Training for the Cross - Blog

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Ranch Roping Bible Study 1

Introduction to Wade's Pearls of Wisdom

"And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls" (Job 28:18).
(Photo by Mary Williams Hyde)

Over this year I will be sharing my “pearls of wisdom” through ranching and rodeo parables that the Lord has given me over the last 14 years. It is my prayer that these parables would help my students not only be successful in the ranching and rodeo industries, but save them from some of the heartache and pain that much of America is facing as we drift further and further from what this amazing country was founded on. For my personal testimony of a very wild journey that started when I was 16 years old at a rodeo bible camp, we will be going through, “Returning to Eden: True Unity and Willing Communication.” This is a book that I started writing when I was 18 years old and took me 7 years to finish. In this book is the foundation of how I work horses and it reflects my relationship over those 7 years as I began to know and experience the God I believed in growing up. In this book the Lord taught me many parallels between Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt’s philosophy in working with horses and how it relates to God’s original purpose for man in the Garden of Eden and how the Old and New Covenant tried to restore what was taken.

After the Lord set a foundation teaching me the difference between the old and new covenant and all that Jesus did through dying on the cross for me, He began to take the horse training parables from the book and explain the pattern of the tabernacle to me. God gave Moses a very specific pattern in making the tabernacle, “Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, says He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount” (Hebrews 8:5). It was from this pattern that the Lord began to teach me how to eliminate resistance in working with horses and in being a disciple or follower of Christ. What the Lord taught me over the next 3 years led to the 40-day bible study, “Foundation for Perfection: A Guide to Discipleship.”

Then over the next 4 years the Lord taught me about directing our spiritual gifts and talents on a career path to be used for God’s glory, instead of our own. He showed me how it is a lot like riding broncs or competing in the arena and this teaching led to “Philosophy in Competition: Ranch Roping, Rodeo and Business.” Also over those 4 years, in trying to raise a family, run a business and build an equine and rodeo program, the Lord taught me several other variables of Christian maturity that cannot be overlooked. Some of these areas were applying the foundation for perfection to my relationship with my wife (“Foundation for Perfection: Marriage”) and how to determine an “Evidence of an Anointing.” In this paper the Lord addressed the core of who I am by how I impact the environments in which I live: family, work and community.

He also taught me the importance of spiritual discernment and how it is a lot like stockmanship in that it is about directing thoughts. He showed me how our thought process is like a herd of cattle and determines which direction we are going in life. He has been stressing for several years how important it is to “hold rodear” in God’s word daily to let Jesus sort out the lies from my herd or “thought process.” The last thing the Lord has taught me is the “War over Reality” or spiritual warfare and the importance of where I am spending my “time.” In this amazing teaching the Lord really began to break down the Gospel and addressed the cause of many of the health issues I have struggled with over the last 15 years. In the “War over Realty” the Lord taught me that the biggest thing affecting my health is not what supplements I am taking, but where I am spending my “time” and how I answer 2 questions, “Who am I and what is driving my actions.” This teaching breaks down what it means to be “in the flesh” and “in the Spirit” and has helped to answer many questions I have struggled with over the last 14 years of why the reality of the average American church looks different than the reality that Jesus and early disciples lived and preached.

Whether it is me or anyone else I ask to share their “pearls of wisdom,” it is very, very, important to know that these are our pearls of wisdom. These are pearls that we have acquired through making a choice one day to want to have a relationship with the maker of the universe and have not swerved from that choice over weeks, months, years and decades. We are not trying to force you to adopt our beliefs and certainly not join the church we attend. We are merely sharing the reality we have experienced in our journey of wanting to know Jesus better on a daily basis and how that desire has led to some amazing teachings from the Holy Spirit as He has opened the word to us and applied it to our day to day life. The biggest pearl I can give my students is that if you want to excel in anything in life it takes whole hearted commitment and a strong will to not get distracted from what you desire. It has been my experience that when my desires lead me on a path that is not focused on growing in a relationship with my Saviour on a DAILY basis, I seem to be very unproductive in everything I do.

Summary of the Upcoming “Ranch Roping Bible Study”
Fall Focus:
- Horsemanship (Foundation “Who we are in Christ”)
Reading Material: "Returning to Eden: True Unity and Willing Communication"
- Personal testimony and focus on setting a scriptural foundation of communicating with God using horse Parables.

Winter Focus:
- Horsemanship (Foundation)
- Stockmanship (Spiritual Discernment)
- Time (War over reality)
- Bronc Riding (Tearing down Strongholds)
- Training Quality Assurance and Teaching on the pattern of the tabernacle
Reading Material: "40 Days to the Trainer Bible Study"
- Practice using horse parables and following the pattern of the tabernacle to prepare our hearts and minds to hear from God.
- Discovering our ID in Christ through revelation of scripture

Spring Focus:
- Roping (Spiritual Gifts)
- Team Work (Position in the body of Christ)
Reading Material: "Philosophy in Competition," "Applied Animal Behavior," "Foundation For Perfection Marriage," "Foundation For Perfection Work Place and Family"
- Working in the world from our ID in Christ
- Taking our foundation to do a job
- 4 Stages of Setting a solid Foundation

God Bless,
Wade Black

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