The first time I hiked my big mountain was back at the end of last October. One of the specific things I remember is the further I hiked, the better the view was. I remember when I wasn't too far from the top, I stopped a lady coming down to ask her how much further the hike up was. She told me that it wasn't to much more and that before to long I would basically come to the top of the mountain and that the view was beautiful there, no need to try and go to the peak, she never did, it was just a waste of time since there was already a beautiful view.
.
However, when I got to the spot that I knew the lady had described to me, I looked at the Phoenix Valley below me and it was indeed BEAUTIFUL, buuuuuuuut, I couldn't help but wonder what it would look like, from THE VERY TOP OF THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN PEAK!!!
.
So of course, I couldn't help but push myself for 15 more torturous moments UP the very steepest part of that mountain, till FINALLY I was on the peak!!! It was stunning!!! It was SOOOOO worth that extra hike up!!! I couldn't help but wonder about that lady coming down, WHY hadn't she ever gone ALL THE WAY UP??? WHY not to THE HIGHEST PEAK????
.
As usual, I couldn't help but see the similarities between this and our walk with God! How often do we come to a place in our relationship with Jesus, where things are so good, that we don't push ourselves to go to the next level with him?! Think about those moments, those times in life, when we've come SO FAR in our walk with God, that when we look, the view with him is SO AMAZING, we think, HOW in the world could it get any better than this???
.
BUT what if there's a higher peak that God wants to take you to? What if He has something MORE for you than what you already have? The last time I hiked this particular mountain, on my way up stopped to talk with a man who was resting with his young daughter. We got to talking and he was telling me how he's from Chicago, and there are NO MOUNTAINS THERE, everything was just flat. He was in such awe of the mountain and of hiking. He said that he had never done anything like this at all. He said that his wife and his older daughter had kept hiking up but that this daughter had enough and so he was just waiting with her. He was like, I mean, this right here is still so high and the view is so great, he'd never done anything like this before and was still so thrilled with what they'd done.
.
In my mind that man reminds me of how we are when we're first starting out in our walk with God. Everything we've done is SO NEW, and EVERY STEP TOWARDS GOD is indeed a GOOD THING!!! It's like how the view for this man was already so amazing and that's how it is living for God. Its like in Acts 19 when Paul talked to disciples, men that were ALREADY followers of Christ, "He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." (Acts 19:2) These followers of Christ OBEYED and went that step further in their relationship with Jesus. They went to a higher peak!!
.
What IF there is a higher peak that God wants to take you to in your walk with him? What if God has something more for you that what you already have? What if there is something you need to do or change or give up in your life that will bring you to that highest peak? I encourage you today to go further with Jesus. Make the sacrifice, PUSH yourself up the steep climb!!! Sure its ok, to be like that man and his daughter, to rest and take a moment to enjoy the view , BUUUUT DON'T STAY THERE!!!
."Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee ..." (2 Timothy 1:6) "
Go my friends...
GO to THE HIGHEST PEAK!!!!
.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
.
♥Mary Frances :)
