For
Every Mountain…
Are you a mountain climber? Have you ever tried it? Well,
I’m here to tell you that you are a mountain climber whether you know it or not. I’m not talking
about real mountains like Mt. Everest. I’m talking about those spiritual mountains that we face that
seem like they’re Mt. Everest. And just like a lot of people who attempt to climb Mt. Everest, we
attempt to climb ours too. Now, how successful we are, well…
So, I would like to
give you some “Spiritual Mountain Climbing Training”. This will be a step-by-step guide
that will happen over several different Blog entries, so stay tuned.
First, let’s describe what I mean
by “Spiritual Mountains.” A “Spiritual Mountain” in your life is anything that
causes great difficulties, trials or hardship. These mountains try your faith and can cause spiritual,
mental, emotional and sometimes physical distress. An example may be loss of job, infidelity, death of
a love one or a wayward child.
In the real mountain climbing world, mountain climbing is viewed as an extreme sport.
In the spiritual world, it can feel extreme but I don’t know if you would consider it to be a sport.
I know when I think of sports, I think of entertainment. The only one who would be entertained by
our spiritual mountains would be the enemy of our souls.
Real mountain climbing can challenge your strength, endurance and
sacrifice. It can be extremely dangerous, even fatal especially when you are out of your depth, or become
overwhelmed by weather, terrain, ice or other dangers of the mountain. Also, inexperience, poor planning
and inadequate equipment can all contribute to injury or death. So knowing what to do right matters.
Our spiritual walk or climbing can challenge our strength, endurance and sacrifice. At times, it
can be dangerous where you can die if you are only relying on your own strength versus God’s. Also,
poor training & inadequate equipment can contribute to injury or death.
So, maybe you’re thinking, I’m
not making this connection between mountain climbing training and training to climb spiritual mountains. Well,
I’m here to help you see what the Word of God says about it.
Steps to Spiritual
Mountain Climbing:
- Do
your research. Before you attempt to climb your
spiritual mountain, do as much reading/studying about the skills needed and about other people’s experiences.
Where should you start? Start with the Word of God! 2 Timothy 2:15
says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.” It is as important to understand
the spiritual effort required to climb a spiritual mountain as it is the mental and physical effort.
You also must know how to use your spiritual equipment properly, and one of the best ways of understanding this
is to read the stories of other “mountaineers” who have climbed many challenging, seemingly impossible
mountains. All of this info can be found in the manual of choice of successful mountain climbers:
the Holy Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
You can also use books, DVDs, etc. written by people who live out what they write about to help.
But remember they are not the Word of God. If you are a member of a bible-believing church like
New Vision Community Church, you can attend their weekly Bible Study to help equip you to be ready.
A good story to read about that demonstrates courage in the midst of a challenge, is the story of David and Goliath
(Read 1 Samuel 17) Goliath can definitely be considered a mountain, physically and spiritually.
He was over 9 ft. tall. David exemplified courage because his faith and trust was in God.
Another story in the Bible can be found in Numbers 13-14:10. The story of the 12 spies and
the land of Canaan. Ten came back with fear and discouragement. Two came back having their faith rooted
in God; they knew they could defeat their enemies, no matter the size. Each story gives us examples of
what to do and what not to do. We cannot let our “mountains” overwhelm us with fear, we must
look to our ever-present, powerful God to enable us to accomplish the task at hand.
Next time we will
look at Step 2: Assess your strength.
