This verse has probably impacted me more than many throughout my Christian experience, yet, I'm still asking the Lord, "How do I rise up on those eagle's wings today?" I'm learning, as my body grows weaker, what it means to "mount up," and to "run and not be weary," and to "walk and not faint." All through life we face the world, the flesh, and the devil in some way, and sometimes all 3 at once. This is the Christian life. It is not a life of ease and happiness in this world. It is as Paul put it "the good fight of faith." Sometimes we grow weak. But each time we learn to "put on Christ" and renew our strength. We see many metaphors in God's Word that shows us this same principle. Putting on Christ, putting on the whole armor of God, waiting on the Lord, and looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
(9) But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(10) For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I have a problem with physical weakness and fatigue. Many times I've prayed for physical strength and sought ways to try to find health and strength, and I find myself many days unable anyway, to do much other than just give into it and lay down. I can't "mount up" physically, anyway. But I'm learning in those times to mount up on the inside, in my soul, by looking unto Jesus, surrendering my body to Him and giving myself up to Him for His glory, whether in strength or weakness of body. My nature is to wine and moan under it and complain that my life is good for nothing. But when I look to Him, and put on Christ, waiting on Him in prayer and embracing His promises and encouragement and strength of His Word I find inside my hidden life in Christ mounts up and overcomes and I can fly above it with wings of eagles. I can soar above the things of this world troubling me, oppressing me, weighing me down, and I can rise up into the heavenly places where my new life is with Christ.
This is where we really are, if indeed, we are "in Christ." We are here in this earth in these bodies yet we are "seated in the Heavenlies with Christ."
Ephesians 2:4-6
(4) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
(5) even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
(6) and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
It is hard to fathom, yet it is true. It is our reality. He doesn't say He "will" seat us, but that He "has." And when we learn to embrace it, and to trust it as fact, we learn also to live there in that heavenly place with Him where our real life is, even as we walk this weary pilgrim path below in these frail bodies subject to pain and weakness.
Colossians 3:1-3
(1) If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
(2) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
(3) For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
It is a done deal. It is finished. It is His work. When we learn to believe it, embrace it, and count on it, it renews our spiritual energy and fills us with joy. His joy is our strength. With that assurance and joy we can face anything, we can overcome anything. Without it, we are weak and vulnerable to the enemy. We are miserable Christians crippled in our walk, unable to stand, but always faltering. Without that assurance, our eyes are always on ourselves and this life here, as though that alone were our life in Christ. But He has already raised us up with Himself in the heavenly places. How is that so? He dwells in eternity, where there is no time. He has spiritually made it so for us through His finished work, and declared us His forever, given us His Spirit as a down payment, and our life now, in the Spirit, is with Him there where He is. All the spiritual blessings we need to walk here, are there with Him, and available to us as we walk in faith in our heavenly position and calling.
We are to ask God for a revelation of this blessed salvation and power for life. As we do He reveals it to us more and more in our lives and teaches us to apply it.
Ephesians 1:15-20
(15) For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,
(16) I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
(17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
(18) having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
(19) and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
(20) that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
Waiting on the Lord is simply taking the time to seek His face, to embrace His promises, to learn from Him through His Word and prayer and relying on His Spirit, as we each day, depend on Him to live His life in us and through us. It takes time to wait on Him. It takes effort. Sometimes it takes sitting before Him asking Him to examine our hearts, to reveal our flesh and weakness and failures to us, to lead us to His Word of instruction, encouragement, promises, and admonition. It takes laying our lives at His feet, at the foot of His cross, and surrendering to Him, trusting Him to raise us up with the power of His life in us, to a newness of life to Him. It takes time to wait on the Lord. Many times we don't want to take that time. So the Lord, in His faithfulness takes us aside, where our life's activity is put on hold, and we have to stop and seek His face, and renew our spiritual strength, waiting on Him, until He lifts us up again. If you find yourself in a humbled position, acknowledge God's hand in it, and rather than fight it, submit yourself under His mighty hand until He Himself lifts you up.
1 Peter 5:6-10
(6) Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
(7) casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
(8) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
(9) Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
(10) And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
We cannot rise up with wings of eagles unless we first humble ourselves under His mighty hand submitting to His working in our hearts and waiting on Him. He alone is our "eagle's wings." Faith in His finished work raises us up.
As I grow older and my body weaker, I realize I can still rise up in the strength of the Lord, even if not doing so physically. Even as I lay on my couch some days exhausted and weak, I am able to find my spirit can rise up into the heavenly places where I find the fellowship of my Lord, where I can pray for others, where I can be encouraged and strengthened on, until that day when this body is fully redeemed even as my soul is fully redeemed now. Yet even now, as I dwell in this body, my real life is risen with Him. Nothing on earth can touch me there. This body can have pain. This body can have trouble. This body can be weak. It can suffer persecution or evil. But none of those things can touch my real life, which is hidden in Christ, raised up with Him in heavenly places, seated with Him there, as long as I learn to realize and walk in this life, and wait on Him to enable me to embrace it and fully trust it.
What promises we have in this Christian life! What riches He has given us that we too often do not partake of! We must wait on the Lord to receive all that He has for us now, for His glory on us, in us, and through us, and His life manifested to us empowering us. There is no short cuts in the Christian life. There is no spiritual experience or anointing that somehow makes you super Christian overnight. There is no secret imparting by some spiritual person that will get you through the Christian life and give you super spirituality. There is only Christ, His life, received, submitted to, believed, and lived, day by day, waiting on Him, trusting Him, and surrendering all to Him. May the Lord grant us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a revelation of His great love to us, as we wait on Him, renewing our strength daily.
If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.
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