Q: In the army, who has the most authority?
A: The general.

Q: In the army, who has the least authority?
A: A private.

Q: When does a private have the same authority as the general?
A: Uh … Never.
Real Answer: If a general gives a private a special mission, he also grants her the authority to carry out that mission. All other soldiers, regardless of rank, must yield to the private when she is on the general’s mission. *

* This riddle is taken from the Book of Mysteries, by Jonathan Cahn.

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This riddle brought me back to Sunday School songs I sang growing up, like “Onward Christian Soldiers,” “I’m in the Lord’s Army,” and “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, you soldiers of the cross.” I was a follower of Jesus, and that meant that there were times I had to bravely stand up and fight for what I believed in. But I don’t ever remember being frightened by that as a child, even though I knew war was awful and that soldiers died. But not just soldiers—even those standing on the sidelines died.

As a kid, I was sure the if God was leading the charge, I didn’t have to be afraid. I don’t think I thought about what else that might mean—things like injury, cruelty, inflicting injury on someone else, devastation, or destruction. My thinking wasn’t that complex, yet. I just knew that I was a soldier in the Lord’s army, and I could trust Him to lead us in the fray.

As I got older and grew more aware of the “realities” of life and death. I did a lot of wavering back and forth, because the simplistic view of childhood—that I would be fine no matter what because Jesus is my general—was challenged by pain, injury, dark valleys of the shadow of death, and excursions into gray areas where it was hard to distinguish God’s truth from world’s truth.

Now, in my senior years, I know I may die, the soldiers next to me may die, or lose parts of ourselves that make us question (when we are still intact soldiers) whether or not we would want to soldier on as a “less-than-whole” person. And yet, I am back marching in the army with child-like confidence. I don’t want to be a spectator, a civilian bystander, or a helpless victim.

³ For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
(2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

I want to be in the thick of the fighting because I am a soldier in the Lord’s army. God gives us armor, defensive and offensive weapons, and the Holy Spirit voice leading us through the battlefield. And I have the assurance, the living hope, that eternity will be spent in heaven with my Lord. Not only that, when the Lord sends me on a mission, His authority and power are living inside me.

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20)

So, I’ve re-enlisted to walk fully in the will of God. The General has given me a mission. I will march forward in His will, and He will give me the power and authority to do so.