Eagle Saints
“But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] will gain new strength and renew their power; they will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not grow tired.” Isaiah 40:31 Amplified
We all grow weary in this path of life, needing to wait upon and put our expectation on the Lord to renew our strength to continue walking His way. We need Him to lift us up into the spirit, to cause us to gain power to overcome all of life’s obstacles. We look to the God of all salvation to send us the wind of His spirit to cause our wings to be lifted upward. Then we are enabled to run without weariness, walk without growing tired as He renews our strength.
This is what eagles are enabled to do. God uses eagles as an example of how He causes us to rise up above our earthly troubles to soar in Him. God refers to eagles many times in the scriptures as a way to show us how He lifts us up into the heavens of His spirit, enabling us to soar high above earth’s troubles and adversity.
Eagles use their speed to rise up until they can soar by catching the thermal winds to fly long distances with little effort. Saints rise up to catch the wind of the spirit to find the higher, deeper, more holy ways of the Lord. Eagles are admired as symbols of power, freedom, and transcendence, just as the Lord’s people should be. As we are free in Him, we so long for everyone else to have that same freedom.
Oh, it is not just freedom from sin. To be free in the Lord is to be free from self, from our earthly minds, earthly concerns, earthly ways. Eagles can teach us much as we watch them effortlessly fly through our skies. Rather than flap their wings, eagles soar by relying on rising air currents, saving considerable energy. What a beautiful parallel to what the spirit of the Lord enables in His saints to do!
This is soaring far above our earthly troubles, with little effort or labor on our part. The spirit lifts us as we worship, praise, and adore our Lord. We can learn to rest in Him as His spirit lifts us up into the heavenlies. Years ago, God gave me a song about this, and these words still teach me:
There’s a place in the Lord that brings His rest
There’s a place in the Lord that brings holy communion
There’s a place in the Lord that brings righteousness
There’s a place in the Lord: that’s His rest.
No struggle, no strain, no labor in vain
No worry, no blame in His rest.
Fear is cast out, along with it doubt
Torment is out in His rest.
There’s a place in the Lord that brings His rest
There’s a place in the Lord that brings holy communion
There’s a place in the Lord that brings righteousness
There’s a place in the Lord: that’s His rest.
B. Mikelson 1999
This song parallels a picture of God’s rest that an illustrator created, with a person relaxing on a leaf while the wind blows it gently wheresoever it will. This rest is being with the Lord, the love of our life, perfectly relaxed and at peace. It is His place of rest while we are serving Him. We seek for it as we seek Him, our wonderful amazing God of the universe who actually loves us and wants to be in communion with us.
Our “eagle eyes” are to be fixed on Him and His ways, our vision becoming increasingly acute on the things of the Lord while our earthly focus fades in importance. If we want to soar in the heavens by the spirit, far above all the challenges and difficulties of this world, our eyes are to remain fixed upon the Lord. There are many scriptures encouraging us to do just that and here is a favorite:
“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.” Psalms 34:3-5 KJV
The word “magnify” is a powerful illustration of what happens when we focus upon, seek, and look to the Lord. It comes from the Hebrew word “gadal,” meaning “to make large in body, mind, estate, or honor; increase, magnify, nourish, promote.” When we look through a magnifying glass, what we see is revealed in more detail and seems closer. Our magnifying glass is the holy spirit within, ever drawing our being to the spiritual things of God and His kingdom. This literally changes our countenance, lightening it or causing it to “beam,” as the Concordant Literal translates it.
What we focus on grows, thus it matters a great deal what we allow our eyes to gaze upon. As God is our meat and drink, His essence is absorbed into our being, as surely as the food and drink we have in the natural is absorbed into our bodies. The apostle Paul told us what we are to think upon, to remain mindful about, to be focused upon in our lives:
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8 KJV
What is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report—all the time and in all ways— but our Lord? These are the qualities of His kingdom that live within us. It is ever increasing as He nurtures and feeds the seed of His word into the crop producing the fruit of His nature. There is a way to live in this world and not be of it. It is God’s way and He makes the path straight before us. We can “mark” or ponder this path before us and keep our eyes upon it, forgetting the past:
“Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path.
Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.” Proverbs 4:25-27 NIV
As we learn to keep our gaze, our hearts, our focus on what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, we learn to keep this focus as we look upon others. What if we all focused on the good things, the glimpses of God’s nature in others, commenting upon, magnifying, keeping our gaze on what is worthy of a good report? Consider a child who is continually told good things about themselves, things that are true, qualities that can be nurtured for growth in this life? When we focus on a child’s strengths, they grow in confidence and shine as they grow.
This is the Lord’s way but contrast this to the child who is constantly told what is wrong with them. Some children are reminded frequently of their failings and mistakes, even by well meaning caregivers and others responsible for nurturing a child’s growth in this life. That child shrinks into defeat and despair, with discouragement growing into resentment and rebellion. It’s a very sad way to nurture young lives and yet many of us do it, even being well meaning in our focus on what’s wrong rather than what is strong in another.
There’s another proverb that speaks directly to this:
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7 KJV
What you focus on will be what’s attracted to you. When we become defeated and discouraged in this life of adversity, how we need someone to speak a good word to us, an encouraging word, a word that builds up our faith and hope. God’s word is just that and the power of His love is stronger than anything! Oh that we could remember and live this way with those we love, let alone all others God tells us to pray for and extend our hearts of concern to in the world.
It’s harder for some Christians to do this than others, depending on how they were taught and the nature God gave them in their mother’s womb. Some people are just naturally more critical and negative, even believing this is the way to “help” others around them become better people. Many a preacher does this when they focus upon sin, rail against the evil ways of this world, and predict doom and destruction to those who do not listen. More than one Christian reports more about what the enemy is doing in their lives than what the Lord is accomplishing within them, particularly through adversity.
Are we the Lord’s or not? Is He in charge or does the enemy have more power than He does? Did He or did He not defeat the enemy on the cross, rising again and bringing Himself into our hearts so that we may live in His sight? Yes, we do have an enemy. Yes, there is evil in this world. Yes, others, including those we love and with whom we live intimately, have faults, make mistakes, do things wrong, sinning, missing the marke. We are not blind to these things, but that should not be our focus.
Is this what you want to attract to your life? Are these the seeds you want to plant and nurture in others, especially those you love, including our precious children God has given us to raise? We cannot help but plant these seeds as they are in us, just as the world is in us. But God is more than able to change our fleshly nature into His nature as we keep our eyes fixed upon Him. That is the way to soar in the heavenlies with the Lord, like eagle saints. Then we plant the pure Word, which is a positive, life-enhancing word, even the word of correction He brings.
What we focus upon, grows. Absolutely, irrevocably, inevitably. What is in our hearts comes out of us, whether good or bad. This is how we learn and grow. As eagle saints in God’s school, He continually refines our vision from earthly to heavenly things. His word and His ways are seeds that always brings forth a crop, maturing into His nature of love, peace and joy. Thank God our wonderful amazing brains are able to learn new things all of our lives.
The chorus of the hymn, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, says what we are to do as saints of the living God.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.”
Helen Howarth Lemmel, 1918
Did you know that this hymn is also called “The Heavenly Vision”? Written in 1918 it was inspired by a tract entitled Focused composed by the missionary Isabella Lilias Trotter. Please take time to read the entire pamphlet as I just did! The holy spirit led me to this at the end of this post, and, truly she said it all much better than I have. Here’s several sections of her pamphlet that continue to speak to us more than a century later:
“…Gathered up, focussed lives, intent on one aim – Christ – these are the lives on which God can concentrate blessedness. It is ‘all for all’ by a law as unvarying as any law that governs the material universe…What does this focussing mean? Study the matter and you will see that it means two things – gathering in all that can be gathered, and letting the rest drop.
The working of any lens – microscope, telescope, camera – will show you this. The lens of your own eye, in the room where you are sitting, as clearly as any other. Look at the window bars, and the beyond is only a shadow; look through at the distance, and it is the bars that turn into ghosts. You have to choose which you will fix your gaze upon and let the other go….
Turn full your soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him, and the Divine ‘attrait’ by which God’s saints are made, even in this 20th century, will lay hold of you.
For ‘He is worthy’ to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win.” Focussed, A Story and a Song, 2018.
Thank you, Lilias Trotter for these wonderful words that echo through time into our hearts.