By Chris Jacobs
Stop – be still – and picture the most beautiful fields you can imagine. Fields covered with flowers as far as the eye can see. Flowers of all the colors you can think of, and yet more. The sun bringing out the perfection of each individual color. And the trees, the bountiful trees! Perfectly spread apart. Some trees sitting at their lonesome and others lined up, serving as walls for the wide-open fields. Underneath the trees there is just the right amount of shade to lie down and rest in.
Picture rolling hills covered in life-filled green. Mountains in the far distance, ever magnificent and wonderful, topped with luminescent snow. The mountains are yet not too far away, that you cannot see the great falls of crystal clear waters. One great river also flows through the valley, strong and vibrant. Streams and brooks in musical union! Now imagine the scents, sounds, and touch that come along with all of this.
Do you have this all imagined in your mind? O.k. – it’s all yours. All of it! You are totally free to walk about and journey throughout all of this land. And as the Bible says, you are a sheep. A SHEEP! Yes, as humbling as that may be, Jesus taught it, so just accept it. He is your Good Shepherd, who will watch over, protect, nourish, and cherish you in all of his love. Gently He tells you, “I give you all of this as a free gift, the fields of grace. Go, walk in the liberty in which I have set you free. For as many as I set free, they are free indeed.“
Imagine the fields again. Look about you, all around you. This is all yours, walk in it in joyful freedom. You may not feel like you deserve it, but just accept it. And you may feel like you have to earn it or pay back what He has done for you, but you never could, so don’t try. Accept it with all that you are! The land before you is yours, the endless fields of grace. Walk in freedom! Rejoice in it!
Now, of course, you are not to abuse the fields of grace that have been given to you, by taking them for granted. You will not desire to abuse them anyway, once you have accepted them and walked in them. In the Shepherd’s fatherly love, He has set up a fence at the perfect spot. This fence is not to keep you bound and restricted, but it was to protect you from the far outer, miry lands of transgression. Once you know the sweetness of the fields of grace, you will not want to venture outside of what the Shepherd has freely given. He! is the originator of the fence and only One who has kept the whole fence together. That is why it is good to stick close to Him, because He is the only One who can protect you from the miry lands. His fence points to our need for Him, because there is no way that we, as sheep, could put up and keep a fence like He has.
So, what are you waiting for? Look all around you. He has given you true freedom. Don’t allow anyone to convince you otherwise. And you, yourself, don’t try to quickly build up your own little fence to surround you, once you have been given the fields of grace. The Shepherd will only come up to you and say, “What are you doing little one? Why do you have this little fence up, when I have given you this freedom? I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the (fields) of grace of Christ unto another gospel.”
One more thing, don’t allow the enemy to dissuade you of the freedom you have been given. He will come and try to convince you with many lies. This putrid enemy will say that the Shepherds grace is conditional. That is so untrue! Conditional grace does not exist! The enemy will also try and condemn you and throw all matter of garbage at you – don’t listen! Walk in freedom. Other people will even come in, looking to be friends, but are really there to teach you your need to do many things in order to earn the fields of grace – don’t listen! Just walk in freedom.
Listen to the Shepherd! He has given them to you! Accept His words and just be the sheep that He created you to be – don’t strive to please others. Follow the Shepherd and He will show you what to do and how to serve others. There is much more to say on this and more analogies I could give you, but you get the point. Be still before the Shepherd and enjoy the beautiful fields He has given you. Stop- be still – look about you. Fields of grace. YOU ARE FREE to walk about them!
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