Wanting to serve people and sincerely become diligent is indeed good, but it can be challenging. I want to work hard-smart, but don't wanna be lazy or be over-doin' it in the strength of my flesh.. trying to bring Christ glory.
Q: Is it is remotely possible to work too much to your own hurt (even in this day of radical inflation, whacko politics and more stress)? Yep, can happen. Personal prioritizing and choices matter.
I've been revisiting the story of Martha who could have chosen the better part like her sis did who was sitting at the feet of Jesus for relationship and to hear His words. Why become all misfocused on secondary thing as a workaholic only to your own hurt and to the hurt of your family etc (aka as a temp-idolater)?
"But Martha was very busy and distracted with all of her serving responsibilities; and she approached Him and said, 'Lord, is it of no concern to You that my sister has left me to do the serving alone? Tell her to help me and do her part.' But the Lord replied to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered and anxious about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, that which is to her advantage, which will not be taken away from her.'” Luke 10:40-43 amp
“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10
It's easy to get distracted away from your main focus. Let's not.
Have you ever said to yourself or said to your spouse. I am exhausted and feel like I'm about to faint.
Man, I don't think you can be in any type real ministry these days without coming to moments like that. Even during the Covid shutdown when we people weren't able to do as many things as normally, many people sometimes were more tired than before. Everything seemed to be going well and then there was the added weight of stress, of what to do, and how to do it so you'd keep out of trouble. It's still very much like that in Canada and Australia today.
Can you and I wisely work, wait on the Lord in the still, work hard and never be foolishly lazy? Why not? Need a wholesome discipline that can transform the way you do life?
Need to find a symbol of courageous strength to help in times of added stress?
Here's a verse n passage to consider backwards if ya will, from the bottom all the way up (start at Isaiah 40:31). Check out courageous marathon strength -- it's soaring. Let's do this!
Let's opt to trust the Lord even when his answer is No or Wait -- you know how He delights to say Yes when it's best.
These people shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. The prophet Isaiah is using his symbolic verbal artistry from Ornithology from the scientific study of birds to illustrate to us unto understanding on how a person who is walking with the Lord, is supposed to cope during times like these/of full on pressure.
Okay, so there are three basic ways that birds fly.
1.) Some birds fly by simply flapping.. a whole lot.
Ornithologists call this first avian method of flying "flapping". They keeping their wings in constant motion to counteract what we know as gravity.
Did you know that hummingbirds can flap up to 70 times per second, but though they make it look sublime, it's still just flapping -- that fairly awkward clumsy business done in air.
Perhaps you never done that at all? Well, in this metaphor I want you to know that I've done way too much flapping. You too, or not so much? God wants me to function more like an eagle than a turkey and yet I've tried harder to fly right by flapping around as a duck does. And the problem with flapping is that it makes a lot of commotion, and sound, but it doesn't get you anywhere.
2.) Some avian flying according to the scholars is called "gliding."
I had friends in Dana Point to did hang-gliding. It looks like gobs of fun and some have survived it.
For birds this second kind of flying works like this: the bird builds up enough speed and he goes up high and then settles into a (gradual) downward flight of gliding. It's more graceful than flapping, but unfortunately, the bird doesn't get all that far as it could because a reality in the form of gravity sets in fairly quickly and this gliding bird if he or she is not arrested in his glide, will glide ultimately down into the ground.
3.) Some birds gracefully glide through the sky in what Ornithologists call "soaring" and only a few birds, like the eagle are capable of doing this.
It's a better type of glide. Eagles wings are so strong that they are capable of catching rising currents of warm thermal winds that go straight up from the earth. Am talkin' warm invisible air, and without striving or straining even one feather, they can soar up to great heights. Long and far.
Some eagles in flight have been clocked at up to 80 miles per hour and without flapping once.
They just soar on the invisible updrafts. They use those columns of air. So hear what Isaiah is telling us. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall soar.
Please desire this instead! Do you like to fly? Do you go wind-surfing, or hang-gliding, or kite-surfing or like to go sail boating on the sea? Do you position your craft or board or boat and it's lines (you know, adjust your life n prayin' so to speak) to allow the winds of God's Spirit to fill your sails in order to advance better? He does have a desired Way and destination for you which it is very good.
Now, if you want to go through your whole life, just flapping away, simply doing "your own thaaang" and merely flapping around, you can do that, you won't get anywhere. God will honor your decision and let you. His church will let you. How fruitful a life will that actually be though?
You'll make a lot of commotion, perhaps some noise as well, and you'll wear yourself out pretty quickly. Help us not strive in the strength of the flesh, Lord, when you designed us for soaring.
It's the Spirit who can equip, guide and empower you for great results glorifying Jesus, or you can have one shorter moment of glory and grace and glide right down to.. into the earth.
Gliders do enjoy that, but they'll glide downwards long before an eagle heads south to land.
Hey, I won't pedestalize them, but my So Cal Pastors Chuck Smith and Greg Laurie speak a lot about all that the Spirit has done through their ministries after years of them just flapping around. Many give it their all flapping. Chuck by his own admission used to push pretty hard to get the flock there going out to evangelize (to "fill up the small church house") before he discovered "soaring".. and lovingly feeding God's flock well. He needed to support his family rather than working many hours at the grocery store and collecting bodies for the funeral home on the side.
Hey, ask specifically, repeatedly, let the Spirit into your life and ministry to control all of you daily. Yes, your very life! Refills and the first filling up are all free with the Lord.
Why make such a flap of it, let God teach you to soar like an eagle. Catch the updrafts of God's Spirit and you'll enjoy that so called dynamite-like-energy that comes directly from Him. You'll soar in his strength with clear purpose and vision, with a fresh wind and power.
When we face a crisis in life as many people these days have (I lost my son and almost my mom to Covid).. then you and I can still soar. When going through the ups and downs of life, the trails and testings, we can learn to run without weariness and when sometimes we're called to be plodding along day after day, we can walk with confidence minus any fainting.
Need a promise of strength that works for every age, and for every stage of life? We are called upon in this Isaiah passage of Scripture via his inspired imagery, to be God's eagles if ya will, just flying and soaring above the circumstances of life and the hard issues.. in victory rather than in defeat.
My friend, Shawn McDonald, sings about the "gravity trying to pull him downward" (likening that to his old fleshly nature), but his sowing to the Spirit and allowing Him to control is what helps Shawn overcome that downward tug. Christians have two natures in em -- feed the Spirit, starve the old fleshly nature.
So how do we do that soaring part (God's symbol of courageous strength is flight)? How do we stop flapping and easily start cruisin' on the updrafts of His Spirit?
Well, go read the Bible carefully, and you'll notice that the secret of courageous strength is in waiting upon the Lord in prayer. See Isaiah 40:30-31 which teaches: Even the youth shall utterly fail. And the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
Ever said to yourself, to your wife, or to your kids: I am totally exhausted.
Man, I don't think you can be in ministry in these days without coming to moments like that. I know, even during the Covid shutdown for churches when we weren't able to do as many things as we normally did. Many pastors found themselves sometimes more tired than before due to the added weight of what to rightly do, and how to legally do it. And a lot of things you did before Covid are still harder to get done.
Listen, the secret of courageous strength is waiting. Pray for God to get His revival to you and through you -- yes to send this to your cities and nation.
No biblical revival or awakening or empowering of any saint has ever happened minus repentance, faith in God and the praying for these outpourings to happen.
Now, what does that mean? The Bible has a lot to say about waiting--check it all out and the contexts. And listen to how the Word of God clearly teaches us the benefits of such waiting,
Need five things on this that are very evident in these verses of scriptures?
1.) Waiting results in spiritual perception (Psalm 25:4-5). Notice what this instructs, show me your ways O Lord teach me your paths lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation on you. I will wait all the day. Now go back up to the top of that and notice what it says, show me your ways, teach me your paths, lead me in your truth and teach me. If you want God to show you His ways and teach you which paths to take as He leads and teaches you in truth, then you have to learn to wait with Him because waiting is the key to spiritual perception.
2.) Waiting results in protection from spiritual attacks etc. (Psalm 33:20-21). Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield for our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name, waiting results and protection. It calls upon us to wait in order that we might have the protection of the Lord.
In this passage of Scripture see our shield, how many of you know that when you wait before the Lord, he helps to protect you from all the things that could come into your life to destroy your peace and to keep you from being who He wants you to become.
3.) Waiting results in a clear spiritual perspective (Psalm 37:7). This is an interesting verse -- waiting results in good perspective. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him, do not fret of him because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Do you know how to get over being all bent over or out of shape because of the worldly people who are doing things wrong and seem to be profiting from that? Choose to wait on the Lord, just go get before the Lord and put it all in his hands and he will help you to get perspective on life and you will see that not everything will work out their way.
That seems to be important at this present time. Waiting will give you perspective!
4.) Waiting results and provision. See the book of Lamentations, The Lord is good to those who wait for him. Do you want to progress any further? The Lord is speaking this to us loudly if ya will have ears to hear Him.
“'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.' The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD." Lamentations 3:24-26
"Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!" Psalm 27:14
"And in that day it will be said, 'Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.'" Isaiah 25:9
"I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD." Genesis 49:18
5.) When you learn how to wait on the Lord, His goodness becomes so very evident in your life! And finally we're back to where we were at the beginning.
See Isaiah 40:31 again- this waiting results in power from the most Powerful. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength and they shall mount up with wings, like eagles.
There ya have em, five reasons for us to learn the discipline of waiting, it gives us perception and protection and perspective, and provision and power for glorifying God.
If any are inclined to despond, because they do not have such patience, let them be of good courage. It is in the course of our feeble and very imperfect waiting that God Himself, by His hidden power, strengthens us and works out in us the patience of the great saints, the patience of Christ Himself. – Andrew Murray
Things may come to those in the world who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. It could have been that way for us but it's not, and won't be, believer. Be a smart working Christian with the right priorities who also takes time to wait on the Lord. – KvS
Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work. – Peter Marshall
So how do you and I go about doing this? How do we learn how to wait on the Lord? Sue? Monk kid tells the story of taking a personal spiritual retreat at a monastery, going out by the water and trying to be still, trying to just be there and wait and listen and be present.
She said it only lasted for a few seconds before. Everything in her rose up in rebellion, the need to get moving. Get something done. Read a book act, solve something and it overpowered her and she got up and walked away. She said on her way back to her room.
She noticed a monk ski cap, pulled over his ears, sitting perfectly still beneath a tree. He sat there for long minutes as much as an hour perfectly still and tranquil Later she saw him out. And she said, how in the world can you be so still just waiting there?
I can't get used to the idea of doing nothing. He just laughed and he said, that's because you've bought into the cultural myth. That when you're waiting, you're doing nothing. Then he looked her in the eye and he said, when you're waiting, you're actually doing the most important. Something there is You're allowing your soul to grow up If you can't be still and wait you can't become what God created you to be.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and waiting. Unfortunately has to be done in silence which is another problem for most of us We are uncomfortable with anything that causes everything to be totally still. And I've had to examine my own heart in this this week.
I like to hear music. I play it in my car and I played in my office. I'm beginning to realize that that can become a distraction sometimes from just being alone, you know, Isaiah 30:15. Puts it this way class for thus, says the Lord, God, the Holy One of his real in returning and rest.
Ye shall be saved in quietness and confidence shall be your strength in quietness, and in confidence shall be your strength. This is God's formula. It is definitely not the world's formula In the Psalmist in Psalm 46:10 puts it this way. Be still. And no that I am. God way notes has written these words silence is not native to my world Silence, more than likely is a stranger to you and to your world, too, If you and I ever have silence in our noisy hearts, we're going to have to grow it.
You can nurture silence in your noisy. Heart. If you value it, if you cherish it, and if you are eager to nourish, it Silence is hard to come by these days. Is it not? Can I get a witness? It's hard, isn't it to come by silence but without silence we can't have the discipline of waiting and we wait before God and we are certain that God is in what we do and we follow Him and we find peace.
Well, we've looked at the symbol of courageous strength, which is soaring like an eagle. And we've looked at the secret to it, which is waiting. Now I want you to notice the source of it in the source of strength is God going all the way back up to the beginning of our text notice.
Have you not know, Have you not heard The everlasting? God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary, His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak and to those who have mighty increases strength, my friend. If you're going to wait on somebody, here's somebody pretty good to wait on.
Amen. Notice in this little verse you have a compendium of theological truth. The attributes of God, scream out at us from every line in the text. He is eternal, the everlasting. God, he is sovereign the Lord. He is omnipotent the Creator of the ends of the earth. He is immutable.
He never faints, or is weary. He is. Omniscient is understanding, is unsearchable. He is merciful, he gives power to the weak and he is gracious. He increases strength to those who already have might. So my friend, what Isaiah is saying is this, if you will just cool your jets a little bit kick, I get a loan be silent and wait on the eternal sovereign omnipotent immutable omniscient merciful gracious God He will get you where you need to go without all your flapping.
That's what Isaiah wants us to understand. We are flappers by nature. God wants us to soar like eagles. And the way we learn to soar is by waiting before Almighty God, listening to his voice through his word and having silence in our hearts so that we can separate all of the noise and the static and hear God, and we get centered on him.
He may delay because it would not be safe to give us at once what we ask: we are not ready for it. To give ere we could truly receive, would be to destroy the very heart and hope of prayer, to cease to be our Father. The delay itself may work to bring us nearer to our help, to increase the desire, perfect the prayer, and ripen the receptive condition. - George Macdonald
Peter wrote, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). God is waiting to bring more people into His kingdom, and then at the appointed hour, Jesus Christ will return.
In the New Testament's 260 chapters, Christ's return is mentioned no less than 318 times. Statistically, one verse for every 25 pages of the Bible refers to the return of Jesus Christ in some way, shape, or form. Listen, Jesus Christ will come back again, and God has given us specific instructions for what we are to do while we wait.
To wait on God means to pause and soberly consider our own inadequacy and the Lord’s all-sufficiency, and to seek counsel and help from the Lord, and to hope in Him (Ps. 33:20-22; Isa. 8:17).. The folly of not waiting for God is that we forfeit the blessing of having God work for us. The evil of not waiting on God is that we oppose God’s will to exalt Himself in mercy. - John Piper
When you're off duty, get away to pray and hear from your Friends that sticks closer than a brother. Pick a place, sometime of day or night, and someplace somewhere daily to every day and get silent before God. And just read something from his word and let it soak into your heart. Push everything else out of the way and just sit quietly before the Lord, the first day, you do it. The first two minutes, will seem like you've been there for 30 minutes But as you get more accustomed to it and you begin to sense the peace that floods over your heart, you will discover that it will start to transform into tranquility.
What has before been stress? That is so. So debilitating to all of us. So are you soaring? Do you want to? I've done a lot of reading about birds. I'm not a bird fan, but I learned a lot about birds and I have a feeling that either we will take this truth from the word of God and learn it cognitively or God teaches it to us.
Experientially and we're all in the business of learning things experientially, but let me just give you a little lesson from the Eagles that will help you understand what I'm talking about. In an article called the Way of the Eagles Bill Britton writes. This There is much we can learn about our heavenly calling, as we consider what the Bible says about eagles.
The book of Deuteronomy tells us how the young eagle gets his introduction to the practice of soaring in the heavens. Now, watch carefully Deuteronomy 32:11 as an eagle stirs up. Its nest Hovers over its young spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them up on its wings. So the Lord alone.
Led them. Now. Watch this Deuteronomy says that the mother eagle stirs up. Her nest Flutters over her young, spreads abroad, her wings and bears them up on her wings. Now, let's assume that we're watching this process and the time has come, when the young eagle must leave the nest and strike out on his own, guess what?
He doesn't want to do that. He's real comfortable in this nest. He looks down from the dizzying heights of the mountain peak where the nest is and he's not even close to being ready to try any new adventure, some dangerous enterprises, so the mother ego begins making things uncomfortable for him in the nest.
She stirs it up. The nest is so soft, so safe, so comfortable. And he is satisfied to remain there and none of this business of trying out your wings is even in his vocabulary. So the mother eagle stirs up the nest. She tears up his soft bed of Downey, she breaks the twigs until the jagged ends stick out.
In other words, she begins to make life very miserable for him in the place that once was so very safe. Is it possible? My friend that God is doing that with you? Let me just interject Have you gotten so comfortable that you were unwilling to step out in faith and trust God for anything new, let him get under your wings and help you to soar has the word adventure disappeared from your vocabulary.
Now, unfortunately, stirring up the nest, doesn't always work for the eaglet, What happens? Next is the Eagle doesn't leave the torn up nest so the mother ego begins to flutter over her young. Now what this means is, she begins beating him up with her wings. These are the wings under which she protected him at first, but now, they have become His greatest enemy, and to escape these terrible wings.
The eaglet climbs to the side of the nest, and as the mother eagle spreads her wings abroad, he hops on her back. See the mother eagle as she soars high into the sky with the little eagle hanging on for dear life. High up above the clouds. She goes and suddenly without warning, she dives out from under the little eagle.
Leaving him hanging in the air on nothing. He screams with fear as he tumbles through the air. But instinctively his wing stretch out and he begins to catch a little bit of the air down down down. He falls as his untried wings failed to function, enough to hold him up.
When he looks like all hope is lost. Will he crash into the rocks? Below the mother eagles, swoops under him, and bears him up again on her wings, back to the heights of heaven. They soar together. But just as he thinks all is well, and he is sitting on the top of the world.
The bottom drops out again..falling again. But this time his wings began to operate a little better and become a bit stronger via a bit of use and experimentation so to speak, until finally, he learns how. How to catch the currents and sore by himself. No longer needing the mother to catch him from falling down.
Do ya feel a li'l like a blue bird or a hummingbird? God is in the business of transforming.. from so called birdbrains or hummingbirds into eagles if ya will.
He will stop at nothing. His purpose is clear, his children are sorta eagles in the making. Where are you at spiritually? Saved and growin'? You can be right now.
Yeah, I want to ask you today. Are you in Jesus Christ and in this process? Are you comfortable in the nest or spiritually mature? Are you sitting on the edge of the nest? Are you in tumbling or freefallin' from the back of the mother eagle?
Are you starting to sore just a little bit as you have begun to learn to trust the (Bible) Lord? All tell ya what, what this is really all about. It's about trusting him fully while waiting on Him.
Waiting in this respect is saying Lord God, I choose to trust You. I'm waiting upon you instead of laggin' behind or runnin' ahead of You. I'm believing in You.
Please guide my life daily and direct me. I'm turning all that I am ..and will be.. over to You. I fully surrender to You for the purpose of soaring on the winds of your Spirit to wherever you want me to go. It's trusting You.
Not long before his death, Mr. Henri Nouwen, wrote Sabbatical Journey.
What'd he write about? He wrote about some friends of his who were trapeze artists. They were called the flying Rodellas and it's really fascinating about their special relationship between the flyer and the catcher up on the trapeze. The flyer is the one that lets go of the two hands and the catcher is the one that catches as the flyer swings high above the crowd and ground on the trapeze.
The moment comes when the flyer must let go of the person venturing out into the air, his duty is to now remain as still as possible. And wait for the strong arms and hands of the catcher to plucking from the air, one of the flying Rudellas. At the right time, and the flyer must never try to catch the catcher.
The flyer must wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him but he must wait, wait, wait. That is the lesson. God is teaching us to wait patiently. They that wait, upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
Are you willing to find some silence, some stillness and some quietness to wait upon the Word, to put your hope in Him and your full trust in Him?
Waiting is to reject the frenzied, loud, super busy distractions and go with a good alternative from the culture.. God. I can find peace in Jesus allowing Him to be and stay on the throne of my heart. When everything is all crazy around me I can enjoy peace and joy. It's because I know the Jesus of the Bible who is the everlasting God, who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, whose great wisdom is unascertainable? And through my waiting upon him and my relationship with Him, He has put a quietness and confidence in my life.
He gives me peace in the midst of the frenzy world. Wow, it works but you gotta try waiting. And when you hear God's directive be quick to check in the Bible and act on it.
“A whole lot of what we call ‘struggling’ is simply delayed obedience.” ~ Elisabeth Elliot
Thanks fave So Cal pastors (Chuck S, Jon C, Greg L, Skip H, David J, John M) for the flyin' eagle ideas--needed em. They sure didn't originate with me.
