By Isaac Ihekwoaba
(Sunday, August 9th, 2009)
[For a printable version click here.]
Quotable quotes:
Let it be Christ, let it not be you that lives today. For what man calls life is really death; as one said in a certain place ‘if the light in me be darkness; in other words (if the life in me be death); great is that death/darkness’ But let it be Christ Jesus that lives His life in and through us today. His is our life. Amen!
Yaguo Ide
THE MOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE
I pray the word of encouragement I bring today will strengthen you as much as it has done to me. This is a time for sober reflection. Gone are the days when things happen to us as Christians and we do not take time out to reflect on the issues that arise in our circumstances.
The mountain in the scriptures speaks of the place of an encounter with God. It speaks of the place where God calls us to, so He can deal with the things that hinder His plans and purposes in our lives. God’s main intention for the mountaintop experience is so that He can have the opportunity, to purge us completely of all that is contrary. His call stands through the ages. He says come up hither.
The mountain also reflects our response to God to rise in the Spirit. There is much of God’s dealing on the mountain. There is much discomfort and a lot of inconvenience there but the benefits out weight by far these discomforts. The Bible says this light affliction work out in us a much more exceeding weight of glory.
As diverse and different as we are, so are our mountain experiences. Many fear the mountain experience. I am here to encourage you not to fear, do not run away from it. Embrace it, climb it, the benefit thereof is enormous. Is it not true that when you are on a mountain, you are able to get a very good aerial view of your environment. Naturally the place of the mountain provides a place of refuge for men e.g during times of war the mountains are where people flee to for safety from their enemies. Because the mountain environment is usually difficult to reach, especially by people who are not familiar with the terrain; it provides a place of safety. So it is in the spirit. You will have a much better perspective of the things that are happening to you, if you are on the mountain top with God. But as long as you remain on a low plain you will see little or nothing; your vision and understanding will be limited. The tendency will be that you will focus on your self and your situations.
Most of our talk begin and end with ‘I’. Not so for the mountaintop experience. Once you make an attempt to go up to the mountain top, you see a greater view. The horizon opens up to you, you begin to see the other side of the dealings of God upon your life, you are better able to appreciate the need for change. Self becomes more easily abased; you are better able to appreciate the glory that is set before you; the glory of Him that filleth all in all.
We must be willing to allow God to take us up the mountain. We need to release ourselves into the hand of God, let Him deal with us. After the fiery trials, you will come forth as gold. Because of our unwillingness to go up, God is unable to show or reveal many things to us. Because we love the low plains. GOD IS SAYING BRETHREN FLEE YE TO THE MOUNTAINS.
ABRAHAM’S MOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE
Gen. 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Gen. 22:4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off
There is a lot to say about Abraham’s mountain experience. Points to note are:
PATIENCE
It was on the third day that ABRAHAM saw the mountain that God was speaking to Him about. We must patiently wait and lift up our eyes and heart in prayer in order to see the mountain that God intends for us to climb. Abraham had an ability to see afar off. May we have eagle eyes to see above our immediate experiences. The mountain of the Lord is often where we get a testimony, for in the mountain of the Lord, there the provision is, it is there you will see. Be encouraged to step out in faith, you will see the city afar off. We need to begin to see, brethren so our testimony will be sure. There are many mountains, but there is a specific mountain for the “sacrifice”. Abraham had to locate the one meant for his sacrifice. It must be there, not anywhere else.
SEPARATION
The mountain experience is for a people that are willing to separate themselves. It is not an experience for every one; it is only for those who are willing. It is not a crowd thing. Abraham had to separate himself from the young people that were with him and he moved ahead. He realised that this particular experience he was to go through, was for him alone not for the young men with him. The dealings of God upon our lives is specific to us, it is for a direct and eternal purpose. Even though the call is made to all, it becomes specific for those that are willing.
This is one reason we should be careful not to compare ourselves with others. (2Co 10:12b but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise). God wants to work out specific things in our lives so we must leave the next person to God to deal with. We should look away from others and look inwards. Don’t blame others or even demon spirits for your troubles. He says all things are for your sakes (11Cor 4:8-15).
Remember there is nothing that comes to you that God is not aware of, if you truly belong to Him. No one has the authority to tamper with God’s purpose in your life. This is one of the reasons why God has given us authority over demon spirits. If we perceive they are trying to interfere in our lives; we bind them and cast them out. Mountain experience separates the boys from the men. This experience adds to our maturity in God.
Gen 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
THE DEMAND
Abraham waited many years for a son. And when the son who was so precious in his eyes came he was asked to let go. He was a man totally sold out to God.
v6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together
Ge 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
Ge 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
v12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
On the mount of the Lord, God will make a demand from you and we must be willing and ready to yield to Him. Because in obeying Him upon this mount, there is a guarantee we have and that guarantee is that in blessing He will bless us. Many a time we love the blessings, but we do not usually want the sacrifice that goes with it. Blessing goes hand in hand with obedience. Obedience goes before the blessing. If our hearts are after God, He will cause us to come up to the mountain where He will place a demand upon us. It is more honourable for us to come to the place where we are willing to offer to the Lord, instead of waiting for a demand to be made. What joy will fill the heart of the Master if we are able to cry “Lord all that I am and have I offer up to you? The song writer said “will you be poured out like wine or broken like bread upon the altar for him? On the mount of the Lord we are required to be totally sold out. You know when you are sold out, you are able to accommodate whatever comes your way. It becomes easy for you to say “be it unto me according to your Word?
Ge 22:16 and said, by myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
v17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Ge 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
THE DEALINGS
On the mountain top you will have to let go of a lot of things. You will be striped of fame, popularity, wealth, your personality etc so as to expect His eternal purpose in your life; so that you reflect His image and glory upon the face of the earth.
On the mount of the Lord, as you pass through the trials, you become more and more refined. GLORY TO GOD! Let us be encouraged to make up our minds to climb the mountain of the Lord. It is a decision we must take deliberately, if we are to succeed. Job was a man who did excellently well in his mountain experience and God was indeed pleased with his response. Despite his experiences, he never grumbled or complained. The foundations of grumbling and complaining and all the disaffection we feel must stop. We complain and say we have put in much into the things of God and we have gotten little in return We feel many a time that which we have put in is not consumerate to what we have put in. God must deal with the old, to be able to do a new work in our lives.
We all know the end of Job. He was mightily blessed of the Lord. The people that have been dealt with are those who will have more power, authority and strength to speak and physical mountains will give way. Those who would be sons must yield themselves to His dealings.
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD
There are different mountain experiences for different individuals. It is not every mountain top experience that is of the Lord. Ensure you are on the Lord’s mountain. There is a specific dealing and specific responses God expects from us in each mountain. For Abraham, it was to offer up His son and He responded in a manner that God appreciated and God was glorified in his actions. So where can we find the Lords mountain? THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD IS THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, GOD HAS PUT YOU IN. Stay in it, do not seek to go else where, no matter the dealings and discomforts to the flesh. It is in the House that the Lord deals with us. Also note that there is one mountain that is above every other mountain; seek to be in that mountain. On the mountain you are taught the ways of the Lord, and God expects you to respond to His instructions implicitly. (Isa 2:3) The mountain top experience is a place to walk the talk. We have to do what we preach. This is the crux of the matter. It is time to obey and in obeying the blessings come.
We can not over emphasize this matter of obedience. Know this, the bible says that there is a law that will go forth to govern the nations and this law will proceed out of Zion (the mountain of the Lord). Before this law (judgment) can go forth, the people involved must certainly have exercised themselves in it. It is not possible to give what you don’t have. One cannot effectively preach what he does not know. You have to walk in what you preach, for it to minister life and grace to the hearers. In this mount of the Lord, there is no room for pretence. Every pretence will be quickly exposed. On this mount you will be dealt with to the extent that you will be broken; for such the Lord will not despise. In your brokenness, you become acceptable material for God to use to bring forth the word of deliverance to creation. The sad part is that if the sons of God are not prepared for His use, there will be nothing for Him to use.
Mic 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
v2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
v3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
v4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
v3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
v4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
v5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
MOSES MOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE
Moses was a man that had dealings with God worthy of note. Moses met God in mount Horeb. ( Horeb means desolate ,Isolation, desert). For forty years Moses was dealt with by the Lord. And he was stripped of all that he had. Mount Horeb is a place of solitude; it is a place for the destruction of those things that are not of Him in our lives. e.g things like pride (pride can come to us in several ways. Let us beware, pride can come from the qualifications we have, from where we come from; even where you work can be a source of pride), your beauty etc. On Horeb you must regard all these things as dung for the excellency of the fullness of Christ)
Ex 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
v2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
On this mount the fire burns but it does not burn off the grass. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were in the fire but the fire never consumed them. The fire will burn off the bondages, but it will not consume us. The inside will be squeezed and by the intensity of the fire, the sheen will shine through. May the fire that will come upon this mount consume that which is not of the Lord in our lives. Even though we can not regulate the intensity of this fire, let us not fear. God is in control.
v3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
May we like Moses be willing to turn aside from all our distractions, theologies and conceitedness, so that like Moses we will be able to focus on the Lord. We must do away with the pride, the anger etc.
v4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I.
v5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
v6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
A point to note here is that on this mount, you encounter God face to face. And that is when you can truly see yourself for what you truly are. When we realise the wickedness that is in us, we will be willing to repent.
v7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
v8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
v9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
v10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
ELIJAH’S EXPERIENCE
Elijah was another man who responded to God’s call to come to mount Horeb. A look at his response to God will teach us something.
1Ki 19:1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.
v2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.
v3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.
v4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
After his spectacular victory over the prophets, Elijah was overwhelmed by emotions of self pity. The problem with Elijah was that he was trying to run away from His own frustrations, weakness, and problems. When the Spirit of self pity attacks us, it highlights and magnifies our circumstances beyond proportion. We complain: “if only I had a better job, oh I do not have a husband, if things would have been better etc, was it not better that I remained in Pentecost, at least there are many brothers there that are eligible for marriage and it goes on and on”.
Elijah equally grumbled and complained, he went to the extent of asking God to take His life. This wallowing in self pity must be stopped. In the mount of the Lord, when difficulties face us, that is the more reason God expects us to rejoice in Him, to show that our confidence is not in the things around us but in His ability to deliver those who trust in Him. Elijah also tried to run. He wanted to escape. Running away from your circumstance is not a solution.
What you can not over come in Nigeria, will still follow you to America. God expects us to remain where he has put us and we ought to stay there and overcome. God’s principles work this way; you enter a door, He says occupy that door. He deals with you, when He finishes, He opens another door. It is line upon line and precept upon precept.
It is not over until it is over. In mount Horeb we should learn to stay put until God is ready for us to move. At the appointed time He will open the door for you to escape. Many of us are unable to come to that place of our inheritance or the place of testimony because we are too hasty to move from the place God wants us to be. We complain about our jobs or environment etc. Brethren stay in that place, until the Lord has finished His dealings. YOU MUST NEVER BE HASTY. One thing you must realize is that when you rebel against God’s dealings and you decide to go your own way, it will not profit you. One of the greatest mistakes you can make is to build something on rebellion. It is only a matter of time, you will experience the repercussions.
v5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.
v6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.
This bread baked on coals could be viewed as the bread of affliction because it was being baked on coals of fire. And it is quite symbolic of God’s dealings with us. God does not desire that we be half baked, done only on one side. (The tribe of Ephraim was referred to as bread half baked in the book of Isaiah 44:9 ).This particular cake (or experience) was baked all round and was given to Elijah to eat. The dealings of God with us must be all round and you must eat it if you desire to remain on this mount of the Lord. Notice that Elijah had to be fed more than once. This could be because he still had not come out of his “pity party”. He needed yet to overcome, hence the second meal.
This is one problem with self pity. Until you come out of it you will not be able to appreciate the dealings of God in your life. Our view tends to be myopic in this condition and tends only to see what one is going through you fail miserably to see the bigger picture. Brethren until you come out of it, you will never see God’s glory coming, you will never see what God is hoping to achieve in your life in that situation, because at every turn you are focusing on the challenges of life rather than on God. As humans our views are limited but as we open up to God, He shows a much wider perspective, much beyond our imagination and right there in the very spot we thought we could find nothing good. That was the case with Abraham’s concubine in Gen chapter 13. She had given up all hope, she cast away her child from her so she will not hear him die, as he cries, but lo and behold right in that same spot, God opened her eyes and she saw water. She was able to give her son drink. God can open up much broader horizons in that very place of affliction. Learn to turn away from your self centeredness. Look away from self and God will open up divine ideas to you that can bring divine prosperity upon your life.
v7 And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.
The Lord continues to come again and again to us even as he came to Elijah the second time, until he gets rid of the wrong and carnal mind sets we have. Our prayer should be “Lord come to us again, don’t be tired Lord of coming to us until you finish the work. Even in our stubbornness and rebellion Lord come to us”. We should continue to cry out until we hear the word. Arise.
v8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
v9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
It was when Elijah came out of his self pity house, when he began to rise in strength and he began to walk in the might and the power of God that God reached out and spoke to him. Thank God for Elijah. He was eventually able to respond to the word of the Lord. May we be a people who can overcome our hurts sufficiently to quickly respond to God’s voice. Some of us our response rate is low, we find it difficult to get over unpleasant situations e.g. someone annoys you and it takes you so many days to come round to forgive. A man who has been dealt with sufficiently by the Lord will easily over come such situations.
The problem here was: Elijah felt that having done so much in fighting the Lord’s battle, that he ought not to have any more trouble. One could say that he felt he should be special.
v10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away
With God, we must humble our selves and submit to all His dealings in our lives. We must divorce our hearts from all that we have known and read, so that we can get a true revelation of Jesus Christ. Our theologies, our much knowledge will fail us in that day. It is what the Lord has worked out in our lives through his dealings that will be able to stand the test of fire.
v11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD
Be encouraged brethren, the mountain top is where the power of God will come upon us. Let us willingly submit ourselves to His dealings. As we do so, we will behold His glory. Amen.