Have you ever experienced a "mountain top" moment with the Lord? Back in the late 1990's, I had an opportunity to experience an incredible outpouring of the Lord's Spirit at a conference I attended. For me, it was perhaps the pinnacle of my worship experience up to that point in my life. In fact, I returned often to this church which was in the midst of an extended revival for the sake of standing upon that mountain top once again.I craved being in the awesome presence of God that lingered in the sanctuary. Time passed as so did my several visits to the church. The experiences I had, as fulfilling as they were, somehow faded from the landscape of my life. They had simply become a memory of a special time in my life.
We often measure the basis of our worship upon where we find ourselves in relation to the "mountain top" experience. The height of rapture and the incredible feeling of His presence gives us the immediate idea that God has somehow accepted the worship we have brought before Him. We relish in the fact that He loves us and we just want to linger forever in that moment of spiritual bliss. Like me, we find ourselves in the place of believing that the worship experience exists for the benefit of satisfying myself and bringing me to the spiritual ecstasy that exists on the mountain.
If you consider the imagery of the mountain top you may come to understand that it is all about perspective. When we are taken to such heights, there remains a greater purpose than a self-serving moment in which we can we "wowed" so that we feel better after being in God's presence. Just as Peter wanted to stay on the Mount of Transfiguration and relish in the awesome moment of seeing God's glory revealed, Jesus had to remind him that there was a demon waiting in the valley (See Matthew 17:1-18 ). Some of the kings of Judah in the Old Testament were often commended for their standing before the Lord; however, there was also the statement that appeared frequently that they "failed to remove the high places."
These "high places" are the areas of life in which we also "worship" along with the Lord. They are the things which often get the priority of our time, energy, and resources and although we would never consider them "idols" or "other gods," we seldom inquire of the Lord as to how He sees those things in our lives. Thus, the reason for the mountain top experience!
On the mountain, I can get a clear view. I can see all of the things in life which equal the height of my worship and see the things that are hidden deep within the valley below. God uses the mountain top to give us a greater perspective of who He is and who we are. We are able to see the "high places" which must be destroyed so that they will no longer compete with our affection for the Lord. We must remember that it is Satan's desire to sit "enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain" (Isaiah 14:13). The enemy will always attempt to place competing altars on the mountain tops along the journey of life. Could it be that when God takes us there, He uses those moments not for our "pleasure" but for our "purging?" Rather than taking those incredible moments of worship and indulging in the awesome feeling that accompanies being in the presence of the Lord, open your eyes and look around the scenery of your life. God doesn't want our words of praise, adoration, and inspiration as much as he desires that we surrender everything that competes and conflicts with his place as Lord in our lives.
Worship has nothing to do with me but has everything to do with what God wants to do in me. The mountain top experiences along the way do not define my worship experience; rather, they define my life in light of a holy God. They are glimpses of God's perspective on where He stands in my life. As great as the mountain top experiences are, we were never intended to stay there. Consider this last thought: The greatest mountain top experience in the history of man was on Calvary. As Jesus walked that mountain and was lifted up between heaven and earth, he was fixed in the most glorious place of all time. Yet, he did not stay there. Instead, he had to die and descend to lowliness of a tomb---- The life surrendered on the mountain became the life that glorified the Lord for all eternity.
