Meet Him on the Mountain
Sheldon Bass
40 Days of Intimate Encounters with God
Especially designed for Christians who desire a closer relationship with the Lord. Included are: 40 devotional messages, expository notes, extra articles, beautiful color images, poetry & further reading section.

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book excerpt

Where is the mountain? The “Mountain of God” can be anywhere, for we simply equate the term with His presence. In fact, complete joy is found only in God’s presence. We know the Lord to be omnipresent, meaning in all places at the same time. Yet, what we seek is an intimate meeting of our heart and mind with His. Communication in near proximity with our Lord. A close encounter of the greatest kind! God delights in those who want to be with Him and who look for Him as a starving person would search for food. He has promised that when we seek Him with our whole heart we shall find Him—His presence with us. The Lord will come to us, by our invitation and by our desperation for Him. It is intimacy with God from which every blessing is bestowed. Whatever our need may be, it will be met in His presence, through the gift of God’s Spirit within us. From His hands come all good and perfect gifts. And there are pleasures to be enjoyed, beginning now and lasting for eternity. However, Jesus does not call us to a life of ease. Following Jesus is a life of self-denial, hardship, and at times, even suffering. But He gives the supernatural gifts requisite for being successful—the ability to endure. “And he said to them all, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23 If I’m to be completely filled with everything I need from now through forever, my first step is to find the path which leads to this life of abundance. This path to life which we seek and follow is a person. Jesus is the path. He, the Son of God is the way to God’s presence. I must first trust in Him as my Savior, and give control of my life over to Him. Approaching the Throne Each day, as we meet with the Lord, we come humbly and submissively, with hearts like softened clay, waiting to be shaped by the Master’s hands. We are eager to learn. Perhaps the best pleasure is seeing what we are being transformed into, as He fashions our hearts anew. We are becoming gorgeous from the inside out. Radiant and glowing in righteousness, as true children of God. We come with the knowledge that we are not worthy. But Jesus is. It is because of Christ’s blood that He shed on Calvary’s cross that we are accepted into the throne room of God. We are seen as righteous, because we wear Christ’s brilliant white robe of righteousness, which He gives to everyone who trusts in Him for their salvation. Our first attitude is humility. We come humbly and attentively—willing to change. Our second attitude is one of awe and respect for who and what God is. He is our Father, Creator, Judge and Master. The Lord is holy and righteous and just. He is all powerful and knows our deepest secrets. Thirdly, we are ever mindful of His great love, which casts out all fear. And our attitude of gratitude is expressed through our thankful hearts. God’s mercy endures forever. He has poured out His grace upon us. Our prayers are a sweet smelling fragrance to the Lord God. He wants to be close to us. God adores His children, who worship Him. We have much to thank Him for. Super Charging our Prayers Scripture reveals a means of gaining God’s ear and swaying His great heart through fasting and prayer. It demonstrates our submission to God and our earnest desire to please Him. But what exactly is fasting? Does that mean I can’t eat anything for forty days? That’s near impossible! There is good news. Your fast is very personalized. It’s a way to focus solely on your relationship with God. For some people, severe hunger can get in the way of that. Not eating food is the most well-known type of fast. But there are many others sorts of fasts also. Fasting is abstaining from something the flesh needs or wants in favor of concentrating on spiritual things—the things of God. Perhaps you may want to sacrifice a portion of your television viewing time to spend in prayer and bible reading. That too is a fast. Maybe you can deny yourself a particular physical pleasure for a number of days. If you are a chocolate lover you might abstain from chocolate. If you are married, you may want to refrain from sex for a time. If you enjoy a glass of wine at dinner, you could give that up for a while. The duration of your fast is entirely up to you. It is a sacrifice to the Lord—a love offering. You don’t have to fast at all to grow in your relationship with Jesus. However, it is recommended. Each day’s devotional thought is followed by a suggested prayer to help get you started as you speak to God about everything that is on your heart that day. We remain in communication with Him as we read from our bibles and think about how we should apply what we’ve read to our personal life. Each day we listen for His voice inside us, leading us. And we speak with Him, asking questions, thanking Him and praising Him. It is likely that the Lord will lead you to include the reading of other scriptures each day that are not suggested in this book. He is the master educator, follow Him.