Archive for the 'Colorado' Category

01
Jun

Thoughts from Colorado #7 - Up to Transfigure

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And after six days, Jesus took James, Peter, and John with him by themselves, and led them up a high mountain. And He was transfigured before them….- Mark 9:2

We ourselves heard this very voice borne of heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. - 2 Peter 1:18

It is on the mountain that we learn how to see Jesus. It is on the mountain that we learn how to worship Jesus. It is on the mountain that we learn how to listen to Jesus. Surely we can do these other places, but God calls us who draw near to Him up higher so that we can experience Him in fresh and new ways.

I haven’t been necessarily speaking of the physical mountain, but of the inner season and journey it represents. In the Old Testament, the “high places” were established for worship in various locations. Either false gods and idols were worshipped, or the Lord himself on these “high places”.

However, when the Temple was established, God desired the high places to be done away with, so that all people would come “up to Mount Zion” to worship the King of Glory. Unfortunately, many still set up high places to worship Baal and other false Gods. (2 Kings 14:4) Going up to the high places, and now, the long journey to Jerusalem was to be an act of humility, sacrifice, and dedication to go and worship on God’s holy hill, Mount Zion.

Then, when Jesus came, he spoke to the Samaritan woman in this way: “Believe me dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or [at the temple] in Jerusalem….For God is Spirit, and He is seeking worshippers who will worship in Spirit and Truth.” (John 4:24) What an amazing transition!

Look! He turns the worship from an outward requirement to an inward position! Notice that he did NOT say “worship by the spirit and by the truth”. We often try to acquire these things that we might “use them as tools” to worship God. On the contrary, worshipping “IN spirit and IN truth” are actual positions to God, just as the mountain was previously in the natural.

Instead of striving to obtain more “spirit” and more “truth”, the veil on God’s holy mountain has been torn asunder, that we might enter in to the spiritual reality of “spirit and truth” by His blood! By bold confidence and humble faith, we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us “into” spirit and truth! By that inward positional reality, unattainable by even the most “self-righteous” individual, we are ministering to the Lord - becoming the exact worshippers “the Father is looking for”. No flesh can gain access there, it is by the Spirit in faith!

Who will come up to the mountain to see Jesus transfigured, hear His voice, and worship Him in His presence, which is “spirit and truth”? God is Spirit, and Jesus is the Way, Truth, and the Life. Unlike here in Colorado, the journey is an inward sacrifice, for we must believe in order to see. We can not see and then believe, but by believing we have access to be positionally “in spirit and in truth” we are worshipping as the Father desires.

Therefore, let us lay hold of this place we have been granted, this free access to the mountain of God by His grace! Let us minister to God without fear, without striving, but with humble faith, true humility, and passionate joy out of His great love and provision for us to be the very thing He desires.

31
May

Thoughts from Colorado #6 - Up to Pray

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Categories: Colorado

“In these days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.” - Luke 6:12

Going up to the mountain isn’t easy. The air is thinner in the high altitude, the climb is steep, and the way rocky. The path isn’t often smooth ahead, and you must often have the proper gear to climb on up. A trip up the mountain isn’t demanded of anyone, but it is required for those who long to experience the breath-taking views and feeling of victory that accompanies the summit!

The Lord doesn’t demand that we go up the mountain. He will meet with us wherever we are, but He invites us to go higher, deeper, onward, and upward! His presence is always both satisfying and instigating. It’s satiating and hunger-inducing. To taste and see that He is good is to invite us higher. So, in counting the cost of climbing, how do we do it?

1) The Gifts of Righteousness and Purity: We can not approach the Holy place of the Lord without being washed in the blood of the Lamb. This is a free gift, but unattainable for the self-righteous. Secondly, continually going to the Lord and asking for a fresh spirit of purity “washes our feet” as we journey through this life.

2) Hunger and Thirst: In the natural, a person must eat and drink to have the strength to climb a mountain. As he goes, he must continually feed himself to make it. In the spiritual, it is the reverse: we are hungry on the bottom and filled at the top.  Hunger, the inner feeling of desire for God - His presence, His power, more of Him!

3) A Roadmap: Taking the scriptures before the Lord, and asking, seeking, and knocking. Jesus said “to you [meaning those who followed after him asking questions] it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 13:11) What is the Spirit of God igniting in your heart? Ask Him about it. Whatever topic, desire, character, aspect of God and His ways, all is open for us to ask, seek, and knock concerning. We can also do this by writing, reading, and praying these thoughts into greater revelational development.

4) The Tour Guide: The Holy Spirit: Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you and take you higher and deeper into Jesus. Worshipping Jesus (Eph 5) and reading the Word outloud even when we don’t feel it, stirs Him within us and then trust His leadership and walk forward!

5) Group Climbing: True Fellowship: Let the Lord deepen (or lessen certain) relationships so that you may go higher and higher into Him. As we get weary, fall, or become apathetic, we have others who inspire and encourage us onwards towards all that is truly life!

Those are just a few helps that have helped me as I climb. Sometimes, the great huge mountain before us is intimidating, but the biggest help of all is that God Himself has invited us! Without this sure promise, and the pleasure set before us in His love, we would not have the confidence to climb. Praise God for His steadfast, encouraging, and inviting love!

30
May

Thoughts from Colorado #5 - Mountain of Friendship

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Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may be stand in His holy place?
Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols or swear by falsehood. - Psalm 24:1

The mountain is the place of true instruction and the giving of the pure Word of God. Moses was given the Law on the mountain, but not outside of encounter. It was in the midst of feasting in the glory of the Lord at the table of the Lord, seeing glimpses of His glory alongside the taking of the bread of God, the Word of God. (Exodus 32-34)

Friendship was experienced, and the heart (Word) was shared. Can we expect to partake of the same if friendship with God isn’t developed in our own lives? Thank the Lord, He is the pursuer of this friendship, this intimate partnership, the invitation of the Beloved is ever before us.

We, now, have the Word of God, the Bible, written before us. Can we then take it, making interpretation and application of it simply because it is complete before us in a canon? Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for taking the scriptures alone without engaging Him with and through them.  (John 5:38-39)

Just as Moses was given the Bread or Word of God on the mountain, we too are invited to partake of the Word of God, the Bread of Life, Jesus the Christ on the mountain. He pursues us in our lowliness that we might seek Him in His exaltedness. He cleanses us by giving Himself unto death and burial in the earth, that He might enable us to climb up the mountain and experience Him ultimately in heaven. Oh, this humble servant, this lovesick King!

We can limit salvation’s purpose and dishonor Jesus’ passion by not taking advantage of His gifts, righteousness and purity, the tools necessary to scale the mountain. Why yet abide in the valley of decision when we have, in Him, what is necessary to taste the fruit of glory on the mountain? Why walk by what we can see with our own eyes and understanding when we are invited to come up higher and see what and how He sees?

“Come up here! And I will show you….” (Rev. 4:1-2) Lord have mercy on theology based outside encounter. Lord have mercy on vision from lower than Your Holy mountain. “Get up to the mountain!”, says the Lord!

“Everyone who asks receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.” (Matt. 7:8)

29
May

Thoughts from Colorado #4 - Look Up

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Categories: Colorado

“I lift my eyes up, unto the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from You, Maker of Heaven and Earth.” - Psalm 121:1-2

The mountain first and foremost is the place of encounter. To find the Lord as He is and be utterly shocked by Him. To be brought to trembling before His awesome majesty and shudder before the whisper of His power. To feel the energizing fear of the Lord tantalizing you as your soul cries out for the eternal life you’ve spoke of a million times more than you’ve ever really tasted.

It is an encounter with Life itself. To be before the Lord on the mountain is to have your insides rent and your outsides feel like insides. It both satiates and invites your longing, creating within you a desire to cry out in ways you can’t fathom how. Fire, power, thunder, and gentleness all in the same feeling. Your core treads carefully as it jumps in and out of itself toward what it was created for.

All fades away. All melts away as much as we let it. We draw near, utterly unworthy but daring not to think on that or anything less than what is above, terrible, and beautiful. It is on that place of earth, between earth and sky, on that mountain, where everything comes into unbelievable clarity. It is this God, utterly indescribable and impossibly kind, that brings humility in His wisdom, and leaves us undone yet unashamed in our naivete.

Words like love, power, glory, and salvation take on new meaning and fuller definition, making the previous meanings seem like shadows.

Being closer to heaven physically and spiritually, on the earth and yet above it - we realize that it is this God, Jesus, who has created all things. The mountain is a pivotal place of revelation concerning the relationship between heavenly and earthly things, giving perspective, vision, and focus. All issuing forth from the God-Man Jesus, in whom God has purposed to join heaven and earth together.

Lord have mercy on theology based outside encounter. Lord have mercy on vision from lower than Your Holy mountain. “Get up to the mountain!”, says the Lord!

28
May

Thoughts from Colorado #3 - The Mountains

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Categories: Colorado

Here I am, in Colorado at the end of May - absolutely loving it. Somehow, up here in the mountains, I really feel closer to the Lord. Last year I thought this was somehow just getting away from the norm, breathing the fresh air of a different spiritual climate. Although I think this is surely true, this year I find myself drawn into all that is “the mountain” and why God chose to create it.

After all, mountains are very important in scripture, used many times in various contexts, scenarios, and situations. I’m going to be studying some about “the mountaintop” this week and invite you to join me as you wish. Obviously, the mountain is geographically closer to heaven, but then again “the kingdom of heaven”, Jesus said, “is within us.” (Luke 17:21)

There is always much talk about “valleys” and why we go through them. We go through much discussion and study about the meaning of these times in our lives, and necessarily so. But I fear that perhaps, in the midst of this, the mountain is relegated to “that other time that is good”. Ironically, I believe a good study of the mountain (as a season as well as prophetic symbol) would actually help us gain perspective about the valley.

Perhaps we should meditate on the valley from the mountain as well as the mountain from the valley. In Joel, God calls His people to “get up to the mountain” that they might gain His perspective and His word for the hour. He wants them fully gripped with His heart, and He chooses the mountain to be the physical place for that encounter.

Expect more on this in the next few days, and as always, your feedback is greatly appreciated!

16
Aug

Thoughts from Colorado #2 - The Guide

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Categories: Colorado

Psalm 145:17 “The LORD is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness.”

White-water Rafting. No, level 3 White-water Rafting. To me, it is a joy previously undiscovered this side of heaven. What a blast! I had heard stories and seen images of the activity, but I had no idea it could be this exhilarating! Water splashing in your face as you extend your muscles to push water down while bouncing up and down, your eyes gazing at the beautiful canyon of lush vegetation, heart pulsating and breath taken away. Man, it was my favorite thing up there. Great story (and lesson) too -

There’s five of us on the raft - Jenny (the beautiful one), myself, Dawn (the uber-experienced guide) and two other guys. On the oblong-shaped transport, the guide sits on the back-end tail while we four fill out two rows on the two columns of the sides. Each position is critical, each one chosen, each one necessary for the completion of our mission - to take the rapids at high speed and intensity, fun-gauge on high.

Dawn means experience in raftinglish. She’s done this stretch a thousand times, knows what to do, when to do it, and who needs to put their paddle where. After a short training session in how to obey her commands from the rear (i.e. “Forward Two!” which means paddle forward twice , and “Back Left One!” which means the people on the left side paddle backwards once) we set out on our wild ride. No, there was no Mr. Toad.

I enjoy the back left position, my wife to my right and the two guys sitting in front of each of us. Well, the front right guy says he has had alot of experience in rafting, had done canoe trips and other such activities earlier in his life, and was excited for this one. Ok - sounds great we guess, the more experience the better.

We set down the trek, the first set of rapids not too difficult entitled, “Entrance Exam”. We pass through it pretty smooth, but not as smooth as Dawn would’ve liked, as we seemed to veer to the right for some reason, but no worries, let’s set our course ahead for what’s next. We pass through a second set of rapids better, and now we are headed for “Tombstone” the third and most difficult set so far.

We grip our paddles, “steady up” as we are told by firmly securing our feet under an inward part of the raft, and prepare for the commands of the guide. It’s comforting to know that your guide knows exactly what to do, and that your ears are working good enough to hear and your brain good enough to send responding signals to your arms to execute the command she gives you.

So, you await the command, and you execute. Diligently await the command, and execute! The brilliance of execution is exhilarating, especially when a team does it together, in complete unity and unison, watching the raft leap over and through the crashing rapids, a soft hum in the rear accompanying success. But this time, there was no hum, there was no unity, and there definitely wasn’t unison.

As soon as we hit the rapids, the guide yells “Forward Two!”, and we each do exactly that, except for the top right guy. He does forward two, three, four, five, and just keeps paddling - doing at least four more paddles than the rest of the boat - without a command to do so!

Before we can blink, our raft goes careening into a large rock, the top right guy goes flying over the side, smacks his head into the rock (praise God for the bright yellow helmets!), and our raft almost flips over, not on the x-axis, but the y! Clearly in trouble, the guide yells, “Side right! Side right!” which means, everybody on the raft leap to the right side to keep the boat from flipping over and knocking us all out! As much as we can in the midst of the rapids, we jump on the other side, barely saving ourselves from going topsy-turvy altogether.

But the front right guy is still under the water. He’s under the raft. Should we dive in and get him? Fish swimming all around his head, alas, he appears in the water about 25 seconds after he went under, and the other team’s raft (who already had more people) hauls him in. Thank the Lord, he’s fine.

As soon as he rejoins the team, the much younger guide gives him some serious instructions - “What were you doing?! Because you were rowing when I didn’t ask you to, and while everyone else stopped as they were commanded, you rowed us right into the rock, not only smacking your own head, but risking the imminent danger of everyone else in the boat!”

A bit embarrassed, the guy had no problem obeying orders after that lesson, but we had to ask him - why did you keep rowing and doing your own thing? He had thought, because he saw the rock coming, that he should forget the command of the guide and row to try to get away from the rock himself, thinking his experience and intuition would help the team avoid disaster, but in doing so led everyone smack into it!

He forgot that he wasn’t the guide, he wasn’t the leader, he wasn’t the one who could see the end from the beginning nor the one who knew exactly the steps necessary for success. By taking things into His own hands, not submitting to the wise, kind, and just guide, He crashed into the very thing he thought that by his own strength he could avoid.

Thankfully, he nor anyone else was hurt, but a great lesson was learned -

11
Aug

Thoughts from Colorado #1 - Training to Fly

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Categories: Colorado

“Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches.” - Paul, 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Up here at 11,000 feet in the summer Colorado mountains, its’ easy to lose your breath - both at the thin air quality and the beautiful mountains, creeks, and valleys. It’s very peaceful, not like a city peaceful, where no one’s out and about, but a mountain peaceful, people stopping to gaze at the mountains (drinking their starbucks of course) and walking slowly in the cool mountain air. It’s costly but worth it for many people looking to escape with loved ones to the creation, whether they know yet of the creator, whose beauty and majesty are here only glimpsed.

There’s plenty to do and see, far more than one could do in a week - though I feel like we’ve done a ton in our time here (hiking, rafting, golfing, skating, etc.). It’s been a blast, an exhausting blast, but thankfully not short on lessons, memories, and new confidence and vision from the Lord.

World-class athletes come to places like Colorado, not just to ski, hike, or raft, but to train. They do this because the thin air provides a greater resistance to their lungs while exercising their sport. Runners will run up and down the mountain trails, huffing and puffing and feeling the burn. At first their chest feels like its going to explode, and that they simply won’t be able to press on, but after awhile, they find their breath coming and going more easily, and their bodies responding well to the air that is conditioning them. The key is, they recognize the prize for which they work, and they allow themselves to be put in difficult spots that they may attain their eagerly desired reward.

After rigorous discipline up here in the mountains, they return to the place they live, somewhere like New York, Florida, California, Texas, or farther. And when they do, they absolutely fly. The track seems like their own personal runway, and they simply take off! The difficult environment of the mountain terrain and air has trained and disciplined them to run their race like a champ in the normality of their usual climate.

The same reality exists in the spiritual realm, as Paul notes above, and although we often don’t understand, the Lord puts us in situations and circumstances that are difficult and cause us to lose our breath easily. Many people shrink back from this, saying it is too much, too difficult, or they reject the Lord’s plan for them by finding something a bit easier outside of His will. The only thing is, God is teaching them to fly. He’s teaching them to gain endurance, perseverance, strength, and character underneath the pressures that seem to hold them down. He’s teaching them how to live a supernatural life within the natural, how to live on bread and feast on the eternal. But hold them down these goads do not, form one that “wins the crown” they surely do.

For me, I have, by God’s grace sensed a uncanny nearness to the Lord here. It’s strange, as I didn’t spend long hours of prayer and fasting preparing to come out here, but the fact is, Jesus longs and wants to meet with me all the same! And He’s been speaking to me, and its wonderful, and I feel a sweetness in my spirit, and its wonderful, and I feel light and in love, and its wonderful. And I think to myself, how come faith and vision isn’t always this easy?

And I hear, and I think, and I feel, and I recognize - that the place I live, in College Station, is like my rigorous training ground. The Lord has me there, and He is training me to fly. And I will. I must. The athletes come here to train, and then they go back to win. I am there to train, and then I will win, whether its in the same geographic location or not. I’m not at all talking about a difficult physical, financial, or relational situation, but a spiritual one.

I believe there are intangible realities that hold us (Christians in the city) back in College Station (right now), but we must realize one and the same, we must not shrink back, we must not lose hope, we must not find an easier reality, but we must “discipline our body” to seek the living Christ, learn from Him, and realize the far greater reward that awaits us as we diligently follow His word and command to us individually and corporately.

And I believe He’s given me a foretaste of that greater victory to come this week through our fellowship. And I don’t deserve it, any more than the next guy, but I DO have the choice - whether or not to make the most of the ups and downs of those mountain trails, losing hope and casting away vision, or screaming for joy as I lose my breath for the reward that awaits me!