SOARING WITH EAGLES

“Now have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And those who have no might, He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord, Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-41)

This verse begins talking about who God is, He is the everlasting Lord, Creator of the earth. He doesn’t faint, He doesn’t get weary, He gives power to the weak. Then the verse contrasts God with teenagers, “..even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young shall utterly fall.” Normally, when people talk about teenagers, they are seen as an example of strength, energy, and vitality. Yet, the verse uses the strong vitality of youth to contrast our limited strength and energy with His unlimited strength and energy. It’s almost like this verse is saying, “You know those youth, with boundless energy and zeal for life? Well, even the best of them will eventually wear out, but, I am the Lord, I never get weary.”

How does this Bible verse encourage us? It’s good to learn about the nature of god, But what is the practical application for us here? Let’s consider the encouragement found in verse 31, “Those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength.” The word wait means to wait, hope for, look, expect. Psalm 63:1, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” When many people hear the word “wait” they often think of a passive sitting back kind of waiting, but this isn’t what it says. It’s an active seeking after, looking for, expecting to meet together with the Lord.

The second meaning of wait is to collect, or bind together. This binding describes what is done when someone braids a girls hair, the two or three strands of hair are bound together. That’s what it means to wait on the Lord. To bind your self together with Him in intimately in prayer.

What will happen when we begin to wait, look for, hope, and expect the Lord in prayer? We shall renew our strength; we shall mount up with wings like eagles, we shall run and not be weary, we shall walk and not faint. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Come to Jesus in prayer, wait on the Lord, look for, hope, expect, and then bind yourself to Him. When you do you’ll find in His rest a strength that will have you soaring with the eagles.

BEING VINDICATED

“A man’s self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; and with the consequence of his words he must be satisfied [whether good or evil]. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it.” Proverbs 18:20-21

We reap what we sow, there are natural consequences to our words. W e can speak words that bring life, or words that bring death. We need to learn to be careful with our words (Matthew 12:36-37). Words we speak on God’s behalf carry life.

When Jesus spoke, although His words were full of the Spirit of Life, yet not everyone accepted them and Jesus fully realized this. (John 6:63-64; John 8:47)

Often the words which God speaks are not comfortable and yet necessary (Proverbs 20:22-24). Words can be used either by God or by the enemy. Our enemy is not called the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10) for nothing! We typically do a good job of accusing and condemning ourselves without needing much help, particularly if we have a tender heart towards God and fear Him. In order to overcome the accuser we must ask God to judge us Himself. Our hearts are deceitful and only God knows us through and through if we are guilty, we must acknowledge it.

It doesn’t matter what we ourselves or any one else thinks or says about us. What matters if what God thinks about us. We ask Him what He sees as He alone is our vindication. We can then hide ourselves In Him. He becomes our refuge and defense and we have no need to say or do anything more. (I Corinthians 4:3-4)

God’s vindication is not proving you. This brings a form of peace, security and triumph over opposition be right to others, but rather proving to you that you are right and vindicated in His eyes. Which no person could ever give. (Isaiah 54:17)

If He holds you blameless, then what does it matter what any person says or does, or thinks? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect when it is God who justifies? We need to learn to go to Him and to ask Him to show us if we have said the right thing instead of just going to others for their opinion. God’s opinion is all that counts. If He gives you Peace about what you’ve said you can be strong and stand on that. No man or woman can give that peace, justification, and vindication to you. He is to be your refuge and strength. (Psalm 17:2-3)

When God has shown you where you stand with Him, you can stand strong and sure wearing the breastplate of integrity, and right standing with God and stand against the accuser with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6)

AN EMPTY MANGER

A three year old once gave a reaction to her Christmas dinner: “I don’t like the turkey, but I like the bread that he ate.” It’s funny how things appear to children in our Christmas celebrations; it’s even funnier still how adults see things. Recently I heard about a news story that a library was forbidden to place any religious images in the Nativity scene that was traditionally set up in front of the building. There were to be no wise men, no shepherds, no Joseph, no Mary, and no baby Jesus. Farm animals were allowed. Some would say that this is no Nativity scene at all, I would differ and say that this is the perfect Nativity scene.

Imagine for a moment, the day before Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem. The inn where they would come to seek a place to stay was already full with guests. Only the stable was empty of people but there were animals, sheep. Goats, cattle, donkeys living in the little stable, but empty of any people, except for an occasional visit by those who fed and cared for the animals. The stable was not intended for people’s comfort and certainly not for the birth of a child.

The empty stable is a perfect picture of our lives without Jesus Christ. We fulfill our purposes and achieve our daily goals as the stable was fulfilling its purpose that day. We go about our business but there is no real noticeable Divine Presence within us. No higher purpose to our lives. Hope is fleeting and joy is a momentary high that dies with the slightest glimpse of hardship. Doubt, despair, heartache are constantly at hand as long as there is no lasting peace present.

The message of the empty manger is a message of hope. God is seeking a place to be born in this world, to bring everlasting hope, joy, peace, and love. As He did over two thousand years ago in a lowly stable. Jesus Christ is looking for a place to be born in your heart today.

As there are always people who want to push the Christmas message out of our public lives, they accomplish a purpose of God by demonstrating the emptiness of the human condition. In their efforts, they are also showing forth the reality of life before the birth of mankind’s hope. Emptiness is waiting to be filled with the Presence of God’s love. The empty void left without the Child, Jesus Christ, of Bethlehem seeks to be filled with His presence. As your heart is waiting for peace and comfort, God waits to provide His Presence, His love.

Let God do something good in your heart this Christmas season.

CHOOSING THE BEST IN LIFE

God’s promise to us is, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Our whole heart must be yielded to God, or the change that we would like to see worked in us, to restore us to His likeness will never take place. By nature we are alienated from God. The Holy Spirit describes our condition, we are, “dead in our trespasses and sins.” God desires to set us free but since this requires an entire transformation, a renewing of our whole nature, we must yield ourselves totally to Him.

The warfare against self is the greatest battle that is ever fought. The yielding of self, surrendering all to the will of God, requires a struggle, but our soul must submit to God before we can be renewed in holiness.

The workings of God are not what satan would like them to appear to be, founded on a blind trust, and unreasoning control. “Come now, let us reason together,” is our Savior’s invitation. God does not force our will. He cannot accept what is not willingly given. He invites us to give ourselves to Him, so He can work His will in us. It remains for us to choose if we want to be set free from the bondage of sin, to share the glorious beauty of a child of God.

In giving ourselves to God, we must give up everything that would separate us from Him. Love of money, desire for wealth, worldly honor. We cannot be half the Lord’s and half the worlds.

Is it too much to yield all to Jesus? What has He done for us? The Son of God gave His all, His life and love, for our redemption. Every moment of our lives we are a partaker of the blessings of His grace and may nor fully realize from what depths we have been saved. He who was sinless, the Prince of Heaven, became sin for each one of us.

Through the power of choice, an entire change can be made in our lives, and by yielding that power to Jesus, we join ourselves with that power that is above all principalities and powers. We have the strength from above to hold steadfast, and in constant surrender to God, we are enabled to live a new life, a life of faith.

Choose what is best in life…..Choose Jesus.

WHAT STEPS ARE YOU TAKING TO FULFILL GOD'S WILL IN YOUR LIFE?

As God guided the Israelites into the promised land, He instructed them to purify themselves before crossing the Jordan River. In another powerful miracle, God stopped the Jordan River, in flood stage, so that the people easily crossed into Canaan land. The Ark of the Covenant and the Priests led the procession. God guided the Israelites into the Promised Land as they continued to trust Him.
In reading carefully through the New Testament, to see what kind of experience you can expect, I find that the New Testament sets forth only one. There is just one experience to be looked for, only one feeling you can expect, and that is the experience of faith. Believing God is an experience as real as any experience. Yet many are looking for something more, some dramatic sensation that will bring a physical thrill, while others look for some special manifestation
Many have been told to look for such sensations, but the Bible says that a man is "justified by faith" and not by feeling. A man is saved by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, not by physical excitement, or religious ecstasy.
You may ask, "What about feeling? Is there no place in saving faith for feeling?" Certainly there is room for feeling in saving faith. But we are not saved by it. Whatever feeling there may be is only the result of saving faith, but it in itself is not what does the saving.
Finally, you may say, "I believe the historic facts of the Gospel, but still I'm not saved." Perhaps so, but the faith that saves has one distinguishing quality, saving faith is a faith that produces obedience, it is a faith that brings about a new way of life.
Some have imitated this way of life for a time, but for those who trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, that faith brings about in them a desire to live out that inward experience of faith. It is a power that results in Godly living and a surrender to God's will.
Often our efforts seem uncertain or risky. Put your complete trust in God to guide and lead you.

JOSHUA 3:1- JOSHUA 5:12

* * THE LOVE STORY * *

Christianity is a love story. It's the. story of the love of God to man. It's a story of love, between man and God. It's a story of love between God and man. And every time you see the manifestations of God, in others, in creation, it's God speaking to man out 0f His love because He loves the people that He has created. I by our prayers, it's the love of God. It's the love, of man going up to God, not even touching man's understanding, but the spirit of man speaking to the. Spirit in a language of love. And whether by mercy, giving everything to the poor, it's the story of love, between God and man. Know that all manifestations of God, when He came down from Heaven and died on the cross, is a story of God's love for His people. And when He comes down from Heaven and touches people with His power. We need to look beyond the power, look beyond the shaking, look beyond the weeping, look beyond the laughter and see that He is healing His people. He's touching people, He is delivering His people from bondages, He is setting the captives free. He is loving His people, And when we accept His love for us we are free and we will go out and love each other.

Do you love Jesus? Do you love each other?"

Do you love Jesus more than the pull of religion to drag you back into an empty place that destroys? Will, you push out and will you push on to follow Him with all your heart, soul, strength and mind? Or will you stop at the door looking in? Do you love Him enough to forgive those who persecute you, to pray for those who speak evil of you and do good to those who hurt you and despite-fully use you?

Christianity is a love story; the love of God to man, the love of man to God, and the love of man to man."

INTERCESSION AND MINISTRY

Prayer, in my opinion, before, during and after ministering the Word affects the quality and power of the Word that goes forth, without which we miss the fullness of God's intention. Other factors would be our corporate agreement and binding together. The partaking of communion is a spiritual agreement to the Lord (and to the powers of air) about that unity. If we are not really bonded, and just getting along, or we have some unspoken and unresolved things, then that will definitely affect the power of the spoken message. This is critical. Are we together enoough in God's sight to really see a release of a quality of power through the Word? It's just not the speaker as being the one bringing across the Word, but we are all to carry it together with the speaker, participating in it with them.

The Word is birthed by the spasms and contractions of intercession before it can finally be brought forth. The speaker is only being affected by what is being released by this effectual prayer and support. For the most part, we don't see the spiritual connection, and so our prayers are often nominal. We are religiously performing something that is expected of us, but our heart and our guts are not in it, not because we are lazy or indifferent, but just because we have not understood the spiritual reality of it.

Whomever you are joined in life with will affect the proclamation, even though it's only a person expressing it. Peter's first sermon, which led to the salvation of thousands of people, is an example:

"But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: 'Men of Judea, and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give heed to my words.'" (Acts 2:14)

The key to the power of this address was: "but Peter taking a stand with the eleven." Peter was in perfect agreement with those who stood with him. What he said is just what they would have said. They were in agreement, not only with the Word, but also with each other, because they experienced a Pentecost themselves TOGETHER. The fire that was upon their heads also forged them into ONE.

The Church has lost this understanding because we have become "professional" in a "professional" age where people are not only celebrated in the world, but also in the church. There's very little emphasis on the Body as the corporate expression and channel of of the life of God. The message may find expression through one person, but the power that comes forth in not what can come from authentic spiritual agreement and participation in the Spirit realm. Life and death are always hanging in the balance, and the issue becomes OUR agreement in order to touch the anointing, power, Word and boldness.

The world has schooled us into an observer mentality rather than to be a participant, and also to a sense of individual separation from one another. But in the Kingdom of God, we are as much responsible corporately for the Word as we are for the person through which the Word comes.

We must so much want the Word that our only satisfaction is for the Word to come forth in fullness and power through whoever the Lord has appointed. We should see it as being ourselves doing the speaking because we are ONE with them.

AS LONG AS PRAYER IS GOING FORTH, THEN THE WORD IS GOING FORTH, AND THE MOMENT PRAYER STOPS, THEN THE WORD STOPS.

Open Your Eyes and LOOK

In serving the Lord it is necessary, even vital to both look at what is before you and to look for, or towards, Him who is to come. We focus at all times towards the hope in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 1:3) and thus forth learning who He is and His character and nature He wants to develop within us. And as with the saying, “faith without works is dead,” (James 2:20-26) by learning His character and nature, your heart opens to the needs that are before you, and you work in unity with the Spirit of God. Without it, it is empty, meaningless deeds.

By looking at the needs before you, and desiring to act in accordance to the Lord’s will, your heart becomes tender, where it wasn’t before, and you are moved, even compelled, to work for Him. It’s not a “because I got to do what is right,” and therefore being in bondage, but a “I got to serve the Lord because my heart overflows in love with Him.” It’s that freedom in Christ that motivates you to look at what is before you and to serve Him, to act in accordance to His will. It’s a love that’s unconditional, that says I will serve Him no matter what, not a conditional love that says, “OK, I guess I have to--I’m supposed to, anyway,” which is built upon what you are feeling at the moment and therefore fleeting.

The things that God places within our lives remind us to look towards Him, to who He is and the destiny we have in Him. Let’s take the word, look, both in terms of looking at, which indicates a “now” reality-that which is physically before you-and looking to or looking towards, which is indicative of seeing beyond the physical world, and into the spiritual reality. Both are necessary and both work together.

In Genesis 9:16, it says, “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” Here is a physical reminder of God’s covenant with His people, and it’s something we can see with our physical eyes. It also points to the eternal, and directs us to reach toward that which is to come, and of His great love for us.

"And the LORD said unto Abram, after Lot was separated from him, Lift up now your eyes, and look from the place where you are northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which you see, to you will I give it,and to your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall your descendants also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto you" (Genesis 13:14-17).

"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now
toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be" (Genesis 15:5).

In both of these scriptures, the Lord was showing Abram something in the physical world to get him to look toward what was not seen or known in the “now time“ of his life. But with that promise came something that he had to do. He had to walk it out to see it come to pass (Genesis 13:17).

Of course, if man was to merely look with his physical eyes, we would all be in a lot of trouble. Before David was anointed to become King of Israel, Samuel took a look at Eliab, David’s oldest brother, and thought, surely he must be who God wants as the next King, but no, he wasn’t. With the Lord, one must also see what is beyond the physical realm and into what cannot be seen with the human eyes (1 Samuel 16:6-7) and must rely upon what God shows in the spirit.

Case in point: this was the same Eliab that accuses David of pride, insolence and irresponsibility--to name a few--when the Israelite army was facing Goliath. Eliab’s character and nature was readily apparent at this time, whereas David was on fire for God, sold out for Him, and filled with zeal (1 Samuel 17:25-30, especially verse 28).

In John 4:34-36:

“Jesus said unto them, My food is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit unto life eternal: that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together” (emphasis mine).

Now if the disciples were to merely look at the fields in the physical they would be missing what Jesus wanted to show them. They had to look toward that eternal goal: Do the current task that is set before them by the Lord by working toward those eternal results.

“No, dear friends, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward (emphasis mine) to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up toward heaven”(Philippians 3:13-14, NLT).

In this world today we need both to see with our physical eyes and our spiritual eyes. Without both, we would miss the task which is before us, how to tangibly serve the Lord, and also be blind to the motivation of what is behind our work, of whether it is love for God or love for a certain reputation.