~By: Susanna Kozlow~
Jesus: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42 NIV
Jesus: " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 NIV
"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
Jesus: "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:10 NIV
This is a view of the Jesus we worship, follow, and call Lord of ALL. This is the King of Kings who came to this earth with ONE BIG PURPOSE. To put it in terms we may understand, this is WHO our Commander in Chief is--the one we follow and fight for. When I read these Scriptures, I cannot help but feel ready to fight for Him. As I look around though, I wonder why the harvest is still plenty and the laborers are still few, and a burden comes upon me that seems so heavy to bear. Then I think of my Lord and Savior. I wonder what He must have felt when He knew that He was about to come up against evil for all humanity and take Satan down. All He endured was so that WE are able to join the fight and join the war. This is the war that started long ago and that He died for so that we can join arms with God and take ground for God's Kingdom here on earth.
Through the years I’ve learned so much about what it is that matters when we are leading in the Kingdom of God. I’ve found that as women, our hearts are usually in one of two categories that our enemy loves to place us in. We may love Jesus with all our hearts, but that doesn’t mean our adversary isn’t taking ground.
Category #1: We are doing so much and our plates our so full that we aren’t productive in any of it. We think that if we serve in every arena, we are doing what God has asked of us, and that should be enough.
Category #2: We care more about our convenience, comfort, and fears than we do about stepping out into what God has asked of us.
Either way, I'll ask you this question: If you follow Jesus Christ, are you helping to make disciples for God's Kingdom? Because in the Bible, that's precisely what He asks us all to do--not a selected few. If the answer is no, then what exactly are you doing for the Kingdom of God? What’s going BEFORE His command? Is it your heart wanting to be part of a group so badly and to be 'liked' in community that you say 'yes' to everything? Or is it that you don’t want your life disrupted because you’ve worked really hard to make your life on earth so comfortable? These two arenas do nothing to push back darkness and allow God's will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven. When we pray God's will to be done and not our own, we become soldiers for this war on earth. We must say 'yes' to what God asks of us to be done in obedience, whether it be minimal or grand in our eyes. How we see it doesn’t matter.
So today, ask yourself this: What am I doing to push back the darkness in this world? Am I being part of the solution by helping rise up soldiers for God's Kingdom? Has God asked me to move in obedience even though it might cost me my comfort? Or, am I sitting back watching our adversary grab people and place chains on them? Am I too busy that I have no time to even notice?
You need to know that wherever God has placed you, He expects you to make an impact for His Kingdom:
Whatever church you belong to, He expects you to make an impact for His Kingdom.
Whichever school your kids attend, He expects you make an impact for His Kingdom.
Wherever you are employed, He expects you to make an impact for His Kingdom.
If He’s blessed you with a big home, He expects you to fill that home with His presence and His people for His glory, not your own.
If He is refining you through a season of trial, He expects you to be a testimony of His light, not your own.
All in all, you need to evaluate yourself and your life to see if you are putting God's commands first before other things. Are you pushing out darkness? Are your efforts producing fruit? So today, pray. Pray for God's will to be done in your life, and be ready to go into battle. There has to be a fire in us that burns brighter for Him than for anything else. There has to be an urgency in us for His Kingdom that's bigger than any other urgency. Why? Because Jesus’ soldiers need to rise up and help make other soldiers for His Kingdom. There’s honestly no time to just be comfortable or tired and spent...for nothing.
"Some would rather remain in cozy faith bunkers and wait for the war to be over. But a Ranger swiftly moves to the sound of the guns that he might bravely fight--and perhaps give his life--in the relentless pursuit of a noble cause." --From Jesus Was an Airborne Ranger by John McDougall
