Climbing to new levels requires an endurance with a very focused goal. Whatever you face that’s preventing you from climbing, press on and press through!
How do we do that? “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12: 2
How can going to the cross be defined as joy? How do we suffer pain and look beyond all the hurt? That’s the key, we must look beyond! These two brave souls, the bride and groom we see pictured above, had to see the goal prior to endure the hard work of climbing, before enabling them to stand upon that boulder. Before they even began, they had to see it first! I’m sure the goal wasn’t kissing his Bride, he could have done that way down below, as he stood on shallow ground.
Looking Beyond To Focus
Where are our eyes focusing? In hardships, we must look beyond the surface of things. Jesus had to do this too. He had to see what was before Him: joy–the joy of resurrection, the joy of us (his children) being set free. Joy is on the other side of the issue or problem that we are now having. The ONLY way for Jesus to endure such horrific pain, was to endure through it all and see it all finished and completed. Is it any wonder why He declared, “It is finished!” He saw the finish line and the victory!
Maybe that’s why Paul said, “Make my joy complete, by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Philippians 2: 2
Jesus saw Himself seated at the right hand of the throne. Today, we have the privilege of sitting with Him, when we shut out the world and focus on Him. We can take the opportunity, as often as we would like, and reserve time with Him–sitting quietly and listening to Him. When we implement this, we are still climbing.
For some folks sitting is not a priority in their lives. The more busy we become, the less time we have to think about what’s going on in our life. Busyness can keep us from Him and from addressing an issue. Busyness can keep us from feeling, from identifying our feelings. We think if we distance ourselves, we will be ok and won’t be in a vulnerable place.
There is always One that goes before us in our pain. He (Jesus, the One) decided at Gethsemane to carry out the will of the Father. His love for us and His obedience to the Father took him straight into the pain, yet, enabled Him to see the end result–victory and restoration.
When that bride and groom climbed to that level, I’m sure they were suffering some pain before the end result. With mountain climbing and hiking to new levels, there is elevation sickness, there is aching and hurting muscles, and exhaustion, but they pressed on!
It is my prayer that we will see the other side of glory, with joy unspeakable being forever ours. Whatever shame we feel, Jesus took that upon Himself too. He “scorned the shame.”
Look Beyond The Hurt And Pain
Don’t stay stuck in your pain! When Jesus was trying to prepare His disciples by telling of His death, He said,”You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. (John 16: 20-21)
Perhaps all the grief you are suffering now, is because you are standing on the edge of giving birth to something?
Jesus was encouraging His disciples to look beyond when He said, “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” (John 16: 22)
Whatever assaults us in this world cannot remove the joy that we have, because of the resurrection! The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. Rise above the assaults, persecutions, misunderstandings, hurts and wounds, and set your eyes on the Author and Perfecter (Finisher) of our faith, Jesus, (our Joy), who is set before us! He has gone before us, so we can see Him!
He is standing on the other side of our pain and wounded hearts, with His arms open wide to receive us. Joy and victory are before us, awaiting to see us step out of the pain. Recognize that resurrection has come! He has overcome!
“Know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.” (Philippians 3: 10)
“Not that I have already attained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.” (Philippians 3: 12)
He not only is set before us, He goes before us and takes hold of us. Sometimes we just need held!
Keep Climbing
Crawl and climb up on a chair and tell Jesus you need a hug, wait, and watch Him meet you there, as He releases peace over you. Then step out and know you are stepping into His strength. Be boulder than most! Press on fellow, wounded servant of Christ, He is before us! He has new heights for us to climb to. The first step is to step over what hurt you and step away from what wants to hold you there!
It took lots of steps for this Bride and Groom to achieve standing on this huge rock. My suspicion is that the Groom stepped first upon this rock and held his Bride’s hand as she stepped into where he had landed. Jesus holds our hands when we are stepping into a new position. We just have to lean on and lean into Him and trust Him in the process. Their pursuit of being bolder (boulder) than most, was accomplished! Keep stepping and crossing over.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on My Beloved’s Voice
KINGDOM ASSURANCE
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