Reporting For Duty
The 2021 Draft – God Wants You
Do you recognize this famous wartime poster?
Responding to the Call
That’s “Rosie the Riveter” flexing her muscle.
This iconic poster came to represent millions of heroic and patriotic American women who went to work in the factories during World War II.
While their enlisted husbands were sent off to fight, these inspiring women supported the war effort here at home, all while raising children during some very difficult circumstances.
We can never underestimate the strength and fortitude of women when tasked with a noble mission!
What can we learn from their courageous response to a call?
We can learn that it’s our turn, but for a different mission.
Now that the New Year is upon us – are “we” ready to report for duty?
Our responsibility, present day, is to put on the full armor of God, and to pray.
These aren’t prayers for material wealth, our name in lights, or status.
We turn prayer into a heavenly complaint desk where we ask to “speak to the manager.” We treat prayer like filling out an Amazon wish list or a godly GoFundMe. But this is not Biblical prayer. Prayer is the realignment of our warped passions and priorities so they can reflect God’s passions and priorities. Prayer is the process of developing our perseverance and endurance to follow God for a lifetime.- Dr. Michael Youssef, Bible teacher and author.
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
What we are praying for and what we are praying about is serious business.
No doubt, this will be an especially tough year to come in the history of America.
I can’t stress this enough: We must be strong and courageous to fight against the temptation to be silent in the spiritual battles that are to come.
Are we prepared to be challenged for our beliefs?
Don’t think these threats can’t happen.
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. – Ephesians 6:13, (NASB).
Reporting for duty doesn’t mean sitting back and sticking our heads in the sand.
Our true strength lies in our prayers to Almighty God, our great “I Am”.
Even when it seems like things in this country are falling apart, be rest assured that God is working His plan behind the scenes.
Battlefield Prayers
While I’d love for the Rapture to happen this instant (considering how wicked the world has become) the fact is we don’t know when that will take place.
That is by God’s design.
We “could be” looking at this present darkness for a very long time.
The problems we are seeing everyday get so frustrating it’s tempting sometimes to throw up our hands and forgo our spiritual conversations with our Maker.
We may not even feel like praying sometimes, but we must pray anyway and resist that temptation. The Evil One hates a praying person.
Reporting For Duty Means Being Prepared
Reporting for duty means showing up and being prepared.
Here are a few ideas:
- If you haven’t already, commit to reading the entire Bible this year. Here’s some help for challenging passages.
- Memorize scripture. Jesus quoted Scripture, and so can we.
- Be prepared to give an answer for your faith.
- Ask for God’s will to be done when we pray.
Prayer is the breath of the warrior. The prayer-less Christian is a soldier who is dressed in shining armor but can’t make it up the hill without gasping for air. Just as the soldier needs physical conditioning, so we need spiritual conditioning in prayer. – Dr. Michael Youssef, Bible teacher and author.
Prayer is your weapon and the Lord is your strength!
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* Quotation(s) from Dr. Michael Youssef, courtesy of Leading The Way, “Walking The Walk: Developing Spiritual Endurance Through Christlike Prayer.” November 4, 2020. paragraphs 3 and 5. Web. Accessed December 24, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.ltw.org/read/articles/2020/11/walking-the-walk-developing-spiritual-endurance-through-christlike-prayer
* Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
* Quotation from Charles Spurgeon, influential Christian pastor and author. Taken from Charles Spurgeon@spurgeonbooks. 12/16/20, Web. [Facebook post]. Accessed December 23, 2020.
* Photo credit “Rosie The Riveter”, courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net. [Public Domain].
