Prophetic Encouragement: It’s Time To Ascend!

I recently heard the Lord say “it’s time to ascend the mountain of the Lord” and He highlighted these verses from Psalm 24:

“Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, O God of Jacob.”

I then saw an image of an extremely high mountain that looked similar to Mt. Everest, with climbers tethered together by a golden chord, traversing the mountainside. However, each climber was at a different elevation; with some sitting on the lower summits, while others were situated on higher ledges. Still others had traveled even further up the mountainside, but all seemed to be resting on plateaus.  

The Lord was using imagery to draw a comparison between the physical climb up a mountain to a believer’s spiritual ascent into His presence. 

We all know that Mt. Everest is the highest peak in the world, and for climbing enthusiasts, it is the mountain to conquer. But even before a climber can ascend to what is referred to as “Mt. Everest base camp”, he/she must spend days completing practice hikes in order to get acclimated to the higher elevations. 

The Lord then showed me that in a believer’s spiritual trek, when we reach a plateau, the Lord gives us time to become acclimated to operating from that space of His presence, but because we are never meant to remain stationary, the Lord internally prods us to keep moving on, to continue ascending up the precipice of His Presence. 

This is what I heard:

Further up, further up, it’s time to ascend, to leave behind those lower plateaus and continue on this mountainous trek. For surely there are always higher peaks to scale on our journey to the very pinnacle of My Presence.

Yet to reach the greater heights of this spiritual altitude requires determination, as each successive leg of this supernatural terrain has an increase to its vertical pitch, and therefore, demands more than just a few half-hearted attempts (like that of a weekend novice) to achieve further ascension into My Presence. For is it not still true, that in a temporal sense, an amateur climber should not expect to obtain the same results as that of a dedicated mountaineer? And so it is the same in the spiritual sense. Yet, to reach the higher peaks of My habitation, one must be wholehearted in their quest for ascension. 

 Then to My own do I say, “Press On!” For great shall be the reward of those who answer this call to ascend the “Mountain of the Lord”. Then none should be content to remain positioned at a lesser elevation when there is so much more of My Presence to encounter the further up we go. See then, I never intended for any of My children to solely occupy the foothills of My mountainous domain, for how could they know inner growth, or develop the muscles of their spiritual man, without ascending further up this supernatural terrain?

So then it is not simply enough to admire from afar the beauty and grandeur of who I AM. Those who call Me “Father” were meant to have ongoing encounters with My Divine Presence. Thus should they maintain a posture of forward advancement, as My hand shall always beckon them to ascend into the higher realms of My dwelling place. Then shall it be that those who are found pressing onward will not be hindered by complacency, nor stymied by spiritual stagnation, as these children are not content to remain at the lower elevations of My Presence. 

Those, then, who desire to reach the highest peaks of My habitation must actively apply themselves to this endeavor, as this is the behavior employed by those who, in the temporal sense,  long to scale that monolithic terrain of Everest; then to ascend the “Mountain of the Lord”, this simple principle must be employed.  Therefore, just having a few thoughts about what it would be like to climb further up into My Presence will not do, for one must take intentional steps to embark upon this journey, otherwise, they shall remain perched indefinitely upon those lower plateaus. 

[And I saw written in all caps the word PLATEAUED;  meaning some believers had reached a certain point in their spiritual journey and were unwilling to move on; and because they had grown quite comfortable at that spiritual altitude, these believers had taken on the attitude of “I am just fine where I am”, and I sensed a spiritual leveling off of sorts]

Then the Lord continued:

And yet, let none be mistaken: those children that settle in upon the lower summits of My Presence, though they are still loved by Me, will find, however, that diminished shall be our relationship, as it is incumbent upon them to press in.  It is then that they shall encounter the spiritual momentum needed to further ascend My holy mountain, for surely is the rate of ascent determined by how much time My own spend seeking Me.

 So though all who belong to My household are invited to join this noble quest, still shall a good number of My children not even attempt to move beyond where they are currently found standing, as in their hearts do these believers doubt further ascent is even possible. They have yet to learn how to connect with Me in the depths of their spirit, and so, has their experience with Me only ever been on a superficial level.

 Oh how I long for each of My children to answer this call to ascend, as there is still so much of Myself that has yet to be revealed. 

Then, again do I say, “Further up, further up, it is time to ascend the “Mountain of Lord”. So loose off any voice which urges you to remain idle, or says, “You can ascend tomorrow”. Reject this notion, and press in, for “now” is the time…now is the time to climb higher into My Presence”.

The Lord said to me, “the practical application should not be ignored”, meaning He wanted me to speak for a moment about the process of ascending: about how we can position ourselves to encounter His presence. 

So, this is what the Lord showed me about ascending: In the verse I shared at the beginning of this video, Psalm 24, David asks “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place?” The short answer: those who are without sin. But the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. So who can really be sinless?

It is those who have been covered by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. They can ascend the mountain of the Lord, as His atoning death makes us, as believers, sinless by proxy. According to John 14:6, the only way to the Father is through His Son. He is the only qualifier, we don’t need a degree in theology, or attain a certain level of Christian maturity to encounter the presence of God. We need Jesus.

Christ’s redemptive blood opened the way, now all believers have access to the Lord’s presence. Before the cross, only a high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. But upon Jesus’ death, the veil was torn, which meant the barrier that blocked the way into God’s Holy habitation was gone, and now all of His children can freely access His dwelling place.

In Hebrews 10 it says:

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” 

Something else the Lord showed me about ascending, is that “intentionality” is involved, meaning we must purpose in our hearts to seek Him. 

Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

We do this by intentionally creating space for Him in our lives; where we set aside every distraction, and quiet our own thoughts, so we can just rest in His presence. 

However, the Lord reminded me that this does take practice. Taking our thoughts captive can be a bit challenging because we aren’t used to operating from a heaven to earth mentality. When we connect with the Lord in that space of His presence, it is with our inner man that we access Him and not through our outward senses. We have to position our thoughts so they dwell on Him alone.

When I first practiced entering His presence, I imagined myself entering into the Lord’s Throne Room. Now that might sound a little odd, but focusing on that image helped to keep my thoughts from wandering, and eventually, I was able to settle into an internal posture of rest and peace. Every time a random thought tried to intrude, I would recenter my focus back on His Throne Room. It was difficult at first, but I kept at it, and then one day something shifted, and I heard the Lord speak. It was only a short phrase, but I knew it was Him because He used a word I had never heard before. 

I wish I could say that practicing His presence became my top priority after that, but life came crashing in, as it often does and pulled at my attention, and so cultivating His presence was inconsistent; that is until about 7 years ago.

After work one evening, the Lord asked me to sit up with Him for a bit, which I did, though admittedly, I just wanted to go to bed. However, in that moment, my relationship with Him changed dramatically. As I sat in His presence, the Lord asked me to pick up my pen and write down what I heard Him say. A few hours later, I had pages of prophetic promises He was speaking over me. Since then, He has spoken words to me just about every day in what He calls “letters”. If you go to my blog “mydailyletters.com”, you’ll find a collection of those words.

In Hebrews 11:6 it says “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” What greater reward could we receive than His presence?

This is just my personal journey of ascension. You may have had a different experience, but the Lord wanted me to share with you my experience with Him as an encouragement to others who may not know what it looks like or even what He means by ascending. 

I’m going to leave you with this: If you have a hunger for more of God’s presence in your heart, don’t ignore it, but be intentional and begin to cultivate His presence in your life. It’s never too late, even for those who, as the Lord said, have plateaued. God is still beckoning you onward.

I heard Him say, “Ascend, ascend, there is more that lies just ahead; Arise now and ascend!”.