(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing: The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 12)
"Out of God's great desire for us to walk in a deep and intimate relationship with Him, one in which we begin to turn over our entire lives to His full control, He woos us by His Spirit to walk through the Door of Jesus. We are saved through our belief in Jesus when we walk through that Jesus Door. We then claim His sacrifice on the cross at the bronze altar as His act of sacrifice on our personal behalf, and we are baptized in the cleansing water found at the bronze laver, whereby we associate ourselves with Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. This is our Outer Court experience, but it is not the end of our journey. It is not the goal. It is not the place of the greatest intimacy.
As we continue to make our way through the Tabernacle, our journey takes us into the Inner Court. It is that place where we begin to grow up in our faith. It takes some believers (like me) many years to pass through that particular door because we are content with our Christian life in the Outer Court, just the way it is. Others begin to grow right away, flourishing in the Holy Spirit, in the Word, and in pure worship to the Lord. No matter into which category you happen to fall, the Inner Court is a place where you will become even more intimate with the Lord by way of walking in the Spirit, delving more deeply into the Word, and by learning to worship in both Spirit and the truth found in the Word. Our growth will be evidenced by our greater fruit. But this fruit is not limited to the ministry that God has given us to do. We must also focus on the fruit that will grow inside of us, the very fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. The Inner Court will be the place in which we identify, confess, dispossess, and take full vengeance on those actions and attitudes that do not line up with the Word and the Spirit. It is also the place where we will learn to follow the commands that are found in the Word. The door into the Inner Court is a "cross-roads" in our journey to the Holy of Holies, one which will determine if we will take the easy road (and stay in the Outer Court) or adjust our course, choosing to take the narrower path. If we choose that narrow path into the Inner Court, it is there that we will be aligned and adjusted in our hearts to the good and perfect will of God, and begin to obey His commands with our whole hearts.
A marvelous thing happens when we are consistently seeking to turn our whole lives over to the Lord Jesus Christ through our confession of sin and the surrender of our will to His. Through deeper study, a closer walk with the Spirit, and worship from a much more pure heart, we discover moments of great intimacy with the Lord such as we have never before experienced. These are indescribable times of joy that only flow from a heart that is chasing after the God who can restore it. This is the experience of those who have chosen to pass through the veil, crucifying their own flesh and will, and step into the Holy of Holies. This is spiritual healing and intimacy with Christ! And ultimately, our earthly level of intimacy will grow exponentially when we see Him face to face in Heaven!
The Tabernacle is where we meet Jesus. It is where we identify our lives with His. It is the place where we give Him the rule of our broken lives, tarnished with sin. It is whee our intimacy with Him grows. The Tabernacle is a picture of the journey of a true believer, and it reveals the relationship that we are currently having with Jesus!"
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