dormamcgruder.com

The Summit

The mountain before me was enormous.  I began my climb steady and sure.  Soon I ran into obstacles, Some  places I slid back down the mountain almost to my death.  The mountain seemed to be winning.

I could feel the force of the mountain trying to keep me from my goal.  But I fought my way through.  Finally the Summit was in view.

It was then the climb became the most difficult.  The steep loose rocks made the final journey hopeless.  I slid down the rocks.  I was hurt, tired and had lost hope.

Suddenly, I felt a force touching me.  I turned quickly and there I saw him.  It was Jesus!  I grabbed both his hands and knelt at his feet.  He said to me, “Oh my child, I’ve been reaching out to you – your entire journey, but you pushed me away and went your own direction.”  As I cried at my savior’s feet, he lifted me up.  We drifted off the mountain.

Instead of rising to the top of the Summit, we glided down to the base of the mountaiin.  Jesus said to me, “If you say to this mountain be cast iinto the sea and do not doubt in your heart, it shall be done.”  I stood there looking at the mountain.  It was an enormous towering obstacle.  I asked myself, “Did I have enough faith?”  Then I looked at Jesus.  Two eyes looked back and me who had been where I was before.  He had felt fear and loneliness.  He had been hurt and unloved by others.  With my eyes still focused on Jesus, I said in a loud voice, “Mountain be cast into the Sea!”

The earth began to shake furiously.  Rocks and boulders tumbled to my feet.  Something of incredible size and power was happening behind me, but I kept my focus on the Saviour.  I heard water and waves splashing up. 

Then there was a great calm.   I stood there looking in the eyes of Jesus.  Love Joy and Peace cane over me that I could not explain.  I did not have to look back anymore.  I knew God had removed the mountain.

A man named Jack was walking along a steep cliff one day when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell.  On the way down he grabbed a branch, which temporarily stopped his fall.  He looked down and to his horror saw that the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet.  He couldn’t hang on to the branch forever, and there was no way for him to climb up on the steep wall of the cliff.  So Jack began yelling for help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something.

HELP!  HELP!  Is anyone up there?  HELP!  He yelled for a long time, but no one heard him.  he was about to give up when he heard a voice.

“Jack, Jack.  Can you hear me?”

“Yes, yes!  I can hear you.  I’m down here!”

“I can see you, Jack.  Are you all right?”

“Yes, but who are you, and where are you?”

“I am the Lord, Jack.  I’m everywhere.”

“The Lord?  You mean, GOD?”

“That’s Me.”

“God, please help me!  I promise if you will get me down from here, I’ll stop sinning, I’ll be a really good person.  I’ll serve You for the rest of my life.”

“Easy on the promises, Jack.  let’s get you down from there; then we can talk.  Now here’s what I want you to do.  Listen carefully.”

“I’ll do anything, Lord.  Just tell me what to do.”

“Okay, Let go of the branch.”

“What?”

“I said, let go of the brancfh.  Just trust Me.  let go.”

There was a long silence.

Finally, Jack yelled, “HELP!  HELP!  IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?”

Have you ever felt like Jack?  We say that we want to know the will of God, but when we find out what it is, we can’t handle it.  Sounds too scary, too difficult.  We decide to look elsewhere.

When He says, “Let go of the things that stand between you and me, and trust Me with your life,” it sounds pretty scary.

But when we let go, we find freedom and safety in His hands.

Years Ago, in the pioneer days of aviation, a pilot was making a flight around the world.  After he had been gone for some two hours from his last landing field, he heard a noise in his plane, as though something was moving.  He looked down and saw a snake slithering toward him.  He realized that while his plane had been on the ground a snake had gotten in.  He did not know if the snake was poisonous but it did not matter because he was terrified of any kind of snake.

It was a very serious situation but knew that somehow he had to keep his head and figure out a solution.  At first he did not know what to do.  It was two hours back to the landing field from which he had taken off and more than two hours to the next field ahead.  Then he remembered that the snake is not made for heights; it is made to live on the ground and under the ground.  Therefore the pilot began to climb.  He went up a thousand feet, then another thousand and another until he was more than twenty thousand feet up.  The snake stopped moving.  Its eyes closed.  The snake was dead.  It could not survive in the atmosphere of those heights.   More than two hours later, the pilot brought the plane safely to the next landing field and removed the dead snake.

Worry is a snake. 

it cannot live in the secret place of the Most High.  it cannot breathe in the atmosphere made vital by prayer and familiarity with God’s word.  Worry dies when we ascend to the Lord through prayer and His word.

Scripture supporting the above – Psalms 91 New International Version

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  This I declare of the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I am trusting Him.  For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from the fatal plague.  He will shield you with His wings.  He will shelter you with his feathers.  His faithful promises are your armor and protection.  Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor fear the dangers of the day, nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.  Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.  But you will see it with your eyes; you will see how the wicked are punished.  If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling.  For He orders His angels to protect you wherever you go.  They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.  You will trample down lions and poisonous snakes; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!  The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me.  I will protect those who trust in my name.  When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble.  I will rescue them and honor them.  I will satisfy them with a long life and give them my salvation.

Unless you really want some encouragement.  I don’t know what you are facing, but eventually things will turn around and your life will be better.  Even if it improves only one notch or one stop up the ladder, that is one notch, or one step better than it was.  Like many of us, I want my dreams fulfilled overnight.  I want the business, life partner, weight loss, friendships to be manifested immediately.  As soon as I pray or meditate or think about what I want, I want it now.  God and life don’t work that way.  At least not all the time.  Those things we need right away, we get.  But if you just don’t quit, and keep working at it, eventually you will get there.  I know from experience, becuase of how long I had to keep working, encouraging myself and waiting some more.  When I quit, I never got there.  But when I held on and kept working at what was important to me, especially within my gift, I got what I wanted.  Most of the time more.  You can make it.  You can do it.  You can have it.  I don’t care what it is.  In the blogs ahead, I will continue to encourage you, but I will also share with you things I have done and seen others do that worked.  If you just keep going, you will get there!