Wednesday, October 17, 2007

This is an excerpt from my newly released book Magnify The Lord: Ten Reasons to Discover, Declare, and Defend why Christ Came, (Xulon Press ; ISBN 9781602669314).
*The Mountain
By Stephanie Holden

Oh how I long for our trips to the Mountain
Where we fellowship sweet with our Lord.
On this mountain we linger. We take our time
And drink from the depths of His Word.

It’s here where He teaches the deep things of God.
In His Word we find such delight
The abundance of goodness fills our souls to the depths
And His glory is brought into sight.

Oh that we could stay here forever
As He strengthens our battle worn frames
Each truth He reveals, Each promise He imputes,
Equips for the tasks He has paved.

As He sings over us as we rest in His shadow
We find perfect refuge and peace.
We’re renewed. We’re restored. We have all that we need.
In Him we are complete.

Oh how we want to stay on this Mountain forever
And never depart from His feet.
Then gently He reminds us the reason He fed us
His riches and precepts so sweet.

It’s to go down in the valley where the lost souls are
Who have yet to hear His great pardon.
Beautiful are the feet who bring the Good News
And the time is now before their hearts harden.

There are saints too who are down from the enemies blows
Who need reminding of their Strong Tower
To lead them to the Mountain we so love and desire
So they too can be strengthened in power.

So down we come from the Mountain we love
And oh how we savor each moment passing.
Into the world we go as our Savior instructed,
Armed with truth and filled with passion.

Our trips to the Mountain sustains these old tents
That frame us as were just passing through.
We know why we’re here—to take up the cross
And at all cost share His Good News.

SEEK FIRST
The point is we should also be drawn out of our beds by our
heavenly Father each day. We ought to be delighted that the God of
heaven and earth is actively at work and awaiting our arrival. We
should be eternally grateful to Jesus that He has made it possible
for us to have an audience and the ear of God Almighty. We must be
humbled to know that our covenant-keeping God desires to reveal
the secrets of His covenant with us. It could only be the reality of our
sin and the manifestation of our flesh that would cause us to look for
ways to avoid the secret place of God. We must seek Him with all of
our hearts while He still may be found. Jesus, who is our example,
did just that.
"The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back." (Is.50:4-6)
*Taken from Magnify the Lord: Ten Reasons to Discover, Declare, and Defend why Christ Came, chapter 1 (He's Come to Defer), pages 19 & 20.

1 comment:

Chris Buckalew said...

Oh how sweet it is to come to the Mountain of God. I have certainly been there every day this week. It is hard, at times, to come down off the Mountain and descend into the valleys. But if we go there to spread the Good News and we are strengthened by the Lord and filled with the Holy Spirit, then we can prevail against the world. We are not supposed to stay on the Mountain all the time, but rather go into a lost and dying world to spread the light and to give away what has freely been given to us. We have overcome the world through our Savior Jesus Christ. For we are "more than conquerors" with Christ. Stephanie, I really loved the poem, isn't it good to know that we can come to the Mountain of God and be renewed in the spirit, revived in our hearts, and sustained in our bodies to go out and do the work of an evangelist. Truth Impacts Ministries is doing a wonderful service, I know God will continue to bless your family and your ministry. I would like to thank you and Nick both for the blog, it serves as a fountain of blessing every day and gives me something to think about throughout my day. Inspiration and encouragement to better serve others.

Your brother in Christ,
Chris Buckalew