This past week I set reservations for my family to participate in our son’s first college visit. Of course there is certain anxiousness in the entire process as we move through the steps of selecting schools, financial aid, scholarships, grades, ACT’s and the reality that our son is preparing for his next big step into life. While everything feels as if it has happened “all at once” the truth is we didn’t arrive at this season overnight. In fact, the journey started fifteen years ago when Jeannette and I made a small deposit into Joshua’s college fund; and the many years that followed we have continued to make deposits into his ongoing training for this eventual step into adulthood.
“It’s all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you’re properly trained.” – Queen Elizabeth II
Joshua’s journey has not been any different than training you or I have experienced. At some point the circumstances of life initiated seasons of change and transition; and with every transition we needed to learn how to survive, adapt and succeed. Often the process of training is difficult, tedious and even painful and in the moment we may have a difficult time discovering the rewards for finishing the process. The inescapable truth is, naturally and spiritually, a properly trained person will always accomplish more than an untrained person. But what is proper training? What if you have been trained properly in improper methods and approaches? You may achieve the goal of accomplishing “more” but the results of the efforts will not be for your better or God’s best.
Training is important but proper training is essential! Without the proper approach, mindset, commitment and even technique we will develop into misshapen and underperforming individuals. God’s best is that we are molded in His likeness, with His heart, complete, fulfilled, satisfied and whole in our body, mind and spirit. To achieve God’s desired returns us to the principle of proper training and the acceptance of the hard work that is ahead of us. But just when you think you are incapable of doing anything more remember you are stronger than you think you are right now, you have more ability than limitations and, with God, your reward is greater than what you can imagine.
“What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
Pumping Irion is a remarkable documentary capturing a snapshot of the Mr. Olympia contest during Arnold Schwarzenegger’s final years of professional competition. Several prominent bodybuilders were featured throughout the film but it was obvious Arnold was the main star. For almost a decade Arnold dominated the world of competitive bodybuilding and every rep, set, failure, victory and hours spent training propelled him from a tall muscular Austrian, in an obscure sport, to a world known action movie star and future politician. Have you taken a look at yourself in the mirror lately? Don’t get caught evaluating the exterior because looks are deceiving. Rather look closely into the places where God is examining the true you. God always uses circumstances and transitional seasons to train and equip us. At times, those changes will be very natural and obvious but in other instances God will use the unseen to properly train the places in our Spirit (heart) that weights, pulleys and books cannot develop.
Webster’s dictionary defines to TRAIN as:
1 a: the act, process, or method of one that trains
b: the skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by one that trains
2: the state of being trained[1] (also see Training: instruction, schooling, teaching, tuition, tutelage)[2]
Even I bristle at the idea of process and method; and for me such a definition feels mechanical and lifeless. But those are undisciplined excuses I prefer to use to avoid the reality that training is not just a worldly professional pursuit but a God ordained endeavor that He initiates, develops, encourages, uses and blesses.
Judges 3:1–2: “These are the nations the Lord left behind to test all the Israelites who had not experienced any war in Canaan. The Lord left them to teach Israel’s descendants about war, at least those who had known nothing about it in the past.”
2 Samuel 22:35: “He trains my hands for battle so that my arms can bend an ⌊archer’s⌋ bow of bronze.”
WILD OX VERSUS TRAINED CALF
An example of our resistance to training is found in the book of Job when God uses the illustration of a wild ox to address Job’s endless questions of, Why me Lord?
“Will the wild ox agree to serve you,
or will it stay at night beside your feeding trough?
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Can you trust it just because it’s so strong or leave your labor to it?
Can you rely on it to bring your grain back and take it to your threshing floor?[3]
Like the wild ox everyone possess enough strength and ability to accomplish anything. We can plow, we are physically capable and we are even able to reap great returns. Yet, despite this unlimited potential we will never accomplish Kingdom goals unless we have a teacher, who will harness our ability (talent), to train us in accomplishing Kingdom tasks ahead. In contrast to Job’s wild ox consider how God speaks about His people in another part of Scripture,
“Ephraim is like a trained calf that loves to thresh grain.
I will put a yoke on its beautiful neck. I will harness Ephraim.
Judah must plow. Jacob must break up the ground.”[4]
What a difference between the wild ox and the trained calf! For the individual who will commit to the process, and method, of training God sees them as beautiful and useful instruments with Kingdom purpose and reward. Both the ox and calf are designed for labor. They will both work, be fed and bring in a harvest; but the trained calf will always accomplish more for the King and Kingdom than the wild ox who, for a season, appears as if he /she may be able to do more but ultimately misses the mark due to lack of training.
“My God given talent is my ability to stick with training longer than anybody else.” – Herschel Walker
Far too often we rely on what we believe to be our God given talent translating into Kingdom training when, in reality, we will be more effective disciples if we will commit to the process, method and approach of proper training born from Kingdom perspective. Certainly God uses “transferrable skills” but He doesn’t rely on our skills to accomplish His work. God will always enable what He has blessed us with, but in an un-trained state we will revert back to the wild ox and fall into the trap of trusting ourselves through works of strength, intellect and will. This is never how God works! God does work with the trained, skilled and willing but most important He works with person who recognizes they still require more training, from Him, beyond what they think they have or need. God doesn’t require our strength, intellect or willpower to accomplish His Kingdom desires; but God enhances our talent (through the power of the Holy Spirit) of trained hearts to amplify the seasons of reward and harvest.
God is set on training! He is always looking for the next willing heart to be harnessed under His gentle yoke and plow for Kingdom reward. Best of all God’s training is the most proper training of all because it is perfect, complete and entirely beneficial for the man or woman who will commit to the method and process.
Next week we will look at a man who was trained, went through re-training and continued to train others for the glory of God. Today I want to encourage you to ask yourself, “Am I a wild ox or a trained calf?” If you are a wild ox then this year is an excellent opportunity to restart with some proper training and engage God’s method and approach. If you are a trained calf then get ready, because this year you will bring in some new harvest as you continue to labor for King Jesus and His Kingdom.
Blessings – Pastor JOSHUA
[1] Mish, F. C. (2003). Preface. Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.
[2] Merriam-Webster, I. (1996). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate thesaurus. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
[3] GOD’S WORD Translation. (1995). (Job 39:9–12). Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group.
[4] GOD’S WORD Translation. (1995). (Ho 10:11). Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group.
hat must be played. An entire week of experts picking their winners and fans best guesses will boil down to a game that still must be played out and rest assured there will be some series of circumstance(s) players and teams will have to overcome if they want to emerge victorious. Circumstance will always initiate a transition and it is my prayer we all remain open to the changes that follow. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill.
![1 Thessalonians 5:18 [widescreen]](http://maranathach.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/1-Thessalonians-518-widescreen.jpg)
As I write this post my family is experiencing circumstances that reaffirm the obvious: God is in control! Yes, we are to pray, seek His will, worship Him and ask God for relief in all circumstances; but after you have done all you are able to do and after you are standing in faith you come to a single conclusion: The circumstance is being allowed; and God will use the situation to refine us because He loves us with a larger vision for our lives than the one we see, or understand, in the moment.
![Micah 7:7 [widescreen]](http://maranathach.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Micah-77-widescreen.jpg)