Ain't no mountain high enough

Isaiah 2:2


In the last days,
    the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established
       as chief among the mountains,
   it will be raised above the hills,
   and all nations will stream to it.

• Mt. Moriah's elevation is 2,428 ft.  
• The highest and tallest elevation on the earth's surface is the top of Mount Everest on the border of Nepal and China at 29,035 feet...

Yet we know that this mountain will be raised up somehow as the mountain of mountains when Christ comes again.  It will be the place where Christ teaches from when He reigns.  And all nations will stream to it....I just love that line.....how beautiful-a river of all peoples streaming to it.  I am not sure what it all means..but that is ok.  I don't need all the details or specifics because I have faith and I rest and gain peace in the beauty of the Scripture.


One day...
There will be only one King and He is the King of Kings.
He alone will reign on this earth from both a spiritual perspective and a governmental.
He will reign over all nations.
There will be only His name alone.


Today this mountain, considered the most Holy of Holies, is controlled by Muslims.
This blows my mind. (Although I do not understand all the specifics regarding the fighting between nations on this)


The scripture in Isaiah 2 goes on to say... v3-4

Many peoples will come and say,

   "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

         to the house of the God of Jacob.

    He will teach us His ways,

    so that we may walk in His paths."

    The law will go out from Zion,

       the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

   He will judge between nations

       and will settle disputes for many peoples.

   They will beat their swords into plowshares

      and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

     nor will they train for war anymore.

This mountain, in the last days will be a place of peace.  People will destroy their weapons and fight no more.  Jesus will teach from this Holy mountain and yet today-look at the situation going on with this mountain....it is the cause of the biggest longest lasting conflict in the Middle East.


I wish Israel had control of it.   Regardless....in the end, God's Word stands.


As a follower of Christ, I know while the Temple Mount is holy,  God is with me always through the Holy Spirit and I am ever so grateful for that gift.  Thank you Heavenly Father!

Things eternal.....

It is so easy for me to lose focus on eternal riches, as I get wrapped up in less important things in the moment.

As I was waking up this morning, coming out of my sleep I had a revelation.  

Today is Saturday.  I committed to build a powerpoint deck for my VP over the weekend for a meeting he has Monday morning.  It all just came about as a request Thursday night and I was in an all day meeting on Friday.  Eager to step up and honored to be asked to assist, I was dedicated to the task at hand.  I would drop everything and rearrange my weekend schedule regardless of other plans to get this done.

Do I do the same for God when He calls me to do something?  NO.

So as that was going through my head this morning, I realized how able, willing and ready I was to immediately do this for my VP...yet, I have been working on a project for the One and Only CEO in Heaven for over two months now because I keep allowing less important things to take precedence.  It is something I could have completed in less than a month and here I am in my third month.  Why?

I think it is a combination of things....one I am constantly getting burned out from my daily duties at work and it makes me worthless after 7pm at night.  So-what does that tell me?  I need to wake up earlier to do the important things I want to accomplish.  If that means 5am or 5:30am then I need to organize my evenings to go to bed early enough to wake up early.

Also-I need to plan my weekends better and stick to the plan.  I am not good at this at all....when the weekends come, I sense freedom and I want to just go with the flow.  Oh and how I enjoy that.  I am encouraged to make an about face in this area when I think of all my friends who are parents. (99.9% of my friends)  They don't get to just do whatever they want, whenever they want, rather they have one, two, three children they are responsible for caring for, loving on and driving to places.  Their days are consumed with deeds for others.

Being single, it is so easy to get sucked into focusing on just myself.  I need to defend against that and make the effort to spend my time helping and serving others, otherwise I will end up unfufilled in the long run.  It is one thing to say it and know it and another to actually do it.

Why am I a person who has all of these big ideas, big goals and visions and yet I spend a lot of my time on things of such little value?

I am sure there is a balance in all this.  Each morning is a new opportunity to get things in order.  It is not going to happen without effort, work, and a plan that I am committed to sticking to...day by day.

Do I love Him enough to get things in order?

Lord-  In Romans 7 we learn about how our flesh wants to do one thing and the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us desires to do what we are called to do-bring You honor and glory by loving and serving others.  Yet while we know this and what know what is the right thing to do, we don't do it.  Help me as I struggle with this constantly, to get to a place where I always put You first Lord....always!

Isaiah 1:25

Isaiah 1:25
I will turn my hand against you;
    I will thoroughly purge away your dross
    and remove all your impurities.


Dross- waste matter, refuse
refuse (n)-something that is discarded as worthless or useless


Redeem- to buy or pay off or buy back; to make amends for....


In today's world we often say "I am not going to judge him or her"....or someone else might say in defense..."don't judge me."  Or we might even say, "I am only accountable to God."


But don't we have to stop and ask ourselves... if someone comes to us lovely to give us wise counsel, are we acting foolish if we get defensive and turn our back to them?  Shouldn't we receive their counsel, ponder it, think about if the intentions are pure and loving?  And if they are...take heed.


Most of us can sense if when someone has pure intentions when the come to us.  


I do not think it is healthy for me to only hold myself accountable to myself and God...there is too much freedom there.  I must have an accountability partner or two.  (and in most cases if not all that should not be a spouse who may be bias)  I prefer for it to be someone older than I who is a mentor and who has a deep faith.  I seek someone who calls it like it is and does not sugar coat anything and will be deeply honest and of course keep things confidential.


At the same time, I pray I am wise enough at all times to welcome constructive insight from my family and a few close friends.  If they can not comfortably come to me in truth, then there is something wrong on my side of the relationship.


In the verse above, God was speaking to Judah and its people.  I want God to reveal to me the refuse in my life, what is unnecessary.  I want Him to prune in me a pure heart, so I can walk more pure in my life and shine brighter.  I hope and pray that I am humble enough to receive that from those that love me most as well.


In my Bible in reference to Isaiah 1:25 it says this: 
God promised to refine His people similiar to the way that metal is purged with lye in a smelting pot.  This process involves melting the metal and skimming off the impurse dross until the worker can see his own image in the liquid metal.  We must be willing to submit to God, allowing Him to remove our sin so that we might reflect His image.


I love that!


I know a few areas God is currently pruning me in and one is with my words-they can be negative instead of always positive and up lifting. (sometimes I need to just be silent and use self-control)  I know this is in part a generational trait on one side of my family.  I also know through Christ and keeping my eyes on Him, I can overcome this day by day as I allow God to prune me.  I became aware of this through a loved one sharing with me.  I am not sure that I would have recognized it on my own-by only being accountable to myself...


Sometimes God may give us a gentle whisper or He may chose to send a friend or loving family member to speak to us...so we can be refined, so we can become more pure hearted, so we can be a bright shining light for Him and His Kingdom always.


Dear Lord-Humble me.  When you want to refine me, I know it is because You love me.  Help me to always be receptable to wise counsel, no matter how awkward the circumstances may be.  Help me to always have an open heart to be accountable to You and to others, so I can continue to grow closer to You.  You made each of us in Your image, and the mor the dross gets out of the way, the more clearly I start to be a better reflection of You.  I love you Lord.