THE EAGLE
By Pastor Paul
Revelation 21:5
He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
Isaiah 43:19
“Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth”
You will have noticed in those verses the words: “new thing” - “all things new”.
The Lord God has existed from eternity to eternity yet He is in the business of doing new things, making all things new!
Our God is the Ancient of Days but He’s right up to date, more modern than the newest new things you can think of, He is infinitely and eternally modern – He is already in the future way ahead of us! (And He’s there to meet us – isn’t that a comfort?)!
He has been at work for aeons – countless billions of years - yet He still doing fresh things.
You may have been a Christian for some years now – It’s over 50 years for me yet I know that I need to be constantly refreshed and renewed.
Well here’s the good news – Jesus makes all things new and He wants to do it for you also. He wants to do new things in us individually and in His church around the world – He wants His church to be right up to date and relevant – without needing to be trendy – and to achieve that, we church need to be constantly refreshed and renewed by the Holy Spirit.
There’s a picture of this in Psalm 103v5 where it talks about our youth being renewed like the eagle’s.
Let’s look at the way the eagle renews himself.
It’s a biological scientific fact – that the eagle renews its youth, but it does so not in a one off dramatic moment – but in a constant continuous way – which actually is far better.
The eagle constantly renews himself so that he is in top condition till the day he dies!
– I believe God wants to renew us constantly so that we are in top condition spiritually all through our lives.
There are 3 things the eagle does to renew his/her youth:
They work on their beak, talons, and feathers and it’s all for a very good reason.
THE BEAK
The eagle often smooths his beak by rubbing it against a rock. The beak is constantly growing and he files down any irregularities in order to keep it ready for action. God wants to constantly smooth the rough parts of our lives.
Let’s also take the beak as a picture of the mouthpiece of the church. The local church should be involved in proclaiming the truth of God and speaking and witnessing about him. We can all be involved in that and we need to constantly work on honing that and doing it better.
THE TALONS
The eagle’s talons are for capturing his prey. He swoops down on his target and he doesn’t want to drop it – so the eagle constantly keeps his talons sharp. Like finger nails, they are constantly growing and they need to be kept at just the right length. The talons are for gripping – so we need to constantly renew our grip – I believe that starts in prayer. It provides a picture of how to really pray – get your claws in and don’t let go until what you are praying for is accomplished!
When I was a teenager for some years we had a dynamic pastor who was also a good preacher. But then he left and was replaced with 'Mr Bean' – in other words somebody who was quite irritating and not at all dynamic. His name was Brian and I must say in his defence that he was a good and caring pastor - he tried hard but somehow it didn’t work out very well.
Well we were quite relieved when Brian left after some years and went to another city. However the people in that new church welcomed him with open arms and committed themselves to really pray for him and guess what - We soon started to get news back that Brian was doing really well and the church was growing. We did not recognise this person. Prayer had changed things!
DO YOU PRAY FOR YOUR PASTOR? Do you want others in ministry to be a success? - Even more successful than you? For the church to be in blessing and growth? – It starts by getting a grip in prayer.
There is no other way.
THE FEATHERS
Eagles spend a lot of time maintaining their feathers, which includes cleaning them, waterproofing them, smoothing them.
The eagle loses some of his feathers in the summer and this makes way for new growth, but he also works very hard at maintaining his feathers in good condition by preening them and applying oil from the preen gland which is located at the base of the tail. This cleans and waterproofs his feathers.
He works hard at this for one reason
– so he can FLY!
If he cannot fly – he cannot catch his food – and if he cannot do that he will die!
He maintains his feathers so he can GO WHERE EAGLES DARE!
– Let us dare to fly high in the heavens
– let the church dare to fly high
- let’s experience the wind of heaven in our wings
– let’s soar like eagles!
- Let’s fly high on the wings of worship.
- Let’s get heaven’s view of things.
God is the One who makes all things new – He is constantly at work doing fresh new things – He wants to do that in His church, in His ministers - young and old! In YOU and through you – whatever your ministry is!
Are you ready? Let’s fly!
Isaiah 40:31
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.
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