"And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone."Matthew 14:23

There were times that Jesus separated himself from the multitudes -- and there are times when we need to separate ourselves from our lives and ministry, and spend some time with our Lord. I love how Jesus climbed a mountain when He went to pray. It made me think of an interesting analogy. Picture the shape of a mountain. It starts out wide at the bottom -- the higher we climb, the narrower it becomes -- and the more we must stay close to the center. As we climb even higher still, there's less room to move to the left or the right -- and there's less and less ground that can be compromised -- the more focused we need to be and the less we can afford to be distracted. The higher we go, the less room we have to fool around! Whatever you may be dealing with, you may just need to separate yourself and climb up to spend time with the Lord -- get centered on Him and focused on what He's calling you to. You'll please Him expressing your love and dependence, and be thankful for the power and blessing you receive from spending time in His presence ... especially when you come back down. Brothers & Sisters, God wants us to learn to climb to the top and focus all of our lives on His will! Let's take some time out this weekend to do it! LET US GO UP TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD!