Where Are You In God's Army?

I was trying to work on music stuff today but God interrupted me and started talking to me about His army. God is building an army of people who are strong in the word and are willing to do whatever it takes to bring freedom to those in darkness. Ezekiel 37 basically describes what God is up to right now. I highly recommend reading it. :D
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Eze&c=37&t=NLT#top


Some thoughts about the process of being a soldier in God's army:

1. Sign up
-If you've never given your life to the Lord you're not in the army.
-If you're not planted in a local church, you're not in the army. You're like someone who signs up for the army and then later deserts.

2. Boot camp
-If you haven't submitted yourself to the authority of your leaders you'll never advance. Some people just settle for being a Private their whole life.
-If you aren't accountable to someone you won't last. You'll get injured and end up watching the war from the sidelines.
-Let your gifts, talents, dreams, goals, etc be sharpened by someone who is more mature in God than you. Don't look for people who will only pat you on the back all the time, find someone who will tell you the truth straight-up and help you to hone your gifts.

3. Serve
-Do what needs to be done whether you're passionate about that particular thing or not. Be faithful to serve another mans vision and God will give you your own.
-You have to be a good Private before can be a good Sargent/Captain/General etc...

4. Lead
-Pursue maturity and position yourself to be responsible to help those around you succeed.
-People follow people who are moving forward. The best leaders are the ones who simply listen to God and obey what He says.
-Speak life into hopeless situations. Believe the best about people and draw out the potential of those around you.

5. Advance
-As your faithful with what you have, God will give you more. Just say "Yes" and let him advance you to greater levels of effectiveness.
-Each new level requires greater sacrifice but produces greater rewards. Never be satisfied to just "Maintain" the ground you have. God wants you to go take back what the enemy has stolen.
-You have to be willing to leave things behind as you move forward and take new ground. Every battle has casualties but the victory is worth the price.