It seems to me, though, that Christian soldiers need to lay hold of the promises of God, to trust Him and act as if we believe those promises. Promises like, "I am come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10); "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32); "I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me...Thou preparest a table before me in the face of mine enemies..." (Psalm 23:1-5); "...lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20); "he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25); "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). The list of God's promises goes on and on.
Patrick Dennis, in his hilarious novel "Auntie Mame," says, "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death." I am not convinced Dennis was talking about life in Christ, but think how much more it is true for Christians that life is a banquet (abundant). And yet so many of us Christians are starving to death spiritually. Why is that so? I believe that it is because we have decided to focus on being troubled or suffering or doubting or in pain and not on Christ, who has defeated all of those products of the Fall. Yes, He can fix all of those things, but we must focus on Him and His solutions (promises) and not on us and our problems. If we focus on the distress, Jesus won't bless.
In my studies for a master's degree in biblical counseling, I had the opportunity to study the differences between secular psychology and biblical (or nouthetic) counseling. The primary difference, in a nutshell, is that secular psychology focuses on the problem, giving it a clinical name (alcoholism, drug addiction, melancholia, paranoia) and labels the "patient" as a victim, thus absolving him of responsibility for his condition. Nouthetic counseling focuses on the solution, which is Jesus Christ. He has given us all the solutions for every problem of the human heart in His word "...that the man of God may be complete..." (2 Timothy 3:17). But the "cure" does not lie simply in the fact that He has told us what to do. We must lay hold of His word, as if it were our lifeline, because it is.
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3) We need to believe and act upon God's word as a child believes and acts upon what his parents tell him. How many millions of children have believed unquestioningly in Santa Claus to the point that they leave cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer on Christmas Eve? How much more should we believe in and act upon the word of God, which is Truth...with the faith of a child. Jesus tells us we must change. We must become like children before God. We must stop looking at the problems in our lives and look at the solution, Christ Jesus.
"1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." (1 John 5:1-5, emphasis added) Who is victorious in overcoming the world? Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and carries out His commands; and His commands are not burdensome. Is it any burden for that child to put out cookies and carrots on Christmas Eve? Absolutely not, because that child has faith that Santa will be there, just as his parents promised him. Carrying out God's commands for our lives is not burdensome, if we have the faith of a child and believe what He promises.
Why, oh why, is it so difficult for us to believe the promises of El Eljon, the God most high? We believe the promises of Madison Avenue:
"Brylcreme, a little dab'll do ya;And Madison Avenue is only after our wallets. God is after our hearts and our souls. I am not sure that anyone was ever set free by the "truths" of Madison Avenue. But Jesus (He who saves His people) promised us if we abide (remain, continue, stay; continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship) in His word, then we will know the truth and the truth will make us free.
Use more only if you dare;
But watch out, the gals'll all pursue ya;
They love to get their fingers in your hair."
Here's a thought: maybe if we spent as much time looking at God's rich promises, as presented in scripture, as we do looking at Madison Avenue's empty promises, presented by TV, magazine, radio, billboard, etc., we would begin to believe the promises of Jehovah Rapha, the God who heals, El Shaddai, the all sufficient one. We are not troubled or suffering or doubting or in pain because God doesn't care; we remain there, because we don't trust Him. We would rather continue sitting on our own little pity pot than admit that we don't have the answers and that He does.
Christian soldier, if you are really going to make a difference for Christ, go to the scriptures and find truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Say, that has a familiar ring. Sounds like the full armor of God, doesn't it?
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