The Lord spoke to me very clearly about invitations and tickets to Crested Butte. I thought to myself, “Crested Butte”? Thinking about it I pondered a little and thought well I’m recovering from a little shoulder injury but hey sounds like a deal! I’ll take some free tickets! For those of you who don’t know what Crested Butte is. It is a ski resort in the mountains of Colorado. To be quite honest skiing is not really my favorite thing to do. Especially right now when I desire some springtime/summer action concerning the weather. So I pondered a little further and thought I would look up these words. These words are definitely personal but I believe they have an across the board application to His Body. Here are the definitions:

Crested–the highest part of the mountain. Butte an isolated mountain abruptly above surrounding land.

Called to the Mountain Peak with Him

God is calling us to the very highest point of His Mountain, the Mountain of the Lord. This is a heavenly call. He is giving us hinds feet for His High Places. It is a very clear call but all the same with any invitation that God gives, it requires us to in turn invite Him to take us on that journey to His places. With every invitation a response is required.

The definition for Butte really speaks in terms of the mountains He puts before us. There is a place of isolation that God prepares for us. Just as the Mountain is before us it is not an easy task to climb that Mountain, pioneer that raw terrain to the top. It is not a convenient or good situation, but somewhat abrupt, steep and unexpected. But His grace does make the journey a lively experience! There is much adventure, encounter and learning that happens on this trip. And though we walk much of the way I do believe that God has his own lifts to get us up the mountain much quicker than we expected while enjoying the scenery at the same time! While we ride we get to view the heavenlies and have a heaven to earth perspective on things. But there are both aspects to the journey.

Led to the Mountain

Another word that I investigated somewhat was mountain. Apparently Jesus loves mountains because He went up them often.

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.

Matthew 5:1

We also find divine attraction from the multitudes when Jesus came down off the mountain as well as Jesus being spiritually prepared as He came down:

When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.

Matthew 8:1

There are many other passages where Jesus went up to the mountain to pray. Of course He was transfigured on the mountain. He also released divine commands to His disciples as He ascended down from the mountain (Matt. 17:9). We see also that He led His disciples up the high mountain by themselves with God (Mark 9:2). Here again we see the picture of the place that God prepares for us and He leads us there to be with Him so that we may be holy conduits of His glory and grace. It was in the place when He was alone with Peter, James and John that He was transformed before their eyes. That mountain experience transformed all three of these and marked them for the rest of their lives. After this encounter they were never the same for they had seen Jesus in His glorified state. This does not mean that they had experienced it all – but that they had tasted another level of His glory. This taste is a deposit for a deeper desire for more of the realities of heaven.

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

Matthew 17:1

Enjoy the Journey

We all come to certain places on the mountain in our journey with God. There are plateaus that we rest on. God calls us to come up higher! He says, You have rested. Now geter goin! In other words, it is time to move on to a higher place in my Spirit, in my Presence, in desire, in hunger, in commitment and consecration. Maturity is a process. We will be maturing our entire lives. So just enjoy the ride, rest on the plateau when you need to (and you will) and then venture on further by His strength and grace. This is not the kind of thing we can make happen in our flesh. Just like any army has to rest, so do we. We must enjoy the journey and allow Him to carry us. Because even when we think we are strong that is deception. That is why Paul only boasted in his weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest upon him. Our strength is found solely in Him. What we do is choose, obey, follow, say yes and pray, Help Lord! Then He will take us from that point of admission of weakness and dependency upon Him to the place where His strength fills us to enjoy the ride.