OK troops it's time to line up and fall into your positions!  Are you ready?  The King has need of you today!  We are going on the attack!  The King has told us that the "Gates of Hell shall not prevail against us!"  What?  You thought we were on the defensive?  Oh, you remember the Psalmist that said, "The Lord is our strong tower, the righteous run into it and they are saved."  Yes, He is a mighty fortress, but the Kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force.  We are to go on the attack today!  The weapons that we are going to use are not carnal in nature, we are not going to attack the enemy with bombs, or guns, or knives, no our weapons are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds!  We have prayer!  We have the blood of Christ!  We have the Holy Scriptures!  We have power and authority commissioned to us by our Commander and Chief and we shall overcome!  We always have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!  We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us!  Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world!  If God is for you, who can be against you?  No weapon formed against you shall prosper!  Now let's suit up, put on the armor of God and let's expand the Kingdom of God, the rule and reign of God in the hearts of men!  Are you ready?  There is only 3 things that the King requires of you today!  Listen carefully, for these are His commands to you!

1.  Endure Hardship!  (Endure hardship as a good soldier!)
The battle we face is real!  The enemy we face is real!  He desires to sift you as wheat!  He is seeking to devour  you!  Be sober, be vigilliant!  Do not think that this is going to be easy!  Yes you are an overcommer, yes you are promised victory, but do not think that it will be easy!  This is war!  You wrestle not against flesh and blood, (people) but you grapple with principalities and powers, and spiritual forces of wickedness in high places!  You are to count it all joy when you fall into various trials and temptations!  No whinny babies allowed!  Suck it up!  Bless those that persecute you!  Do not be overcome with evil but rather overcome evil with good.  The King has told us that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted!  That includes you!  The world hated our Lord, it hates you as well!  Get used to it!  You have three main enemies, and you must defeat each of them.  Look out for the Devil!  He appears as an angel of light, He comes to you as theif, and if you knew when the theif would come you would be waiting for him with a gun!  But he comes when you are unaware!  Be alert!  Be ready to do battle.  You next enemy is the world!  This world system seeks to engulf you and entrap you with it's lure of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life!  Do not love the world, do not make friends with it!  If you do make friends with the world you are considered an enemy of the King!  Finally, watch out for your own flesh!  Do not give in to it!  Deny it, starve it, kill it!  God has indwelt you with His Holy Spirit and if you walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh!  Get ready to do battle!  It is going to be hard!  Love not your life until death!  In your weakness, remember He makes you strong!  Get ready to suffer a little, but remember the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us!  If we suffer with Him and for Him we shall surely reign with Him!  And He will give unto you a crown of life!  Be Faithful!  He wants you to endure hardship as a good soldier!

2.  The second command you are given today is:  Do not get involved in civillian affairs!  Stay focused!  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith!  Remember the world is your enemy! The cares of this life will spring up like weeds in your life and they will choke out the spiritual life in you!  Do not worry about what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, or what you shall wear!  These things the unsaved worry about, but seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness!  He has promised to take care of you!  He shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory!  It is easy to get caught up in the things of this world!  But this world is not our home!  We are strangers and aliens!  Focus on serving the Lord as you are called!  

3.  Finally, my fellow warriors today you are commanded to Please Your commanding Officer!  The great Apostle Paul said, "Therefore I make it my aim to please the Lord!" We are told by our King that without faith it is impossible to please Him!  We are to walk by faith and not by sight!  The just shall live by faith!  Faith is the victory that overcomes the world!  Faith comes by hearing the Word of God!  Are you listening?  Are you reading?  Are you memorizing?  It pleases the Lord when we do well!  When we obey our parents!  We we love our wives as Christ loved the church!  As we submit to our Husbands.  As we love our children and teach the the ways of our King! God is well pleased when we minster to the orphans and widows and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. God is well pleaed with those who are faithful even in the small things!  It is required of a steward that he be found faithful!  But when we are faithful to the Lord in each and every detail of our life He is well pleased with us!  Today, as you go out into the battle field remember to please the Lord!

God Bless you mighty warriors of God!  If God is for you who can be against you?