There are several training grounds in the Christian faith. To sow some vision and for simplicity sake, I will describe only three.
The first is the pasture land with many fences, long and wide. This is the land wherein God permits us to roam as His people. We are to live within the fences, which are the boundaries of the general guidelines of His Word. Outside the fence is forbidden; inside the fences are green pastures, quiet waters, and the restoration of the soul. The pasture lands are the absolute best place to live, both in this life and in the age to come. The boundaries are a gift from our Father Who faithfully provided them for us. Even in the perfect place of Eden where we were first created, He lovingly provided these boundaries. “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
However, God’s real interest is not the “do nots,” but the wide variety of excellent things He has given us to enjoy. There is no comparison between the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and all the other trees in the garden. All the other trees outweigh that one tree the same way heaven exceeds hell. Let the world focus on the “do nots” if they want to, but as God’s people we will enjoy all the other trees, and in seeing the splendor of them all, we will fully appreciate and respect their boundaries also.
The pasture land which God has given His people is profitable and satisfying. God faithfully provides Edenic gardens and incredible pasture lands, and along with them He identifies the fences clearly so we will know where the good stuff is and so we can avoid the harmful things. The problem of course, is we think we know better and we let our flesh convince us that the forbidden is actually better. What an incredible lie that is! Yet many convince themselves to pursue the forbidden to their destruction, and to God’s profound grief.
Yet more training grounds are also available with even greater benefits and more incredible things than the pasture lands, as great as they are. The problem is our flesh cannot see them because they are hidden behind the cost. Our hearts are drawn to their glory, just as our hearts were created to do, but our flesh recoils at the sacrifice, and the inconvenience, and the difficulties. Which man inside of you will win this universal battle, the old man or the new man? The one you feed the most will definitely be the strongest.
The next training ground available to God’s people is the corral. It too has fences, but it is much smaller than the pasture lands, but that is because it is located so much closer to the dwelling place of the Master. This is the place of greater training, deeper cleansing, and higher lessons which lead to even greater places with the Master. Many issues are touched upon in the corral that are never addressed in the pasture lands. Here we learn about ourselves in ways we never knew, and sometimes we wish we never found out, yet things which Jesus knew about all along. Yet He called us to the deeper place with Him anyway because He loved us so much. Here we learn about a deeper love of God that is much higher, the divine agape love of God Himself. It is the love He wants operating in you and me. But again, just like in the pasture lands, many cannot see past the tighter boundaries, so they refuse this place of training. Even some of those who are willing to enter the corral spend all their time in there longing for the freedom of the pasture lands. Such folks cannot derive the full value of the corral until they surrender to it completely. And of course the Master is working inside them also to bring them to that very place, so the deeper training of the higher things can begin. Those whose heart are truly toward the Master, whose heart are inclined to the things that interest Him, will gain access to eternal treasures which are not found in the pasture lands, as incredible as they are in that broad place. The food in the corral is also corn and fine grain, not the grass found in the pasture lands, as glorious as that provision seemed while we were there. In the corral more time is spent with the Master in ways that makes us closer to Him, but most importantly, there we are made to be more pleasurable to Him. Here it is learned how to hear His voice, see what excites His heart, and learn more about what He is truly like. In the corral, misunderstandings about the Master drain away because the Master is seen for Who He really is rather than that dim, warped way the world outside the pasture land perceives Him. Even in the pasture lands the deception of the world still has a little hold. In the corral where the Master is often so close, more of the deception is cleansed away.
You might say the pasture lands are like the outer court in the tabernacle of the Old Testament, and the corral is like the Holy Place there. The outer court is illuminated by the natural light of the world, but the Holy Place, because it is closer to the Almighty receives its light only by the flames of the candlestick of the Holy Spirit. Even so, there is yet another training ground that is deeper still than the corral. You might say is like the Holiest of Holies to which God sometimes beckons us.
One day while we are in the corral, learning from Him, enjoying Him, and surrendering in ever deeper ways to Him in our hearts, we are surprised when a yoke drops around our neck. This is not just any yoke, it is the incredibly valuable yoke of the Master. This place, however, is even smaller than the corral. Now the corral seems large by comparison. The yoke has even tighter boundaries wherein we learn even more about His gentle and humble heart. We discover breathtaking things beyond even that we could conceive of in the corral; things which greatly surpass what we ever knew existed about Him in the pasture lands. We learn about His incredibly humble heart. Here, though, we can move only by His command. Yet here we also become a more powerful tool in His hand. Like some who were called into the pasture lands, and like those who advance to the corral at His beckoning, there are those whose initial response to the yoke is one of sorrow, a pining for the loss of the freedoms of yesterday. Sometimes that is because the yoke has come upon them suddenly with great surprise, so their flesh has difficulty seeing the treasure in the training at first. But the Master continues to work on us in His yoke anyway. Others who received the yoke were told about it in advance by the Master, yet even they were reluctant at first. But the Master continues to work in that understanding way of His with those who are deeply His, until they finally cease the bucking, and the unnecessary sorrow, or the anger, or the crying out about the injustice of having been called to the corral, then the yoke. In the end it is here, as we alternately find ourselves in the corral and in the yoke, as the Master directs, that we finally learn to surrender to His deepest training. Here we gain all the benefits from each and every place of training. And here the Master Himself derives the pleasure He has so richly deserved from us all along, the pleasure He so seldom receives at all, from those of us who understand so little about the Kingdom Training Grounds.
The first is the pasture land with many fences, long and wide. This is the land wherein God permits us to roam as His people. We are to live within the fences, which are the boundaries of the general guidelines of His Word. Outside the fence is forbidden; inside the fences are green pastures, quiet waters, and the restoration of the soul. The pasture lands are the absolute best place to live, both in this life and in the age to come. The boundaries are a gift from our Father Who faithfully provided them for us. Even in the perfect place of Eden where we were first created, He lovingly provided these boundaries. “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
However, God’s real interest is not the “do nots,” but the wide variety of excellent things He has given us to enjoy. There is no comparison between the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and all the other trees in the garden. All the other trees outweigh that one tree the same way heaven exceeds hell. Let the world focus on the “do nots” if they want to, but as God’s people we will enjoy all the other trees, and in seeing the splendor of them all, we will fully appreciate and respect their boundaries also.
The pasture land which God has given His people is profitable and satisfying. God faithfully provides Edenic gardens and incredible pasture lands, and along with them He identifies the fences clearly so we will know where the good stuff is and so we can avoid the harmful things. The problem of course, is we think we know better and we let our flesh convince us that the forbidden is actually better. What an incredible lie that is! Yet many convince themselves to pursue the forbidden to their destruction, and to God’s profound grief.
Yet more training grounds are also available with even greater benefits and more incredible things than the pasture lands, as great as they are. The problem is our flesh cannot see them because they are hidden behind the cost. Our hearts are drawn to their glory, just as our hearts were created to do, but our flesh recoils at the sacrifice, and the inconvenience, and the difficulties. Which man inside of you will win this universal battle, the old man or the new man? The one you feed the most will definitely be the strongest.
The next training ground available to God’s people is the corral. It too has fences, but it is much smaller than the pasture lands, but that is because it is located so much closer to the dwelling place of the Master. This is the place of greater training, deeper cleansing, and higher lessons which lead to even greater places with the Master. Many issues are touched upon in the corral that are never addressed in the pasture lands. Here we learn about ourselves in ways we never knew, and sometimes we wish we never found out, yet things which Jesus knew about all along. Yet He called us to the deeper place with Him anyway because He loved us so much. Here we learn about a deeper love of God that is much higher, the divine agape love of God Himself. It is the love He wants operating in you and me. But again, just like in the pasture lands, many cannot see past the tighter boundaries, so they refuse this place of training. Even some of those who are willing to enter the corral spend all their time in there longing for the freedom of the pasture lands. Such folks cannot derive the full value of the corral until they surrender to it completely. And of course the Master is working inside them also to bring them to that very place, so the deeper training of the higher things can begin. Those whose heart are truly toward the Master, whose heart are inclined to the things that interest Him, will gain access to eternal treasures which are not found in the pasture lands, as incredible as they are in that broad place. The food in the corral is also corn and fine grain, not the grass found in the pasture lands, as glorious as that provision seemed while we were there. In the corral more time is spent with the Master in ways that makes us closer to Him, but most importantly, there we are made to be more pleasurable to Him. Here it is learned how to hear His voice, see what excites His heart, and learn more about what He is truly like. In the corral, misunderstandings about the Master drain away because the Master is seen for Who He really is rather than that dim, warped way the world outside the pasture land perceives Him. Even in the pasture lands the deception of the world still has a little hold. In the corral where the Master is often so close, more of the deception is cleansed away.
You might say the pasture lands are like the outer court in the tabernacle of the Old Testament, and the corral is like the Holy Place there. The outer court is illuminated by the natural light of the world, but the Holy Place, because it is closer to the Almighty receives its light only by the flames of the candlestick of the Holy Spirit. Even so, there is yet another training ground that is deeper still than the corral. You might say is like the Holiest of Holies to which God sometimes beckons us.
One day while we are in the corral, learning from Him, enjoying Him, and surrendering in ever deeper ways to Him in our hearts, we are surprised when a yoke drops around our neck. This is not just any yoke, it is the incredibly valuable yoke of the Master. This place, however, is even smaller than the corral. Now the corral seems large by comparison. The yoke has even tighter boundaries wherein we learn even more about His gentle and humble heart. We discover breathtaking things beyond even that we could conceive of in the corral; things which greatly surpass what we ever knew existed about Him in the pasture lands. We learn about His incredibly humble heart. Here, though, we can move only by His command. Yet here we also become a more powerful tool in His hand. Like some who were called into the pasture lands, and like those who advance to the corral at His beckoning, there are those whose initial response to the yoke is one of sorrow, a pining for the loss of the freedoms of yesterday. Sometimes that is because the yoke has come upon them suddenly with great surprise, so their flesh has difficulty seeing the treasure in the training at first. But the Master continues to work on us in His yoke anyway. Others who received the yoke were told about it in advance by the Master, yet even they were reluctant at first. But the Master continues to work in that understanding way of His with those who are deeply His, until they finally cease the bucking, and the unnecessary sorrow, or the anger, or the crying out about the injustice of having been called to the corral, then the yoke. In the end it is here, as we alternately find ourselves in the corral and in the yoke, as the Master directs, that we finally learn to surrender to His deepest training. Here we gain all the benefits from each and every place of training. And here the Master Himself derives the pleasure He has so richly deserved from us all along, the pleasure He so seldom receives at all, from those of us who understand so little about the Kingdom Training Grounds.
Good word, Sam. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBilly
Thanks Sam! Great picture!
ReplyDelete