Thursday, March 2, 2017

Developing the Eagle Perspective


UV 2215/10000 Developing The Eagle Perspective
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40 v 31

Wait implies “ Worship and I trust”. We need to believe that God is the source of our strength, not just our physical strength or our intellectual or emotional strength but our inner strength- the spiritual resources or riches we have in Christ. We continually feast of these resources as a person enjoys the many dishes in a large banquet. The Word of God itself is like an immense banquet that is laid out for us to partake in to renew our inner strength. The Lord wants the manger leader or manager to go from strength to strength. He enables us to walk, to run and to fly with the wings of prayer and the Word. Our souls should be still and waiting in the presence of the Lord, clothed with the power of His salvation, empowered, emboldened, enabled. With our souls anchored in the Lord, our spirits should be either walking, running or flying. An eagle maintains its poise as it keeps circling around. Likewise we need to maintain our poise as we wait on the Lord with strong faith, a thankful heart and an attitude of expectancy. Poise is a great power derived from the mastery of our selves by the Holy Spirit. The eagle is a royal bird. It is a bird of great strength and stamina. We too are intended to be a royal priesthood. We too are intended to be strong in every sense, stable and able.

Immense strength, power and resources are given to us not for any mean, low or average goal but in order that we soar like eagles. We are not to be like other men and women who get drenched and drained of energy as they battle the storms of life. We should rise above the storms of our lives as eagles fly above the clouds and storms. Our two powerful wings of prayer and the Word will enable us to fly at that altitude. Both the wings need to be used fully and equally for no bird can fly on only one wing. We are the eagles of Heaven. On those two powerful wings, we will mount to the very throne of God. Our strength will be renewed every day. Each trouble or storm we face in life should take us to the next level of our faith, hope and love. It should not weaken or cripple our faith. Our faith keeps us floating on our spiritual wings. Our challenge however is greater than that of an eagle for we are to be strong as an eagle but as gentle as a dove. We need to practice eagle-like ruthlessness and toughness with ourselves and kindness and love with others. We swoop down on the spiritually discouraged, weak, hopeless, dying to induce hope and strength in them and induct them into the eternal realm that we belong to.

An eagle is one of the few birds that have a very accurate aim. Once it fixes its eye on a target or prey, it swoops down on it with full vigour to swoop it up in its claws or talons. We too should set our goals with a lot of precision and accuracy. We need to aim for the highest, the best and greatest that we can be and do for the sake of the kingdom of God. Once we so aim, the Lord will provide the grace or enabling power and help to make it possible. We should not be deterred by obstacles, impediments, barriers, limitations just as few mountains can keep an eagle from flying. The eagle in fact makes its home in the mountains and flies between mountains turning the barriers and challenges into shelters and bulwarks of protection. When we face a challenge in life with the help of the Lord, it becomes a source of strength, encouragement and inspiration to us in our future challenges while at the same time fuelling faith and hope in others who learn of our testimony or life story. Occasionally, an eagle retreats to an isolated area in order to shed its old feathers and grow new ones. We, too need to from time to time spend time alone with the Lord so that we shed our old feathers and grow new ones and in so doing renew our youth, our strength, our lives. An eagle invests time and effort in training its young to fly and fend for themselves. We too need to be committed to training and discipling the young in age and faith.

Prateep V Philip

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