Lifted Up the Mountain

The Lord spoke to me about invitations and tickets to Crested Butte. I thought to myself, “Crested Butte?” What’s up with that? Thinking about it I pondered a little and thought well I’m recovering from a little shoulder injury but hey sounds like a deal! I’ll take some free tickets! For those of you who don’t know what “Crested Butte” is. It is a ski resort in the mountains of Colorado. To be quite honest skiing is not really my favorite thing to do. Especially right now when I desire some springtime/summer action concerning the weather. Give me a surfboard! I'll go ride the wave! But I pondered a little further and thought I would look up these words. These words are definitely personal but I believe they have across the board application to His Body.

Here are the definitions:

Crested - the highest part of the mountain.
Butte – an isolated mountain abruptly above surrounding land.

The Mountain Peak

God is calling us to the very highest point of His Mountain, the Mountain of the Lord. This is a heavenly call. He is giving us hind’s feet for His High Places. It is a very clear call but all the same with any invitation that God gives, it requires us to respond with an invitation to Him that He might take us the journey to His places. With every invitation there must be a response.

Habakkuk 3:19
The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

The definition for “Butte” really speaks in terms of the mountains He puts before us. There is a place of isolation that God prepares for us. As the Mountain is before us, it is not an easy task to climb that Mountain, pioneer that raw terrain to the top. It is not a convenient or feel good situation, but somewhat abrupt, steep and unexpected. But His grace does make the journey a lively experience! There is much adventure, encounter and learning that happens on this trip. And though we do walk a good portion of the way, God offers us tickets to get on His own “lifts” that take us up the mountain much quicker, beyond our expectations, while we get the benefit of enjoying the scenery as well! While we ride we get to view the things of heaven and have heaven to earth perspective on things. But there are both aspects to the journey.

Lift Tickets

Praise, throne room worship and the joyful shout will cause us to ascend the mountain.

Psalms 149:6
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand.

It is the high praises that will break us in to the heavens and break us out of the earthly concerns and circumstances. High praise and worship are the tickets for these lifts. When we "lift" up our voice we will be "lifted up" into higher glory and heavenly reality. The spirit of revelation will fall and we will be freshly endued with strength to ascend the mountain, hearing His voice and reinging over our enemies with power and authority.

Led to the Mountain

Matthew 17:1
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

Another word that I investigated somewhat was “mountain”. Apparently Jesus loves mountains because He went up them often.

Matthew 5:1
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.

We also find divine attraction from the multitudes when Jesus came down off the mountain as well as Jesus being spiritually prepared as He came down:

Matthew 8:1
When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.

There are many other passages where Jesus went up to the mountain to pray. Of course He was transfigured on the mountain. He also released divine commands to His disciples as He ascended down from the mountain.(Matt. 17:9) We see also that ”He led” His disciples up the “high mountain” by themselves to be with God.(Mark 9:2) This is another picture of the place that God prepares for us and He leads us there to be with Him that we may be holy conduits of His glory and grace. It was in the place when He was alone with Peter, James and John that He was transformed before their eyes. That mountain experience transformed all three of these and marked them for the rest of their lives. Peter, the apostle, refers to the experience:

2 Peter 1:17-18
For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

After this encounter they were never the same for they had seen Jesus in His glorified state. This does not mean that they had experienced it all - but that they had tasted another level of His glory. This taste is a deposit for a deeper desire for more of the realities of heaven. Not only that but the mountain experience is where Jesus was affirmed in His Sonship before them all. And it is on the mountain that we receive our affirmation from the Father as His sons. Being manifested as sons of God in the earth, clothed with His glory as a testimony to all creation.

Enjoy the Ride

We all come to certain places on the mountain in our journey with God. There are plateaus that we rest on. God calls us to come up higher! He says, “You have rested. Now get’er goin!” In other words, it is time to move on to a higher place in my Spirit, in my Presence, in desire, in hunger, in commitment and consecration. Maturity is a process. We will be maturing our entire lives. So just enjoy the ride, rest on the plateau when you “need” to (and you will) and then venture on further by His strength and grace. This is not the kind of things we can make happen in our flesh. Just like any army has to rest so do we. We must enjoy the journey and allow Him to carry us. Because if we hink "we" are strong that is deception. Let the "weak" say I'm strong in the Lord and His power! That is why Paul only boasted in his weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest upon him. Our strength is found solely in Him. What we do is choose, obey, follow, say yes and ask for His help. Then He will take us from that point of admission of weakness and dependency upon Him to the place where His strength fills us to enjoy the ride.