Patheos

BuddhistCatholicContemplativeEvangelicalGeneral ChristianHinduJewishLatter-day SaintMuslimNew VisionsProgressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Patheos

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube

Robert Ricciardelli

To Soar Like Eagles by Alan Smith

Last updated on: September 17, 2011 at 11:01 am   by editorconvergingzone

To Soar Like Eagles by Alan Smith 2011-09-17T11:01:21-08:00 editorconvergingzone

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

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)

I always wanted to be able to fly. Have you ever felt this way? Did you ever have a dream where you could fly over the countryside? You know, like Peter Pan. It looks like this will never happen in my natural life; or could it? What about the life of the spirit? Isaiah says there will be a people that will “soar on wings like eagles”. Let’s take a flying lesson from the scriptures on flight number Isaiah 40:31. Okay, prepare for take off.

Now, how are we to get this “eagle” off the ground? The first thing this scripture tells us is we must have the strength to fly. So how do I get this strength; this spiritual jet fuel? Well, I believe this verse is telling us, we get it from the Lord. The Lord is my spiritual and emotional fueling station. I have included the word emotion, because in order for this eagle to fly, I must get into the correct e-motion to get off the runway.

The second thing we must do is check our fuel tank readings. As we look over the gauges, we find the fuel gauge. This gauge has a name, and it is called “hope”. Over the gauge it says these words “FILL ONLY WITH HIGH QUALITY FAITH”. I have always wondered how much faith I have in my tank; haven’t you? I can’t tell you how much faith I have. I don’t know if I have a little or a lot; but I can tell you how much hope I have. So hope is the way I can read how much faith I have to get this eagle off the ground. A little hope equals a little faith, which equals a little spiritual fuel. Therefore, a lot of hope equals a lot of faith, which equals a lot of spiritual fuel. Now I have more understanding of why life’s circumstances are trying to rob me of my hope. My spiritual enemy knows that if he can keep my spiritual fuel tank empty, I will not even attempt “take off”.

Life’s circumstances are like tall trees at the end of the runway. It is amazing how we look at the tall trees and say, “I know I cannot make it over them; I cannot make lift off. I know the trees, life’s circumstances, are just too tall. I will never get enough momentum to clear them.” This unbelief is a lack of hope. Unbelief is a hole in our spiritual tanks in which “faith” will leak out upon the ground. Our hope is not to be appropriated in the tall trees or in ourselves or in the evidence of life’s circumstances. Our hope is to be in the Lord. As we appropriate this “hope” in the Lord it is supernaturally and instantaneously changed into “faith”. Hope is what I send to the Lord and Faith is what He sends back into my spiritual tank. Faith is a gift; a gift from God.

Eph 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV) God sends us this spiritual fuel because He wants to. It is by his grace, as you can see in this scripture. We do not deserve it; He just wants us to make it. He wants us to make it off the runway and soar with the eagles and get a perspective, which we can only get from high places.

Okay, do you still want to fly? Well, if so, then let’s look at flight number Isaiah 40:31, once again, and continue to prepare for take off. In our preparations from last time, we learned about the spiritual fuel that we need in our spiritual tanks. How our “hope” is to be in the Lord, and in return, the Lord will fill us with “faith”. The writer of the book of Hebrews unlocks more of the mystery of this supernatural substance called faith. Hebrews 11:1: “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This is unbelievable! Something that I cannot see has “substance”. So “faith” is some kind of spiritual substance, which must be preceded by “hope” before it will materialize. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say that the only “evidence” which I can use is the “evidence” that cannot be seen.

This indicates that the “evidence” we see, life’s circumstances, is off limits and cannot be used. If we use this kind of “seen evidence”, it will only pollute the spiritual fuel that is necessary to get this eagle off the ground. Do not let your spiritual fuel be polluted with this slime. We need unpolluted, undiluted, unpooted spiritual fuel from heaven. Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away in my descriptive words. But regardless, we need to understand that the evidence of life’s circumstances does not equal a spiritual truth in our lives. This evidence of life’s circumstances is not the prophetic voice that should speak into our future. Do not bring glory to these “past” events of sorrow and doubt. We should only let Christ write our future.

Remember, we decide who writes our future: Christ or crises. Where are we to appropriate our hope? We are to appropriate our hope in the One who can give us the spiritual fuel of “faith” to take us from where we are to where we are going. We need to take this spiritual flight: a flight that will take us into the very presence of God. To a destination that only God of heaven could chart for each and every one of us. Remember, He wants us to make it more than we want to. If God is for us, I believe we will make it. Let’s put our hope in Him today!

Now, let’s take a look at the next part of this verse. It says: “They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” If we are going to soar like eagles, we must start running down this spiritual runway. The runway must be fairly long because Isaiah exhorts us to not grow weary while running. If we continue to hope in the Lord, this verse indicates that the Lord will renew our strength. Our strength comes from above, not from within. Our hope is within. This hope will be sent on a spiritual journey on the wings of prayer to the One, who in return, will send us strength. I encourage you this day to take your eyes off of life’s circumstances and place your hope, more than ever, in Christ. You can trust Him. He will renew your strength to run down the runway of life and make it over the trees to climb into the heavens and live in the very presence of God.

Faith

Accomplish

advertisement

Alive

apostle

apostolic

authentic

authenticity

baptist

battle

Bible

brain

brother

business

Catholic

challenge

challenges

Christ

Christianity

Church

class. transforming

coach

coaching

coffee

commercials

community

converge

convergence

converging

devotions

dialogue

discourse

discovering

earth

Earthly

education

emergent

emerging

entertainment

Ephesians

evangelical

evangelism

evil

experiencing

family

finance. coffee

freedom

gathered

God

good

government

group

harmony

healing

health

healthcare

heaven

Heavenly

help

helping

Holy

Individuality

internet

Jewish

Kingdom

knowledge

leaders

Leadership

learn

Learning

lexicon

life

love

lover

loving

market

marketing

marketplace

method

Mind

mindset

ministry

miracle

mission

missionary

money

music

network

opportunity

philosophy

practice

prayer

private

production

profit

prophet

protestant

psychology

public

Rabbis

reform

reforming

relationship

religion

religious

renew

renewal

renewing

Revelation

saint

save

saved

saving

serve

serving

sister

Sit

social

social network

Spirit

steward

stewarding

strategies

strategy

studio

teach

teaching

television

theology

think

thinking

thought

Together

transferring

transform

transformation

video

wealth

win

winning

work

workers

Previous Post



September 16, 2011

Difficulties That Lead To Empowerment by Robert Ricciardelli

Next Post



September 17, 2011 The Seeking God by Francis Frangipane


Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Arts & Entertainment Business Coach Robert Coaching Community Education Faith Family/Relationships Government Health History/Biography Leadership Marriage Mindset Musings Science Technology

Select a Month June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009


Follow Us!

Follow Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter



TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was Jesus' profession before starting His ministry?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Tentmaker Fisherman Carpenter Shepherd

Related posts from Robert Ricciardelli

New Visions

Death: The Gateway to Transformation by Dennis Peacocke

Robert Ricciardelli

New Visions

Toxic Faith by Robert Ricciardelli

Robert Ricciardelli

New Visions

The Platform by Alan Smith - Personalized for...

Robert Ricciardelli

New Visions

Dennis Peacocke Radio Interview on Kingdom Economics

Robert Ricciardelli

TRENDING AT PATHEOS New Visions

Did Prayer Cure His Cancer? Or Was It...

At 4 AM one morning, Joshua W. Brown’s wife awoke to a...

8 Ways a Near-Death Experience Rewires the Soul

Does Consciousness Survive Physical Death? After 50 Years of Research, Dr. Raymond...

Holy Longing: What Our Restlessness Is Telling Us

“One can find so many pains when the rain is falling.” -John...

The Making of a Dumbass

  What this is NOT about.  This blog is definitely not about...

Who Told You That?

Who said the Israelites were God’s chosen? That’s right, they did. Who...

The Spirit World Is the Real World: God...

A Monk’s Wisdom on Body and Spirit I sit with Brother Martin...

view all New Visions blogs

Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Copyright 2008-2026, Patheos. All rights reserved.

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos Patheos on Facebook Patheos on YouTube