Mountain Man

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast Episode 4.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Going to the Mountain”? In Christian circles it can mean a person seeking some time alone with God, to commune in the Spirit. We get this phrase because in a number of places Moses, or Elijah or Jesus would go to a literal mountain top to be alone with God. Why go to a mountain top? Going to a secluded place away from your activities and trials to be alone with God gets rid  of the distraction and “noise” of every day life. Some of us are so busy on a daily basis that there is little time for God to speak. We bustle here in there, sometimes even doing things for God, but we sometimes forget to make time just to be with God.
Sometimes I teach that it is important to remember to be In Christ, as well as to remember to be In Church! Sometimes we get so busy teaching the kids or working with youth or writing sermons, doing stuff FOR God that we forget to take time just to be WITH God. This statement will drive anyone who has a “works” mentality crazy. These people, either on a conscious or unconscious level, feel that they have to do “acts of service” or “acts of righteousness” to earn favor with God. And yet the scriptures say that I have favor with God because of what Christ did for me on the cross, and that through my belief and relationship with Christ I am restored to favor with God. Now, don’t get me wrong, doing these good things are important, but we need to remember to take time for our relationship with the Lord.
I sometimes encourage Pastors to take a personal Sabbath. Since they minister every weekend, and are often expected to be around the church office during the week, when do they have the time to be alone with God to get a fresh word for the church? And it is usually not the Pastor’s fault, but rather the expectations that people place on them. I sometimes have to repent, when I realize that most of my bible reading and most of my prayer over a few days has been about the sermon that I am writing. Even ministers have to remember to take time with God, instead of spending all of their time doing things for God.
Sometimes we have “Stinking Thinking”, the wrong ideas that get in the way of all that Christ wants us to be. In these alone times with the Lord, He can adjust our thinking. The Lord can give us new perspective on our situation. Perhaps we are troubled and need peace. The Lord can impart new ideas to us, or give us a new direction for a day, a week, or for the next season in our life. The Lord can use this time to soften the hard places in our hearts, where we want OUR way, and OUR thinking, instead of His way, and His thinking.  Sometimes we need to remember what it says in Isaiah 55:9:

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

In these times on the mountain top, we can learn what is on the Lord’s heart. We can replace our earthly thoughts with His higher thoughts. We can let the Holy Spirit wash over our thinking so that instead of seeing God through the world’s eyes, we see the world through God’s eyes.  We can let the Lord illuminate scripture to us, making it a living, “now” word for our  day. In addition to knowing the word of God, we can come to know the God of the word. When I do both a grow both deeper as a person, and deeper in God.
I want to be a mountain man. I want to be at home on that mountain with God. I want to know both the word of God and the heart of God for today.
I want fresh “bread” from heaven, the good stuff.
How long has it been since you went to the mountain?

Photo courtesy Appaloosa, used with permission.