Christian Living

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Soldiers are tested by combat, not dress parades. You're not a soldier because you can beat a drum and march down the street. You're a soldier because you've proven yourself in combat. You're a saint because you are sanctified, and you will continue in the education of sanctification. Soldiers are tested by fire, not religious pep rallies on Sundays. Steel is tested by fire, and saints are tested by the fire of trials. You are a soldier and a saint of God because you have been close enough to the dragon that you can feel the fire of his breath.

  If you want to declare a mighty victory, you must prepare and go through a mighty valley. The soldiers of the cross are made in the valleys, not the mountaintops. This can only be determined when the fine metals of the soul have been tested by combat and fiery trials. God only uses fighters that He has put into the blast furnace to check their fortitude factor and commitment level-to see if they are a wimp or a warrior. God wants soldiers with grit, grace, focus, and fortitude. God sent David a lion to kill, then a bear, before He sent the giant. God gave you the fight you are fighting now to develop your faith. God is making a champion of grace out of every single one of us.

Life is a series of storms. God uses no one until He puts you in a storm as great as your mission. The greater the mission, the greater the storm. If you cannot survive the storm, you will not be able to endure your mission. If you have a million-dollar calling, you will have a million-dollar storm. Storms are seminars on faith. Your storm and wilderness are calibrated for your calling. The higher the calling, the more adversity. The higher the calling, the hotter the refiner's fire-which means a darker wilderness.

  Through hardships and struggles, our faith begins to blossom into a rich spiritual harvest. Our faith is like a mighty white oak tree that starts off as a little seed that is planted in the bosom of the earth. The seed, to be a mighty tree, must push its way through the hard soil and face endless desperation of adversity. It must fight its way up only to face the thunderstorms, harsh winters, and the heat-blasted sun year after year of endless and relentless adversity to become a gorgeous, mighty white oak tree. What brings results is persistence through resistance. The path with the least resistance can make men and rivers crooked. The resistance of the water makes it possible for a ship to sail. The resistance of the air makes it possible for a Boeing 747 to fly. The resistance of gravity makes it possible for people to walk. A rubber band gets nowhere until it's stretched. A turtle doesn't move until he sticks his neck out. A teakettle doesn't sing its finest song until it gets neck deep in boiling water.

It is through the struggle that our faith and our character are built. What looks like struggle and trouble is faith on its way to greatness. Struggle is the essence of growth and development. Struggle is proof that you have not been conquered. Struggle is proof of passion. Struggle turns up your fortitude factor. Struggle strengthens you and turns your limp-wristed, spaghetti-spine into steel. Struggle is proof positive that you are a card-carrying member of the human race and must call upon the name of the Lord. Trouble gives nerves of steel. Trouble turns mousy personalities into soldiers of the cross.