A Mountain of truth - Commit to the Mountain

A few weeks ago I started reading this book, and I must say it has spoken deeply into my spirit and God has used it to help me in  many ways. Mostly very deep and personal.

I have discovered that there some (not many) Salvos who are not that impressed by the founding Pastor of the Hillsong church. I find that sad... really sad, actually it makes me down right angry when the church ..any church, criticises another church or pastor or leader. I think some have forgotten that in heaven we will share the space together...  None of us who love Jesus and serve Him will miss out on that, and we are brothers and sisters through our inheritance in Jesus Christ.

This book is insightful about him (Brian Houston) and what makes him tick and what makes that church tick, but more than that, there is a mountain of truth in this book and that is what I wanted to blog about today.

It was this morning in my devo's that I read chapter 17, and God really spoke to me through these words..some of which I quote today.

"you've just got to commit to the mountain ".....

now you will need to read that book and specifically that chapter to understand the context of it but it spoke to me ..hugely about the mountains I have faced and do face in my life and how God has invited me to commit to my own mountain today, and all that entails.

We all face mountains.... whether its fear, doubt, hurt, neglect, abandonment, rejection, being ignored, feeling diminished, alone, debt, or relationship breakdown or a feeling of being disappointed.

I love how Brian puts it, ( I feel like I know him intimately after reading this book, but truth is He has no idea who I am ...lol )...

Here's a snapshot pic of that page(234), so I don't have to type it all out again...( just lazy)

 I have felt disappointment and its like these very words were written personally to me for this time of my life. ( you might feel them too, and then maybe not)

But for me, just now, God spoke directly to me through the words and reminded me that nothing is hidden from Him that He sees me and knows what I feel and sense and what I am hurt by.

What I am disappointed by and all that stuff... and then challenges me to commit to my mountain, to understand that this mountain is set for me at this time, and that in this mountain I need to embrace I will see the glorious wonder of God at work in my life once again...

We don't want to do it do we ? half the time we wish the mountains that are obstacles and struggle would go away and we would rest in the sweet peace of the valley...

Mountain top experiences are often understood as " high times"- even "good times", and they can be, but sometimes the mountains are in fact huge obstacles in our way, and for us to manoeuvre our way through that experience we may need to commit to the process and  embrace it and then see the wonder of it all again.

Does it speak to you ?

Do you get what I am talking about ?

Well even if you dont necessarily understand me, the truth is, that God still speaks to us in varying ways doesnt He ? 

... and today He reminded me that my personal disappointment is in fact His appointment for now.

so I must commit to the mountain and embrace it and see the majesty of God and His glory unfold right before my eyes.

  and so I remind you and myself of the words of Psalm 121

 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

.......................................................................................

Whatever mountain you face today..

commit to it, embrace it,

 and see the wonder of God unfold before your eyes.

as I too hope for myself in this also.

My But may very well be bigger than yours.

When it comes to the size of my but...well ...let's just say I had developed a few (buts). 

Take a listen and look at this video presentation,and allow God to speak into your situation today.

Click here : -    Major Gary Grant : Speaking the Truth. 

May the new fur begin to grow on your legs.

This might appear as a strange blog entry but it is nevertheless very true for all of us...

Please read on...

“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭13:15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This little guy is very precious to our family... He hasn't been or had the best of health in his short life, but he is a happy dog and mostly ...now..healthy.

When we lived at Ringwood, our backyard was mostly concrete and as result of that "Caddy" had developed callouses on his legs from laying on the concrete all the time. 

He is only 3 years old so it's all he has ever known.

But since we moved to Cheltenham and he now has grass in the backyard, the strangest and nicest thing has started to happen, and only after a month... The callouses are starting to disappear and his fur is growing over them and through them. 

I love that by the way..

Here's what I have gleaned from this...

We are or can be, a product of our environment, in other words, who we hang with, what we do, ..where we live, can affect our being. We can become calloused if we are not careful.  It might be all we have ever known in our life.

Having a calloused heart isn't a good thing... Callouses are hard and ugly...

and so are calloused hearts... And mindsets.

Hard and ugly, and usually formed because of some reason to do with 

environment and atmosphere.  

The evidence is there to prove it... the evidence always proves it.

Where we live and who we do life with and how we adjust our thinking and mindset to the "circumstances in our lives".

I think we find ourselves becoming hard and cold and unmoved, when we have been hurt or damaged by others around us.. By our circumstances or environment ... Certainly that was true for Caddy.

But what is also pretty awesome, is..change the environment and circumstances and start to heal up.

The old saying is true... You will keep getting what you have already got if you keep doing what you are already doing...

We all know that is true... It is changing that ...which could be the real issue.

If you don't like what you have got in your life... If you find yourself calloused and cold, hard and brittle, cynical and skeptical and perhaps your life even sucks... Well you might need to get rid of the concrete around you. (And start living on the grass. (you know what I mean)

Caddy is a completely different dog... And I know we are not dogs but the analogy is still true.

If all we do each day is hang around with angry hurtful, bitter people, who damage our spirit... and we allow our hearts to be hardened, then it is a sure thing that is what we will always be.

So it's pretty obvious then, isn't it ?

Change the environment,  Change the atmosphere and remove the callouses.

Don't know if that makes sense to anyone today as you read this.. But it sure is true about our dog and I know it's true about the human heart and mindset.

Not sure how to do it ? For you ?

Happy to chat with you about how you can change things up for your life..

You can contact me here on the blog..

(make a comment...just dont be anonymous, I ignore anon comments)

Or email me at:

gary.grant@aus.salvationarmy.org

I would be most happy to walk with you and assist you and pray for you, in removing any callouses that you may have found in your heart.

May God bless you with healing in your life today and may the new fur begin to grow on your legs.

(Lol)