Faith-bearing Seed for the Soul
"The sower soweth the Word."

Mark 4:14

A Good Soldier NEVER Leaves Their Wounded...

After having been exposed to toxic chemicals some years back, I was so sick I couldn't leave my home without having seizures and blacking out. I couldn't reason, and I was illogical because my brain had been burned by the toxic fumes. (Ladies, I had an reason for being unreasonalble and illogical...haha!) I developed scar tissue in the brain that restricted the blood flow. I couldn't say a complete sentence. For many years I was a useless body helplessly lying in bed. I was unable to do even the smallest tasks. It was an extremely hard place for a previouly energetic and enthusiastic person to be. But, in retrospect, I think it must have been harder on my husband than it was on me. Most of the time I was zonked out on pain pills and
oblivious to my surroundings, while he had to cope with all the difficulties surrounding my illness.

I recall a heartless person asking my husband if he was going to leave me. My husband's reply was, "In the military, we learned to never leave our wounded." He stuck with me through those
rough times. He didn't have to, but he did. I would say that was an expression of the genuine love of God. Love of self would have thought first of how this was affecting his own well-being.
Love of self would have run and hid when things got intolerable.

We have all had people TELL us that they love us, only to abandon us when we are wounded. Their love was in "word and tongue," not in "deed and truth." Jesus told us to love by our actions, not by words only. To love in "deed" means to work at it, to not abandon
when things get tough, as happens in so many marriages today.

1 John 3:8 Amplified
"Little children, let us not love (merely) in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity).

As Jesus hung on the cross, after his disciples had abandoned Him, He cried out, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do!" (Luke 23:34) Was He asking for forgiveness for only
those who were crucifying Him, or also for those who had abandoned Him in His time of need? I'm sure it must have been all of them.

Peter, the disciple that denied Jesus three times, learned how proud and boastful the flesh can be. He said that he would never deny Jesus, never leave Him, yet his flesh failed him, and he did what he had vowed that he wouldn't do. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. For the spirit to be strong, the flesh must decrease and stop holding on to it's own selfish desires and will:

Matthew 26:41b ... (Amplified Bible Verses used.) "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Our strength to live as Christ lived must come from Him, as we decrease and allow Him and His ways to increase within us:

John 3:30
"He must increase, but I must decrease. (He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.)

John 3:27
"John answered: A man can receive nothing (he can claim nothing; he can take unto himself nothing) except as it has been granted to him from heaven. (A man must be content to receive the gift which is given him from heaven; there is no other source.)

What kind of soldier are you for Christ? Do the cares of this world and your own desires rule your life? Or is He the Lord of your life and is He your strength in difficult times? He the
source of your strength to hang in there with those around you who are wounded!

Timothy 2/4 (L/B)
."As Christ's soldier do not let yourself become tied up in worldly affairs, for then you cannot satisfy the One who has enlisted you in His army."

My husband was a good Marine. He volunteered for an extra year of duty in Vietnam because his expertise was needed to help get the wounded out. After being there for 18 months he could have come home, but he didn't, he stayed an extra year. He went the extra mile. He has been dedicated to me for 35 years, regarless of the circumstances. But more than these things, I am most proud of the fact that he has chosen to answer the high call to be a devout soldier
of the Most High, and over and over has gone the extra mile.

Not to make light of His high calling upon our lives, but, I can see the finger of God pointing at each of us, saying...

GOD WANTS YOU!
HE IS LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MEN! (AND WOMEN!)

Rooted and grounded in the love of Christ Jesus,

Marlene JuHaros
Marlene@TexasSower.com

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which will grow--perhaps it all will."

Eccl. 11:6

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