To Soar like Eagles
By: Alan Smith
Isaiah 40:31: But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (NIV)
I always wanted to be able to fly. Have you ever felt this way? Did you ever have a dream where you could fly over the countryside? You know, like Peter Pan. It appears this will never happen in my natural life; or could it? What about the life of the Spirit? Isaiah says there will be a people who will “soar on wings like eagles”. Let’s take a flying lesson from the scriptures on flight number Isaiah 40:31. Okay, prepare for take off.
How are we to get this “eagle” off the ground? The first thing this scripture tells us is we must have the strength to fly. So how do I get this strength—this spiritual jet fuel? I believe this verse is telling us we get it from the Lord. The Lord is my spiritual and emotional fueling station. I have included the word emotional because for this eagle to fly, I must get into the correct e-motion to get off the runway.
The second thing we must do is check our fuel tank readings. As we scan the gauges, we find the fuel gauge, which has a name called “hope”. Over the gauge are these words: “FILL ONLY WITH HIGH QUALITY FAITH”. I have always wondered how much faith I have in my tank; but I know I can’t tell you how much faith I have. I don’t know if I have a little or a lot; but I can tell you how much hope I have. So, hope is the way I can read how much faith I must have to get this eagle off the ground. A little hope equals a little faith, which equals a little spiritual fuel. Therefore, a lot of hope equals a lot of faith, which equals a lot of spiritual fuel. Now I have more understanding of why life’s circumstances are trying to rob me of my hope. My spiritual enemy knows that if he can keep my spiritual fuel tank empty, I will not even attempt “take off”.
Life’s circumstances are like tall trees at the end of the runway. It is amazing how we look at the tall trees and say, “I know I can’t make it over them; I can’t make lift off. I know the trees, which are life’s circumstances, are just too tall. I will never get enough momentum to clear them.” This unbelief is a lack of hope. Unbelief is a hole in our spiritual fuel tanks in which “faith” will leak out upon the ground. Our hope is not to be appropriated in the tall trees or in ourselves or in the evidence of life’s circumstances. Our hope is to be in the Lord. As we appropriate this “hope” in the Lord, it is supernaturally and instantaneously changed into “faith”. Hope is what I send to the Lord; and Faith is what He sends back into my spiritual tank. Faith is a gift from God.
Eph. 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV)
God sends us this spiritual fuel because He wants to by His grace, as you can see in this scripture. We do not deserve it; He just wants us to make it. He wants us to make it off the runway and soar with the eagles and get a perspective that we can only get from high places.
Blessings,
Alan
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