I remember standing in long lines of other young men boarding planes. We were going off to war. That war was almost ten thousand miles away from where we lived, but before any of us could go to war we had to travel less than a thousand miles by air to ‘train’ for our ‘mission’ in that war. It reminds me now of something King David wrote three thousand years ago –

Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle— Psalm 144:1

Basic Training

Basic Military Training (BMT) is an important part of every branch of the military. No matter what ‘specialty’ we signed up to do in the military, we first had to go through ‘basic’ training. The same is true for God’s people. We all need to ‘train to reign.’

Some of the primary characters we’ve met so far in this series are Adam, Eve, Seth, Enoch, Noah and his family, Abram, and Sarai. Each of them were called by God to represent Him on earth – to ‘fill and subdue’ the earth and ‘have dominion’ (rule) according to God’s eternal design.

Even as I and hundreds of thousands of other young men went through BMT in the 1960s, the men and women who believed in and served God thousands of years ago also went through a period of training. There are many areas of ‘Basic Training’ that God has for His people, but I’ve chosen five as examples. This spiritual training, just like military training, is not a ‘cafeteria’ where you can pick-and-choose what you want to learn. They are all necessary for the spiritual warfare that awaits everyone who follows God seriously.

  1. Believe in the Only True God (Monotheism)
  2. Fear God and Obey Him
  3. Worship God and Serve Him
  4. Listen to God and Trust Him
  5. Love God and Devote Your Life to Him

As you read through the life of Abram you’ll see how God leads him through this ‘basic’ training process. Abram came from a family of ‘idol worshippers’ before God called him (e.g. Joshua 24:14; Genesis 31:30-32; 35:2-4). Like most people of his time (late 3rd Millennium to early 2nd Millennium), people worshipped many gods (polytheism). Some of them were ‘national’ gods, while others were ‘regional’ gods. Many were known as ‘household’ gods. Humans made these ‘gods’ (idols) from wood, stone, and other earthly materials. These ‘household gods’ were very important to people, including Abram’s close family members –

And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them. And she said to her father, ‘Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.’ And he searched but did not find the household idols. Genesis 31:33-35

People believed that household idols represented ‘gods’ that would bring blessings on their household. These human-made images had no power to bring blessings on anyone, which makes God’s promises to Abram even more interesting given the context. The ‘One True God’ who created the heavens and earth called Abram to leave his father’s house (filled with pagan idols) and go to a ‘land’ He would show him. God’s promise was that He would make of Abram – ‘a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.’

Receiving a blessing from ‘the gods’ was a serious desire of people living during Abram’s time. However, only the ‘One True God’ can actually bring blessings to a family, city, or nation. Even though Abram was 75 years old and had spent his life to that point worshipping idols, he ‘departed as the Lord had spoken to him.’ Abram left pagan idol worship and became a believer in the One True God. He began the process of looking to the God of Heaven for family blessings. Interestingly, God expanded the promise to say – ‘I will make you a great nation … And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The day Abram left Haran for Canaan was the day he began his ‘basic training’ as a follower of God.

What happens after ‘Basic Training?’ It is often a longer period of time in the military known as ‘Advanced Individual Training’ (AIT). That’s where military training became individualized depending on a person’s speciality (what role they would play in the military). The time spent in AIT could be weeks or even months. Once a trainee completes their BMT and AIT, they are usually sent to a post or base to begin participating in their assigned mission.

Next Time

How about God’s people? What is the length of their training to participate in their mission for God? We’ll take a look at a couple of ancient examples in the next part of our series – Train to Reign.

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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