I was beat like a rented mule, and I was close to being done.  This mountain was getting the best of me.

We had dared challenge the might of the Monashee Mountains in a glorious region known as the Pinnacles – named for the towering granite spires that shot straight up like spiritual steeples in the cathedral of creation.

It all began simply enough.  David, Benjamin and I had decided we would begin a tradition of going away as MacLean Men once a year to do some kind of manly trip.  This was our first of what we would later call our annual “testicle festival”.

We packed up the Durango for an overnighter, drove up past Cherryville and followed a 20 km gravel road to its end.  This was the beginning of the Monashee Lake trail.  We spent an uncomfortable, smelly night sleeping in the back of the SUV before beginning our quest to conquer the mountain the next morning.

I had not done a lot of research to determine the difficulty of this hike.  Hey, how hard could it be?  David was 9, Benjamin was 8, and I was still not quite 40.  We were strong, we were together and we were motivated.  We could do this.

According to an online description of the trail,

“A steep, no-nonsense charge upward to an alpine meadow and small lake…things get tricky…look up at the long debris chute – you’re going up that. It doesn’t matter how, since you will undoubtedly lose the snippets of trail along the way….at times you have to grope for roots and rocks, hoping they won’t come loose, and it feels like you’re gaining more height than distance. There are moments where you think “this must be the end of it” but it isn’t…this only happens a few tear-inducing times before you find yourself in a very alpine-ish meadow with large boulders and snow patches which signifies the true end of the climb.”

Half way up we found ourselves on a particularly “tear-inducing” section.  I was done.  I wanted to go back down.  Sure it’s beautiful.  I have no doubt it must be spectacular at the top.  But nothing can be worth this much discomfort.

That’s how I felt, but I knew better.

This was the make or break moment in our journey.  Either we would overcome our emotions, and bring our bodies in submission to our wills, or we would limp home defeated and weaker for it.

It was time for a Mountainside Motivational.

We needed to speak the truth to ourselves.  We needed to engage in positive self-talk.  We needed our wills to override our emotions and engage in the decision to keep moving forward.  We needed to actually shift our emotions and not allow our emotions to shift us.

So, I dug deep and basically said,

“Boys, this is hard isn’t it?  It’s tough!  I feel like quitting and going back – how about you?  But you know what?  We didn’t come here to give up.  We came here to overcome.  We have more strength than we realize.  So let’s decide that we’re not giving up.  We’re not giving in to our emotions.  We’re going to choose to keep moving forward.   We’re going to walk 50 paces and stop to encourage each other.  Then we will start up again and do it over and over until we reach the top.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!”

And we did it.  We made it to the top.  In fact, when the boys crested the mountainside and crossed over into the lake area they started jumping up and down with joy.  Their hearts grew 10 sizes that day.  They realized they had more strength than they thought.

I have no doubt you have found yourself on a mountainside of sorts from time to time – perhaps even now.  You may want to give up.  You may want to pack it in.

Don’t give up.  Give yourself a Mountainside Motivational.

Who do you talk to more than anyone?  Yourself.  So start speaking truth to yourself.  Start combating those thoughts and internal voices that are trying to convince you to give up.  Ensure your opinions are God’s opinions.  Bring your emotions in line with your will.

Make Mountainside Motivationals a daily ritual and you will climb mountains you never thought possible.

Philippians 4:8

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Joshua 1:8

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

Psalm 103:1-5

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

“That guy’s full of ____ !”

Fill in the blank.

We can be filled with a number of things.   Have you ever met a guy who was full of “himself”?  Undoubtedly you have.  How about someone who was full of “bitterness”?  Ever come across a man full of “apathy”?

We can be full of myriad negative things: anger, resentment, malice, hatred, jealousy, fear, anxiety, worry, doubt, lust, passivity, aggression, regret, self-pity… and the list goes on and on…

I started thinking about this recently when reading Acts chapter 6.  The early church was experiencing some issues that needed to be addressed.  The disciples decided it would be best to find some good men to take care of things for them.

So, they outlined 2 qualities they wanted these good men to have.  There were 2 things they wanted the men to be full of: the Holy Spirit and wisdom.  The prerequisite for doing the work that needed to be done – which was the distribution of food to widows – was that these men would be full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom.

Two verses later we are introduced to Stephen – “…a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.”  Then Stephen was referred to again as being, “…a man full of God’s grace and power…”.

I noticed that a key prerequisite for partnering with the Lord in His work was being “full of the Holy Spirit”.  This was the first quality the disciples were looking for.  This would imply that there were other good men, followers of Jesus, who were not necessarily “full” of the Holy Spirit.  So, I surmise that it is possible to be a follower of Jesus and not be “full” of the Holy Spirit.

There is only one way we can be born again and that’s through the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus tells us that if we believe in Him we will have streams of living water flow up within us.  By this He meant the Holy Spirit. (John 7:38, 39)  John told us that one of the ministries of Jesus was to baptize us in the Holy Spirit.  (Matthew 3:11)

Do I believe all followers of Jesus have the Holy Spirit and are redeemed and sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit within us?  Yes.  Do I believe we are all “full” of the Holy Spirit?  No.

My personal experience has involved numerous occasions in my walk with Jesus where I certainly felt more full of the Holy Spirit than other times.  Why is that?  Well, quite simply I think I “leak”.  I do not understand why or how, but it certainly seems in my experience that I need to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.  I need to continue to ask the Holy Spirit to fill me up.

I wish I could find another more spiritual word than “leak”, but I believe it communicates my experience.  I want to be a man full of the Holy Spirit, and full of the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:17.  So, I ask the Lord to continually fill me up.

Jesus encouraged us to persevere in prayer – to keep asking and don’t give up.  He then wraps up His teaching with this exhortation,

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”  Luke 11:13

There should be evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…”  Galatians 5:22, 23

Yes, we have the Holy Spirit within us, and I believe there is more of the Holy Spirit in our lives we can ask for.  We are encouraged to be filled with the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, to keep step with the Spirit, to live in the Spirit, and be led by the Spirit.

Do you want more of the Holy Spirit?  Let’s keep asking for more of Him…

May we be men who are “full” of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 6:3

“Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

Ephesians 5:18b

“…be filled with the Spirit.”

Do you remember the ad campaign for 7-Up back in the 1970s?  They positioned themselves as the “Un-Cola”.   “7-Up – the Un-Cola”. Not AN un-cola, but THE Un-Cola, thereby creating a separate category of carbonated beverages.  You have colas, and then you have the Un-Cola.  Brilliant actually.  And the campaign worked brilliantly for them.

The concept of un-cola recently raced through my mind when I was thinking through the life Jesus has purchased for us.  Galatians 5:1 tells us, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.”

Why is it that so many of us do not live in the fullness of the life, love, freedom, hope, faith, strength, joy, peace, and myriad other attributes of the new life that is ours in Christ?

I believe it is because of the 4 deadly “Uns”.  I’m not talking about the un-cola now, I’m talking about the un-life we live instead of the life we have in Christ.  Our un-life is caused by the 4 deadly Uns:

1. Unforgiving
2. Unbelieving
3. Unrepentant
4. Unwilling

Why do we miss the life Jesus has for us?  We are unforgiving, or unbelieving, or unrepentant, or unwilling.

We must choose to forgive others.  Jesus tells us that if we do not forgive others our Father does not forgive us:

“But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”  Matthew 6:15

If we do not choose to forgive others we stand in opposition to God.  If we want to live in the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God we must extend forgiveness to others.  Unforgiveness prevents us from living in the favor of God.

Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping it harms the other person.

Who do you need to forgive?

Unbelieving keeps us from the life Jesus has for us because we remain trapped in the lies of the enemy.  We choose to believe lies instead of the Truth of God.  Jesus told us,

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:32

Without believing the Truth we are imprisoned by lies we have believed for years.  Jesus told us He is the Way, the Life and the Truth.  He told us He will send the Spirit of Truth to guide us in all Truth.  He also told us,

“’The time has come’, he said.  ‘The Kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and believe the good news!’”  Mark 1:15

An unbelieving heart knows not the life of Christ.

What Truth do you need to believe?

“God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble.  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”  1 Peter 5:5, 6

Being unrepentant is the epitome of pride.  Repenting is choosing to humble ourselves to receive the grace and favor of God.  New life always begins with repentance.  Repentance is exchanging our death for God’s life.  True repentance always leads to life.

Unrepentance keeps you trapped in the death of sin, not knowing the new life of God.

From what do you need to repent?

Unwillingness is refusing to make the choices you need to make and taking the action you need to take.  Unwillingness lies at the bottom of the other deadly uns.  We can be unwilling to repent, forgive and believe.  Willingness though, is not passive.  It is not a weak admission to the Lord that we are willing for Him to do all the work.

No, it is a willingness to roll up our spiritual sleeves and do the work.  We must choose to obey Jesus and “work out our salvation”.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”  Philippians 2:12

Apprehending the life of Christ requires your effort.

What work have you been unwilling to do to work out your salvation?

Being unforgiving, unbelieving, unrepentant and unwilling will prohibit you from living the life Christ has for you, and for others through you.

Beware the 4 deadly “Uns”.

“This is a battle.  It’s all going to come down to who wants it more.”

Have you ever heard a commentator say something like that during a sporting competition of some sort?  Boxing, MMA, football, rugby, hockey – you name the sport and the victor is often the one who wants it more.

I recently read an article about Mario Andretti in Success magazine.  He talked about a key component of his success being his desire.  The article said, “Andretti doesn’t want to hear excuses for not pursuing your passions, either.  He meets guys all the time who tell him they also could have been race drivers but their wives wouldn’t let them or some other excuse. Nonsense, Andretti says: ‘They didn’t really want it.’”

You really find out how much you want something when it starts to get difficult.  When things get tough men of character dig deeper and keep moving forward to push through the difficulty.  We’ve all heard the old adage, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

It’s during difficulty that we really find out how much we want something.  As Andretti suggests, quitters really didn’t want it badly enough.  It’s easy in that moment to try to shift the blame to someone or something else.  We can convince ourselves that the reason we quit something was for a variety of reasons, none of which was our lack of desire.

Recently a good friend sent me a text that had this phrase in it,

“Pursuit is proof of desire.”

For some reason it leapt off my phone at me.  Such a simple, yet profound phrase.  In other words, if we want something we will pursue it.  Period.  If we are not pursuing it, then we really don’t want it.

This has profound implications to our walk with Jesus.

If you say you want to be free from some bad habits, then what are you doing about it?  How are you pursuing holiness?  If you say you want to have more faith, what are you doing about it?  If you say you want a better relationship with your wife, what are you doing about it?  If you say you want to know God more, what are you doing about it?

If you want it, do something about it!  Like my father used to tell me, “You have to take the bull by the horns son!”  In other words, you have to be bold and do something about it if you want anything to change.

I remember hearing a testimony from a man who wanted to quit smoking.  He had tried many different programs, but nothing seemed to work.  When he was praying about it one day, telling the Lord how much he wanted to quit and whining about how hard it was, he felt the Lord say something that rattled him.

“No you don’t”

What do you mean?

“You don’t want to quit – you like smoking.”

The Lord helped him realize the truth was that he really didn’t want to quit smoking.  He liked smoking.  He really enjoyed it.  When he finally got honest with the Lord about his true desire, the Lord met him there.

He was then able to quit smoking, because the Lord changed his heart – his desire – in regard to smoking.

Sadly many Christians are content to coast in their spiritual lives.  I don’t believe that is pleasing to God.  We are encouraged to “work out our salvation”, to put some effort into getting hold of the redeemed life the Lord purchased for us through His death and resurrection.  The effort is not trying to please God with our good works, it’s our act of loving worship to the one who invites us to be holy as He is holy.

Pursue the Lord wholeheartedly.  Press on to lay hold of all He has for you and for others through you.  And, if you don’t want it, repent from complacency and ask Him to change your heart.  There are 2 pedals to this bike: personal responsibility and divine sovereignty.

He deserves our best effort, and He will change our hearts in the process.

Pursuit is proof of desire.

Philippians 3:12-14

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

1 Timothy 4:7b-8

“…train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

Hebrews 12:11

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”