eagles_wings

On Eagle's Wings

Faith And Reliance Upon God

Adapted From the writings of Oswald Chambers,

Andrew Murray and the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit

A Goodsoil Discipleship Lesson - Bro. A. Madonio

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 be faint.

Lesson Introduction

What this lesson teaches:

* As Christians, we need to know what our WALK with Jesus really means. This lesson points to our entire life as we live it as that walk.

* We also need to understand what it means (the spiritual advantages) to wait upon Him. We learn how close and intimate our RELATIONSHIP with Jesus gets when we do this. Isaiah 40:31 is beautifully used to illustrate by analogy God's awesome, but sometimes misunderstood, love.

Scripture references used:

* Isaiah 40:31, Matthew 7:19-23, John 1:36; 15:5; 17:14, Romans 2:2; 6:4; 8:4; 13:13, 2 Corinthians 5:7; 6:17, Ephesians 2:10; 5:2, Colossians 4:5, 2 John 4, Genesis 17:1, 1 Corinthians 2:16, Galatians 3:26-27, Deuteronomy 32:10-11, Hebrews 2:11; 3:14;12:2-3, Philippians 3:12.

Discussion questions for study:

1. Did you read this lesson in preparation for this week's discussion?

2. Do you understand that without a 'walk' with Jesus, without a life of being a disciple, we can't count on Heaven? Did the "how to walk" passages in this lesson from the epistles give you some direction?

3. Did you understand how waiting with patient faith causes us to be 'bound' or 'woven' into Jesus life? Can you more easily see how we are a part of His vine? Can you see how we can have His mind and be clothed with Him? Do you see how important RELATIONSHIP really is?

4. Have you ever found it difficult to be 'separate' from the world? Have you tried to find some comfortable ground in between discipleship and worldliness? Can you see the danger and futility in that?

5. Did the training of young eaglets for flight give you upbuilding insight as to how God trains us? Explain. Can you understand how seemingly 'bad' things may possibly originate from God? Do you understand that from His eternal perspective, those things He does that seem bad to us, may actually be for our eternal best? Have you ever been pushed out of your nest? Pray for God's direction to determine who did the pushing and why.

6. Consider Hebrews 12:2-3. "Fix your eyes on Jesus . . . . so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Do you think that bit of advice will ever become outdated?

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 be faint.

This lesson will look at 3 aspects of our faith and how we rely upon God:

1) Our WALK with our Lord

2) WAITING upon our Lord

3) the aspect of SEPARATION to Him.

Finally, we will look at a beautiful picture that exemplifies how we should completely and utterly rely on Him and Him alone! These 3 aspects; our faithful walk, our patient waiting, and our trust and reliance upon Him are the ingredients that our sanctification is made of. Most importantly, they comprise the RELATIONSHIP that our Lord desires of us so much.

"WAIT"?! WHAT 4?! WHAT MEANETH THEE, THIS "WAIT"?! :

What is the "wait upon the Lord" stuff any way? The NIV says, " . . . but those who HOPE in the Lord . . . ". But face it, for most flesh and blood people, waiting in the flesh for a spiritual work is very difficult. It's just so hard to wait! To live a life of faith (the spiritual) requires that we walk the walk of a believer (the natural). And yet, our daily, real walk means so much. Why, what are we without it? Nothing. Worthless. Lousy witnesses. We can't know Jesus as we should, therefore we remain babes, carnal, and eventually we are like those referred to in Matthew 7:19-23 - eternal firewood. Without a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, that is our destiny. We need to learn FAITH and how to RELY upon Him. Let's do it!

THE "WALK" OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE:

This is the "walk" that John the Baptist saw in Jesus:

John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he (John the Baptist) said, "Behold, the Lamb of God."

The "walk" that John observed was not some kind of fancy footwork or strut that Jesus employed, rather what John the Baptist saw was the way in which Jesus lived His life! He knew this man was the Messiah! You can see therefore "WALK" in this context is a word that represents all the activities of an individual's life. He saw "The Walk" of Jesus.

Throughout his epistles, the apostle Paul tells us how to walk;

In Romans 6:4 he tells us to "walk in newness of life".

In Romans 8:4 he tells us to "walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit".

In Romans 13:13 we learn to "walk honestly, as in the day . . . "

In 2 Corinthians 5:7 we see that we must "walk by faith, not by sight".

In Ephesians 2:10 we discover that God has ordained that our walk should be comprised of "good works".

In Ephesians 5:2 we are taught the most important lesson, that is to "walk in love".

In Colossians 4:5 we see that we must "walk in wisdom toward them that are without".

And finally, 2 John 4 admonishes us to "walk in truth".

That's a lot of walking!

But it is our walk that signifies how we are truly

RELATED to our Lord Jesus!

God told Abraham in Genesis 17:1; "Walk before me and be blameless". As you can see, it's basically SIMPLE, but it's not EASY. But, how does all this relate to our WAITING UPON GOD with FAITH & RELIANCE? And when do the eagles fly into the picture? Let's first take a look at waiting in more detail . . . .

WAIT A MINUTE! KNOT YET!:

The Hebrew word for "wait" in Isaiah 40:31 means, among other things, "to bind together (perhaps by twisting);" this is a fascinating thought to utilize! Why, instead of being bound up in knots of worry, what Isaiah 40:31 is really telling us to do is to KNIT ourselves into the fabric of Jesus! To BIND with Him as individual strands are bound together into a cord of rope! Isn't that radical ?! Isn't that awesome ?! Isn't that God ?! The more we wait upon Him with faith and expectancy, the more WOVEN into His fabric, the more
TWINED into His rope we become! Increasingly, as our faith grows, we are bound ever more tightly into the cord of life that is Jesus!

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Can you see this passage in a new light? Apart from Jesus, if we try to "wait on Him", we can see why it's so easy to fret and worry -- and fail. But take heart in His Word:

1 Corinthians 2:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Galatians 3:26-27 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

"Knot" only can you knit into His fabric, but you can also use His fabric to clothe yourself!! And even further than clothing, we are also FAMILY!

Hebrews 2:11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Can you see how waiting can "twist" and "bind" us together with Jesus?!?!

We become a branch in His vine.

We are clothed with Him.

We are part of His family.

Now we know the importance of our RELATIONSHIP with God as exemplified by our faithful WALK, and by our patient WAITING on Him.

1) Does God teach us to WALK in faith with small steps or big steps? [small]

2) Do we learn to WAIT on Him during small trials or huge trials? [small]

ABRAHAM'S RELATIONSHIP AND OURS:

The Old Testament Saints, prophets, and New Testament apostles and disciples all learned faith and trust in God, right? How much faith did they have? There is one important gage by which the strength of their relationship with God could be measured, and that gage is termed SEPARATION.

The Bible, which can often be used to paint a big picture that we can apply to our lives, shows us this separation in the life of Abraham. He showed his faith and trust in God (and therefore the strength of his relationship) by separating himself from his homeland as well as from much of his family. This concept of separation can be applied to the worldliness of our lives even today. Are you "of the world", or are you, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:17, "separate" ?

2 Corinthians 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate," says the Lord.

Jesus even said the same thing regarding His disciples:

John 17:14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

Are you of this world, or are you a disciple of Jesus?

* Is there any middle ground between these 2 choices?

* Do we ever try to establish some place in the middle of these 2 choices?

(YES - We do, and it's called being "LUKEWARM", and it's not a good thing.)

WHICH WAY NEXT?:

Waiting on Jesus often means not having a clue as to where He is leading you. In fact, to walk AND wait, when your destination is unknown, is a true definition of faith, and a measure of the strength of your relationship with your Lord. BUT - because of your relationship, you can be sure that you love and know the one who is leading you. You don't know where He is leading you, but you are sure of who He is, so it's O.K. You must, at times, be "carefully careless" in your waiting upon Him. You CAN do this, because your FAITH is rooted and grounded in the person of Jesus Christ!

AND NOW, "ON EAGLES WINGS":

Remember our key verse? Isaiah 40:31. Read it again.

Isaiah 40:31 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 be faint.

We are going to study the life of a baby eagle to learn an important lesson about how WE are to walk, wait, and have utter faith in God. This beautiful picture was written by Andrew Murray.

"Do you know how the eagle's wings are obtained? Only in one way, by the eagle birth. You are born of God. You have the eagle's wings. You may not have known it; you may not have used them; but God can and will teach you to use them.

"Do you know how the eagles are taught to use their wings? See yonder cliff rising a thousand feet out of the sea. See high up a ledge on the rock, where there is an eagle's nest with it's treasure of two young eaglets. See the mother bird come and stir up her nest, and with her beak push the timid birds over the precipice. See how they flutter and fall and sink towards the depth. See how she 'fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings' (Deuteronomy 32:11), and so, as they ride upon her wings, brings them to a place of safety. And so she does once and again, each time casting them out over the precipice, and then again taking and carrying them.

"Yes, the instinct of that eagle mother was God's gift, a single ray of that love in which the Almighty trains His people to mount as on eagle's wings. He stirs up your nest. He disappoints your hopes. He brings down your confidence. He makes you fear and tremble, as all your strength fails, and you feel utterly weary and helpless. And all the while He is spreading His strong wings for you to rest your weakness on.

"All He asks is that you should sink down in your weariness and wait on Him; and allow Him to carry you as you ride upon the wings of His omnipotence."

Being born of God - that's how we get the 'eagle's wings'. We must be born of God . We don't "earn" them anymore than we earn salvation. We must be born again, born of God, to obtain salvation. But we have these 'eagle's wings' already, if we are rightly related to our Lord Jesus. And God will train us to use them, all we have to do is ASK, SEEK and KNOCK, and we shall RECEIVE, FIND and HAVE THE DOOR OPENED. Simple, but not easy - there it is again!

God's love is awesome. He wants us to fly and soar like eagles, but to train us, He must often cause us discomfort. He wants us to completely and utterly rely upon Him, and He must often take us to the end of ourselves, our 'wits end', in order to accomplish the task.

MOUNTAIN TOPS AND VALLEYS:

A disciple learns about 'mountain top' experiences as well as living in the 'valley' of the world, the place where we really walk our Christian walk. Oswald Chambers teaches us some more about soaring on eagle's wings, being in God's presence, and waiting on Him to show us:

"A life of faith is not one glorious mountain top experience after another, like soaring on eagle's wings, but it is a life of day-in and day-out consistency . . . It is a faith that has been tried and proven (remember the eaglets) and has withstood the test.

"[Oftentimes] there is no thrill for us in the walking, yet it is the test for all of our steady and enduring qualities. To "walk and not be faint" is the [real] measure [of our faith]."

* Has God pushed you out of your comfortable nest lately?

Oswald Chambers again: "If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession thru conflict."

* Does it seem as if your faith has wandered off somewhere without you? Find it and hold on to it with the grip of an eagle's talons. What you are gaining is costly - you are gaining Jesus Christ, and He is something worth the wait. But do not be confused, you are not earning Him, you are earning the reward of your faith in the relationship you have with Him.

You do not earn Jesus,

you earn the reward of you faith.

Hebrews 3:14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Romans 2:7 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of eternal life.

If the baby eagle learned to fly by reading about flight in self-help books, or by watching a "how-to-fly-in-10-easy-steps" video, he will be the weakest of his kind. If he feels his mother's ways are too severe and a direct violation of his personal 'rights', he will never learn to fly.

Oswald Chambers: "It is much easier to DO SOMETHING that to [simply] trust in God. That is why we see so few fellow workers WITH God, yet so many people working FOR God. We would much rather work FOR God than BELIEVE in Him."

Hebrews 12:2-3 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Yes, "fix your eyes on Jesus" so that you too can "mount up with wings as eagles".

God will never let you fall so as you can never get back up. You're never out of control from His vantage point. Remember the way the mother eagle swoops in and carries the eaglet back to safety. All you have to do is lean on His mighty arm. He is trustworthy!

Deuteronomy 32:10b-11 He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.




	On Eagle's Wings Faith And Reliance Upon God Adapted From the writings of Oswald Chambers, Andrew Murray and the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit A Goodsoil Discipleship Lesson - Bro. A. Madonio




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 be faint. Isaiah 40:31 Lesson Introduction What this lesson teaches: * As Christians, we need to know what our WALK with Jesus really means. This lesson points to our entire life as we live it as that walk. * We also need to understand what it means (the spiritual advantages) to wait upon Him. We learn how close and intimate our RELATIONSHIP with Jesus gets when we do this. Isaiah 40:31 is beautifully used to illustrate by analogy God's awesome, but sometimes misunderstood, love. Scripture references used: * Isaiah 40:31, Matthew 7:19-23, John 1:36; 15:5; 17:14, Romans 2:2; 6:4; 8:4; 13:13, 2 Corinthians 5:7; 6:17, Ephesians 2:10; 5:2, Colossians 4:5, 2 John 4, Genesis 17:1, 1 Corinthians 2:16, Galatians 3:26-27, Deuteronomy 32:10-11, Hebrews 2:11; 3:14;12:2-3, Philippians 3:12. Discussion questions for study: 1. Did you read this lesson in preparation for this week's discussion? 2. Do you understand that without a 'walk' with Jesus, without a life of being a disciple, we can't count on Heaven? Did the "how to walk" passages in this lesson from the epistles give you some direction? 3. Did you understand how waiting with patient faith causes us to be 'bound' or 'woven' into Jesus life? Can you more easily see how we are a part of His vine? Can you see how we can have His mind and be clothed with Him? Do you see how important RELATIONSHIP really is? 4. Have you ever found it difficult to be 'separate' from the world? Have you tried to find some comfortable ground in between discipleship and worldliness? Can you see the danger and futility in that? 5. Did the training of young eaglets for flight give you upbuilding insight as to how God trains us? Explain. Can you understand how seemingly 'bad' things may possibly originate from God? Do you understand that from His eternal perspective, those things He does that seem bad to us, may actually be for our eternal best? Have you ever been pushed out of your nest? Pray for God's direction to determine who did the pushing and why. 6. Consider Hebrews 12:2-3. "Fix your eyes on Jesus . . . . so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Do you think that bit of advice will ever become outdated?



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 be faint. Isaiah 40:31 Introduction: This lesson will look at 3 aspects of our faith and how we rely upon God: 1) Our WALK with our Lord 2) WAITING upon our Lord 3) the aspect of SEPARATION to Him. Finally, we will look at a beautiful picture that exemplifies how we should completely and utterly rely on Him and Him alone! These 3 aspects; our faithful walk, our patient waiting, and our trust and reliance upon Him are the ingredients that our sanctification is made of. Most importantly, they comprise the RELATIONSHIP that our Lord desires of us so much. "WAIT"?! WHAT 4?! WHAT MEANETH THEE, THIS "WAIT"?! : What is the "wait upon the Lord" stuff any way? The NIV says, " . . . but those who HOPE in the Lord . . . ". But face it, for most flesh and blood people, waiting in the flesh for a spiritual work is very difficult. It's just so hard to wait! To live a life of faith (the spiritual) requires that we walk the walk of a believer (the natural). And yet, our daily, real walk means so much. Why, what are we without it? Nothing. Worthless. Lousy witnesses. We can't know Jesus as we should, therefore we remain babes, carnal, and eventually we are like those referred to in Matthew 7:19-23 - eternal firewood. Without a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus, that is our destiny. We need to learn FAITH and how to RELY upon Him. Let's do it! THE "WALK" OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE: This is the "walk" that John the Baptist saw in Jesus: John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he (John the Baptist) said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." The "walk" that John observed was not some kind of fancy footwork or strut that Jesus employed, rather what John the Baptist saw was the way in which Jesus lived His life! He knew this man was the Messiah! You can see therefore "WALK" in this context is a word that represents all the activities of an individual's life. He saw "The Walk" of Jesus. Throughout his epistles, the apostle Paul tells us how to walk; In Romans 6:4 he tells us to "walk in newness of life". In Romans 8:4 he tells us to "walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit". In Romans 13:13 we learn to "walk honestly, as in the day . . . " In 2 Corinthians 5:7 we see that we must "walk by faith, not by sight". In Ephesians 2:10 we discover that God has ordained that our walk should be comprised of "good works". In Ephesians 5:2 we are taught the most important lesson, that is to "walk in love". In Colossians 4:5 we see that we must "walk in wisdom toward them that are without". And finally, 2 John 4 admonishes us to "walk in truth". That's a lot of walking! But it is our walk that signifies how we are truly RELATED to our Lord Jesus! God told Abraham in Genesis 17:1; "Walk before me and be blameless". As you can see, it's basically SIMPLE, but it's not EASY. But, how does all this relate to our WAITING UPON GOD with FAITH & RELIANCE? And when do the eagles fly into the picture? Let's first take a look at waiting in more detail . . . . WAIT A MINUTE! KNOT YET!: The Hebrew word for "wait" in Isaiah 40:31 means, among other things, "to bind together (perhaps by twisting);" this is a fascinating thought to utilize! Why, instead of being bound up in knots of worry, what Isaiah 40:31 is really telling us to do is to KNIT ourselves into the fabric of Jesus! To BIND with Him as individual strands are bound together into a cord of rope! Isn't that radical ?! Isn't that awesome ?! Isn't that God ?! The more we wait upon Him with faith and expectancy, the more WOVEN into His fabric, the more TWINED into His rope we become! Increasingly, as our faith grows, we are bound ever more tightly into the cord of life that is Jesus! John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Can you see this passage in a new light? Apart from Jesus, if we try to "wait on Him", we can see why it's so easy to fret and worry -- and fail. But take heart in His Word: 1 Corinthians 2:16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. and Galatians 3:26-27 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. "Knot" only can you knit into His fabric, but you can also use His fabric to clothe yourself!! And even further than clothing, we are also FAMILY! Hebrews 2:11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. Can you see how waiting can "twist" and "bind" us together with Jesus?!?! We become a branch in His vine. We have His mind. We are clothed with Him. We are part of His family. Now we know the importance of our RELATIONSHIP with God as exemplified by our faithful WALK, and by our patient WAITING on Him. Questions: 1) Does God teach us to WALK in faith with small steps or big steps? [small] 2) Do we learn to WAIT on Him during small trials or huge trials? [small] ABRAHAM'S RELATIONSHIP AND OURS: The Old Testament Saints, prophets, and New Testament apostles and disciples all learned faith and trust in God, right? How much faith did they have? There is one important gage by which the strength of their relationship with God could be measured, and that gage is termed SEPARATION. The Bible, which can often be used to paint a big picture that we can apply to our lives, shows us this separation in the life of Abraham. He showed his faith and trust in God (and therefore the strength of his relationship) by separating himself from his homeland as well as from much of his family. This concept of separation can be applied to the worldliness of our lives even today. Are you "of the world", or are you, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:17, "separate" ? 2 Corinthians 6:17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate," says the Lord. Jesus even said the same thing regarding His disciples: John 17:14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. Are you of this world, or are you a disciple of Jesus? * Is there any middle ground between these 2 choices? * Do we ever try to establish some place in the middle of these 2 choices? (YES - We do, and it's called being "LUKEWARM", and it's not a good thing.) WHICH WAY NEXT?: Waiting on Jesus often means not having a clue as to where He is leading you. In fact, to walk AND wait, when your destination is unknown, is a true definition of faith, and a measure of the strength of your relationship with your Lord. BUT - because of your relationship, you can be sure that you love and know the one who is leading you. You don't know where He is leading you, but you are sure of who He is, so it's O.K. You must, at times, be "carefully careless" in your waiting upon Him. You CAN do this, because your FAITH is rooted and grounded in the person of Jesus Christ! AND NOW, "ON EAGLES WINGS": Remember our key verse? Isaiah 40:31. Read it again. Isaiah 40:31 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 be faint. We are going to study the life of a baby eagle to learn an important lesson about how WE are to walk, wait, and have utter faith in God. This beautiful picture was written by Andrew Murray. "Do you know how the eagle's wings are obtained? Only in one way, by the eagle birth. You are born of God. You have the eagle's wings. You may not have known it; you may not have used them; but God can and will teach you to use them. "Do you know how the eagles are taught to use their wings? See yonder cliff rising a thousand feet out of the sea. See high up a ledge on the rock, where there is an eagle's nest with it's treasure of two young eaglets. See the mother bird come and stir up her nest, and with her beak push the timid birds over the precipice. See how they flutter and fall and sink towards the depth. See how she 'fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings' (Deuteronomy 32:11), and so, as they ride upon her wings, brings them to a place of safety. And so she does once and again, each time casting them out over the precipice, and then again taking and carrying them. "Yes, the instinct of that eagle mother was God's gift, a single ray of that love in which the Almighty trains His people to mount as on eagle's wings. He stirs up your nest. He disappoints your hopes. He brings down your confidence. He makes you fear and tremble, as all your strength fails, and you feel utterly weary and helpless. And all the while He is spreading His strong wings for you to rest your weakness on. "All He asks is that you should sink down in your weariness and wait on Him; and allow Him to carry you as you ride upon the wings of His omnipotence." Andrew Murray Being born of God - that's how we get the 'eagle's wings'. We must be born of God . We don't "earn" them anymore than we earn salvation. We must be born again, born of God, to obtain salvation. But we have these 'eagle's wings' already, if we are rightly related to our Lord Jesus. And God will train us to use them, all we have to do is ASK, SEEK and KNOCK, and we shall RECEIVE, FIND and HAVE THE DOOR OPENED. Simple, but not easy - there it is again! God's love is awesome. He wants us to fly and soar like eagles, but to train us, He must often cause us discomfort. He wants us to completely and utterly rely upon Him, and He must often take us to the end of ourselves, our 'wits end', in order to accomplish the task. MOUNTAIN TOPS AND VALLEYS: A disciple learns about 'mountain top' experiences as well as living in the 'valley' of the world, the place where we really walk our Christian walk. Oswald Chambers teaches us some more about soaring on eagle's wings, being in God's presence, and waiting on Him to show us: "A life of faith is not one glorious mountain top experience after another, like soaring on eagle's wings, but it is a life of day-in and day-out consistency . . . It is a faith that has been tried and proven (remember the eaglets) and has withstood the test. "[Oftentimes] there is no thrill for us in the walking, yet it is the test for all of our steady and enduring qualities. To "walk and not be faint" is the [real] measure [of our faith]." * Has God pushed you out of your comfortable nest lately? Oswald Chambers again: "If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession thru conflict." * Does it seem as if your faith has wandered off somewhere without you? Find it and hold on to it with the grip of an eagle's talons. What you are gaining is costly - you are gaining Jesus Christ, and He is something worth the wait. But do not be confused, you are not earning Him, you are earning the reward of your faith in the relationship you have with Him. You do not earn Jesus, you earn the reward of you faith. Hebrews 3:14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Romans 2:7 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of eternal life. If the baby eagle learned to fly by reading about flight in self-help books, or by watching a "how-to-fly-in-10-easy-steps" video, he will be the weakest of his kind. If he feels his mother's ways are too severe and a direct violation of his personal 'rights', he will never learn to fly. Oswald Chambers: "It is much easier to DO SOMETHING that to [simply] trust in God. That is why we see so few fellow workers WITH God, yet so many people working FOR God. We would much rather work FOR God than BELIEVE in Him." Hebrews 12:2-3 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Yes, "fix your eyes on Jesus" so that you too can "mount up with wings as eagles". God will never let you fall so as you can never get back up. You're never out of control from His vantage point. Remember the way the mother eagle swoops in and carries the eaglet back to safety. All you have to do is lean on His mighty arm. He is trustworthy! Deuteronomy 32:10b-11 He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.

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