Four Days on the Mountain — E.A. Johnston

Seeking God Through Grief and Loss

Years ago, I had just come through a terrible loss in my life, where my wife died suddenly and tragically. And through this grief, I wanted to go deeper with God. So I set apart some time, early in the mornings, before dawn, to pour over my Bible and pray to my God in an earnest seeking of Him.

I wanted to experience more of Him. And in my daily quiet time, I was led to the epistle to the Colossians, and I camped out in verse 10 of chapter 1, which reads, That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

And in the right-hand margin of my Bible, I began to break down each sentence of that verse in typical preacher fashion and outline it. I wrote, All pleasing means having a daily quiet time with God in my walk to be pleasing with Him.

But being fruitful means abiding in the vine in a close walk with Him, and on and on. And God interrupted me, told me to put my pen down and hear Him. So I sat still, and I waited to hear from Him. He spoke to me, and He said, If ye will give me four days to seek my face.

On Colossians 1 .10, I will tell you what my word means to you from my perspective. And I will give you four keys to a deeper relationship with me out of this verse in Colossians 1 .10, to where my word will become a reality in your life.

So I set apart four days to do this very thing. The first morning, I was in my study at 4 .30 a .m. to spend two hours with God in prayer. And He broke down Colossians 1 .10 into four parts that each pertain to me and what He expected of me through His Word becoming a reality in my life.

And all the interpretations were quite opposite of what I had already written out in the margin of my Bible. And I was to give Him these four days to hear His voice on four aspects of this verse as they were given me from His perspective on how they applied to me.

I soon realized the difficulty involved in this commitment to God where I was given Him from 4 .30 to 6 .30 a .m. each morning to seek His face and hear from Him. And I also, friends, realized the accountability that I would carry the rest of my life in being faithful and obedient to what He finally revealed to me during those four strategic days on that mountaintop experience with Him.

Going Deeper With God Requires Serious Commitment

The title of my message today, friends, is Four Days on the Mountain. And we will be in Colossians 1 .10 as we go over the business of going deeper with God. I know some of you may have a desire to go deeper with God.

And we're going to cover that today because you have to get serious with God first before you can go deeper with Him. I believe God gets serious with those who get serious with Him. And I know from experience, friends, that anything worthwhile in life, whether it's higher education or learning a craft or a sport or a career, comes with a sacrifice and a cost because what costs counts and what counts costs.

Like I said, I had passed through a time of deep grief in my life and I wanted more of God. I wanted to experience more of Him. And I was determined to seek Him until I found Him and learned from Him.

And over the course of four days, He took that little verse from Colossians 1 .10 and He broke it down into four sections, four separate parts, and applied each one to me with the purpose of His Word becoming a reality in my life.

Walking Worthy Through the Fellowship of Suffering

The first morning on that mountaintop, He gave me the following, "...that ye might walk worthy of the Lord.". Then He spoke, "...that ye might walk worthy in the fellowship of my sovereigns.". During these times with God, He always gave me a companion verse to back up His Word and how it applied to me.

And God gave me a companion verse from Philippians 3 .10, "...that I may know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sovereigns being made conformable unto His death.". And He said, "...if you want to participate in my resurrection power, then you must participate in the fellowship of my sovereigns.".

Little did I know at the time the great sufferings that lay before me in the years to come. The next day, during the hours with Him from 4 .30 a .m. to 6 .30 a .m., He gave me the second part of the verse from Colossians 1 .10, "...unto all pleasing.".

Faith as the Foundation of Pleasing God

And the companion verse He gave me that morning was Hebrews 11 .6, "...but without faith it is impossible to please Him.". And it was here that God declared to me that He was to make me a man of faith, that He would place me in situations in the coming years that would build faith in me as He built faith in His disciples when He was here in His earthly ministry.

And I can say this, friends, the last ten years of my life have been the hardest ten years of my life. I've been in more jams, more adversity, more trials, and more trouble like nothing before or preceding it.

But through it all, God has built faith in me. He's molded me into a man of faith. His Word is true, and He is true to His Word. The third day, on the mountaintop, He gave me the third part of the verse from Colossians 1 .10, "...being fruitful in every good work.".

Fruitfulness Through the Spirit's Control

And the companion verse He gave me that morning was Zechariah 4 .6, "...this is the word of the Lord, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.". And God said to me, My Spirit must be in complete control at all times through your surrendered life.

Growing in the Knowledge of God

The fourth day on the mountain, between 4 .30 a .m. and 6 .30 a .m., God gave me the last part the fourth part of that verse from Colossians 1 .10, "...an increasing in the knowledge of God.". And He gave me a companion verse from Jeremiah 33 .3, "...call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.".

Then He said, "...you will experience more of Me through the fulfilled promises I will reveal to thee.". And in the coming days, friends, God gave me 18 promises out of the book of Isaiah, each promise beginning with verse 18 of that particular passage that He was going to use in my life.

Living Beyond a Firecracker Faith

Four days on the mountaintop, several years in the valley, have allowed me to experience more of Him, more of God, than I ever dreamed that I could ever realize, friends. God is a big God. God is a dynamite God.

He's a super-duper God who still works miracles today, and I believe in that kind of God, friend. I like the comment by Vance Havner, who said, "...if we serve such a dynamite God, then how come so many of us are living firecracker lives?".

Well, I came to the place in my life, friends, where I didn't want to live a firecracker life any longer, and I stepped out on faith. I stepped out on a limb for God and trusted Him to take me deeper with Him and to make His Word a living reality in my life.

Maybe you're a pastor who's burned out and ready to throw in the towel. Don't do it, brother pastor. Pull up your bootstraps and commit to going deeper with God. You get serious enough with Him, He can revolutionize your entire ministry.

He did it to me. The Christian life is the greatest adventure in the world, friend, but God wants to stretch our faith so He can use us more for the good of His people and for His glory. Maybe you're a businessman who wants to do more for God, but you've been holding back because of your business.

Don't be afraid, friend. Go all out for God. Get out on the full stretch for God. He'll take care of all your bills. He'll take care of your family. He's just looking for faith. Oh, we've just got to trust Him more.

Prayer for Faith, Surrender, and Deeper Fellowship

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, I know you get serious with those who get serious with you. Oh God, Moses had to get up on a mountaintop with you to hear from you and do business with you, and it was done by a great sacrifice on his part.

But when he walked back down that mountain, he had the Ten Commandments in his hand. Oh, great and glorious King, put a fire in our bones, Lord, to seek you more fervently. Build faith in us so you can use us more.

Show each one of us here today, Lord, what we need to do personally in order to go deeper with you. I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.