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To Soar Like Eagles—Part 3

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)

 “Eagles, start your engines. All aboard for flight number Isaiah 40:31,” I heard the still small voice say. Could this be the day that you “soar on wings like eagles”? I believe this can be true for you and for me. Let’s look a little deeper into this flight manual of the spirit.

 When I take an airplane flight, I must go to the ticket counter to check-in myself and my baggage. The goal is for my baggage to get to my destination with me. The attendant takes my baggage and weighs it to make sure it has not exceeded the weight limit, because the airplane cannot make lift-off if it has excessive weight. So how does this apply to the spiritual world? Good question! This verse not only identifies for us, but also calculates for us, what is too heavy for spiritual flight. Isaiah has identified the excess weights as “grow weary” and “not be faint”.

 Let’s study this excess weight further. We’ll look at the Hebrew word “weary” in the Strong’s concordance to capture the meaning of this first excess weight Isaiah identified: yaw-gah'; a primitive root; properly, to gasp; hence, to be exhausted, to tire, to toil: KJV - faint, (make to) labour, (be) weary. I don’t know about you, but this sounds like my Christian life! Are your labors for the Lord leaving you feeling exhausted and tired? Then this probably means you are carrying the excess weight of “weary”.

 Now, let’s look again in the Strong’s concordance at the second baggage that Isaiah identified as “to faint”: yaw-af'; a primitive root; to tire (as if from wearisome flight). Can you believe this one? To “faint” means that you are still tired from the previous flight.

 Please consider what I am about to say. To board and lift-off on this new flight of the spirit means you must leave the old baggage of the previous flight behind. On this flight of the Spirit, no baggage is needed. You do not need to take your clothes because the garments you will be wearing are the garments of another. They are white as snow, washed in grace, and their weight is an unbelievable weight of “zero”.

 How can I receive this weightless garment? You must first ask, and then you will receive. I am sure that many of you have already trusted in the Lord and have asked Him to come into your life. If so, I have only one question to ask you. Have you put on the garment that He gave you when you first trusted in Him, or have you put on the garment of religion? You might wonder how to know if you have or not. You can know because His garment is very light and is not a burden. You must trust His garments and not your own. Our garments have weight; His do not. When you put on Jesus Christ and His garments, you can soar on wings like eagles. When you soar you can feel joy, peace, contentment, and sometimes, just plain happy. This should give us reason to smile a lot!

 Blessings,

Alan