will be no changes to this order. Somebody ought to sound off and shout hallelujah.