It's Quiet Up Here

Matthew 5:1 "Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciples came to him."

The mountain top experiences I have been referring to have been those times spent in the presence of other believers sharing in the message given by a Spirit lead speaker. But those times don't happen everyday. Even if you regularly attend a church and the pastor is a gifted teacher, one can not live on Sundays alone. We are meant to get in to the presence of God, up on the mountain as often as we need it and we need it more often than we realize.

When Jesus went up to the mountain in Matthew 5 he was going away from the crowds of people. His disciples followed him likely because they had the same need, to be alone with their teacher. It was no big planned event. They didn't pay big bucks to have a speaker flown in or string extension cords up there so that the guitar would sound just right. It was just the disciples and their teacher. I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to say Jesus probably didn't have a bunch of notes prepared for what he would share with them either. It was his heart to theirs, pouring out, refueling, and filling up.

Mark 6:46 "And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray."

Jesus went where there was peace and solitude to pray. Turns out a mountain is a pretty good place for that. The mountain is where God pours in to you. You talk to God and then sit and listen.

I am a busy minded person. If my body isn't moving you can be sure that my mind is. In fact I have to repeat the word "off" and I imagine turning off a light switch at night so I can go to sleep. Even then I start making up scenarios in which I might be turning off a light and before I realize it my mind is wide awake again counting down a row of 572 light switches. I understand the difficulty of quieting the mind but I want to imitate my savior. He went to the mountain for quiet and to fellowship with the Father.

Matthew 28:16-17a " Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him the worshiped him..."

They went there to SEE Jesus. Jesus is on the mountain. I want to be WITH Jesus.