- - - - -
A popular saying has been “Get a life!” This is typically used as a rebuke to those who are so trapped in the mundane that the insignificant is significant to them. We want this series to help all believers live lives of significance and leave a trail of significant accomplishments. To use biblical terms, it is fulfilling the Lord’s command to bear fruit, and fruit that remains (see John 15:16).
First, if your life is boring, you are definitely not in the right place. There is nothing more interesting than God and getting close to Him. There is no greater adventure than the true Christian life. There is nothing more boring than religion. There is nothing more exciting than the true Christian life, but there is also nothing more difficult to live in these times. This is not for wimps! God is mobilizing an army of the most resolute, fearless warriors. These will not be controlled by fears, but by faith. They are also constrained by their mission.
When God created man, He commanded him to “be fruitful and multiply.” So there is a part of our very nature that wants to accomplish and to accomplish big things–to “multiply.” This desire is not pride or selfish ambition, though it can be perverted by those, but it is really our basic makeup. When we have been redeemed by embracing the atonement sacrifice of Jesus, it is the beginning of our realignment to the ultimate purposes of God. The calling on every Christian is to be fruitful and multiply. This is so important that the Lord also stated in John 15 that He would cut off the branches that did not bear fruit. Therefore, having a life that is not bearing fruit is not an option.
Developing an Army
This is why we are mobilizing. When you mobilize an army, it is to begin the training that will lead to the building of an effective army that can accomplish its objectives. As we have covered, very basic to being a part of the effective force of the Lord is to be able to hear His commands and obey them. Knowing His voice is basic, and though this remains something of an ultimate purpose with many believers, it is just the beginning of our training. We cannot go further without this ability, but we must go further once we do have it.
The four stages of developing an army are:
1) Mobilizing
2) Training
3) Equipping
4) Deploying
Mobilizing into the army of God and finding our right place in His Body is not the goal, but a goal that is necessary before we go on. There is also a factor of timing for this. When I was in the Navy, after basic training I was sent to various schools for more advanced training before I was assigned to a squadron and sent to the fleet. It is for this purpose that we are sometimes shifted from one congregation to another. Each congregation may specialize in something we need for our training, but ultimately we have a more permanent assignment that could well be the church body that we will be assigned to, possibly even for the rest of our life. Even so, we must always be ready for the Holy Spirit to place us in the body as it pleases Him.
Of course, one of the biggest problems we have in the Body right now is that most Christians do not have a vital local church life, and are therefore stymied in their development. A lot could be said about this, as we have in the past, but for now we will focus on those who are being mobilized, who are either in their right place for now, or are getting there.
We must also keep in mind that the army is being mobilized because there is a desperate war going on. We do not know how many salvations are dependent on our obedience, but even if we are called to the most seemingly obscure helps ministry, it is likely that many souls are depending on us. How could there be such a responsibility put on us? That is the nature of the call of God. Think about the consequences of Adam’s obedience of disobedience. We may not think this is fair, that Adam did not ask to be put in a position where his actions would affect billions. However, he was given authority over the earth, and with authority comes responsibility.
The clear teaching of Scripture is that what we do affects many more. The answer to this is to obey! We were not called just so we could be saved and go to Heaven, but we were bought with a price, and we are no longer our own. We are soldiers, like it or not. We can reject our calling and bury the talents we have been trusted with, but if we do, we can be sure that on that great judgment day we will hear, “You wicked, lazy slave” (see Matthew 25:26).
If we have embraced the Cross, the atonement of the Cross of Jesus, we no longer have the right to do what we want to do. We have a calling, a mission, and a purpose that no one else on this planet is equipped to do like us. We can reject our calling, and it will be given to another, as we see a pattern of this in the Scriptures, but I am sure anyone serious enough to be reading this has no intention of that.
We have been enlisted in the army, and there is a desperate war going on. There is no doubt about the ultimate outcome of this war, but there is much to be decided about how we will do in the war and how the nations and people we have been called to defend or win will do. The right way to look at this is not fearfully, but as an opportunity. You could be used to set many free from their bondage, maybe even whole nations. You may not be called to the frontline of the battle, but just to stay with the baggage. However, you will receive a great reward for doing your part.
In future articles, we are going to begin looking at some very serious, but exciting principles about the war itself. This is a part of our training. This is an army of light, and the Lord likes for everyone in His army to be marching in the light, knowing where they are going and what they will be called to do. We are going to march into battle, and we can count on there being conflicts, but we can also be sure that this will be the most fulfilling adventure we could ever be a part of.
Rick Joyner
MorningStar Ministries
Email:
