Soldier On and Let Your Little Light Shine!

I may never march in the infantry
ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery,
I may never fly o'er the enemy,
But I'm in the Lord's Army! (Yes,Sir)

Did you ever sing this song in Sunday School? The actions are great!

As it turns out, we really do belong in the Lord's Army. Many of us need to move up in the ranks to His "Active Reserve" list.
As "Soldiers of the Cross", we need to:
-be obedient and give up our agendas/plans for our commander's need for us to be His hands and feet
-we need to be ready to sacrifice our time,energy and resources to further God's Kingdom instead of our own!

Are you ready to show up for action?
We're all members of God's Special Forces--He wants to use what He already put in us!

1. We all need to be Prayer Warriors,women(and men if any are reading this!)who understand the priviledge and power of prayer. Prayer does change things--sometimes God moves to change a situation, sometimes He moves in us to change our hearts and minds,which changes our perspective. The prayer that never fails is "Your will be done". We need to get serious about praying God's promises for ourselves, our families, churches, communities and world. Keep a prayer list, spend time thanking God for the answers and blessings He's already provided; praise Him for the wonders of His power and creation, His unfailing love for us. Confess and ask Him to fogive those things that You've done to grieve Him (and others!) and ask Him to help those on your prayer list. He tells us to come to His throne of grace and ask--you'll be amazed at the answers He sends to His glory.

2. Be a part of the Special Ops, the "Helps Ministries" . If you're a "Martha" type like me, you can cook meals, collect clothing, provide transportation, help clean, provide child care, do yard work, give finances, or do whatever needs done to give someone practical help. These are tangible ways to show God's love to others and are very often the answer to their prayers!

3. Search and Rescue Missions--God commands us to go into the world and find those who are lost and bring them to Him. We all know people who do not know the personal love of Jesus as their Savior and are indeed lost. Whether we bring kids in for VBS, have neighbors over for coffee, send money and materials to missionaires, we need to find a way to tell others the Good News that Jesus loves them and wants them in His "forever family."

4. Encouragement Forces. Everyone, even God's strongest "soldiers", gets weary and thinks about giving up or giving in. Doubts and fears can sap our strength and our faith, and "fatigue makes cowards of us all."(Vince Lombardi -former coach of the Green Bay Packers--Go,Pack) We need others to "put fresh courage" (definition of encourage) in us and to remind us of the powerful God we serve who can do all things and who does all things well. We're not in these battles alone--He promises to be with us always, and to provide what we need. He is our strength in our weakness and promises that all things will work to our good if we trust in Him. Be an "Encouragement" force to others. Use words, cards, calls, e-mails to give encouragement to others who are struggling, to give them fresh hope to keep hanging on. A word of thanks to those who have given of themselves is important, too. We all like to be noticed--and knowing that others appreciate our efforts keeps us going. Start an "undercover" appreciation operation in your church and family--thank you cards to the church coffee lady, the janitor, a Sunday school teacher, the bus driver, etc. Be a cheering squad of one (instead of a "shooting others down" squad) to appreciate musicians, committees, kids in church , your own family members. I sent all my kids cards the other day thanking them for making a difference for God in their corner of the world. Encouragement can put fresh courage into the troops and help them to keep on keeping on!

On the Home Front
If you're going to be ready for active duty on God's front lines, you need to pare down
and get rid of those things that keep you from being able to mobilize quickly.
Have systems in place and (sigh, here's the biggie) the self discipline to get/keep your life in order so you have the resources to commit to be a Prayer Warrior, a Helps Ministries person, a searcher and rescuer, an Encourager.
You've heard me say it before, but here it is again:
Clear the clutter, have a household routine, and do your laundry so you can leave the house!(I wear my ratty clothes around the house when I'm gardening, or it's laundry day!) Stock up extra cookies and meals in the freezer--keep some "comfort casseroles" ready for those who might need the comfort of a home cooked meal. Save money by making better choices and send it to those who need it!
We make way too many excuses for not showing up for duty because we're too "busy", behind in our other obligations, too tired, and on and on. I am so guilty of this!! And yet, when I show up for some assignment I think God has given me, He multiplies my time and I get the blessing as well as whoever I'm "helping". Saying "yes" to God even when we don't have the time, energy, or resources grows our faith as we see how He covers for Us! He does another loaves and fishes thing where He takes what little we have to offer and makes it enough and even more!
If you lack for adventure or challenges, just start saying "yes" to God!

Sometimes, being a "Soldier for Christ" means to "soldier on". To keep trusting and trying to do right and good when it seems useless. To bear up under adversity and keep looking for God to be at work, even when it seems like He's not. To keep a flame of faith and hope alive in your heart and life. Another favorite Sunday School Song of mine is "This Little Light of Mine." Sometimes it is very hard to keep our light shining. Doubt, fear, worry, the darkness of the world we live in, all contribute to douse or dim our little lights. The good news is that it doesn't take a huge megawatt (or LED) light to dispel the darkness--even a little light can push back darkness.

Let me tell you about some people who are letting their lights shine:

-the lady buying towels at our local thrift store for a young man just released from prison. She and her husband are trying to help him get a new start with household items. I love her words, "He's not a bad person, he made a bad choice --about drugs". Her light is helping to get his going!
-another lady buying baby clothes to donate to a crisis pregnancy center--giving hope to new moms in tough situations.

-ladies in my church who collected fabric to take to Star of Hope Haiti mission project in a town near us. Instead of thinking about helping, they got us in gear and got the goods delivered!(Thanks, Melanie and Sandi!)

-to Mr. Art Thomas, a neighbor of my Mom's in southeast Kansas. My dad had just died, and the tractor we used to mow the yard wasn't working. Since my Dad had been sick,the grass hadn't been mowed for awhile and it was worrying my Mom. I had gotten most everything else done that we needed to do before I left to go back to my home, but didn't know how I could get the yard mowed. I prayed about it and the next morning as I was outside by the barn, I saw an old army jeep with a trailer behind it coming down our road. The trailer had a riding mower on it--and as I watched, thinking "no way", (even though I prayed!) the jeep turned in our drive. I had never met Mr.Thomas, but he was an older man wearing sunglasses and smoking a pipe. I remember thinking, "Wow, God--you sent General McArthur to mow my Mom's yard!" It was one of the most amazing or surprising answers to prayer I've ever gotten!!

Here's the thing--Mr. Thomas lived 5 miles away and noticed the yard and knew about my Dad. His legs had been injured some way, and I watched as he literally threw himself out of the jeep and onto the mower, and then threw himself back into the jeep without bending his legs when he was finished. He didn't think he did anything remarkable, just mowed a yard--but he was the answer to my prayer and showed me--again--that God can do far above what we ask!

In the middle of a dark time for my family, God used Mr. Thomas to give us hope and some humor--a little "God wink"from Him to us to show that He hears and He cares.

Are we the answer to prayer someone is waiting for? When we get a nudge that we should do something--are we willing to report for duty and let our light shine? It might be all it takes takes to push back someone's darkness.

Listen to Addison Roads' new version of "This Little Light of Mine". May it bless you and remind all of us to let our lights shine!!