Mountaintop Moments

In this episode of The Woman in the Word Podcast, we reflect on the importance of mountaintop moments through the story of Moses and Joshua in Exodus 33:11. These sacred encounters with God are more than emotional highs—they are places of renewal, clarity, and deeper intimacy with Him.

Mountaintop moments strengthen our faith for the valleys ahead, reminding us that God still speaks, still leads, and still invites us into His presence. Join us as we discuss why lingering with the Lord matters and how life-changing moments with God can shape the way we walk with Him every day.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Woman in the Word, the podcast where we dive into scripture, ask real questions, and walk through the Bible together, one honest conversation at a time. I'm Felicia Parker, I'm your host, and I'm so glad you're here. So whether you're new to the Word or you've been studying for years, there's a seat at the table for all of us. So grab your coffee, open your journal, or put on your walking shoes, and let's get into it. Hey, welcome to the Woman in the Word podcast. I'm so excited that you're joining me today, as always. I really look forward to our conversations. It's really fun. Today we are talking about mountaintop moments. So let's get into it. Have you ever found yourself standing at the top of a hill or a mountain and just looking over the vast expanse, whether it be you're on a hill and you're looking over the city, or you're on a mountain and you're looking over a canyon, whatever it is, have you found yourself in that place? And in that moment, you say, Wow, I get so much more clarity up here. I can hear better, I can see better, I can process through things better. Maybe you haven't been on the top of a mountain, maybe you've been in the middle of a hike, or sitting alone at the park, or on a walk, and you say, Wow, I feel at peace, or I get more clarity, or I'm getting more understanding in regards to a thing that maybe I've been dealing with, wrestling with. And y'all, I want you to understand those are our mountaintop moments. Those are our moments with God that He provides for us, that He's able to help us carve out in our day or in our week so that we can spend some focused time with Him, so that we can just sit with Emmanuel and allow Him to pour into us. And let me just say before we even get deep into the episode, if you have not had quiet moments with the Lord recently, I would say put that on your calendar to do as soon as possible because it is needed, it is necessary, and it is something that we desire most in our heart. Scripture says that God has put eternity in our heart. And so the things that we long for are not really of this world, they're from the kingdom of heaven. And so there's a desire on the inside of you that burns so greatly for him and his word and his presence. And you don't want to find yourself in a place of not spending time in his presence because then you will search for other things to try to fill that void, to try to quench that thirst. And the last thing you want to do is find yourself in a place that you're not supposed to be trying to create a counterfeit to only the thing that God can provide us when we're in his presence and we're spending time with him in those mountaintop moments. Hey, I just wanted to take a quick pause in our conversation and introduce you to uh the lover of your soul if you have yet to meet him. I would love to lead you in the prayer of salvation. So if you'd repeat after me, that would be awesome. Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and I'm in need of a savior. I confess that Jesus is Lord and I want him to be the Lord of my life. I believe that you raised him from the dead to rule and reign for all of eternity. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me with the precious blood of Jesus. I thank you, Lord, for dying on the cross just for me. In Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want to welcome you to the family of God and just say congratulations. I had the opportunity to share this message just recently with some women at a women's retreat. So grateful to have the opportunity to speak there. And it was so awesome to hear the feedback that was received from the women in regards to it being impactful to their life, their situation. And I feel as though this word God gave was for me to check me. And then he said, now you can go ahead and share our conversation with other women so that it can help them as well. And so I want to do the same with you. For every listener that's out there, God is desiring for you to have a mountaintop moment with him. God understands the importance of spending time in his presence. We see that all throughout the New Testament with Jesus, where it said he would go away and pray. He would go to an isolated place, he would leave a crowd, and then he would go away praying and spending time in the presence with the Father. And I truly believe that that is an example of what we're supposed to do. Jesus was God Himself. He could have said, I don't, I don't need to go and pray. I've already got all wisdom, all power. But he didn't. He chose to model for us what it looks like to have a surrendered life. And within a surrendered life comes a life of power, comes a life of authority, comes a life of connection with the Father because we're spending time in his presence and we're doing it on a regular basis. Mountaintop moments should not be once a year, twice a year. Mountaintop moments should happen regularly. It should be a regular occurrence that happens in our life. And there's someone in scripture, many people in scripture that do this, but one that we are gonna zone in on specifically for today's conversation, and that's Moses and Joshua. So Moses, we find him, he's the one that led the children of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land. Well, was supposed to lead them to the promised land, but they got stuck in the wilderness because of their attitude and their poor behavior in regards to their response to God and his promise and the things that he was calling them to do. They would complain, they would gripe, they weren't grateful, and so they, you know, that generation had to die off in the wilderness because God said, I can't take these complaining, whining, ungrateful people into the promise. And so Moses led them up into the edge of the promised land. Then Joshua took the baton and led the younger generation in. And one thing that I love that scripture says about them is that they would go to the tent of meetings. And we're gonna pick up at Exodus 33, verse 11, and it says, Inside the tent of meetings, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend. Afterward, Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua, son of nun, would remain behind in the tent of meetings. And I love this because it it shows that what we model will now be implemented in somebody else's life. Someone else will come along and copy what we're modeling. And so we have to be so mindful and so careful of what we're modeling in our own life because our life could either be a roadmap to Christ or it could be a stumbling block for people to get to Christ. And I love how it says that Moses would go to this place. He would go up on the mountain, he would go to the Ten of Meetings and he would spend time with God. And I love that it says that the Lord would speak to him face to face as a friend talking to another friend. And that's how our relationship should be with the Lord. It shouldn't be a relationship of fear or dread because of this holy God looking down on this imperfect person. No, it should be a loving father that wants to sit and come have a conversation with you face to face as friends. He knows everything about you. You don't have to go in ashamed and discouraged and downtrodden because of what you've done. Bring it to him. He loves you so much that he doesn't want to leave you the way you are. He wants to help clean up your life so that you can look like the child of God that you're supposed to be and be the reflection of heaven that you're supposed to be here on earth. And so it says that God would speak to Moses face to face. And then when he would leave after the conversation, Joshua would stay. And what that tells me is that Joshua desired to sit and soak in the presence of God. He saw what his mentor, his leader was doing, sitting in there and getting the word from the Lord. He saw when his mentor would come down off the mountain and his face was shining because Moses had been in the presence of God. And so the glory of God was all around him. And Joshua said, Hey, I want to get some of that. And so he would stay and he would remain behind in the tent of meetings. And y'all, we talked about this on another podcast. One of the most important things we can do as a Christ follower, as a child of the Most High God is to remain, to remain in his presence, to remain seeking his face, to remain in his word, to remain holding on to his truths. Because when we do that, we gain victory on this side of heaven. And Joshua, he desired to sit and soak in the presence. And my question to you is do you desire to sit and soak in the presence? When was the last time you just sat and soaked in the presence? And I don't mean five minutes, ten minutes, okay, God, that was great. I'm out. No, I don't put a clock on it, God. I just sit here until you're finished. I sit here until you're finished reminding me of who I am. I sit here until you're finished loving on me the way that you desire to. I sit here and until you're finished convicting me of the things that aren't pleasing to you, and you're reminding me of who I am in you so that I don't have to walk in those ways. I sit here until you're finished, God, because I want to sit and soak in your presence. Hey, I just wanted to take a quick break in our episode and share with you some really exciting news. This year we are hosting our first ever outreach experience. This is an expansion of the gathering, and it is hosting 12 to 20 year old young men and women. I'm really excited about it. The location will be a UNLB Student Union Ballroom. It's gonna be a great time of word, worship, connection, free merch, free food, a great concert, and you don't want to miss it. And it is totally free. So all you have to do is jump on our website, purpose-promise.com. Click on the gathering, drop down, register, and we look forward to hosting you. All right, let's jump back into the episode. One thing that Joshua was privy to was these mountaintop moments that Moses had with the Lord because he was his assistant. And because of his proximity to his leader or his mentor, he had the opportunity to see things that most people have not been able to see. And it helped to create a desire on the inside of Joshua to desire the God that Moses was going after, that Moses was having conversation face-to-face with, and it helped to build Joshua's faith in his relationship with the Lord. And we even see this in Numbers 27, verse 18 to 20. So Joshua has now been chosen by God to be the successor for Moses. And Moses is asking God, okay, who should I commission to go ahead and lead the people? And verse 18, the Lord replied, Take Joshua, son of none, who has the spirit in him and lay your hands on him, present him to the priest before the whole community, and publicly commission him to lead the people. Transfer some of your authority to him so the whole community of Israel will obey him. Y'all, I need you to understand the commissioning that happened in Numbers is connected to the sitting and soaking that we see back in Exodus. We see the assistant taking the time to follow his mentor, to follow his leader, to copy what he saw, to sit in the presence of God. And it says, anoint him because the spirit is in him. And that's what happens when we sit in the presence. We are now looked at as, oh, that that woman, there's the spirit in her. That man, the spirit of God is in them. And then God is able to elevate us to positions that maybe we weren't even thinking about. We weren't even trying to go after. We were just going after him. And in going after him, he has created opportunities, open doors, promotion because we just decided to sit and soak in his presence. And again, I ask, when was the last time you sat and soaked in his presence? On September 19th, 2026, women will gather at the UNLV Student Union Ballroom for a powerful day of connection, encouragement, and renewal. The gathering 2026. There's a seat waiting just for you. We see in Exodus 17, we find that the Amalekites are coming against the Israelites. And I'm gonna jump in right at verse 8 of chapter 17. While the people of Israel were still staying at Rephenim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them. Moses commanded Joshua, choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and her climbed to the top of the nearby hill. As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. Verse 12. Moses' arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and her found a stone for him to sit on. They then stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. As a result, y'all, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle. One thing I need you to understand is what happens on the mountaintop prepares you for the battles that you'll face in the valley low. And understand there will always be a battle waiting for you. Whether it be a battle in your marriage, whether it be a battle in your health, with your children, on your job, in your mind, in your finances, there's always going to be a battle somewhere. But we find in scripture when we sit and soak in the presence of God, we come off the mountain prepared with strategy to fight the battles in the valley. We see that so clearly. And I just, I love this point that God shares with us that it says, as long as his hands were up, they won. If he dropped his hands, the enemy gained the advantage. Picture this Moses' hands are raised almost in a sign of worship or surrender. As long as his hands were up, he was winning. Once he began to drop those hands, the enemy gained the advantage. And his friends knew, oh my goodness, we're seeing what's happening. As long as your hands are raised, that staff is in your hand, you're winning the battle. So we need to be the friends that'll come alongside you and hold you up when you get tired. Scripture reminds us: don't get weary in well-doing. Sometimes we have friends in our lives to help us to walk that journey so we don't get weary. Moses had Aaron and her to come on each side of him and hold his hands up, y'all, so his hands stayed in a position of worship to the Lord, giving the victory to God and God giving them the win in the battle. Don't think Joshua did not take note of that. He knew that Moses' presence with God on the mountaintop meant the victory in the valleys were already his. And I need you to hear me. When we're on the mountaintop, that's where we get strategy for every battle that we're gonna face. And in this life, we will face a battle until the Lord takes us home. And if we don't get on the mountaintop and spend time with God, I would say you will find defeat in the valley becoming your norm. Defeat will become your everyday occurrence if you do not spend time with God on the mountaintop. And y'all, these battles are one that we cannot win without Him. We can try in our strength, we can throw our money at it, we can throw our degrees at it, we can throw our connections at it. But I need you to understand we are not fighting against flesh and blood like it describes in Ephesians. We are fighting against principalities and powers that are much stronger than what we can do in our own strength. So we got to go to the mountaintop and we have to meet with the great I am, who is also called the Lord of heaven's armies, so that he can give us strategy, so that he can step in and fight for us, and so that we can see the victory. And another part that I just love about this, another part that I love is the strategy God gave Moses is a strategy that he probably wouldn't have come up with on his own. Just hold your arms up and they'll win. If you drop your arms, the enemy gains the advantage. But think about it like this: when we lift our hands in worship, when we lift our hands in surrender, when we say, God, you're the Almighty God, you're the King of Kings, you're the Lord of Lords, you're the Lord of heaven's armies, I'm gonna keep my hands in a posture of surrender because that's where I win. We wouldn't have thought of that though. Maybe we would have thought of, okay, send more men out, send more archers out, send more people with swords out, more people with spears out, get more of this, get more that. But no, God says just hold your hands up and you're gonna win the victory. I'll give you the advantage over your enemies. And I'm telling you today, on the mountaintop, in those moments with God, God will allow you to gain strategy that might not sound like it's gonna make sense in the battle, but if you do it, I promise you, you'll be like Moses was, you'll be like Joshua was, and you will overwhelm your enemy in battle with the strategy that comes from God on the mountaintop. So sit with him, make time with him. Don't start your day without him. Go sit with him and hear what he has to say. Go spend time so that he can give you wisdom on what to do. Go sit in his presence and soak so you have discernment on should I take this job, should I not? Should this friend be somebody that's in my close circle? Or are they here, maybe sent to oppose me? Those are the things that come when we sit in the presence of the Most High God and we spend time with him. That's where clarity comes. That's where peace comes, that's where strategy comes, that's where victory comes. That's where we become more like him. It's on the mountaintop when we spend time in his presence, y'all. Do not neglect the time on the mountain with the Lord. Don't miss him because he desires to speak with you as friends, face to face, like he did Moses. Don't leave him as a stranger, like it says in Revelation 3.20, standing at the door and knocking at your front door and you never opening it. He wants you to open it so he can come in, so he can share with you the things that are on his heart, so he can share with you the truth is truths of his word, so y'all can feast on it together daily, so that you walk out equipped for the battles that you're going to face, but that you walk out knowing that you already have the victory. Y'all, we're not fighting for victory, we're fighting from victory. But the enemy will lie to you and make you think you're fighting for victory when you don't get on the mountaintop. When you stay in the valley too long, you begin to see what the enemy is saying to you and think it's truth. But if you would get on that mountaintop, you would begin to hear the voice of God, you begin to see what he's saying to you, and you'd begin to walk in the victory that has already been yours through the blood of Jesus. So this is what I know. If you get on the mountaintop, you see God. But if you stay too long in the valley, you only see you. And you try to make your way and you try to power your way through, and you try to push as hard as you can and throw your money at it, your accolades at it, your friendships at it. And I promise you this: if you don't go to the great God that will fight for you, you will lose the battle and it will be a loss for the kingdom of heaven. And y'all, we don't have time to be fighting battles in our own strength. We need to be sharing what we have on the inside with a lost world. They need to see the victories that we're winning through the Spirit of God, through the wisdom that is provided, through the discernment, through the strategy. They need to see it. So, like Joshua, they can want to come and sit and soak in the presence of our great God. What are people seeing in your life today? Are they seeing the battles that are being won because you've sat on the mountaintop? Or are they seeing the battles that you're struggling to barely float above water? You're treading water in this battle because you're trying to do it on your own. Y'all, I want you to know the God of heaven's army is ready to fight for you. He is ready to speak to you. The great I am is ready to meet with you on the mountaintop. He is waiting for that moment to pour into you all that he has for you, the truth of his word, the love that is overwhelming, the intentionality of strategy. But we gotta get in his presence. Thanks for hanging out with me in the word. I hope it encouraged your heart and gave you something to carry into the rest of the week. If it spoke to you, share this with someone who might need it too. And hey, don't forget to follow or to subscribe so you don't miss out on what's next. Until then, keep showing up, keep listening, and let his word lead the way.