Soldiers

A word from our dear brother in Christ in the 1800s, J.C. Ryle:

        "A special faith in our Lord Jesus Christ's person, work, and office is the life, heart, and mainspring of the Christian soldier's character.
        He sees by faith an unseen Savior, who loved him, gave Himself for him, paid his debts for him, bore his sins, carried his transgressions, rose again for him, and appears in heaven for him as his Advocate at the right hand of God. He sees Jesus, and clings to Him. Seeing this Savior and trusting in Him, he feels peace and hope, and willingly does battle against the foes of his soul.
        He sees his own many sins, his weak heart, a tempting world, a busy devil; and if he looked only at them, he might well despair. But he sees also a mighty Savior, and interceding Savior, a sympathizing Savior-- His blood, His righteousness, His everlasting priesthood-- and he believes that all this is his own. He sees Jesus, and casts his whole weight on Him. Seeing Him, he cheerfully fights on, with a full confidence that he will prove "more than conqueror through Him that loved him" (Rom. 8:37)
        Habitual lively faith in Christ's presence and readiness to help is the secret of the Christian soldier fighting successfully.
        He that has most faith will always be the happiest and most comfortable soldier. Nothing makes the anxieties of warfare sit so lightly on a man as the assurance of Christ's love and continual protection. Nothing enables him to bear the fatigue of watching, struggling, and wrestling against sin, like the indwelling confidence that Christ is on his side and success is sure. It is the "shield of faith" which quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one. It is the man who can say, "I know whom I have believed," who can say in time of suffering, "I am not ashamed." He who wrote those glowing words, "We faint not... for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." was the man who wrote with the same pen, "We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." It is the man who said, "I live by the faith of the Son of God." who said, in the same epistle, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content... I can do all things through Christ." The more faith, the more victory! The more faith, the more inward peace!"

(Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots. J.C. Ryle)

Have faith my brothers and sisters... This is not our home. Fight the good fight. Your reward is waiting for you in heaven.