The Eagles of Heaven

UV 3732/10000. The Eagles of Heaven 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 v 31 Faith is all about waiting with expectation, with hope, with thanksgiving. When we wait on God to fulfill His word or His promises to us, our strength and power are renewed to do thagt which lies with us to do in the fulfilment of those very same promises, to realize a life of hope, promise and which has a future in eternity. The wings mentioned in the uni-verse are a metaphor for prayer and the word of God. These are like the powerful wings of a large eagle for with these we can fly upto heaven, fly into heaven, into the very throne room of God, the Father. We will rise up in our character and new nature to the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Word of God, the Lord Amen, Adonai. Every morning for years, my hour of power spent at the feet of Jesus have been the source of power and upliftment for my entire day. The rock like foundation of each day that no events or circumstances of the day can shake. The Lord renews my mind during this hour of power, sends His resurrection power to flow from my heart into my veins. Believers are the eagles of heaven. We are forever floating like eagles in the upper reaches of heaven’s atmosphere. We go where eagles alone can dare to go, the mountain tops, the craggy rocks, the mountain fastnesses. Like old eagles retire to a lonely place to shed old feathers and replace them with new feathers, our times alone with God renews our feathers so that we can fly higher and higher. Like an eagle’s eye spots it prey from a great height and distance and in one fell swoop do a precision dive to capture it, the Lord renews our vision so that we do “precision dives” to fulfill God’s revealed purpose in our lives. While worldly people walk and run and go weary, we fly on account of our faith, on account of our mighty wings of prayer and the word. The Lord energises us, empowers us, equips us, anoints us, enables us and supplies us with an inexhaustible source of power. The eagle is not threatened by any other bird or predator and likewise, we are not intimidated or threatened by any other being, human or spiritual. It is God’s grace that powers our wings like the wind and cushions of air that support the eagle when it floats around. We leave the crutches the world gives us, the cages that confine us and are free to fly high. We do not fight our battles on the ground like the world does but shifts the theatre of warfare against the enemy, the wily serpent in the air, the realm of spiritual power.

God's Act of Rescue

UV 3731/10000 God’s Act of Rescue “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, ” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1 v 19 Those who are living in the light of God and doing what is right always face attacks and assaults from the enemy. The powers of darkness attack from all directions but He who is greater, more powerful, victorious over death and darkness lives in us. He promises to fight for us. He is with us in every situation and He promises to rescue us. He provides the way of escape, that we might endure trials and tribulations, tests and temptations. We only need to take a position, a stance of faith, resting on His promise of help, of victory. We only need to brace ourselves even as He embraces us in His protective care. God, the Father allowed His beloved Son Jesus to embrace death so that death and sin cannot have a claim on us, so that the claim of justice, of due payment for sin is paid fully and finally. Of course, , many followers of Jesus have also suffered for His Name, for their beliefs. But as a rule, the Lord cares for us as the apple of His eye. But we should not act as if we are the apple tree of independence, of disobedience. We should not like Adam and Eve aspire to be like God in His power and awe. We should rest our faith only on His word, rest our faith in His shed blood. This is the stance that will transform all circumstances into victory for us and glory for Him. The Lord will fight for us and wrest victory for us. We only need to remain still or faithful and composed. We should not lose the peace and joy of salvation in these difficult moments when we are under attack. We should know God is working behind the scenes and discern behind the outer skein of circumstances, His hand obtaining victory for us. Life is never a picnic but there is no need to panic. God is in control even when He does not seem to be present in our situation. We need to be both eager to see His grace manifest in our situations as well as patient to wait till it happens. During the period of waiting, we should show no signs of frustration, desperation, depression but hold onto the promise, keep praying and praising God in anticipation of what He is going to do as if He has already done it.

God Plus Us

UV 3730/10000 God Plus Us Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. Isaiah 50 v 7 The Lord is Sovereign in our lives. His will is supreme, His word is supreme in our lives. Though He is Sovereign in power and authority, on account of His great love for us, He manifests Himself to us as Ebenezer and hides His awesome power that it might harm us or cause us to fear. He manifests Himself as our Helper. Since He helps us, we will not surely be put to shame. We will not be disgraced. We will not have to hide like Adam and Eve when they first sinned. We will not be put to shame before our earthly enemies or our spiritual foes. We are certain of being vindicated and therefore, victorious against all odds in life. Since we have this confidence in God Almighty, we can set our faces like flint, implying we do not have to flinch with fear like the frail men we are. God is infinite in strength and wisdom. Hence, God plus us are invincible, a deadly combination, a winning team. We can be determined, dedicated, devoted like Jesus when he set His face towards the cross. Jesus ascended the cross knowing for sure that in history and in eternity He would not be disgraced, His death on the cross would not be in vain but it would give hope and salvation to all who hope in it. Certainty of faith will help us not skip a single heart beat as we rest assured that the Lord will rush to our help in every circumstance, even death threatening ones, even circumstances that seem to put us to shame, when we look as if we are defeated and humiliated. Arrow heads used to be made of hard flint stone. When we have faith in Jesus, in His awesome power and grace, we will be like flint stone arrow heads, darting straight to fulfill the purpose God has set for our lives. Nothing can detract us, distract us, disturb us, deter us or divert us.

The Bank of Heaven

UV 3729/10000 The Bank of Heaven The Lord will open for you His good treasure house, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. Deuteronomy 28 v 12 If we do not swerve to the left or to the right but are steadfast in serving the Lord, not turn aside from any of His words, His commands, He will bless us with treasure from above. He will give us treasures out of darkness, secret treasures of which we know nothing. He will send us showers of blessing aplenty in due season, both the early rain and the latter rain. He will bless all the work of our hand. The words “ good treasure house” implies that there is a kind of Bank of Heaven in which all of us have accounts into which the Lord credits what we need as well as the abundance He wants to bless us to reward us with for our diligence, faithfulness, obedience and dedication. As the word promises, there is much profit in labour. There is much more blessing in God-blessed labour. We will not labour in vain but for gain in every sense of the word. The keys or codes we need to open our bank vault in heaven is already placed in our hands- diligence, dedication, devotion, discipline, determination. These are the good treasures that the thief cannot steal, the robber rob, the moth or rust cannot destroy. There is a season or particular time period of our lives when the Lord releases the showers of blessing upon us as the land rec We will not be indebted to foreignors but we will lend to others. He will send foreignors to serve us, even their leaders. He establishes the work of our hands so that it meets our needs. We will become signboards to point others to the Lord. These blessings and promises are conditional to our diligent study of the word, our careful listening to His voice, our careful obedience of His directions, counsel, commandments and will. In all our ways, we must lean on Him, listen intently to His voice, the whispers, promptings and nudging of the Holy Spirit. God is infinite in love, wisdom, power, grace. God plus us is also infinite in love, wisdom, power, grace. We are leaders of humanity by divine appointment and enablement or anointing. We will be above and not beneath. We are the TOP people not in terms of power, wealth, position but in terms of TOP- The Tabernacle of Peace. Since God, the Eternal One, the Almighty is tabernacle in us, we have peace. Peace or the holistic Shalom is the goal; the presence of God in us ensures peace. Prosperity is only a concomitant, an accompanying factor, a side dish. Happiness is the dessert.

It is I

UV 3728/10000. It is I But Jesus said to them, “ It is I ( I AM); do not be afraid.” John 6 v 20 Jesus gave only one reason for the disciples, terrified by a fierce storm in the Sea of Galilee, for them not to be afraid : “It is I.” Indeed, we, as frail human beings, are terrified of death, the great unknown but the Great I Am who has been there and overcome, is with us even in the valley of the shadow of death. His shadow, overpowers the shadow of death, and lights up our lives. It is impossible for us to face a storm without fear but all things are possible for Jesus. It is impossible for us to face a deadly pestilence like Covid without fear and trepidation but it is possible to do so if Jesus is in our “boat”. Our boat may be rocked hard and dangerously. The winds and waves of misfortune may be threatening our peace but we just need to ask Jesus to board our boat. The boat that was tossed about in the heavy storm was able to reach the shore where they were planning to land. Once Jesus is in our boat (our life, our hearts) we will be able to reach the intended destination. No storm can stop us. No force on earth can hinder us for He who is greater than any of these and all of these is with us, in us, for us. Jesus is the anchor of hope and the word of God is the chain that connects us to Him. No storm can drag us off course as long as we repose our trust in Him and are attached intimately to Him as an iron chain to the heavy anchor. The three hooks of an anchor are a metaphor for the Trinity. Through Jesus, we are connected to the Great I am, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The presence of God must not be intermittent but continuous with us for us to be safe and to feel safe. Everything else can be intermittent- prayer, fasting, working, resting, eating, exercising but the presence of God needs to be continuous. We need a twenty four hour connect and communion with the O-zone of His presence, His omnipotence that no storm or challenge can threaten or destabilize, His omnipresence that never leaves us nor forsakes us, His omniscience that surrounds us and cares for the tiny details of our lives. We need to hear His reassuring voice, “ It is I.”

Magnets for Everlasting Joy

UV 3727/10000 Magnets for Everlasting Joy And the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with shouts of jubilation, and everlasting joy will be upon their heads; They will find joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35 v 10 The common enemy of our souls, satan has abducted our souls and taken mankind into captivity from birth. But Jesus came to set us free, to pay the ransom for our freedom from the wages of sin- eternal death and bondage to the enemy. We are now free by virtue of our faith to return to God, to Zion, the kingdom of God. Since we have returned by re-birth of our souls, we can rejoice and shout praises unto the Father who sent His Son to redeem us. We have become magnets for joy and gladness, to attract these into our lives and to repel sorrow and lamentation. We can now live a victorious life, the abundant life, eternal life. Eternal life is not something we live after we die physically but it is living our lives on earth with an eternal perspective, as children of God, as siblings of Jesus, as non resident citizens of heaven, as servants of the Lord, as subjects of the King of Kings, as priests and kings of the Most High. We are a liberated people and we should not live as slaves of sin, cursed to live a life of bondage. We are a people returned to our homes, our homeland is none but the Lord God. We are to live as the wise and not return to our days of captivity. Our spiritually blind eyes have been opened and hence, we can leap for joy. Our spiritually deaf ears have been healed and hence, we can rejoice. Our spiritually crippled faculties have been restored and hence, we can live fully, freely and joyfully. Our spiritually mute tongue has been released and hence, we can praise, thank and worship the Lord. Formerly, we believed that the enemy’s deceptive words are to be believed and the Lord’s word to be distrusted as the enemy suggested that it is meant to limit us, to keep us from being like God. Now, we know that it is the Lord’s word that is to be believed and we derive our freedom, our strength and our blessings from His word. The chains of captivity have been broken and we are set free forever. The joy of the Lord that is embedded in His word is our source of strength. Our joy and pleasure which was formerly ephemeral, transitory, vain, momentary is now everlasting. It is not a joy imagined within our heads or our hearts. It is not a mere emotion. It is lasting joy, everlasting joy. It is the joy that comes from the faith, hope and assurance that we shall live forever in Zion, in the presence of the living Lord, the Great Sovereign and King who never enslaves anyone. It is the joy that comes from the blessings the Lord’s favour has brought upon us.

Our Tabernacle and Refuge

UV 3726/10000. Our Tabernacle and Refuge The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He drove out the enemy from before you, and said, “Destroy!” Deuteronomy 33 v 27 We as believers of Jesus have come to dwell in God and on God, the eternal One. He is our refuge, our shelter, our place of comfort. In normal times, He is our Tabernacle of joy and in times of crisis, difficulty and danger, He is our refuge, our hiding place, our shield. His arms are like wings under which we have come to rest. The two wings of prayer and the word sustain us and carry us through our lives and into eternity with God. The Lord goes ahead of us to destroy our common enemy. He is our weapon of mass destruction and of eternal life. He creates and sustains, He judges and saves His people, those who trust in His Name. He is the shield of our help, the sword that executes excellence in our lives. We will tread on the high places of the enemy and they will cringe before us. We dwell in safety and security because of our faith in the Lord. His mercy drops down on us like dew from heaven, softening our hearts like the early rain prepares the crop for ripening. He carries us into a land full of grain and new wine, new experiences to savour and relish. His word strengthens us from within and His answers to our prayers strengthen us from above. He is invincible, invisible and indestructible. His love is forever, eternal, unchanging and steadfast. His will is sovereign. His power is insurmountable and unstoppable. His grace is sufficient for us in all circumstances. It opens up a spring and fountain of joy deep within us that never dries up. The enemy has plans to harm us while the Lord has plans to help us, to give us hope, a future and after that eternity. Jesus is the word of eternal life who guarantees eternity for every one who believes Him. Hence, He said His purpose in coming to the earth is to give us life, eternal life and life in all its abundance. He has not withheld anything good from His own.