Thursday, June 19, 2014

Climbing to the Peak



Climbing to the Peak

     While the Christian life is sometimes described as a series of peaks and valleys, ups and downs, highs and lows, that is not the central focus of our message. Instead we want to look at all of life itself as a disciplined climb to the peak where in fact we will have the opportunity to have the best view of what God wants us to see and we also will be in the position to give the maximum glory to God!

     This in brief describes the life of Moses. It also describes the life of every servant of God who is surrendered to the will of God thereby allowing Him to mold and shape the events of our life into a harmonious whole which in fact will give Him the most glory.

     Lets look at the life of Moses for just a moment and put it into three stages. First of all the first 40 years were culminated by the incident where he killed an Egyptian and subsequently fled the scene to the land of Midian. Moses, here, was somewhat ahead of his time as the liberating leader of his people and needed further maturity.

     Secondly, the next forty years, spent in the backside of the desert, were climaxed by the burning bush incident, and now at the age of eighty he was ready in the eyes of God to serve Him and free the people of Israel. The last forty years which were his ministry years fill the pages of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and next to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Moses becomes the most prominent servant of God in the Scriptures!

     However, had he been successful in the first stage of his life while living in Egypt, the rest of the story may not have occurred. His success came with God’s timing, for his climb to the peak was punctuated by failures, but he did reach the peak, he climbed to the very top of his usefulness for God because he was able to deal with multiple ‘setbacks’, in the eyes of men, but these events in reality were magnificent successes in the eyes of God.

     Yes, these most necessary events were used to direct this powerful servant of God, and kept him on the path, climbing to the peak, making progress in each of these steps in his trek to the top, toward the final day when God Himself would not only give him a supernatural view of the entire promised land, but He would attend to Him personally, burying his body on Mt.Nebo! Two thirds of his life, we might say, was in preparation, and only one third was spent in ministry. And, because of the intense difficulty he would face in his ministry years, his training was lengthy.

     However, when we look at the Lord Jesus Christ’s life, He spent almost ninety percent of His life in preparation due to the great pressure and intense suffering He had to go through in only three and one-half years. Yes, He was God in the flesh, but He ‘Learned obedience by the things which He suffered’(Hebrews 5:8), He too went through a similar ‘maturing process’ only with Him there were no mistakes, no errors, no sin at all, yet He progressed up to the peak, the maximum glory to His Father, through His suffering and death on the Cross, He suffered like no other man could for He was sinlessly pure, and holy, the perfect Lamb of God! Elijah and John the Baptist also spent the great majority of their lives in preparation.

     Therefore, in application to our lives, we too are on a climb to the peak if we are submissive to the will of God as found in His precious Word! We too, have the opportunity to give the maximum glory to Him if we fully surrender to His will! According to the gift of faith each of us has the ability through the working of the Holy Spirit to exercise our faith. It is to the degree that we are faithful in fulfilling the will of God for our lives that we will be rewarded, according to the measure of faith that is given us.

     And so, it is not the great outward displays of works seen only by men, no it is the inward heart matters of faithfulness that God evaluates and will finally judge and reward at that great day. So, each of us has the ability to climb to the peak where we will give the maximum glory to God according to the measure of faith which is given to us!

     Now let’s take a look within. Are we still on the road of preparation? Have there been ‘setbacks’ during the climb to the peak? Remember, these ‘setbacks’ are only seen as such in the eyes of us mortal men…not the Lord! He tells us firmly in Romans 8:28 ‘That all things work together for good’ and the key here is ‘To them that love God’ even through the times when we think that we will never make it to the top…we must continue to love and trust Him Who sees the beginning from the end and knows exactly how to mold these events in order to cause them to boost us on the road to the top, the climb to the peak of maximum glory to God, for there can and should be a burning bush and Mt. Nebo experience for each of us, when we will be able to experience His supernatural call and glorious view, if we fully surrender to His loving will!


Chaplain LEWolfe  www.btmi.org  I-85 Exit 35 SC   McPilot    Stop in, and please pray for our ministry!

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