40 Days Post 1 – Landing Safely From A Spiritual High Series

40 Days of Purpose – Your Spiritual Journey Part 1

How to Safely Land after a Spiritual High

“I think I’ve got everything. I’m off to climb a mountain. I’ve been in training all week – climbing all those stairs up to my office. I’ve climbed them at least 20 times this week. I’ve got my back pack filled with all the essentials – baked beans, baked beans, and baked beans. I’ve got my goggles – very important to keep the snow out. I’ve got my hiking boots, my climbing pick for those really steep sections. I’ve got my beanie and my scarf – to keep me warm, my big jacket And a rope – just in case I have to absaille down a cliff. I think I’m ready – but will I be safe.

Let me ask you a question – what’s the highest point on earth? Mount Everest. 29,035 feet. Did you know that close to 1,500 people have climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest? They’ve made it all the way to the top. During that period of time, 160 plus people have died, trying to summit Mt. Everest. That means that 1 in 10 die. And for that privilege, they pay about $60,000; 90 days of their lives and 1 in 10 don’t make it back. What do you think that is about? Let me ask you a question – is it more dangerous to climb Mt. Everest, or to descend down the slope of Mt. Everest? More people have died descending while they did trying to summit. That’s why I don’t just have all this gear, but I’ve also got my parachute – I figure that instead of climbing down, I’d leap off and glide on down. I wonder why no one has ever thought of doing that before???

Do you realise that there’s a spiritual application to all this? You need to be extra careful coming down from high places. Think about it. It is easy climbing trees – a lot harder climbing down. You know that is why policemen carry guns don’t you – to get all those cats down that are too scared to climb down out of trees. Over the past 7 weeks, many of us have been on a high place. We’ve been on a bit of a spiritual high. We’ve learnt so much about our purpose. We’ve grown closer to God as we’ve studied his Word. But now we begin the descent down the mountain to the normality of life. So to help us make a safe descent, we are beginning a two-week series all about getting started on the next leg of our spiritual journey.

Did you know that it is a fact of nature that beside mountains, there are valleys. There is probably nothing surer than the fact that as we come off a spiritual mountain top experience, some of us will be passing through valleys. And Satan will try his hardest to make these the darkest and most horrible places. How will we survive?

Let me ask you another question – in weather patterns…would you rather have a high-pressure system or a low-pressure system? If you know anything about weather, you’d tell me that you’d rather have a big high-pressure system. That’s where stable air is. You get fine weather, beautiful days and . It is the low-pressure systems that bring the unstable weather – the storms, the rain, the cyclones. Everything might be cruising along for you now, but with weather you can be sure that after each High, there will come a Low. If we are not ready for the inevitable lows of life, spiritually and emotionally, you’re going to be in trouble.

Life is a series of ups and downs. Life is a series of highs and lows. In life you’re going to find both the good and the bad. Did you hear about the guy who’s talking to his buddy and he said, “Hey, did you hear that John fell out of an airplane?” His buddy said, “Oh, that’s bad.” The first guy said, “No, he had a parachute.” The other guy said, “Oh, that’s good.” The first guy said, “Well, the parachute didn’t open.” The other guy said, “Oh, that’s bad.” The first guy said, “No, there was a haystack.” The other guy said, “Oh, that’s good.” The first guy said, “No, there was a pitchfork in it.” The other guy said, “Oh, that’s bad.” The first guy said, “No, he missed the pitchfork.” The other guy said, “Oh, that’s good.” The first guy said, “No, he missed the haystack.” Now, that was bad. That was really, really bad.

Life is like that sometimes isn’t it. You are on a roller coaster. And usually the highs are so good and the lows are so painful that you just want to hang onto the highs for as long as you can - .