God is calling us to stir ourselves up to prayer, faith in the promises of God and radical commitment to removing everything from our lives that weighs us down so that we can soar with God.

Summary

Eagles provide a very important object lesson for believers. They have the longest lives of all birds, living around 70 years old. Around age 40, eagles go through an important transition where they have to decide if they are going to live or die. Their beaks bend and lose their effectiveness, their talons become brittle, and their feathers become weighed down so that they cannot fly very well. The eagles who decide to live build a nest in the air and beat their beaks against rocks until falls out. Then they wait for it to grow back. Then they bite off their talons which also then grow back. With their new beak and new talons they rip out their feathers. When their feathers grow back they can fly higher, move better and are more glorious than they ever were.

God is calling believers to follow the eagle’s example to wait on God through prayer, faith in God’s promises, and removing from our lives everything that weighs us down. Then we will soar again in our faith, bear great fruit and truly our latter days will be better than our first days.

Outline

In order to do God’s will, we need to be endued with power from on High.
1. LK 24:29 – Jesus talks about waiting in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit so that we will be endued with power.
2. ISA 40:21 – Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
  1. Waiting for a purpose – it means to bind together.
  2. We bind ourselves together with the Lord so that we can run with Him.
  3. Whatever our gift is from the Lord, we bind it together with God’s vision.
Eagle analogy:
1. The naturalist – study the eagle and see characteristics they do not understand.
  1. The longest lifespan of their species – live to 70.
  2. At age 40 they become tired.
    1. The beak bends so they can’t get food properly.
    2. The talons become brittle and their grip becomes weak.
    3. They fly to a high place and build a nest, usually next to a cistern.
    4. They have to make a decision to live or die. The ones who decide to live, live another 30 years.
    5. He will beat his beak on the rock until it pops out. Then it grows back.
    6. With its new beak it bites off its talons and they grow back.
    7. Then they pluck out their feathers, because they have become so heavy that it is hard to fly.
    8. They wait until the new feathers come out.
    9. Then they begin the flight of their rebirth.
    10. Once they go through that process of change, they can fly higher, and can see and attack their prey better.
  3. The comparison is that our latter days will be better than our former days.
    1. Every animal scurries when it hears the screech of the eagle.
    2. In the flight of rebirth, the first thing he does is go as high as he can go, he goes past where he was at.
    3. Only after rebirth, his maneuverability in the currents is so amazing, he can go as fast as he can go straight toward a mountain and at the last minute fly straight up it.
  4. This is the comparison of waiting on the Lord to renew our strength.
    1. God is trying to get us to knock off our beak and renew our prayer life.
    2. We need to renew our talons – we need to feast and feed on the promises of God – especially the promise of the Holy Spirit.
      1. God is calling us to remember His promises to us corporately and individually.
      2. God is calling us to pluck out all of the things in our lives that weigh us down.
      3. Our last days are going to be better than our first.
God is stirring us up.
1. Bishop is beginning with repentance and leading with it.
2. He is asking God to come and give us the flight of rebirth to touch a generation, to touch our families and one another, to walk in the Spirit and to mortify the deeds of the flesh.
What now? We need to have newness and urgency of prayer.
1. We need the kind of prayer that only comes through the Holy Spirit.
2. God wants to communicate with us and have a dialogue with us.
3. The Holy Spirit is here to stir us up and challenge us – He wants to move upon us.
4. We need to get alone with God and break our hearts before Him.
5. We need to be a corporate body that has broken our alabaster jars for Jesus.